[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-simulated-to-reality-i-once-looked-down-upon-ten":3,"chapter-simulated-to-reality-i-once-looked-down-upon-ten-simulated-to-reality-i-once-looked-down-upon-ten-chapter-194":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Simulated to Reality: I Once Looked Down Upon Ten Thousand Ages?",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2347209,4587,"Chapter 194: The Heart to End Chaos, Surrounded on All Sides!","simulated-to-reality-i-once-looked-down-upon-ten-chapter-194",194,"\u003Cp>After many years, you saw your father again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had become a true old man, nearly seventy years old!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet his eyes still held the same courage they had when you first left northward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the sight of your faces, his expression stirred with emotion, then slowly calmed, finally reducing to just two names!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Shenzhou, You’an!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Countless words were buried deep within his chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fathers always seem this way!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A father’s love runs deep, like endless mountains—silent, unspoken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Jiaxuan, the founding general of the Lu Family Army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At twenty, he was already a famed child prodigy in the region; from the academy exam to the provincial exam, then the metropolitan exam, he advanced with unstoppable momentum until he topped the imperial list.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that time, crowned with a red flower on his chest, he rode through the capital on horseback, sleeves fluttering with elegance, his heart brimming with grand ambitions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To govern the state, to secure the people, to bring welfare to all under heaven!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The world is ever-changing!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Emperor Huizong was humiliated, the northern frontier fell, northern forces surged southward, iron hooves trampling the land, the people suffering unspeakable ruin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the court, corruption and weakness reigned. Faced with this tide of chaos, Lu Jiaxuan resolutely abandoned his official career, removed his cap, turned to the military, traded his pen for a sword, spent his entire fortune, and marched northward with unwavering resolve to turn the tide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Today, the Lu Family Army holds nothing but admiration for this old general, Lu Jiaxuan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You and Lu Yu, dismount!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Father!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though years had passed, blood bound you—familiar beyond words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Jiaxuan had been waiting at the city gate for the two of you, to ease your worries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yu, though already forty, appeared youthful due to his cultivation achievements.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your father’s gaze lingered longer on you, noticing the faint streaks of gray in your hair and the fine wrinkles quietly creeping into the corners of your eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In those slightly weathered eyes, a flicker of surprise passed, followed by deep emotion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Elder brother, you’ve grown old too.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was sudden melancholy in your father’s voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The memory of you entering Hulao Pass alone all those years ago felt as if it were yesterday.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You smiled and said: “Father, in this vast world, no man escapes aging.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your father’s face was etched with the marks of wind and frost!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your father chuckled and shook his head: “I’ve grown old too. Back then, on campaign, I could eat eight buns and ten pounds of mutton. Now, your mother has to force me to eat two bowls of her cooking.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Back then, your uncle and I could fight for three days and nights on the battlefield, march a thousand li, then sleep for days after returning to camp. Now, even a small noise keeps me tossing and turning, unable to sleep.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yu smiled: “Father worries too much.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your father changed the subject, smiling: “Your mother always says you two are no good—you still haven’t had children, and that’s why I’m worried.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You replied calmly: “No rush.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yu coughed lightly beside you and added: “Brother isn’t in a hurry, neither am I.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your father dropped the topic, knowing your ambitions lay elsewhere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A true man roams the world—why fear being without a wife?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind you, the Lu Family Army waited in silence, showing no impatience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your father looked at you suddenly and said: “Shenzhou, all these years, I’ve wanted to thank you—but as a father, I’ve grown too used to silence to speak it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You gazed at your father, knowing his thoughts as clearly as if they were written on his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your father spoke slowly, recalling the past: “When I first formed the Lu Family Army, we were few in number, weak in officers, and suffered defeat after defeat.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To be honest, before Hulao Pass, I truly intended to die. If Hulao fell and the northern wind swept south, the people of Daqing would become meat on the chopping block.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A true man born in chaotic times, if he cannot restore the old lands, should die wrapped in horsehide to repay his country.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Jiaxuan’s face was lost in deep memory as he continued: “At that time, the entire situation was shrouded in despair. Neither soldiers nor civilians saw a single glimmer of hope.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I had fought for years, endured countless battles, yet never before had I felt so powerless. The northern wind’s iron hooves were unstoppable; their string of victories made them seem destined by heaven, a mighty tide about to topple the sky!