Heavenly Palace).
After reading the bamboo slips, the woman stood up and walked over, looking down at him. "From Gravel Village? A fisherman?"
"Yes."
"You have no prior experience with spiritual cultivation?"
Chen Laoshi took a deep breath and said nervously, "Yes."
Can you read?
"... I can't read."
The woman was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled, "What a coincidence, I can't read either. When I came in, I couldn't even write my own name."
She extended her right hand, palm open, and a talisman slowly appeared. "My name is Widow Shen. Before I came here, I washed clothes for wealthy families. Now, Early Golden Core, and the deputy commander of Outpost No. 17."
Chen Laoshi's eyes widened.
"Before the Heavenly Net, everyone is equal." Widow Shen withdrew her hand. "As long as you dare to fight, as long as you don't die, you can climb up. If you die, you can continue in the next life—provided you accumulate enough merit for reincarnation."
She pointed to the axe on the bedside table. "The fact that Heavenly Net gave you this means you have good potential; don't waste it."
After saying that, she turned and went out, but stopped at the door. "Tomorrow at dawn, there's a clearing mission at the north gate of the stronghold. Whether you come or not is up to you."
The door closed.
Chen Laoshi lay on the bed, staring at the rough stone ceiling, the words echoing in his ears:
"Everyone is equal before the Heavenly Net."
He suddenly remembered listening to a storyteller at the village entrance when he was a child. The storyteller said that in ancient times, spiritual practitioners relied on talent, birth, and opportunity. Those without talent would remain ordinary people for life; those from poor families would have to kowtow to the scions of noble families; and those without enough opportunity could not outlast someone with a single elixir even after three hundred years of arduous cultivation.
But things are different now.
Now we have Heavenly Net.
He gripped the dulled axe tightly and closed his eyes.
He will go tomorrow at 5:00 AM.
Chen Laoshi survived the mopping-up operation.
Not only did they survive, they also killed a Void Beast.
It was a monster that looked like a wolf but had six legs, and its body was emitting black smoke. At that time, their team of ten people encountered a small horde of beasts. The old cultivator leading the team shouted "Scatter!" and then everyone went about their own business.
Chen Laoshi was slow and was caught up by the six-legged wolf.
He instinctively raised the axe, closed his eyes, and chopped down hard.
The moment the axe pierced the monster's neck, he felt a surge of heat flow into his body through the axe handle—it was a "temporary blessing" transmitted by the Heavenly Net at that moment, calculating in real time based on the battle situation, injecting a trace of Divine Power into his muscles at the most critical instant.
The monster fell.
Chen Laoshi knelt on the ground, panting heavily.
Then a warmth spread across his brow:
"Killed a low-level Void Beast, Merit +3. Current Merit: 2 (after deducting the pre-paid debt for Body Reconstruction)."
It's only 2 o'clock?
He remembered that Widow Shen had said that it would cost 1000 points to reshape a physical body.
But he quickly changed his mind, because the second monster was already pouncing.
That evening, of the ten people in the group, seven returned. The other three remained forever in that twisted wilderness, their merits insufficient to rebuild their lives.
When Chen Laoshi returned to the stronghold, he was covered in blood, indistinguishable between his own and the monster's. He sat against the city wall for a long time, watching the sunset on the horizon—this world also had sunsets, exactly the same as outside.
The next day, there was another mission.
The third day, the fourth day, the fifth day...
Three months later, Chen Laoshi's merit points had increased to 847.
He had lost count of how many Void Beast he had killed, and how many times he had nearly died. He only remembered that every time he held that axe, a warm power would appear at the most crucial moment, allowing him to be a fraction faster, a fraction more accurate, and a fraction more ruthless.
Unbeknownst to him, the white-robed man had been watching him for three whole months in front of the enormous golden light screen in the Heavenly Court.
"Compatibility is 97%..." the white-robed man murmured. "With each battle, the efficiency of the Heavenly Net's enhancement for him is increasing. It's now at 99%. If this continues, this kid will become one with the ' Primordial Unity Qi ' axe."
