novelraw Chapter 70 : Ten Years
Chapter 70 : Ten Years
Chapter 70: Ten Years
Time flowed soundlessly, like a surging tide.
It was now the spring of Shaosheng Year 410.
Ten full years had quietly slipped by amidst the rising and setting of the sun over Anxi, and the ceaseless toil of its people.
When the trade routes of Anxi had spread out like veins across the land, sending prosperity in all directions—
When the tales of this miraculous land, passed from mouth to mouth, had been woven with countless strands of legend, sweeping across the entire Great Zhou like the wind—
A brand-new name gradually replaced the old title of “Anxi Prefecture” within those stories filled with awe and longing—
The Golden Prefecture.
Prince of Anxi’s Residence.
Night was tranquil; moonlight cascaded like silver silk, flowing quietly through the still courtyard.
Jiang Zhaoming sat cross-legged upon a meditation mat beneath a jeweled tree whose crystalline leaves shimmered with light.
This jeweled tree had been something he exchanged for a strand of violet fortune. It could draw in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth on its own.
It was of great benefit to cultivation beyond the Divine Power Realm.
Jiang Zhaoming’s figure remained utterly still beneath the moonlight, as though he had merged with the courtyard itself.
Ten years of time had left no visible marks upon his features.
Only his eyes—deep as an abyss—seemed to have condensed endless years and boundless power within them.
The energy around his body was reined in, yet it was like a dormant volcano—once stirred, it would shake the heavens.
If a Divine Power expert were to probe him with spiritual essence, they would be shocked to discover the vast current of spiritual power surging endlessly within him, mighty as a great river—boundless and infinite.
Divine Power Realm, Perfection!
Through these ten years, he had not once grown complacent.
With his peerless talent that could comprehend all arts, he had ascended through every layer of the Divine Power Realm at a staggering pace.
In merely eleven years of cultivation, he had reached the perfection of the Divine Power Realm—a level countless others could only dream of.
And beyond his own growth, the strength of the other great figures in Anxi had also changed tremendously.
First was his foremost general, Wan Donglai. After Jiang Zhaoming granted him a strand of violet innate talent, he had reached the peak of the Myriad Phenomena Realm, on the verge of breaking into the Golden Body Realm.
Meanwhile, Zhao Shuijiao, one year earlier, had been the first among the Divine Power generals to break through into the Myriad Phenomena Realm.
Following him, one of the Anxi Army’s vice-generals, Huang Jihao, had also broken through to the same realm a year ago.
Thus, of the five Myriad Phenomena Realm experts his Emperor Father had demanded, Jiang Zhaoming had, in truth, already fulfilled two-fifths.
As for why it was said to be “in truth”—that was because Jiang Zhaoming had “fabricated” two additional Myriad Phenomena generals who did not exist.
Therefore, aside from Wan Donglai, Anxi outwardly possessed four Myriad Phenomena Realm experts, only one short of the imperial requirement.
The reason Jiang Zhaoming did so was so that, when he later introduced a “new” general, that person’s identity could be seamlessly legitimized.
After all, the Anxi Army was stationed in the Sea of Death—very few truly understood their circumstances.
Within Anxi Prefecture, those whose strength had reached Divine Power Perfection and could challenge the Myriad Phenomena Realm, apart from Jiang Zhaoming himself, included Qin Qiong, Aruba, Qin Wei, Cheng Yaojin, Guo Huaian, Huang Fan, commander of the Yili Army, and another Anxi vice-general, Asimu.
Among them, Qin Wei’s breakthrough was thanks to the violet innate talent bestowed by Jiang Zhaoming.
It not only allowed him to go further within the Divine Power Realm but also gave him the opportunity to ascend to the Myriad Phenomena level.
This uncle of Jiang Zhaoming had once been, like his former self, lacking in cultivation talent—an anomaly among the Qin bloodline.
Fortunately, Jiang Zhaoming possessed the River of Fortune, an artifact that could alter destinies.
As for Guo Huaian, his identity had been painstakingly “cleansed” by Jiang Zhaoming over several years until he was formally incorporated into the Anxi administration.
Besides these core generals, many others under Jiang Zhaoming had also broken through—several even reaching the later stages of the Divine Power Realm.
It could be said that Anxi Prefecture’s upper-tier combat strength was now several times greater than it had been ten years prior.
And such earth-shaking change did not end with the army alone.
Ten years had passed in a blink, and all of Anxi had become an entirely different world.
This tremendous transformation was not only seen among the generals—
The most tangible change lay within the very life that thrived across Anxi’s land.
With the continuous influx of new settlers, coupled with natural population growth within the prefecture,
Ten years later, Anxi’s population had surged like a snowball, surpassing the ten-billion mark.
What was once a desolate frontier was now many times more prosperous—though not yet crowded, it was thriving beyond recognition.
The commoners and clans who had migrated from within Great Zhou gradually spread throughout the entire eastern region of the prefecture.
Among them, Yili County saw the greatest population growth, reaching two hundred million residents. The outer city of Anxi City alone housed twenty million.
The inner city’s grandeur had long outstripped its former self.
The great clans from the Zhou heartlands had chosen to take root here, in this city that symbolized Anxi’s highest power and glory.
They spent vast fortunes hiring master craftsmen to construct magnificent mansions and pavilions.
However, the most profound change among Anxi’s people was not in their numbers.
The true transformation was quietly taking place in every street, every home, and within the heart of every child.
It was the merging of Western Regions and Great Zhou culture.
With Jiang Zhaoming’s heavy investment, mandatory six-year government schooling was implemented throughout Anxi Prefecture.
Whether children of Zhou immigrants or those native to the Western Regions, all of appropriate age were required to attend.
Within these schools, they were taught not only martial skills, literacy, and mathematics, but also the core ideals of “Great Zhou’s nation, Anxi’s homeland.”
“Under all of heaven, none is not the king’s land; upon every shore, all are the king’s subjects.”
“Be loyal to the monarch, defend one’s homeland.”
“Anxi is the Anxi of Great Zhou—it is the homeland where we are born, grow, and strive!”
These teachings, delivered by erudite scholars,
day after day, like gentle spring rain, nurtured countless young hearts within the classrooms.
The unity of homeland and nation—Anxi as home, Great Zhou as country—took root in the blood of a new generation of Anxi people.
A wondrous transformation began to unfold.
Those children, imbued with these unified ideals, became little preachers when they returned home.
In their tender yet earnest voices, they spoke to parents and elders of different tongues about “loyalty” and “patriotism.”
The immigrants from within Great Zhou, hearing their children’s affection for “Anxi, our home,”
felt their estrangement slowly dissolve, replaced by belonging.
The Western Region families, listening to their children fluently narrate the history and glory of Great Zhou,
and speak of Anxi’s duty as the western bulwark of the realm,
unconsciously found the boundaries between peoples fading, and the love for both homeland and nation growing.
Beyond the changes among the common folk, the transformation of Anxi’s upper strata was equally remarkable.
Thanks to Jiang Zhaoming’s continuously updated Register of Talents,
Anxi Prefecture was able to precisely discover countless gifted generals, capable administrators, and ingenious craftsmen from the vast population.
Among these standouts, after years of tempering and Jiang Zhaoming’s secret tests of character,
many could now stand on their own—becoming pillars supporting the grand edifice of Anxi.