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Jiaxuan’s eyes suddenly grew firm and bright: “But since you appeared, Shenzhou, everything began to change. The tide of battle shifted. In just six years, you reversed the fate of the world.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You also built, in just six years, a Lu Family Army that swept all before it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Only then did I understand: there is no heavenly mandate—only those of us who lack talent are called ordinary.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that said!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your father’s gaze fell gently upon you again, filled with a mixture of hope and worry:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Shenzhou, I know you seek the Dao, devoted to immortality—I understand and revere it. But chaos is like a tidal wave; how easily can you preserve peace for yourself?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Have you ever considered the hardship this entails?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you cannot clean your own room, how can you clean the world? If the world is not at peace, how can your room be still?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yu stood beside you and said: “The winds of the world shift unpredictably—Mount Zhongnan may soon become the target of all.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You heard him, but did not answer immediately. Instead, you slowly turned, your gaze sweeping over the crowd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feng Haiping, Dou Gu, Huang Chong, Sui Cheng—all lowered their heads in thought or avoided your eyes, each lost in private concerns.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only Jia Fu and the monk remained calm, meeting your gaze without flinching; as your eyes passed over them, both unconsciously straightened their backs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You smiled helplessly—they truly did not know.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, your uncle suffered misfortune, your father was imprisoned—partly due to subtle tests by the Emperor and the Grand Empress Dowager, partly due to the machinations of your father’s old subordinates, including former generals of the Lu Family Army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Are they trying to draw you down from Mount Zhongnan?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The true purpose of the Lu Family Army’s southern march is far more complex than merely rescuing your father from the capital.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Jiaxuan said: “Sometimes I wonder.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Had we been born in peaceful times, I would likely have been nothing more than a county magistrate, and you and You’an would have wandered among famous mountains and rivers, living as recluses.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Had we been ordinary, we would have married, had children, raised a few little ones.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To be born in chaotic times is misfortune—but to turn chaos into order is the greatest fortune within misfortune.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You looked at your father, eyes twinkling with amusement: “Father, today you’ve spoken more than ever before.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Jiaxuan smiled and replied: “This is just father and son chatting over family matters.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You suddenly asked: “I always thought you valued loyalty to the ruler above all else.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Jiaxuan had served as an official for years, always adhering strictly to his duty, never overstepping.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your father shook his head gently and said solemnly: “‘When poor, cultivate oneself; when prosperous, benefit all under heaven’—I have always kept this in my heart.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The world belongs to all people, not to any one family.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Though I am a subject, I carry within me the great righteousness of country and people—I am not a rigid fool.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I, Lu Jiaxuan, will die for the people of the world—not for the Zhou family.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He paused, his gaze deep as he looked far into the distance: “Now the world is in chaos. Lords have risen in Qianyuan, Beifeng, and Han Chu, each ruling independently—this is a transformation unseen in a thousand years.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Our Daqing is split into three parts. Though Zhou Zhen sits on the throne, he is a mediocre man with ambitions beyond his ability.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In this chaos, the burden of the three capitals and sixteen prefectures is too great for him to bear alone.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Zhen has already been thrown into turmoil merely by dealing with the southern clans and the Grand Empress Dowager.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Qianyuan and Hexi strike, he will have no defense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Qianyuan seizes the capital’s wealth, not only will its treasury swell, but it will also gain a strategic advantage, looking northward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, if it allies with Beifeng, the northern situation will become perilous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is the key to the Lu Family Army’s southern march.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The armies of Hexi’s Zhou Xuan and Qianyuan have already reached the gates of the capital.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Daqing falls, Beifeng will strike without hesitation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beifeng pretends to ally with the Grand Empress Dowager, claiming to quell rebellion—but tens of thousands of troops are already stirring in Hebei.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The entire chain of events has now been laid bare!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All nations seek Daqing’s southern riches!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Truly, surrounded on all sides—yet we still do not know how Han and Chu will decide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your father bowed apologetically: “Had this crisis not arisen, knowing your filial nature, I would never have resorted to such a tactic.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>PS: This needs revision—it’s too rushed!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1563,"2026-06-21T01:32:57.622Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","fe6078f8cac70d6823fbdb941b60cada6d6e8e5c84f16b265fc4b749230aebc7","simulated-to-reality-i-once-looked-down-upon-ten-chapter-195","simulated-to-reality-i-once-looked-down-upon-ten-chapter-193",728,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsimulated-to-reality-i-once-looked-down-upon-ten-cover.jpg"]