Chapter Summaries

Lin Ke arrived at Great Wilderness University on its completion and registration day, while Ge Hong began the Dao Heir Trial with him. The crowded campus was ready to open, and Dean Wu joined Lin Ke for a tour.

• Lin Ke explained to Ge Hong that his Dao resided in his heart whether he used his original body or a doppelganger, and Ge Hong accepted his explanation.
• Ge Hong took Lin Ke away to begin the Dao Heir Trial as Lin Ke's Thousand Illusions Doppelganger arrived at Great Wilderness University.
• Lin Ke surveyed the completed campus and its crowds of visitors and applicants, many of whom hoped to gain useful connections by enrolling.
• Lin Ke prepared entrance assessments in mathematics and language, with a bonus subject called myriad phenomena, to select students for the university's first cohort.
• Dean Wu met Lin Ke, praised the university's orderly preparations, and asked him to show him around.

Lin Ke’s tour of Great Wilderness University was interrupted when his words rejecting rigid adherence to the past stirred Literary Qi and drew public attention. Libationer Liu confronted him over those statements, setting up a dispute about whether people should follow the methods of their predecessors.

• Lin Ke showed Dean Wu the newly built campus, and Dean Wu questioned why the university’s curriculum excluded the Four Books and Five Classics.
• Lin Ke declared that people need not be troubled by others’ words, imitate their ancestors, or fear changes in Heaven, and Literary Qi resonated across the campus.
• The declaration drew attention from visitors and scholars, and Lin Ke ended the tour as the crowd recognized him.
• Dean Wu warned Lin Ke that conservative Confucian scholars might oppose him, but Lin Ke said he was ready to expose and purge them.
• Former Libationer Liu appeared before the crowd and challenged Lin Ke to explain why people should abandon the methods of their predecessors.

Lin Ke challenged Libationer Liu’s attack on reform and faced a group of Sage Sons who invoked their trial to keep Dean Wu from intervening. After the black-robed leader attacked him, Lin Ke unleashed several verses, and the Sage Sons prepared to counter as one of them warned they could not block his move.

• Libationer Liu denounced Lin Ke’s rejection of ancestral laws, but Lin Ke used Word-Bound Law to counter his influence and argued that the Sages’ laws held both essence and dross.
• A black-robed young man attacked Lin Ke with a chess-path technique, and Lin Ke blocked the phantom palm with the power of reform.
• A fifth-realm Great Confucian stopped Dean Wu from intervening, explaining that the Sage Emperor’s decree protected Sage Sons during their trials.
• Lin Ke challenged the Sage Sons over whether their trial allowed them to commit crimes and insult the Sage Emperor, and the black-robed leader accused him of disrespect.
• Lin Ke rapidly recited several verses and spent half his power of reform as the Sage Sons activated techniques to contain him.
• A young man holding the Bronze Mirror warned the others that they could not block Lin Ke’s move and told them to retreat.

Lin Ke overwhelmed several Sage Domain disciples before Dongfang Gu’s guardian intervened and drove him back. As Dean Wu prepared to confront the elder, Lin Ke stepped forward and challenged the Sage Domain to make an enemy of him.

• Lin Ke struck Yu Kong and a woman from the Eclectic School, then attacked Dongfang Gu but failed to break through the Bronze Mirror’s protection.
• Dongfang Gu called on the others to attack, but Lin Ke’s phantom house shielded him as he unleashed the Chopping Wood Method against the mirror.
• Dongfang Gu’s guardian intercepted Lin Ke’s attack and sent him flying backward, prompting Dean Wu to confront the elder for breaking the rule against elders intervening.
• Lin Ke stopped Dean Wu from escalating the conflict and asked the elder whether the Sage Domain truly wanted to make an enemy of him.

Lin Ke confronted the Dongfang Sage Domain’s representatives and called Minister Gui of the Hundred Schools Department to enforce the law. Minister Gui asserted authority over the Sage Domains, but Dongfang Gu challenged Lin Ke to compete, leaving their dispute unresolved.

• Lin Ke rejected the old man’s accusations, demanded the Capital Prefecture Left Secretary’s men arrest the Sage Domain visitors, and asked whether he could kill them if they were beyond the inspectors’ jurisdiction.
• Lin Ke summoned Minister Gui, who arrived and warned the Dongfang Sage Domain against making an enemy of Lin Ke and the Imperial Court.
• The old man denied that the Dongfang Sage Domain intended to rebel, while Minister Gui reminded him that Sage Domains fell under the Hundred Schools Department’s jurisdiction.
• Dongfang Gu challenged Lin Ke to compete, hoping to salvage the Sage Domain’s reputation after its representatives had been defeated.

