bioinnovel Chapter 15 Five Years Later, Peak of the First-Order Meridian Opening Realm
Chapter 15 Five Years Later, Peak of the First-Order Meridian Opening Realm
In the blink of an eye, fifty years have quietly passed.
Fifty years is enough time for a newborn baby to grow into a composed middle-aged person.
It's enough to turn a spirited young man into an old man with white hair and beard.
It was enough to transform an empire in dire need of rebuilding, giving it unprecedented brilliance.
The current Sui Dynasty is just like that.
Under Lin Hanzhou's iron-fisted rule, those three new policies that once caused a huge uproar have long been deeply integrated into the very fabric of the Sui Dynasty.
The capital city of Chang'an is no longer what it was ten years ago.
The streets have been widened and are now clean, with shops lining both sides offering a wide variety of goods.
Merchants from the Western Regions brought rare and exotic treasures with them, leading camels.
A fleet of ships from the East China Sea brought fresh seafood.
Merchants from all over the world flocked to this place, turning it into a hub of wealth.
The people are dressed smartly, their faces beaming with confidence and contentment, and the apathy and sorrow of the past are nowhere to be seen.
Looking across the country, the problem of land annexation that had plagued successive dynasties in the past has been fundamentally resolved.
The people lived in peace and prosperity, and the Sui Dynasty's treasury was full.
With improvements in water conservancy and agricultural tools, the Sui Dynasty's grain production was even sufficient to support population growth for decades to come.
The most far-reaching impact is on the transformation of education and talent.
Over the course of fifty years, tens of thousands of official schools were established throughout the country.
Free early childhood education meant that literacy was no longer the exclusive privilege of the nobility.
Countless children from ordinary families have changed their destinies through this path.
The new imperial examination system selected a large number of pragmatic and capable officials for the empire.
They replaced the corrupt old bureaucrats, like a breath of fresh air flowing into every part of the empire.
This ensures that the entire national apparatus operates efficiently and cleanly.
Lin Hanzhou also did not slack off in terms of military preparedness.
He established the "Royal Martial Arts Academy" to promote these body-building techniques on a large scale to the entire military and civilian population.
These techniques are all basic body-strengthening methods from the Blue Star world.
Promoting these techniques will greatly improve the physical fitness of the entire population, without creating too many innate martial artists among the general population.
Over the past fifty years, the overall strength of the Sui Dynasty army has increased by more than one level compared to fifty years ago.
The most direct manifestation of this was the battle with the northern nomadic tribes thirty years ago.
At that time, a genius emerged out of nowhere and successfully unified the entire north, establishing the Liao Dynasty.
After consolidating all the resources in the north, the Liao Dynasty reached an unprecedented peak of strength.
It was precisely for this reason that they became increasingly arrogant and attempted to seize control of the Sui Dynasty.
They had long coveted the rich lands of the Sui Dynasty.
And so, the Liao army of 400,000 men marched south in a mighty procession, heading straight for the borders of the Sui Dynasty.
How could the Sui Dynasty not be aware of the overwhelming Liao army?
Upon learning this news, Lin Hanzhou personally led 100,000 elite troops to the border.
In that battle, the Liao army was unilaterally crushed by the Sui army, with more than half of its 400,000 troops lost and the rest fleeing north in disarray.
But this was not the end. Lin Hanzhou did not intend to give up. He pressed his advantage and led his army north.
Along the way, the Sui army advanced with unstoppable momentum, directly reaching the capital of the Liao Kingdom.
The Liao emperor panicked and hurriedly sent envoys to sue for peace.
Lin Hanzhou completely ignored this and directly ordered his army to attack the city.
Ultimately, the Liao Dynasty, which had once unified the north, was destroyed, and the entire north became the backyard of the Sui Dynasty.
After this battle, Lin Hanzhou's prestige soared both in the military and among the common people.
The people spontaneously built a shrine in his honor and hailed him as the "Enlightened Holy Emperor," meaning "the wise and enlightened monarch who ushered in a bright and prosperous era."
His name was written into poems by contemporary literati, woven into legends by storytellers in teahouses, and passed down by word of mouth among the people of the world.
As the creator of all this, Lin Hanzhou did not neglect his own cultivation during these fifty years.
Inside the secret chamber of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Lin Hanzhou sat cross-legged.
His breathing was long and steady, each breath seemingly merging with the pulse of the entire world.
Strands of spiritual energy from heaven and earth were continuously converging from all directions and flowing into his body.
In addition, there was an even more mysterious golden "luck" surrounding him.
That golden aura was a manifestation of the national fortune of the entire Sui Dynasty.
As the absolute ruler of the dynasty and the core of the people's faith, he had long established an inseparable connection with this land and its people.
It was this connection that allowed him to freely mobilize the national fortune of the entire Sui Dynasty.
If he wanted, he could even directly use the power of the nation's destiny to infuse his cultivation to the third rank.
But if that's the case, he will be completely bound to the Sui Dynasty.
If the Sui Dynasty were to fall later, his cultivation level would also decline.
Most importantly, if he leaves the dream world, the cultivation he gained by harnessing the nation's fortune will also cease to exist.
Therefore, Lin Hanzhou could only honestly cultivate on his own.
But even after fifty years of cultivation, he only reached the peak of the Meridian Opening Realm.
The reason his cultivation speed is slow is not only due to his poor talent, but also due to the influence of the spiritual energy of this world.
Through his understanding over the years, Lin Hanzhou also learned that this world had only recently experienced a revival of spiritual energy.
That is why the spiritual energy in this world is so scarce.
Here, even ordinary martial artists need medicinal herbs to break through to the Innate Realm, let alone those who have already reached the Innate Realm.
This is completely different from Lin Hanzhou's real world, Blue Star.
If he were allowed to cultivate on Blue Star for so long, his cultivation level would surely reach the second-tier Qi Gathering Realm or even the third-tier Qi Sea Realm.
"Ugh, what kind of damn cultivation environment is this? Even the place with the most abundant spiritual energy is worse than the toilets on Earth."
Lin Hanzhou slowly opened his eyes, muttering curses under his breath.
He felt the surging spiritual power within him, as vast as the ocean, but felt no joy whatsoever.
Over the past fifty years, he has spent countless days and nights in arduous cultivation, and with the resources of the entire dynasty, he has barely managed to reach the peak of the Meridian Opening Realm.
He thought that reaching the peak of the Qi Opening Realm would allow him to break through to the second-tier Qi Gathering Realm, but he realized he was overthinking it.
Due to his inferior talent, his efficiency in absorbing spiritual energy was exceptionally slow.
In addition, the world itself is sparse in spiritual energy, which makes it impossible for him to break through to the Qi Gathering Realm.
He tried this several times, but each time he failed to gather energy because he could not convert enough spiritual power.
Fortunately, the spiritual energy of the "Luo Tian Jue" technique is relatively gentle, so the impact of failing to break through is not significant; otherwise, he probably would have returned to reality.
"Forget it, there's no rush. We have plenty of time. If all else fails, we can always go back and break through."
With this in mind, Lin Hanzhou calmed down considerably. He stood up and walked out of the secret room.
Fifty years have passed, leaving their mark on him.
He has transformed from a young man into a composed and reserved middle-aged man, and his brows now exude an aura of imperial authority.
He pushed open the palace door, and the warm sunlight shone on him.
Looking at the prosperous and bustling world outside the palace, he knew that he had accomplished most of his goals in this world.
Next comes the waiting—waiting for a breakthrough opportunity, or waiting for the system to settle the score.