Chapter Summaries

Lin Ke was confronted by the Imperial Academy Doctor, his mother, and the Murong family, who accused him of attacking Murong Mu and demanded he abase himself and leave the capital. The doctor manipulated the crowd against Lin Ke, while Lin Ke remained busy and unwilling to waste time on their challenge.

• The Imperial Academy Doctor arrived, knocked Lin Ke back while stopping the old woman's attack, and then demanded that Lin Ke forgive his mother.
• The doctor threatened to discipline Lin Ke on his father's behalf, while the old woman demanded that Lin Ke pay with his life for slapping Murong Mu.
• Murong Mu and his mother appeared with staged injuries and accused Lin Ke, turning the crowd against him.
• Lin Ke recounted how Murong Mu and his mother had caused trouble at the Breathing Soil Pavilion and challenged their claims about his supposed attack.
• The Imperial Academy Doctor proposed taking Lin Ke to court, then used his influence to convince the crowd that Lin Ke was at fault.
• The doctor demanded that Lin Ke kowtow three times and move his entire family thirty thousand li from the capital, and Murong Mu and his family pretended to accept this magnanimous offer.

Lin Ke confronted Murong Mu’s family after they threatened to kill him, then revealed his identity as a member of the Great Wilderness Council. Minister Xun intervened and summoned the Imperial Academy’s Libationer, leaving a gaunt figure to confront him outside the Academy.

• The Imperial Academy Doctor grew uneasy about Lin Ke, but Murong Mu and his mother threatened to execute Lin Ke’s household.
• The Imperial Academy Doctor and Murong Mu’s family attacked Lin Ke after he challenged the Imperial Academy’s scholarship.
• Lin Ke used a Communication Scroll to ask Minister Xun to notify the Imperial Academy’s Libationer, identifying himself as Lin Ke of the Great Wilderness Council.
• Minister Xun appeared, condemned Murong Zhong and the Imperial Academy Doctor, and summoned Libationer Liu.
• A gaunt figure appeared outside the Imperial Academy and asked Minister Xun what business he had with him.

Lin Ke confronted Libationer Liu over Doctor Murong’s violence and Liu’s attempt to take responsibility in his subordinate’s place. Lin Ke condemned Liu’s political maneuvering and warned Minister Xun not to use him again.

• Minister Xun summoned Libationer Liu and threatened to replace him if he refused to answer for Doctor Murong’s actions.
• Libationer Liu arrived in the Tooth Market, denied ordering Doctor Murong’s attack, and offered to accept punishment on his behalf.
• Lin Ke accused Libationer Liu of shielding Doctor Murong and criticized him for prioritizing his position over the Imperial Academy’s duty to educate.
• Lin Ke warned Minister Xun not to use him for political purposes and said he would investigate Xun if he tried again.

Lin Ke confronted Minister Xun’s attempt to use the dispute to seize the Imperial Academy libationer post and publicly condemned Libationer Liu and the Murong family over their conduct and the Old Rites. He set out principles for the New Rites, which Minister Xun recorded, leaving the reforms’ definition in Lin Ke’s hands.

• Lin Ke saw through Minister Xun’s scheme to use the conflict to take the Imperial Academy libationer post, though he still chose to work with him on education reform.
• Lin Ke told those present that he and Minister Xun had been charged by the Sage Emperor with examining and reforming education in the Great Wei Sacred Dynasty.
• Lin Ke criticized Libationer Liu for prioritizing his own clean record and position over educating students and developing talent.
• Lin Ke accused Doctor Murong and the Murong family of unrighteous conduct and challenged them over their apparent return to the Old Rites.
• Doctor Murong took responsibility for the family’s actions, and Lin Ke declared that the New Rites required judging each matter on its merits and holding each person responsible for their own actions.
• Minister Xun recorded Lin Ke’s words as a basis for defining the New Rites.

Lin Ke and Minister Xun exposed Libationer Liu for using Subtle Words and Profound Meaning to sway the crowd, and Minister Xun began handling his punishment. Lin Ke ordered everyone surnamed Murong to exile themselves to Cloud Dream Marsh by the end of the day, warning them not to seek help.

• Libationer Liu agreed to return home after Lin Ke and Minister Xun said he was unfit for his post, while the crowd pitied him.
• Minister Xun and Lin Ke rebuked Libationer Liu for using Subtle Words and Profound Meaning to influence ordinary citizens.
• Minister Xun revealed that an insight beneath the plum blossom tree at Lin Ke's home had let his literary heart's blood begin to enter his marrow, startling powerful observers.
• Minister Xun sealed Libationer Liu and listened to the powerful figures' discussion as he considered visiting Lin Ke's home again.
• Lin Ke left Libationer Liu's affairs to Minister Xun and ordered everyone surnamed Murong to exile themselves to Cloud Dream Marsh by the end of the day.

