Chapter 328: The Sage Emerges

Gu Yuan, standing beneath the illuminated wall, slowly closed his eyes.

There was no earth‑shaking surge of aura, nor any dazzling divine light soaring to the heavens.

Yet the instant he shut his eyes, across Qingzhou City every living being's gray thread linking to the official Qi network stalled in unison!

Above the county office, the crimson Qi cloud symbolizing seventh‑rank authority was seized by an invisible giant hand and froze instantly.

Immediately thereafter, a Law Power far superior, purer, and more domineering than official Qi thundered down from Gu Yuan's body!

It was no power of this world.

It was a primordial, creation‑originating, undeniable absolute authority!

"Hum—"

A golden list, a phantom formed entirely of interwoven Great Dao runes, materialized out of thin air behind Gu Yuan.

This golden list, a hundred times larger than the red list on the wall, radiated light that even eclipsed the sun in the sky!

"What is that?!"

"A miracle! It's a miracle!"

The crowd erupted, everyone staring dumbfounded at the unimaginable sight, kneeling and bowing reverently toward the golden list.

Inside the county office, Wang Bo'an, who had been drinking and celebrating with his confidants in the back hall, suddenly felt a pressure on his chest as if an invisible mountain were bearing down.

"Pfft—"

He spat out a gush of reverse blood and was horrified to discover that the link between him and his official seal had been forcibly severed by an irresistible force!

Staggering out of the back hall, he looked toward the Tribute Hall; when he saw the golden list hovering mid‑air, exuding supreme authority, the blood in his eyes drained away, leaving only boundless terror and despair.

"Heaven... Heavenly Dao Decree?! How could this be possible!"

In front of the illuminated wall, the red list, bathed in the golden decree, began to melt inch by inch like ice under a scorching sun.

Wang Teng's name, along with his flamboyant yet empty essay, turned to ash first.

Soon after, upon the golden decree, divine characters forged from the essence of the Great Dao began to slowly appear.

It was precisely the treatise Gu Yuan had penned yesterday in the examination hall, "On the Origin of Qi Flow and the Foundations of the Divine Dynasty"!

Each character weighed a thousand pounds, containing truths that could make even true immortals take notice.

At the essay's end, there were no comments, only two radiant golden characters.

【Preface】

The moment those two characters appeared, a massive golden talent aura, as thick as a dragon, surged from the decree, piercing the official Qi canopy over Qingzhou City and tearing through the Heavenly Dome!

The talent‑aura golden dragon spiraled upward, soaring north toward the distant Divine Dynasty capital, unleashing a roar that shook heaven and earth!

On this day, Qingzhou trembled, and the Divine Dynasty trembled!

A lowly scholar from a humble background managed to draw the Heavenly Dao itself to vindicate him, discarding the official list and establishing a Heavenly Dao list!

Such an unprecedented marvel instantly coursed through the Great Yin Divine Dynasty's vast Qi network, spreading across the Nine Provinces and the four seas.

The Heavenly Dao golden list spanned the sky as the talent‑aura golden dragon roared toward the Divine Dynasty capital region.

Such a world‑shaking phenomenon had already surpassed mortal comprehension.

Within Qingzhou City, whether street vendors or aristocratic gentry, all prostrated themselves, bowing devoutly toward the golden list hovering above the Tribute Hall.

They might not grasp what talent aura or official Dao is, yet they could distinctly feel a reverence and submission emanating from deep within their souls, daring them not to defile it.

Inside the county office, Wang Bo'an's face was ashen, his whole body trembling like a sieve.

His official hat had slipped off unnoticed, his hair disheveled, his official robe stained with his own blood and dust, leaving no trace of the dignified seventh‑rank county magistrate, but a forlorn, soul‑lost stray.

He's finished.

The Wang family is finished.

The Heavenly Dao personally intervening to vindicate a examinee—what a terrifying notion! This is no longer mere examination fraud; it openly defies destiny and undermines the very foundation of the Divine Dynasty!

Not even a modest county magistrate—let alone the prefect of Qingzhou Prefecture or a first‑rank minister of the court—could stand before such resplendent heavenly might without being shattered to pieces.

"No... impossible... this cannot be..." Wang Bo'an muttered in a daze, unable to comprehend how a penniless scholar orphaned of both parents could provoke a response from the Heavenly Dao.

He tried to summon the dwindling official Qi within, hoping to re‑establish a link with the official seal that had already begun to crack.

However, the instant his thoughts brushed the seal—

"Crack—"

A crisp cracking sound exploded in his mind.

The great seal of the Qingzhou county magistrate, which had accompanied him half his life and symbolized authority and glory, shattered inch by inch under his horrified gaze, finally turning into a puff of scarlet ash that drifted away with the wind.

The seal shattered, the official Qi dissipated.

At that moment Wang Bo'an's cultivation was utterly stripped away. His once‑rosy complexion, nourished by official Qi, aged and withered before his eyes, turning the vigorous middle‑aged man into a frail, dying elder within a handful of breaths.

"My position... my cultivation..."

Wang Bo'an extended his gaunt hands, feeling the emptiness of his dantian, and let out a desperate wail.

…

Meanwhile, far away in the Great Yin Divine Dynasty capital, atop the Forbidden City.

A ten‑thousand‑zhang long, five‑clawed golden dragon of violet‑gold Qi coiled above the imperial city, eyes closed in slumber.

It is the embodiment of the Great Yin Divine Dynasty's national destiny, the collective will of its billions of subjects.

Yet the instant the talent‑aura golden dragon shot skyward over Qingzhou City, the centuries‑sleeping Qi‑dragon snapped its eyes open, brighter than sun and moon!

"Aang—"

A soaring dragon's roar rang through the heavens.

Within the imperial city, the Hall of Civil Culture, the Hall of Martial Valor, the Hall of Supreme Harmony… all structures symbolizing imperial authority trembled violently beneath the dragon's cry.

The Great Yin Emperor, reviewing memorials in the Imperial Study, dropped his brush in shock at the sudden dragon's roar.

"Protect the carriage! Protect the carriage!"

The old eunuch's sharp voice rang out outside the hall.

"Don't panic."

The Da Yin emperor waved his hand, signaling the imperial guards to retreat.

He quickly walked to the window, raised his head to look south; in his deep eyes flickered shock, doubt, and a hint of uncontainable joy.

As the lord of the Divine Dynasty, he could clearly sense that the qi golden dragon coming from the direction of Azure Prefecture held no malice whatsoever; instead, it contained a strand of extremely pure, world‑cleansing vast righteous qi.

When this vast righteous qi resonated with the Divine Dynasty's fortune golden dragon afar, the few tiny black spots that had clung to the golden dragon's body for decades, like a bone‑deep ulcer, actually showed faint signs of being purified and dissolved!

"A sage has been born! My Da Yin Divine Dynasty actually has a sage born!"

The Da Yin emperor trembled all over with excitement; he immediately ordered the old eunuch beside him:

"Convey my decree! Order the Imperial Astronomy Bureau, Hanlin Academy, and Ministry of Personnel's Three Offices to jointly investigate; immediately ascertain the source of the Azure Prefecture anomaly! Spare no expense to bring this heaven‑chosen person safely to the capital! Anyone who obstructs shall be killed without pardon!"