Lin Ke faced challenges from the Sage Domain and Qi Ye, declaring that he would not yield to their attempts to undermine his confidence. He left the gathering proclaiming his intent to crush every enemy beneath heaven.

• The Sage Domain youths challenged Lin Ke to compete, while Minister Gui drove their guardian away after he refused to face him.
• Qi Ye returned from the Northern Frontier and urged Lin Ke to admit that he was inferior in some respects.
• Lin Ke explained that he respected his teachers and ancestors but argued that Great Wei needed innovation as well as inheritance.
• Lin Ke clarified that he considered himself inferior to great sages, not to the Sage Domain youths, and asserted his confidence in his generation.
• Dongfang Gu and others challenged Lin Ke across several disciplines, and Lin Ke accused them of seeking to destroy his Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist hearts before declaring he would crush every enemy beneath heaven.

Lin Ke challenged a guqin prodigy from the Sage Domain after she questioned his musical ability. He criticized her performance of Guangling Melody, and the contest remained unresolved.

• Lin Ke dismissed the Sage Domain group and agreed to face the tall woman in a guqin contest.
• The tall woman played Guangling Melody and explained its story of Nie Zheng avenging his father by assassinating the King of Han.
• Lin Ke praised the guqin and score but called the woman's performance inferior.
• Lin Ke argued that her playing turned the heroic score into a petty tale and lacked the vigor and vision it demanded.

After Lin Ke defended his mother from a contemptuous zither player, he performed a moving new piece inspired by her hardship. The performance ended with a mysterious, ethereal woman appearing in the sky.

• Lin Ke’s appraisal of the woman’s music swayed the crowd, and she insulted his mother, prompting him to slap her while Minister Gui restrained the onlookers.
• Lin Ke warned the woman against further disrespect and threatened to hold her Sage Domain accountable.
• Lin Ke played his original guqin piece, depicting a proud plum tree and his mother’s devoted care for him.
• The woman asked the piece’s name, and Lin Ke called it “Plum Blossom.”
• A mysterious woman in magnificent robes appeared high in the sky.

Lin Ke summoned his mother’s soul with his performance of “Plum Blossom,” then defeated the Sage Domain’s qin prodigy, who tried to kill herself before Minister Gui healed her. Yu Kong challenged Lin Ke to compete in the Novel Path, with the loser forbidden from writing again.

• Lin Ke played “Plum Blossom” and briefly summoned a spectral image of Lady Lin, who smiled at him before disappearing.
• Minister Gui asked about the piece, and Lin Ke said he had composed it after observing the plum tree his mother planted.
• A descendant of Yu Boya tried to slit her throat after Lin Ke defeated her, but Minister Gui healed her and warned her not to try again.
• Lin Ke asked Dongfang Gu what other paths he wished to challenge him in.
• Yu Kong challenged Lin Ke to compete in the Novel Path, with the loser swearing never to write another book.

Lin Ke agreed to compete with Yu Kong in writing a short story, with the gathered spectators voting on the winner. After Lin Ke finished writing almost instantly, Yu Kong completed a work infused with literary qi and accused Lin Ke of humiliating him.

• Lin Ke asked Yu Kong to define the stakes, and Yu Kong offered his Red Jade Brush if he lost.
• Lin Ke and Yu Kong agreed to write short stories on the spot and let the gathered spectators judge them.
• Yu Kong began composing with his Red Jade Brush while Lin Ke said he had already had an idea and started writing.
• Lin Ke finished almost immediately, leaving the onlookers baffled and Minister Gui visibly stunned by his work.
• Yu Kong completed his story, cast the pages into the air, and angrily accused Lin Ke of humiliating him.

Lin Ke silenced Yu Kong’s challenge with a one-sentence novel that sparked the crowd’s imagination. He argued that the Novel Path belonged to everyone and that any story, regardless of its length or author, could become a novel.

