43: The fate of the country is the fuel, the sages are the tripod

Two days later.

Tianyong City, western suburbs, "Praying Immortal Pagoda" construction site.

Jiang Chen wore a half-new, half-old manager's robe, with a waist token given as a 'tribute' by Mr. Qian hanging from his waist.

This identity came effortlessly.

For Mr. Qian, who now held sway in the Prime Minister's residence, arranging an inconspicuous distant relative to be a supervisor on a construction site of tens of thousands of people was easier than drinking water.

The construction site was very noisy.

Tens of thousands of Mortals, shirtless, shouted hoarse chants under the scorching sun. Sweat mixed with dust, washing streaks of mud onto their bronze skin.

The air was filled with the sour smell of sweat, the choking smell of lime, and the stale smell of low-quality coarse rice wafting from the distant mess hall.

A supervisor brandished a whip, striking a Mortal who had slipped while moving a huge stone and almost fallen. The sound of flesh tearing was crisp.

"Haven't you eaten! If you delay the National Preceptor's construction schedule, your whole family will have to gnaw on rocks in the mines!"

The supervisor's roar was drowned out by the dull thud of the pile driver.

Jiang Chen stood on a high platform, overlooking everything.

His expression remained unchanged.

The suffering of these Mortals, in his eyes, was no different in essence from an ant at his feet having its leg bitten off by another ant.

He was merely a passerby, a diner.

The dishes on the table hadn't all been served yet; he wasn't interested in the pattern of the tablecloth beneath the plates.

He closed his eyes.

Array Dao Heavenly Heart quietly operated.

In an instant, that noisy, chaotic world, filled with the stench of sweat and dust, vanished.

In its place was a bizarre Domain composed of countless energy lines.

The construction site beneath his feet was no longer a construction site.

It was the eye of an array.

The eye of a super array so vast it made one's heart palpitate.

Countless golden threads, invisible to the naked eye and thinner than hair, rose from the head of every living person in Tianyong City.

Some of these threads were bright, some dim.

They represented a person's joys and sorrows, their wishes, their fears, their essence, Qi, and spirit.

This was "popular sentiment" and "human desire."

And even more, wisps of pale purple Qi flowed from the century-old aristocratic families and official residences in the city.

That was "official Luck" and "clan Luck."

Finally, all these energies, along with the thickest "Dragon Qi" above the Imperial Palace, symbolizing the Dynasty's lifeline, were pulled by an invisible force, continuously converging towards the "Praying Immortal Pagoda" being built.

The Praying Immortal Pagoda was not a pagoda at all.

It was a giant suction tube inserted into the heart of the Great Xia Dynasty.

It was extracting everything accumulated by this Dynasty over hundreds of years—Dragon Qi, popular sentiment, national Luck... compressing and purifying them, then sending them to one place.

The top of the pagoda.

Jiang Chen's consciousness ascended along the billions of light streams.

He "saw" the top of the pagoda.

There was nothing there but a figure sitting cross-legged.

A frail scholar in a faded blue Confucian robe, with a gaunt, even sickly, face.

He was powerless.

There wasn't even a trace of Spiritual Qi fluctuation within him.

But he wore an invisible, pure golden "Dragon Robe," woven from billions of human wishes and endless national Luck.

That Dragon Robe was dazzling and resplendent, as if it condensed the most glorious authority and will of the entire Mortal realm.

All Laws could not invade it, and all evil retreated before it.

Jiang Chen had seen many Children of Destiny.

The arrogant Lin Feng, the clear-hearted Ye Liuyun, the greatly Lucky Shi Lei... but all the "power of destiny" on them combined paled like fireflies before this invisible Dragon Robe.

This was the first time Jiang Chen had seen such a pure, vast trajectory of destiny, almost condensed into the "Law" itself.

The moment he gazed at the other party, a cold System prompt sounded in his mind.

["Heavenly Dao-Grade" Destiny Anchor detected... commencing analysis...]

[Target: Wei Shu.]

[Identity: Human Dao Saint (Heavenly Dao Appointed).]

[Destiny Trajectory: On the day the Praying Immortal Pagoda is completed, he will draw upon three hundred years of the Great Xia Dynasty's national Luck to irrigate his body, smelt billions of human wishes into his Divine Soul, and with a Mortal body, ascend to Sainthood in one step. He will establish the "Literary Dao" lineage, formulate the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues, and completely replace cultivation with enlightenment and order, reinforcing the Heavenly Dao's cage.]

[Warning: This target is a Heavenly Dao "rule patch," protected by the highest level of world Origin power.]

[Warning: The host's current area is within the core coverage of the "National Luck Grand Array." The world Law's rejection reaction has increased tenfold!]

Jiang Chen's brow twitched violently.

He felt that the sense of restraint, originally like a "spider's silk," suddenly tightened at this moment, turning into a heavy, viscous "quagmire."

The air seemed to have truly turned into water.

With every breath, his lungs felt a stinging pain from being squeezed.

He merely wanted to move a finger, yet it felt like he was trying to push an invisible mountain.

All his abilities—the sharpness of Sword Dao Enlightenment was blunted, the perception of Hundred Herb Spirit Body was isolated, and even the beating of his Demonic Heart became sluggish and slow.

Methods targeting Cultivators were almost completely ineffective against this "Human Dao Saint."

Use a sword?

His Sword Intent would be completely eroded by the immense popular sentiment contained within the "Dragon Robe" before it could even penetrate one ten-thousandth of its thickness.

Use Soul attack?

As soon as his Divine Thought approached, it would be directly overwhelmed by that grand, vast will representing the "Righteous Path of Humanity," and even suffer a backlash.

This was a... perfect, flawless "Saint."

The Heavenly Dao had paved the way for him.

All beings provided him with power.

He only needed to sit there, waiting for the moment of deification.

Jiang Chen stood on the high platform, motionless for a long time.

On the construction site, a Mortal collapsed, foaming at the mouth from sunstroke, and was quickly dragged away by a supervisor like a dead dog, replaced by a new one.

Just like replacing a broken part.

For the first time, Jiang Chen's face lost that indifferent expression of being in control of everything.

In its place was an unprecedented, cold excitement.

Like a chess player encountering a perfect, flawless game he had never seen before.

Conventional methods had already lost.

Then... he would have to use unconventional methods to overturn the entire chessboard.

He needed to find a "loophole" that even the Heavenly Dao could not erase.