Someone nearby leaned over for a look. "Should we report this?"
The man in white hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. "Wait a little longer. Let's see how far he can go."
The seventeenth month.
Chen Laoshi's merit points have exceeded 5,000.
He used 3,000 of his points to exchange for a "secret manual initiation"—not an ordinary cultivation technique, but the intermediate level of "Primordial Unity Qi". At the moment of initiation, he felt as if an invisible hand was pressing down on the top of his head, and countless pieces of information, insights, and combat experience flooded into his mind like a tide.
This process lasted only the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
But when the golden light faded, he opened his eyes and found that he had successfully advanced to the Late Spirit Refining.
Widow Shen stood to the side, arms crossed, watching him with a complicated expression.
"It took me a year and a half to accumulate merit points before I could reach the Late Spirit Refining initiation," she said. "You also took seventeen months?"
Chen Laoshi nodded.
Widow Shen was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled, "Alright. There's a big mission tomorrow: to establish a new stronghold. The commander said you'll lead a team."
Chen Laoshi was stunned. "Me? I'm only in the Late Spirit Refining..."
"Here, cultivation level doesn't matter, merit is," Widow Shen interrupted him. "Everyone can see how you got your five thousand merit points. You killed that Golden Core stage Void Beast, didn't you?"
Chen Laoshi opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word.
Three months ago, they encountered a Void Beast at the Golden Core stage. The old cultivator leading the team was severely injured, and the entire team was on the verge of annihilation. For some unknown reason, Chen Laoshi suddenly rushed forward and chopped at it seventeen times with his dulled axe.
When the final axe blow pierced the monster's head, he was completely covered in blood.
But he survived, and the monster died.
"That monster's merit points were two thousand," Widow Shen said. "You got eighteen thousand of them all. Why? Because you dared to charge, because you were capable of charging, and because the Heavenly Net was on your side when you charged."
She took a step closer, staring into his eyes. "Chen Laoshi, do you know that Heavenly Net has chosen you?"
Chen Laoshi stared blankly at her.
"For the past ten months or so, in every battle you've fought, your buff efficiency has been over 90%. Do you know what that means? It means that Heavenly Net has invested ten times more resources in you than in anyone else. You think all five thousand merit points you have are from your own kills? Half of them were forced upon you by Heavenly Net —it wants you to live, wants you to grow, wants you to reach higher levels."
"Why?" Chen Laoshi.
Widow Shen shook her head. "I don't know. Perhaps it's your special Fate, perhaps your physique is perfectly compatible with a certain martial arts technique, or perhaps it's just a whim of some important person. But whatever the reason, since the Heavenly Net has chosen you, you shouldn't let it down."
She turned and walked towards the door, waving goodbye with her back to him.
"Take your axe with you tomorrow. Don't die."
The first hundred years of the Green Grain Realm Era.
Chen Laoshi stood atop a towering city wall, looking down at the land where bloody battles had once raged.
The town is called "Laoshi City".
He built it himself.
Over the course of a hundred years, he progressed from Spirit Refining to Golden Core, and from Golden Core to the Dharma Realm. He led his team to establish seventeen new strongholds, personally slaying over two hundred Golden Core Void Beast and three Dharma Realm level beasts. His merits accumulated to three million seven hundred thousand points, ranking him nine hundred and forty-seventh on the Expansion War Merit Rankings this battlefield.
Nine hundred and forty-seven.
It may not sound like a high number, but you should know that this list includes a total of twelve million people.
He was no longer the illiterate fisherman. The Heavenly Net's empowerment not only gave him cultivation but also knowledge. He could now read and write, set up formations, forge weapons, and even independently command a battle involving tens of thousands of people.
But what he was most used to holding was that axe.
The axe was no longer the dull iron axe of yesteryear. He used his merits to exchange for the best materials and commissioned the best weapon refiners to reforge it seventeen times. Now, the axe was entirely black, with faint golden runes flowing along its blade, and it could tear through space when swung.
