Chapter Summaries

Lin Ke brought evidence against the Personnel Department to the Punishments Department, using the complaint to establish the Great Wilderness Council’s authority. The Minister of Punishments heard his charge, and Lin Ke called the officials’ offense “deceiving the sovereign.”

• Wang Lin used her Capital City access to bring Lin Ke and his companions directly to the Punishments Department’s entrance.
• When a bailiff hesitated to admit them, Wang Lin unleashed her gentleman-realm aura, prompting the department’s defenses and officials to respond.
• The Minister of Punishments recognized Wang Lin and Lin Ke’s group, then led them inside after Lin Ke introduced himself as chairman of the Great Wilderness Council.
• The Minister of Punishments suggested the Personnel Department might have slighted Lin Ke, but Lin Ke said he was reporting dereliction of duty.
• Lin Ke presented Zhuge Li’s ledgers and records as evidence and accused the implicated Personnel Department officials of deceiving the sovereign.

Lin Ke confronted the Punishments Department over its refusal to act against corrupt officials and threatened to strip it of authority. The minister backed down, and the department agreed to follow Lin Ke’s lead.

• Lin Ke demanded that the Punishments Department investigate his evidence and warned that he would execute anyone who obstructed him.
• Li Chungang challenged the minister over whether he remained aligned with Lin Xuanji’s old faction, and the minister claimed the department served only the Sage Emperor.
• Lin Ke announced that the Punishments Department would lose authority over officials, whose oversight and punishment would be handled by separate departments.
• The minister protested that only the Sage Emperor could change the department’s powers, but Lin Ke threatened to call another court assembly and trigger sweeping reforms.
• The minister relented, and everyone in the Punishments Department agreed to follow Lin Ke’s lead.

Lin Ke persuaded the Punishments Department to carry out an extensive investigation of the Twelve Departments and explained his plans for the Great Wilderness Council. The people of Chaoyang Street offered to help oversee several departments and support his reforms.

• Lin Ke ordered the Punishments Department to secure the Personnel Department’s records, train staff for an Audit Office, and assist the Great Wilderness Council Inspection Office in investigating officials.
• Wang Lin threatened the minister of the Punishments Department into obeying Lin Ke, then teleported everyone back to the Lin Residence.
• Lin Ke described his plans for the Great Wilderness Council, astonishing Wang Lin, Li Chungang, Bai Zhantang, and the others with his reform proposals.
• Butcher Zhang offered to handle the Gods and Ghosts Department, Matchmaker volunteered to watch the Revenue Department, and Li Chungang took responsibility for the Punishments Department.

Lin Ke recruited his companions as Path Guardians to help reform the Twelve Departments and announced plans for a newspaper to report current events and shape public opinion. He assigned Bai Zhantang to gather information and planned to use university students as reporters, sellers, and editors, ending with the first issue set to reveal little-known stories from across the land.

• Lin Ke appointed his companions as paid Fifth-rank Path Guardians to help the Great Wilderness Council reform the Twelve Departments.
• Lin Ke said he would write new novels and comics while Bai Zhantang gathered information around Capital City.
• Lin Ke explained that newspapers would report timely news for everyone and help control public opinion.
• Matchmaker asked where the newspaper would get workers, and Lin Ke proposed recruiting university students as reporters, Newspaper Sellers, and editors.
• Lin Ke planned for the first newspaper to publish little-known stories collected by the Great Wilderness Council and shock Capital City.

Lin Ke launched an affordable newspaper featuring his exclusive serial novel, Immortal-Slaying Sword, while Wu Daozi continued learning to observe customers and turn their lives into comics. After drawing stories about the people he had watched, Wu Daozi advanced in the Painting Path and discovered someone standing behind him.

• Lin Ke discussed the Great Wilderness Council and the need for newspapers with the others.
• Wu Daozi sold five thousand newspaper copies for three copper coins each on Chaoyang Street.
• Wu Daozi observed the shop's customers and practiced guessing their identities, relationships, and personalities.
• That night, Wu Daozi drew comics depicting the varied lives of the people he had observed, advancing in the Painting Path.
• Wu Daozi noticed someone behind him and asked who they were.

Gu Kaizhi visited Wu Daozi and offered to take him as a disciple, but Wu Daozi refused out of loyalty to Lin Ke. When Lin Ke arrived, he told Wu Daozi to accept Gu Kaizhi as his new master.