After leaving the Tooth Market, Lin Ke resolved to reform education in the Great Wei Sacred Dynasty, expanding schools and making education fair and practical so people of every status could improve their lives. With preparations nearly complete and powerful figures watching him, he set out to bring the dynasty a true baptism.

• Lin Ke left the Tooth Market with Ning Caichen while Minister Xun stayed behind to handle the aftermath.
• Lin Ke concluded that the Great Wei Sacred Dynasty’s education focused too narrowly on the classics and needed practical subjects and combat training to prepare people to face the Evil of the Universe.
• Lin Ke decided schools should identify students’ aptitudes and improve the imperial examinations, while universal basic and compulsory education would help select talent.
• Lin Ke resolved that public schools must offer fair opportunities regardless of social class and that officials who undermined fairness would be punished.
• Lin Ke hurried Ning Caichen along as he reflected on his own education and the people oppressed by the dynasty’s social order.
• With preparations nearly complete, Lin Ke prepared for the Great Wei Sacred Dynasty to undergo a true baptism as lords, masters, the Sage Emperor, and Princess Tian watched him.

Lin Ke visited the Lin Residence to take ownership and discovered that it had been greatly expanded and altered. Elder Huang revealed that Murong Li had come hoping to meet him, leaving Lin Ke to decide how to handle the Murong Family’s request.

• Lin Ke arrived at the Lin Residence with Chen An and Ning Caichen and inspected its gates.
• Elder Huang welcomed them and led them through the Azure Luan Picture, a screen that served as a passage into the residence.
• Lin Ke saw that the Lin Residence had been enlarged and repositioned among the Three Dukes’ floating residences.
• Elder Huang admitted that Murong Li had begged him to arrange a meeting and asked Lin Ke for forgiveness.
• Lin Ke considered the consequences of helping the Murong Family and hurried to meet Murong Li.

Murong Li punished Murong Mu and his family for their abuse of Lin Ke, crippling several of them and expelling Murong Mu’s mother from the Murong Family. As Murong Mu lay bleeding under Murong Li’s watch, Lin Ke said he was in a hurry.

• Murong Li arrived at the Firewood Courtyard and crippled Murong Mu and Doctor Murong while Murong Xu crippled his own cultivation to beg Lin Ke’s forgiveness.
• Murong Li struck Murong Mu, Murong Xu, and Murong Xu’s brother, then confined the old woman to the Murong residence and threatened Murong Xu over his family’s conduct.
• Murong Li ordered Murong Xu to divorce Murong Mu’s mother and restore Azure Fish as his principal wife, leaving Murong Mu’s mother devastated.
• Murong Li kicked Doctor Murong, cut the legs from his nascent soul, and ordered him to cultivate at his elder brother’s Void River Temple.
• Murong Li sealed Murong Mu’s voice and let him bleed, dismissing Murong Xu’s warning that he might die, until Lin Ke said he was in a hurry.

Lin Ke accepted Murong Li’s apology and gifts, then signed the deeds making the Lin Residence his own. Elder Huang told him that the land and other arrangements he had requested were ready, leaving Lin Ke to hear the details.

• Murong Li apologized to Lin Ke, punished Murong Mu and the others, and offered him a storage pendant containing breathing soil and Celadon Bamboo.
• Lin Ke accepted the pendant, and Murong Xu used a bottle to clear the blood from the courtyard before Murong Li led the family away.
• Lin Ke entered the restored courtyard and reflected on his years there and his distant siblings.
• Lin Ke signed the deeds with an imprint of his power of reform, making the Lin Residence his property.
• Elder Huang told Lin Ke that his requested plots of land and other arrangements were ready, and Lin Ke began listening to his account.

Lin Ke chose to make the Firewood Courtyard his home and discussed the pet and artifact-refining industries with Elder Huang. He recognized how much the Great Wei Sacred Dynasty’s development depended on changing people’s thinking and improving education.

