Chapter 1

The Hongshi Upper Realm was vast and boundless, without a true core capital in any meaningful sense.

The Hongshi Emperor resided at the axis of the world. The entire Celestial Court's officials used His power as the core, connecting myriad realms, managing numerous worlds. In a sense, the entire Celestial Court's ruling structure was rooted in Him alone.

But that was how it should be—after all, who but Him could manage such a vast world?

A corner of the Hongshi Upper Realm, the Taihe Void Port.

According to the seasonal rotation chart, this area should be in winter.

However, recently, with the arrival of several Yang God realm immortals, the temperature had risen. The thin layer of ice on the ground had melted, and the gaps in the bricks were filled with damp moisture. Even puddles could be seen on the roads, half-frozen, and residents might even slip and fall.

Although it seemed like an ordinary winter scene, in the Hongshi Upper Realm, it was ironclad proof that the local Dragon King was not doing his job and was not paying attention to the people's needs.

When the first resident fell because of the thin ice and water, splashing himself, his crime was already set. When monthly merits were calculated, he would likely be reprimanded, even stripped of some cultivation, and severely warned.

Even a frontier void port like this had many residents, and where there were residents, there was a quarterly assessment every three months.

As the sun hung high, many eligible scholars went out, but the strange thing was that the Hongshi Upper Realm was clearly a high-spiritual realm filled with spiritual energy, like a fairyland, but these scholars were all mortals, without any spiritual energy fluctuations.

If that were the case, it wouldn't be so strange, but what was truly strange was that these scholars almost all had restrained divine light and bright eyes, indicating that their cultivation realm was already very high, at least at the level where their Yin Souls could leave their bodies, but because they didn't possess spiritual energy, they couldn't manifest supernatural powers.

This was the norm in the Hongshi Upper Realm.

In this realm, cultivation required qualifications, and qualifications required exams. Success was qualification, and grades were cultivation.

In other worlds, people, as parents, didn't need to pass exams... But in the Hongshi Upper Realm, not only was an exam required before giving birth, but even cultivation was the same. Without qualifications, even spiritual energy would be locked.

What if an ordinary person obtained a powerful cultivation method from another world? Without proving their worth, they couldn't cultivate at all, unless they could arm-wrestle with a He Dao (Dao Harmonization) expert over their world's control of the Great Dao; otherwise, forget about it.

Commoners lived in the Upper Realm, naturally imbued with spiritual energy in their bodies, and with the protection of the Realm-Encompassing Array, everyone could live to three hundred years. Even without passing exams, they could live a stable life.

If they passed the Tong Sheng (Children Scholars) qualification, they could draw spiritual energy into their bodies, extend their lifespan, and possess considerable mystical abilities; after obtaining the Sheng Yuan (Student Member) status, they could study spells, recite Daoist scriptures, learn how to interact with ordinary people, and how to protect an area.

Sheng Yuan, also known as Xiucai (Cultivated Talents), were actually already quite rare. To have this status meant that at least their morality and conduct had been tested, and they had passed trials in practical matters. Even if they couldn't advance further in the future, they could apply to be Di Zhi (Earth Officials), leading and protecting an area, and might even have opportunities for promotion in the future.

But if one advanced from Sheng Yuan, becoming a Juren (Recommended Man) in the assessments of various states, then they could be considered to have leaped through the Dragon Gate.

In the Hongshi Upper Realm, one first cultivated the Dao, then cultivated Truth.

Whether Tong Sheng or Sheng Yuan, they had to recite scriptures and precious texts on weekdays, learning various kinds of transcendent knowledge and management skills. Although they didn't have spiritual energy in their bodies, they had their own realm. When they had qualifications, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was allowed into their bodies, and they could quickly advance to the corresponding realm, becoming transcendent beings sufficient to govern an area, thus becoming True from Dao.

But Juren were different—once one became a Juren, they would naturally possess supernatural powers, and supernatural powers naturally differed from person to person. Even if one passed the exam and became a Juren, becoming a supernatural power user, this was just the beginning.

Afterward, they had to continue to take exams to determine the Juren's supernatural power potential and specific effects, and then be assigned to various positions in the Celestial Court to perform official work.

The Dragon Kings, Di Zhi, and Star Officials of various places were mostly Celestial Court Juren. Most of them were in the assessment period, and only after passing the assessment were they qualified to go to the vicinity of the world axis, come before the Hongshi Emperor, and participate in the Palace Examination.

Just as Yin Gods needed nine levels of lightning tribulation to become Yang Gods, only those Juren who had passed multiple tests and were at the peak of their strength had the qualification to be tested under the Emperor's gaze, thus becoming Jinshi (Presented Scholars), attaining Yang God status, and enjoying immortality, existing with the world.