• Gu Kaizhi found Wu Daozi drawing comics and listened as he described the imagined lives of the people he had met.
• Gu Kaizhi revealed that he was Half-Saint Gu Kaizhi and asked Wu Daozi to become his disciple.
• Wu Daozi refused, saying that Lin Ke was already his master and that he owed him a debt of kindness.
• Gu Kaizhi opened a passage to Lin Ke and invited him over for a chat.
• Lin Ke arrived, learned that Gu Kaizhi wanted Wu Daozi as his disciple, and told Wu Daozi to pay his respects to his new master.

Lin Ke accepted Gu Kaizhi as Wu Daozi’s second master and heard a warning that an age of great contention was approaching. After Gu Kaizhi left, Lin Ke prepared to suppress the fire vein on Mantis Island using poetry, calligraphy, and painting.

• Lin Ke told Wu Daozi to thank Gu Kaizhi for the welcoming gift, and Wu Daozi left with his unopened scroll.
• Gu Kaizhi agreed to teach Wu Daozi, praising his talent and promising to take him to the Sage Realm in five days.
• Gu Kaizhi warned Lin Ke that an age of great contention was approaching and that countless prodigies would emerge.
• Lin Ke returned to his government work, then finished training on Mantis Island and prepared to suppress its fire vein.
• Lin Ke planned to use poetry, calligraphy, and painting to suppress the fire vein, as the Fire God Mantis King had advised.

Lin Ke reached the Fire God Mantis King's volcano to help suppress its fire vein and asked why the king guarded it rather than using it to advance his cultivation. The Fire God Mantis King explained that a Confucian scholar had turned him from bloodshed, and revealed that he followed Mencius's The Way of Kings.

• Lin Ke rode through the motionless Fire God Mantises and considered their potential as troops and biological resources.
• Lin Ke arrived at the volcanic crater, where the Fire God Mantis King emerged from the lava and asked him to suppress the fire vein.
• Lin Ke asked why the Fire God Mantis King protected the fire vein instead of drawing on it to strengthen his cultivation.
• The Fire God Mantis King recounted how a bookman defeated him thirty-three times and taught him to overcome his killing nature.
• The Fire God Mantis King identified the text that guided him as Mencius's The Way of Kings.

Lin Ke agreed to help the Fire God Mantis King suppress the clan’s volcanic fire vein with Sunrise, asking only that the painting be returned whenever he needed it. The Fire God Mantis King gave Lin Ke his molted shell, and Sunrise successfully steadied the fire vein in his place.

• The Fire God Mantis King recited his Mencius passage and asked Lin Ke to help his clan.
• Lin Ke brought out Sunrise and offered to leave it suppressing the fire vein if the Fire God Mantis King returned it when requested.
• The Fire God Mantis King commanded his clan to remember Lin Ke, grant him one reasonable request, and never make him an enemy.
• The Fire God Mantis King gave Lin Ke the shell he had molted in his youth.
• Lin Ke placed Sunrise over the volcanic crater, where it suppressed the fire vein after the Fire God Mantis King stopped holding it back.

Lin Ke recruited the Fire God Mantis Clan by promising to provide them with food, gaining more than ten thousand warriors and a mysterious unhatched egg. After collecting further spirit beasts and mining spoils, he left Cloud Dream Marsh to return home and put his plans into practice.

• Lin Ke revealed his name to the Fire God Mantis King and promised to feed the clan within half a year in exchange for recruiting its warriors.
• The Fire God Mantis King summoned his clan, gave Lin Ke a mysterious unhatched mantis egg, and sent willing Fire God Mantises to enter Pokémon.
• Lin Ke recruited over ten thousand Fire God Mantises and celebrated the addition with Xiao Zhi.
• Lin Ke left Mantis Island after recruiting more insect demon beasts, then collected the Snow-White Lynx and the other spirit beasts that had finished mining the shadowglow stone vein.
• Lin Ke set out to return home, intending to organize his gains and travel through the Great Wei Sacred Dynasty to see how his work and the new rites had taken root.

Lin Ke inspected the many spirit beasts and treasures he had brought back, then discovered that Pokémon was developing suitable habitats inside its space by absorbing spiritual qi. With tens of thousands of Fire God Mantises to feed, he called food the group’s most urgent problem and began considering how to supply them.