• Lin Ke acquired deeds for the Great Wilderness Council's offices, the pilot university, a breeding farm, and a research base, then decided to live in the Firewood Courtyard.
• Elder Huang summoned candidates for the Lin Residence’s steward, whom Lin Ke intended to leave in charge of its management and preparations.
• Elder Huang explained that spirit beasts were used in daily life and that the Beast-Taming Lineage was wealthy, while laws forbade enslaving intelligent creatures against their will.
• Lin Ke considered the pet industry’s wide customer base and the potential of biological industries such as farming, forestry, and research.
• Elder Huang described the enormous artifact-refining industry, and Lin Ke questioned why people had not developed new technologies and building designs.
• Lin Ke concluded that education and reforming thought were more urgent than he had previously realized.

Lin Ke interviewed three candidates for household steward and considered how broadening people’s knowledge could open new opportunities. Fang Yuan and Pei Qian introduced themselves, while the fortune-teller’s interview had yet to begin.

• Elder Huang explained that entering the artifact trade required connections to a master artifact refiner, and Lin Ke recognized that his Wood Refining Method could give him a monopoly.
• Lin Ke welcomed three steward applicants: a fortune-teller, a bookkeeper, and Fang Yuan, a member of the Gu Folk.
• Fang Yuan said he had governed a thousand-person tribe, studied Confucianism and medicine, and could raise insects, command beasts, and establish businesses.
• Pei Qian introduced himself as a student of the Eclectic School with knowledge of mathematics and commerce, then revealed that his mother had been a woman of the Tile Kiln and had sacrificed her savings to educate him.

Lin Ke hired Zhuge Li, Pei Qian, and Fang Yuan to serve the Lin Residence, assigning them separate responsibilities suited to their skills. After welcoming them, he began arranging tasks in the Firewood Courtyard and asked Zhuge Li and Fang Yuan to demonstrate their abilities.

• Lin Ke heard Zhuge Li explain that divination had led him to seek service under Lin Ke.
• Lin Ke decided to hire all three candidates and assigned Zhuge Li to external affairs, Pei Qian to finances, and Fang Yuan to internal affairs.
• Zhuge Li, Pei Qian, and Fang Yuan agreed to join the Lin Residence.
• Lin Ke introduced Chen An and coachman Ning Caichen, who protested being called a coachman.
• After Elder Huang left, Lin Ke began handing out tasks and asked Zhuge Li and Fang Yuan to demonstrate their abilities.

Lin Ke examined Fang Yuan, a Gu tribesman who demonstrated his Hive talent and revealed the many insects living in his body. Fang Yuan introduced Lan’er, the intelligent queen of his Blue-Poison Bees, who took an interest in Lin Ke.

• Fang Yuan lowered his hood, explained his unusual appearance, and demonstrated his Hive talent by summoning a centipede.
• Fang Yuan released his insects and explained that his own cultivation depended on the realms of the nine gu insects in his body.
• Fang Yuan summoned the Blue-Poison Bee Queen, Lan’er, and introduced her to Lin Ke.
• Lan’er greeted Lin Ke and said her bees had been hungry for a long time.

Lin Ke’s stewards discussed his External Incarnation and Lunar Essence before Zhuge Li used divination to predict good fortune for the others. Zhuge Li then revealed that Lin Ke’s fate had been altered, but the chapter ended before he explained how.

• Fang Yuan explained that Lin Ke’s current body was an External Incarnation linked to Lan’er, and Lin Ke offered to teach him a new way to draw down Moon Essence.
• Fang Yuan described the difference between Moon Essence and Lunar Essence and explained their value to birds, beasts, and tribes.
• Zhuge Li predicted that Ning Caichen would face a mental shock, a friend of Chen An’s parents would seek him out, and Fang Yuan and Pei Qian would receive good fortune.
• Zhuge Li told Lin Ke that his fate had been altered, and Lin Ke asked what it had originally been and what it had become.

Lin Ke learned that his fate had transformed into a pattern of defying heaven to change fate, leaving Zhuge Li unable to divine his future directly. After welcoming the new followers and warning them against betrayal, Lin Ke was interrupted by someone emerging from a spatial rift.

• Zhuge Li explained that Lin Ke's once-certain death fate had become a chaotic pattern of countless possibilities, a rare sign called defying heaven to change fate.
• Ning Caichen, Pei Qian, Fang Yuan, and the others wondered whether the Sage Emperor had changed Lin Ke's fate, while Zhuge Li said the change could have been Lin Ke's own doing.
• Zhuge Li said Lin Ke's fate now showed flourishing red-and-purple fortune, but he could only infer Lin Ke's fortunes by divining those around him.
• Lin Ke asked Pei Qian to demonstrate the Eclectic School's arts, then told the three newcomers that he would support them but would not tolerate betrayal.
• The three pledged their loyalty to Lin Ke, and a spatial rift opened as someone called out that they had finally found him.