This was the end of merit—only at this stage would the spiritual energy of the entire Hongshi Upper Realm, and all the worlds spread with the Hongshi Emperor's Dao, be fully open to these officials.

A Yang God could govern a small world and planet, becoming the lord of the land, a regional grandee. Their territory was their trial. Whoever could cultivate their world well and stably would have the means to purify themselves with the merits of their world, transforming from Yang God to Pure Yang, completely immortal and ascending to the heavens.

In short, if one didn't have enough knowledge or good morals, they wouldn't be allowed to guide spiritual energy to cultivate.

If one wanted to become strong, they had to pass exams, learn how to interact with ordinary people with the status of a strong person, and had to be given a five-star rating by others to get extra spiritual energy for cultivation.

Only by doing a good job, making all beings happy and agreeing, could one's cultivation improve, or at least maintain it. But if one made the residents under them feel dissatisfied and in pain, their cultivation would instead be weakened, or even stripped of citizenship and executed before being reincarnated—at the same time, if ordinary people maliciously reported immortals and gods, maliciously giving bad reviews, and the Hongshi Emperor personally verified that they were lying, they would also be executed.

Honesty was the cornerstone of a civilization.

Lying, malicious reporting, not verifying or thinking, committing crimes and doing evil on impulse, would all receive corresponding retribution.

From Hunyuan Wuji (Primordial Limitless) down to Pure Yang, everyone had to consider whether their power was beneficial to all beings and the world.

But even Pure Yang was not Hunyuan Wuji, let alone the He Dao realm where the Emperor resided...

The Hongshi Emperor was always lonely.

Walking through the port, the black-haired man walked as usual, and the surrounding pedestrians and students ignored him.

Taihe Void Port was one of the thousands of large military void ports in the Hongshi Upper Realm. Most of those who settled here were military family members and descendants, and as soldiers, they naturally had cultivation, so these areas were instead the most enthusiastic areas for learning.

In just the residential area where the man was walking, there were more than ten academies, and hundreds of children aged seven or eight were going to school together on the road. At this age, they needed to learn the most basic knowledge of spiritual energy and some principles of dealing with people, as well as cultivating relevant learning methods, laying a good foundation, and after they reached the age of ten, they would carry out further advanced professional knowledge learning.

Most students actually had private cars at home, but going to school and communicating with friends and classmates was one of the most proven methods to ensure the normal mentality of children.

Showing off family wealth too early would bring about feelings of separation and competition too early, so as early as hundreds of years ago, the Hongshi Emperor pointed out during the three thousand one hundred and seventy-first education system reform that this behavior was harmful and without benefit, and those who wantonly showed off their family wealth to suppress their peers and classmates would have their parents stripped of one level of cultivation and recorded with a major demerit.

This wasn't that long ago, so in Taihe Port, there were no violations.

But even so, the man still saw a lonely boy walking alone to the side. He was wearing the uniform of the surrounding academies like the other children, but he had no friends, and his face seemed to have injuries. The purplish bruises were deliberately concealed, but still very obvious.

The boy was silent, walking slowly on the edge of the road, nibbling on a somewhat hard steamed bun in his hand, his eyes full of hesitation and worry.

The man narrowed his eyes slightly, but before He could act, the Day Wandering God patrolling nearby noticed this abnormality.

"Child, what happened?"

Along with a burst of spiritual light, the boy with bruises on his face saw a cultivator with a golden-yellow halo appearing in front of him, taking him to the side.

The Day Wandering God took action to heal the child's injuries. The warm air felt a little itchy when it entered the bruise, which made the boy couldn't help but laugh, but after all, he had grown up listening to the legends of Day and Night Patrols, so he naturally knew the legends of the Day Wandering Gods, knowing that they were patrol officers who listened to the injustices of the world, and if he had any worries or injustices, he could tell them.

So, after hesitating for a while, he told the Day Wandering God the truth.

It turned out that this child was a recent immigrant, and his father and mother had a conflict, and neither of them cared about him, wanting the other to take care of him, but in this way, it was equivalent to no one taking care of him, and his father had recently been especially rude to him because he was drunk.

"I see, you should have told the local Di Zhi earlier."

The Day Wandering God immediately understood. Ordinary parental conflicts affected the child, a very common situation. The child moved away from his past friends, and it was already difficult to rebuild interpersonal relationships, and without the help of his parents, he would definitely be affected in the future.

Without any hesitation, the Day Wandering God immediately took the child to the academy to ask for leave, and then reported to his superiors, contacted the local Di Zhi, inquired about the boy's family situation, and then, after obtaining permission, arrested his parents.