• Yu Kong demanded to see Lin Ke’s writing, and Lin Ke revealed the sentence, “The last living being sat at home when a knock suddenly sounded at the door.”
• The young people debated the sentence’s many possible meanings while Yu Kong’s longer novel was largely ignored.
• Minister Gui praised Lin Ke for showing that novels could tell stories in both expansive vernacular and extremely few words.
• Lin Ke declared that anyone, from officials to ordinary workers, could write novels from their own experiences.

Lin Ke defended the value of different intellectual paths and challenged Qi Ye’s claim that only the Confucian Path could guide the future. His opponents then questioned whether he was qualified to teach at Great Wilderness University and demanded that he write a classic children’s primer.

• After Lin Ke defeated Yu Kong, Minister Gui declared that Lin Ke had won, and Yu Kong reluctantly handed over his Red Jade Brush.
• Lin Ke asked Qi Ye whether their contest still mattered now that Servile Status and the Noble Registry had been abolished, and argued that no single path could represent the needs of the world.
• Qi Ye, Libationer Liu, and Dongfang Gu criticized Lin Ke’s university for neglecting the classics and warned that his teaching could undermine the Sacred Dynasty and alarm parents.
• Dean Wu and Minister Gui defended Lin Ke’s right to teach, but Qi Ye insisted that Lin Ke prove his literary talent by composing a primer like the Thousand Character Classic.
• Minister Gui reacted furiously when Qi Ye and the others demanded that Lin Ke produce a new classic primer.

Lin Ke defended his educational reforms against Qi Ye’s objections and wrote two primers to demonstrate his ability. The chapter ended as Minister Gui began reading the first primer aloud.

• Minister Gui argued that Lin Ke’s university textbooks made it unreasonable to demand that he also write primers, while Qi Ye questioned Lin Ke’s teaching approach.
• Lin Ke recalled the university curriculum he had developed, with Chinese language, mathematics, and science as required subjects and a wide range of electives.
• Qi Ye warned that Lin Ke’s reforms could destroy a thousand years of rites and music, and Lin Ke answered that he would write two primers.
• Yu Kong returned the Red Jade Brush he had wagered and lost to Lin Ke.
• Lin Ke wrote two pieces that stirred literary qi, and Minister Gui began reading the first: “At birth, human nature is innately good...”

Lin Ke revealed the Three Character Classic and Hundred Family Surnames as works of the Sacred Path of Edification, astonishing the watching scholars and officials. After agreeing to send their original manuscripts to the Children's Education Bureau, he challenged Qi Ye to reconsider the Confucianism he followed.

• Lin Ke's Three Character Classic and Hundred Family Surnames manifested as works of the Sacred Path of Edification, and Yu Kong and Dongfang Gu were stunned.
• Minister Gui and Dean Wu praised Lin Ke for teaching children that human nature was good, while Lin Ke reflected on the primers' role in education.
• Minister Xun asked Lin Ke to donate the manuscripts to the Children's Education Bureau, and Lin Ke agreed to send them there.
• Lin Ke raised a thought of righteousness into the air, shocking the watching mighty figures with his ability despite not having reached the Third Realm.
• Lin Ke accused Qi Ye of mistaking slavish, empty Confucianism for the Way of Confucius and Mencius, then questioned whether Qi Ye truly believed in his Sacred Path.

Lin Ke explained that the university should question established doctrines and explore the unknown, then condemned the Sage Domain prodigies for pursuing fame instead of self-improvement. He declared that Sage Domain visitors would need certification to enter Great Wei and that lawbreakers who failed assessment would be barred from the Divine Land.

• Lin Ke described how his study of living things had led him to establish biology as a new discipline.
• Lin Ke posed questions about nature and urged people to investigate rather than accept the Hundred Schools' explanations without doubt.
• Lin Ke told the university community to explore the unknown and open new paths for future generations.
• Lin Ke accused the Sage Domain prodigies of envy, arrogance, and seeking fame instead of improving themselves.
• Lin Ke said he would report their misconduct to the Sage Emperor and require Sage Domain visitors to pass an examination before entering Great Wei.

Lin Ke drove Dongfang Gu and the Sage Domain group from Great Wilderness University after condemning their unequal treatment under Great Wei law and warning that the Imperial Guard could intervene. He then challenged Qi Ye and Libationer Liu’s insistence on following ancient teachings, but they remained convinced that Lin Ke was on the wrong path.