But every time he held it, he could recall the feeling of that warm power flowing into his arm during his first battle.
"Chen Laoshi."
A familiar voice came from behind him. He turned around and saw Widow Shen —no, he should call her Commander Shen now—walking up the city wall. She was one of the few among the old people from a hundred years ago who had survived to this day. She was in the Mid Dharma Realm, Tier One higher than him.
"We've received our mission." She handed over a jade slip. "The Heavenly Court wants us to open up the last area of the Green Grain Realm —that place shrouded in blood-red skies."
Chen Laoshi took the jade slip and remained silent for a moment. "The Void Beast inside are said to have reached the Manifestation Realm."
"Have."
"Our team, the highest Dharma Realm."
"Yes."
"The casualty rate will be very high."
"Meeting."
Chen Laoshi raised his head and looked at the blood-red sky. For a hundred years, that sky had never changed, always hanging on the edge of the world, like a wound that would never heal.
He recalled what the one-armed middle-aged man had said when he first arrived, "That was a thought of His Majesty the Heavenly Emperor."
"Are you going or not?" Widow Shen asked.
Chen Laoshi smiled.
"Go."
The Spirit Saint Domain, the 3200th year of the Heavenly Court Calendar.
Outside the Gravel Village of the East Sea, the pale golden crack still hangs in the sky.
Under the old locust tree at the village entrance, an elderly woman with white hair sat on a stone stool, gazing blankly at the sea. Her eyesight was failing, and she could no longer see things in the distance, but she still sat here every day, from sunrise to sunset.
It's been three years.
The day my son left was also a sunny day like this.
"Grandma, let's go home, it's getting dark."
A young man came over and tried to help her up. The old woman waved her hand, stood up shakily, and was about to leave when she suddenly stopped.
Where the sea meets the sky, a purple light is gathering.
The old woman rubbed her eyes. She couldn't see clearly, but she remembered the light.
Three years ago, it was this very light that took her son away.
The purple light grew brighter and closer, finally landing on the beach at the village entrance. As the light faded, a tall figure stood there, holding a massive, jet-black axe.
The old woman stared blankly at the figure.
The man approached step by step, until he stood before her and knelt down with a thud.
"Mother."
The old woman reached out her trembling hand and touched a rough face. There were warm tears on the face.
"My son..." her voice trembled violently, "How have you aged so much..."
Chen Laoshi knelt on the ground, buried his head in his mother's arms, and cried like a child.
Three hundred years.
He truly lived for three hundred years in that world. He witnessed too much life and death, slew too many monsters, and built too many cities. He thought he had forgotten how to cry.
But kneeling before his mother at this moment, he was still that sixteen-year-old boy from the fishing village.
"Mother, I'm back."
The old woman cupped his face in her hands, looked at him again and again, and smiled, "It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back..."
In the distance, the families of the young people who had walked together back then also flocked to the beach. Some were crying, some were laughing, and some were kneeling on the ground, kowtowing to the sky.
Of the thirty-seven people, twenty-one returned.
Those sixteen remained forever in the Green Grain Realm.
But they will come back to life there—as long as their families are alive, as long as people remember them, as long as Heavenly Court exists, as long as the Heavenly Net exists, their merits will remain. One day, they will accumulate enough merit to be reborn and return to this world.
Chen Laoshi helped his mother walk home, and when they passed the village entrance, they suddenly stopped.
He looked up at the sky, where the pale golden crack still stretched across the horizon, but something seemed to have appeared at the edge of the crack.
It is the light of the Heavenly Net.
That invisible giant net has already covered the entire Spirit Saint Domain. Every move, every heartbeat, every breath of every living being is under the watchful eye of the Heavenly Net. But it is not a constraint, but a protection—a protection for mortals like him, giving them the opportunity to ascend to the path of immortality.
"Where's Dad?" he asked.