During this process, the black-haired man saw that the Day Wandering God's actions were very conscientious. He communicated with the academy teachers, comforted the child who was crying when his parents were arrested, encouraged him to make more friends in the future, and took him to eat some things that the boy usually wanted to eat.

After a day, everything was almost resolved. If it was just a man and a woman in love, it didn't matter how their relationship was, but since they were parents, they had to take responsibility. These two were obviously unqualified parents and were ordered to undergo re-education and assessment, and receive punishment.

And the boy was temporarily taken care of by the local Di Zhi. If the parents were unable to pass the assessment, the Celestial Court Di Zhi would be responsible for taking care of the child until they could live independently, or until they passed the exam.

"Day Wandering God Uncle, this is for you!"

On the street at night, before leaving, the boy gave the Day Wandering God a pen—it was a peripheral product of the 'Fa Xiang Xia Ke' (Dharma Appearance Heroes) series, a light curtain special effects drama that the boy liked very much and was currently popular. It should have been the boy's beloved object.

"Thank you, but..."

The Day Wandering God smiled dumbly at this. He naturally didn't want it very much, but the boy was very enthusiastic, and looking at the boy's appearance that was about to cry, the wandering god couldn't help but sigh and accept the pen.

However, at the moment he accepted it, the Day Wandering God's expression changed slightly—he felt that the cultivation in his body suddenly dropped, and he had violated the Hongshi Heavenly Law and was being punished.

The value of that pen was somewhat beyond his expectations, and it actually reached the standard of bribery!

But he naturally couldn't show it in front of the boy, so he could only smile and wave goodbye to him, and then sighed softly in the night wind, disappeared, went back to report his duties, and might even have to write a self-criticism.

[No, my Heavenly Law still needs to be changed]

Staring at this scene, watching the whole day, the Hongshi Emperor sighed softly: [In order to avoid officials from collecting bribes under various pretexts, I set the automatic punishment Heavenly Law too low... This Day Wandering God didn't make any mistakes, it was just ordinary affection between the gods and the people, but he was still punished by my Heavenly Law]

[He doesn't even think I'm wrong, and even thinks he made a mistake... But actually, I'm the one who's wrong]

[But there's no time to modify the Heavenly Law. I'll modify it after I go back from this expedition]

Shaking his head slightly, a clone stationed here turned into a stream of light and dissipated, and a breath poured into the Day Wandering God's body, nourishing his soul and strengthening his foundation.

And at the core of the port.

The Hongshi Upper Realm, at every military port.

The Hongshi Upper Realm, the place where the Celestial Army Dao soldiers were stationed.

Originally, because of the secret plans of 'Heavenly Phoenix' and 'Profound Edge', the Celestial Court soldiers who were preparing to deal with the invasion of these two worlds with He Dao experts all received the Emperor's oral decree.

[Stop]

The Hongshi Emperor's order was always concise and simple: [Stop all actions, combat plan canceled]

"Your Majesty?"

The Heavenly Soldiers naturally didn't care about this, but the Heavenly Generals who coordinated this chapter were all stunned: "Why? That Heavenly Phoenix Ancestor and Profound Edge Zi Yaodao deceived our realm's benevolence, constantly provoking many small worlds to rebel, consuming our realm's strength—if we don't fight now, it will be troublesome to fight in the future!"

Some Heavenly Generals even knelt down: "Your Majesty, please think twice! Now that the army has been fully prepared, the arrow is on the string and must be fired. War is originally killing a thousand enemies while losing eight hundred of our own. Even if we haven't started the war, our realm's economy has been greatly affected, and so is morale! It's better to fight and revitalize the country!"

[No need to worry]

And the man said calmly: [Necessity knows no law. Heavenly Phoenix Ancestor and Profound Edge Zi Laodao are indeed great enemies of my Hongshi Upper Realm, but in essence, they are just whetstones that I am unwilling to see living beings suffer, left to hone you]

[But now, I have realized that in the depths of the endless void, there is a strong enemy that is thousands of times stronger than these two He Dao... I must go]

The Heavenly General who had previously opposed didn't quite understand Hongshi's meaning, and raised his head in confusion.

But soon, they understood Hongshi's true meaning: "You, you mean..."

[I am going to personally lead the expedition and seal those two He Dao, so as to prevent those two old thieves from harming my realm after I leave far away... or am unable to return]

The Hongshi Emperor said calmly: [This is a war between He Dao, a fight and game between many definers of the Great Dao... a boring struggle for hegemony]

[You have no obligation to participate, no obligation to die for our obsessions]

"I am willing! Your Majesty!"

The Heavenly General roared.

In the entire world, there were also many people who answered the same.

"We are willing, Your Majesty!"

[...]

The black-haired man was slightly stunned, and then He smiled gently: [But I am unwilling]

[Retreat, my mind is made up]