• Lin Ke gathered his spirit beasts and reviewed his haul, worrying about the huge number of Fire God Mantises he now had to feed.
• The Jade-Wave Three-Legged Frog reported that the Jade-Skin Moon-Chill Lotus was growing slowly, while the Snow-White Lynx described the snowy mountain habitat inside Pokémon.
• Lin Ke inspected Pokémon and found grassland, woodland, a snowy mountain, a saltwater lake, and a newly formed scarlet habitat for the Fire God Mantis Clan.
• Xiao Zhi told Lin Ke that Pokémon was nearing an advancement, which he expected to bring a surprise.
• Lin Ke warned the spirit beasts that hunting could not feed them and the mantises indefinitely, then began to explain their remaining option.

Lin Ke set his Spirit Beasts to search for edible crops and investigated how to grow more Jade-Skin Moon-Chill Lotuses. He considered moving lotus cultivation to North Pole Jueyi Domain and resolved to improve his strength before the Age of Great Contention.

• Lin Ke ordered a search of Mountain Island and Mantis Island for edible crops, while his Doppelganger arranged to buy seeds in Capital City.
• Lin Ke sent Green Python to lead the Spirit Beasts in searching for new crops across Cloud Dream Marsh.
• Lin Ke and the Jade-Wave Three-Legged Frog found that the lotus seeds were drawing too much cold energy from the Cold Pool to thrive.
• Lin Ke told the Jade-Wave Three-Legged Frog to search for other suitable pools and considered moving lotus cultivation to North Pole Jueyi Domain.
• Lin Ke decided to furnish his Cave Abode, pursue Literary Qi, and work toward becoming a Third Realm cultivator.

Lin Ke planned to harness Cloud Dream Marsh’s abundant water to build a hydroelectric generator, hoping to power metalworking and support a wider energy revolution. As he considered starting with a private project, the Golden Crow First Prince broke through to the Confucian Path’s Fourth Realm and formed his Bookman Spirit.

• Lin Ke made a desk and chair, then realized the Fire God Mantises could help smelt ore if he found a way to feed them.
• Lin Ke conceived of using electricity from coal or other sources to power industry and reduce ordinary people’s dependence on energy controlled by the upper classes.
• Lin Ke settled on hydroelectric power for Cloud Dream Marsh and considered building a small station privately before promoting a larger Imperial Court project.
• Literary qi surged over the mountain as the Golden Crow First Prince broke through to the Fourth Realm and formed his Bookman Spirit.

Jingang broke through to the bookman realm, then used his literary qi to transform Lin Ke’s cave abode on Great Wilderness Island into Rising Sun Mountain. He invited the curious demons of Cloud Dream Marsh to visit while Lin Ke returned to work on the hydroelectric power station.

• Jingang told Lin Ke he had reached the fourth realm in the Martial, Demon, and Confucian Paths, and Lin Ke congratulated him.
• Lin Ke explained his plans for generating electricity, and Jingang praised the idea as a potential road to becoming a Sage.
• Jingang followed Lin Ke to the cave abode and used literary qi and verse to reshape its foundation and build an outer shell.
• The demons of Cloud Dream Marsh sensed the surge of literary qi and investigated Great Wilderness Island.
• The Fire God Mantis King identified Jingang as Lin Ke’s path guardian, and Jingang invited the demons to visit and discuss the Dao.
• The Mountain Giant Banyan congratulated Jingang and asked when the demons could pay their respects.

Jingang completed his Confucian breakthrough on Great Wilderness Island and stood against hostile demons in Cloud Dream Marsh. He killed a catfish that defied him, while Lin Ke left the island and learned that the commotion was a fight.

• Jingang revealed that he had reached the Fourth Realm in the Confucian, Demon, and Martial Paths, and promised to fight to the death anyone who targeted Lin Ke.
• The Mountain Giant Banyan and Fire God Mantis King voiced support for Jingang and Lin Ke, while Jingang warned off hostile demons.
• Jingang struck a catfish with his Bookman Spirit after it taunted him, then killed it with a golden feather when it secretly vowed revenge.
• The demons fell silent or offered Jingang goodwill, and Jingang continued renovating the Cave Abode while conversing with them.
• Lin Ke looked up at the sound of thunder as he left the island, and the Water Dragon Turtle realized that a fight had taken place and the old catfish was dead.