• Lin Ke condemned Dongfang Gu’s Path Guardian for blocking him from retaliating and threatened to kill Sage Sons or Daughters protected by Path Guardians.
• Minister Gui revealed that the Sage Emperor had personally appointed Lin Ke head of the Great Wilderness Council, and Lin Ke warned the group that the Imperial Guard could be summoned if the capital was threatened.
• Lin Ke ordered Dongfang Gu, Yu Kong, and their companions to leave Great Wilderness University, and the group departed after losing a Red Jade Brush and damaging their reputations.
• Lin Ke told Qi Ye that their ancestors need not serve as models, while Qi Ye and Libationer Liu criticized his research and defended following the sages’ teachings.
• Lin Ke told Qi Ye to leave, believing that fear of chaos and attachment to old rites had made reform impossible.

Lin Ke had Libationer Liu taken in for questioning, then practiced the Azure Sun Blazing Flame Sword Art on Great Wilderness Island and gained the ability to release Sword Qi. When Green Python reported that the lodestone had been gathered, Lin Ke headed to the shore to begin the next step in building a hydroelectric power station.

• Qi Ye left after promising to offer Lin Ke a worthwhile stake before their match.
• Lin Ke had the Inspectors escort Libationer Liu to the yamen for questioning, then invited Minister Gui to tour the campus.
• Lin Ke practiced the Azure Sun Blazing Flame Sword Art with Jingang and released Sword Qi from Storm.
• Green Python told Lin Ke that the lodestone had been gathered, and Lin Ke hurried to the shore with him.

Lin Ke supervised the Fire God Mantises as they built a hydroelectric power station at the dam and switched it on, producing electricity and heat. The station worked, though its Heating Rod could not yet provide enough heat for the hungry mantises.

• Lin Ke traveled to Mountain Island with Green Python and promised to explain the Encyclopedia of Biology to help it advance in the Wood Refining Method.
• Lin Ke showed the Fire God Mantises a 3D design and assigned teams to assemble the hydroelectric equipment.
• The Fire God Mantises installed the equipment at the dam and connected it with forged iron wire, while Lin Ke planned to rely on literary qi shields for protection.
• Lin Ke opened the water-flow control lever, and the turbine generated electricity.
• The Fire God Mantises rushed to absorb heat from the Heating Rod, quickly consuming its initial warmth, and Lin Ke confirmed that the Cloud Dream Marsh Fire God Hydroelectric Power Station was operating successfully.

After the Mountain Giant Banyan told Lin Ke that Lin Xuanji was secretly exchanging information and supplies from beneath Cloud Dream Marsh, Lin Ke resolved to investigate the prison visits. He then learned that a fierce demon was slaughtering villages in the Eastern Sea border region while the Punishments Department suppressed reports, and set out to deal with it and expose the deaths.

• The Mountain Giant Banyan told Lin Ke that Lin Xuanji had been trading information and supplies with the outside world while imprisoned beneath Cloud Dream Marsh.
• Lin Ke suspected Lin Xuanji’s visitors were connected to the disappearances of his relatives and planned to check the prison records.
• The Mountain Giant Banyan reported that a fierce demon had slaughtered dozens of border villages and that the Punishments Department was refusing to send personnel.
• Lin Ke agreed to investigate and kill the demon, intending to use his newspaper to expose the suppressed news.
• Lin Ke asked the Mountain Giant Banyan to look after the hydroelectric power station while he went to the Eastern Sea with Brother Jingang.

Lin Ke traveled with the Water Dragon Turtle to deal with vicious demons and unexpectedly broke through to the third realm while resting on the turtle’s shell. He began nurturing his Tongue-and-Sword Combat weapons and taught the Water Dragon Turtle a primer on paired lines as aquatic creatures sensed the literary qi.

• The Mountain Giant Banyan asked Lin Ke to deal with vicious demons, and Lin Ke set out with the Water Dragon Turtle as his mount.
• Lin Ke relaxed on the Water Dragon Turtle’s shell while traveling through Great Wei.
• At night, Lin Ke and his three doppelgangers sensed that he had broken through from the second realm to the third realm.
• Lin Ke nurtured the Imperially Sanctioned Staff and Storm with literary qi for Tongue-and-Sword Combat.
• The Water Dragon Turtle asked Lin Ke to teach him poetry, so Lin Ke recited paired lines from Li Weng's Rhyming Pairs.
• Nearby aquatic creatures sensed the shifts in literary qi as the Water Dragon Turtle listened to Lin Ke expound the Way.