Jia Sixie visited Lin Ke to return the Encyclopedia of Biology and ask him questions about its contents. Lin Ke agreed to help and arranged for Jia Sixie to wait in his study while he handled a few matters.

• Jia Sixie arrived at Lin Ke's residence, surprising Zhuge Li and the others with the revelation that he had made Lin Ke his master.
• Lin Ke asked Jia Sixie to address him simply as Lin Ke, and Jia Sixie praised his humility and talent.
• Jia Sixie returned the Encyclopedia of Biology and explained that he had memorized it but still had questions.
• Lin Ke agreed to answer Jia Sixie's questions, and Chen An escorted Jia Sixie to the study while Lin Ke made arrangements.

Jia Sixie rewarded Ning Caichen with guidance on Tree Spirit combat and asked Chen An to tell him a story. Meanwhile, Lin Ke explained his plans for Gu Insects and gave Fang Yuan a book arguing that every path could contain a great way.

• Ning Caichen used an overheard voice transmission to prompt Jia Sixie, who recognized him as a Plum Blossom Tree Spirit and bestowed combat knowledge from a Pagoda Tree Spirit.
• Ning Caichen fell asleep after Jia Sixie touched his forehead, and Chen An carried him to the study.
• Jia Sixie asked Chen An for a story, and Chen An began narrating Lin Ke's Battle Through the Firmament.
• Lin Ke assigned Zhuge Li to coordinate with Clear Stream Academy and Fang Yuan to breed Gu Insects and Demon Beasts.
• Fang Yuan questioned the value of the Gu Path, so Lin Ke argued that humble pursuits could contain great paths and gave him the Encyclopedia of Biology to study.

Lin Ke discussed his Encyclopedia of Biology with Jia Sixie after giving Fang Yuan a book of his knowledge. Jia Sixie confirmed that genes existed, raising the possibility that the Great Wei Sacred Dynasty could crumble.

• Lin Ke gave Fang Yuan his notes on biology and told Pei Qian to review his bookkeeping.
• Lin Ke found Jia Sixie absorbed in Chen An's story and offered him novels to read later.
• Lin Ke invited Chen An to stay as he and Jia Sixie began discussing the Encyclopedia of Biology.
• Jia Sixie asked about the supposed Meng Family talent Mendel, and Lin Ke dismissed the name as a pseudonym.
• Jia Sixie revealed that his experiments confirmed the existence of genes and warned that the Great Wei Sacred Dynasty might crumble because of it.

Jia Sixie learned that the New Rites were about to replace the Old Rites and recognized that Lin Ke had helped bring about a transformation in Great Wei. He then questioned Lin Ke about heredity and the essence of life, ending with the question of what genes were.

• Jia Sixie warned Lin Ke that the Rites Department could endanger him and offered to take him away for protection.
• Lin Ke told Jia Sixie that the New Rites were about to emerge after the Sage Emperor convened a court assembly.
• Jia Sixie sensed the changes in heaven and earth and learned that Great Wei was preparing to replace the Old Rites with the New Rites.
• Jia Sixie acknowledged Lin Ke's influence and began asking him about genes, heredity, natural selection, and evolution.
• Lin Ke answered Jia Sixie's questions, and Jia Sixie concluded that genes were the essence of life before asking what genes were.

Jia Sixie recognized Lin Ke’s biological insights as the start of a new great Dao and offered to help him establish schools and promote New Rites. After a long discussion, Jia Sixie gave Lin Ke a family copy of Essential Techniques for the Welfare of the People, while Fang Yuan, Pei Qian, and Zhuge Li realized they had found the vast opportunity Zhuge Li had foreseen.

• Jia Sixie understood Lin Ke’s account of species and inheritance as the foundation of biology and declared that he would become Lin Ke’s Dao Protector.
• Jia Sixie offered support for Lin Ke’s work on New Rites and schools, and Lin Ke considered the need for allies who shared his aims.
• Jia Sixie gave Lin Ke a family-written copy of Essential Techniques for the Welfare of the People as tuition, and he, Lin Ke, and Chen An discussed biology through the night.
• Fang Yuan studied Lin Ke’s Encyclopedia of Biology, while Pei Qian examined the milk tea shop’s financial statements and both recognized the opportunity before them.
• Zhuge Li sat with his copper coins, anticipating the heaven-flooding opportunity that had drawn him from seclusion.