Lin Ke explained the ways demons could condense intent to the Water Dragon Turtle, which had reached the threshold of advancing to the Third Realm. The turtle rejected studying human classics, but Lin Ke decided that all his contracted beasts would have to learn.

• The Water Dragon Turtle told Lin Ke it was nearing the Third Realm but did not know how to condense demonic thought.
• Lin Ke explained how intent worked and described the Confucian, Daoist, Buddhist, and demonic paths to forming it.
• Lin Ke offered to teach the Water Dragon Turtle to read so it could study the Hundred Schools of Thought, but the turtle admitted that it hated studying.
• The Water Dragon Turtle said it would rather let Lin Ke reach the Sage Realm while it enjoyed an easy life.
• Lin Ke ordered that all his contracted beasts would have to study, and the Water Dragon Turtle worried that the others would blame it for the new rule.

Lin Ke asked the Mountain Giant Banyan to help build a hydroelectric power station on Mountain Island, and his explanation of electricity helped the Banyan break through to the late Fourth Realm. As the Banyan began reshaping the island to build the station, a Fifth Realm Great Demon from Cloud Dream Marsh questioned him.

• Lin Ke reached Mountain Island with the Water Dragon Turtle and asked the Mountain Giant Banyan to help build a hydroelectric power station.
• Lin Ke explained electromagnetic induction and mechanical energy, and the Mountain Giant Banyan broke through to the late Fourth Realm.
• Lin Ke told the Water Dragon Turtle he would make his bonded beasts study, and the Banyan praised their good fortune.
• The Mountain Giant Banyan agreed to help Lin Ke build the power station and began reshaping the island.
• A Fifth Realm Great Demon from Cloud Dream Marsh asked the Mountain Giant Banyan what he was doing.

Lin Ke met Li Qing, an Azure Dragon serving in the Great Wei Sacred Dynasty, after Li Qing appeared in his true body upon recognizing him. Li Qing offered help with the Mountain Giant Banyan’s plans, leaving the Banyan to carry out Lin Ke’s request with support if needed.

• The Mountain Giant Banyan told Lin Ke that he intended to merge two islands and build a temporary palace.
• Li Qing sensed Lin Ke, abandoned his thought-incarnation, and crossed a void passage to greet him respectfully.
• Lin Ke remembered Li Qing from court and learned that he was an Eighth-Rank Ceremonial Guard in the War Department’s Riding Office.
• Li Qing lamented Cloud Dream Marsh’s lack of demon residents and edification experts, but Lin Ke explained that he could not provide aid on behalf of other departments.
• The Mountain Giant Banyan volunteered to handle Lin Ke’s request, and Li Qing told him to do it well and offered assistance if necessary.

Lin Ke had the Mountain Giant Banyan and Jingang build a vast dam between Mountain Island and Great Wilderness Island to test his idea for a hydroelectric power station. With the structure complete, Lin Ke led them to inspect it and begin working out how to generate electricity.

• The Mountain Giant Banyan moved Mountain Island toward Great Wilderness Island while Lin Ke and Li Qing watched.
• Jingang brought Great Wilderness Island closer, and the Mountain Giant Banyan shaped the earth, stone, and roots into a dam across the narrowing waters.
• Jingang inscribed protective Small Seal Script characters on the dam, turning it into a literary artifact.
• Lin Ke explained that the dam was only a test and approved the Mountain Giant Banyan's work.
• Lin Ke put away the Water Dragon Turtle and led Jingang and Li Qing toward the dam to work on its power-generating facilities.

Lin Ke planned to build a hydroelectric power station in the dam but needed magnetite and other materials. Li Qing agreed to lend his authority to a search party of Fire God Mantises, which Lin Ke sent out to find mineral deposits while avoiding needless conflict.

• Lin Ke inspected the dam and realized that building a hydroelectric power station would require waterwheels, electrical equipment, iron, rubber, and lodestone.
• Lin Ke considered which of his tamed beasts could help him build a force and discussed his need for magnetite with Li Qing and Jingang.
• Li Qing offered to have the island lords and domain lords search Cloud Dream Marsh, but Lin Ke declined and asked only for his approval to send out the Fire God Mantises.
• Li Qing coated the Fire God Mantises with the aura of his life-bound Dragon Ball, and Lin Ke ordered them to search for magnetite, iron, and other minerals while avoiding needless provocation.
• The Fire God Mantises flew off in every direction to begin their search.