His mother paused, then said softly, "He left last year. Before he left, he kept mentioning you, saying that if you ever came back, don't forget to offer him some incense."
Chen Laoshi remained silent for a long time before nodding.
That night, he knelt before his father's grave all night.
As dawn broke, he stood up and gazed at the golden crack in the east. A slight heat rose between his brows, and a message arrived:
"Chen Laoshi, with 3.7 million merit points, ranks in War Zone No. 108 and is ranked 947th on the Expansion War Merit Rankings. The Heavenly Court hereby bestows upon him the Green Grain Realm Warden, granting him a residence outside the Heavenly Gate and an annual stipend of 12,000 spirit coins. Do you accept?"
Chen Laoshi remained silent for a moment, then asked himself:
"After accepting, can I come back?"
Heavenly Net did not respond.
But a moment later, another message came:
"A fourth-rank garrison commander is entitled to ten days of leave every hundred years. Travel between the Heavenly Court and the mortal realm requires the commander to pay for the teleportation fee, which is eight hundred spirit coins per trip."
Chen Laoshi smiled.
He turned his head and glanced at the dilapidated thatched hut behind him, then at the white-haired old woman sitting at the door, looking at him.
"Mother, shall I take you to Heavenly Court for a few days?"
The old woman paused, then laughed, "What use is an old woman like me going to Heavenly Court..."
"Yes, I can." Chen Laoshi walked back and squatted down in front of her. "Mother, your son is Divine Immortal now."
Outside the Heavenly Court, in front of the newly built garrison commander's residence, Chen Laoshi stood at the door, supporting his mother, lost in thought.
My mother had changed into a new dress, given to her by the Heavenly Court —the fabric was as soft as water, and the color as pure as clouds. She had never worn such fine clothes in her life, and she touched them again and again along the way, beaming from ear to ear.
"Son, is this really ours?"
"Yes."
"It's so big? Just the two of us living here?"
"Yes."
"That... that would cost so much silver..."
Chen Laoshi smiled and shook his head, "Mother, the Heavenly Court doesn't use silver, it uses spirit coins. Your son now earns twelve thousand spirit coins a year, enough to buy a hundred courtyards like this."
The mother opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say.
In the distance, the sea of clouds surged, and the golden-roofed palace appeared and disappeared. Flying boats shuttled back and forth, carrying all kinds of immortals—some wearing armor, just returning from the battlefield; some carrying jade slips, hurrying to some place; some simply standing with their hands behind their backs, looking at the mortal world below that was getting farther and farther away.
Chen Laoshi helped his mother into the mansion, through the front yard, and into the main hall.
In the center of the main hall, there is a memorial tablet.
It belongs to his father.
The mother stood before the memorial tablet, gazing at it for a long time, before softly saying, "Old man, our son has made something of himself."
Chen Laoshi knelt down and kowtowed three times.
As he got up, he heard a commotion outside. Going out, he saw several neighbors—those who had come from Gravel Village with him years ago and had all been allocated nearby mansions. They stood at the door, smiling and waving at him.
"Chen Laoshi, come out for a drink!"
"The Sun family slaughtered a spirit beast today; the meat smelled delicious!"
"Hurry, hurry, we've been waiting for you!"
Chen Laoshi stood on the threshold, looking at these familiar faces. A hundred years had passed—three years for them, a hundred years for him—but these faces hadn't changed, the laughter hadn't changed, and even the tone of their curses hadn't changed.
He suddenly remembered what the middle-aged man had said:
"Here, don't trust your eyes, trust the Heavenly Net."
No.
He thought to himself.
Here, we believe in the Heavenly Net, and we also believe in people.
He strode across the threshold and walked toward the group of old friends.
Behind him, the mansion gates slowly closed.
Above, the light of the Heavenly Net flowed silently, covering this newly born immortal realm.
In the distance, the pale golden crack still hangs in the sky—a trace of the Heavenly Emperor's battle years ago, and the starting point of this era.
The Spirit Saint Domain, the Heavenly Court Era, has just begun.