Chapter 391

Time, within the cramped space of the Zichen inner hall, seemed to solidify.

Or perhaps it is silently and cruelly accelerating its flow.

Chen Wen's breathing was so weak it was barely perceptible.

The rise and fall of his chest grew ever longer; each inhalation felt like a laborious struggle up from the depths of water, accompanied by a faint, heart‑breaking hiss.

His consciousness was sinking into an endless darkness.

Past scenes were no longer clear; they turned into blurred specks and fragments, drifting disorderly in the depths of his consciousness.

The hardship of establishing Jiao Tu Zhen;

The blood and fire on the walls of Chan Prefecture;

The cold wind and shouts on the Jin Prefecture snowy plains;

The clashing of metal beneath Xiong Prefecture's walls;

The chorus of 'long live the emperor' at his accession;

The grief at his mother's passing;

The crown prince's increasingly composed visage…

One scene after another, like footprints on a beach at ebb tide, were being erased bit by bit by the rising darkness.

He felt an unprecedented ease.

He laid down the burden of the realm, laid down his obsession with life and death, and even… laid down his fixation on the unresolved truth.

To depart like this… seemed… not bad.

He told himself.

However, just before his consciousness was about to plunge completely into eternal silence.

A faint, almost imperceptible sensation, like a stone tossed into an ancient well, rippled outward in the deepest part of his consciousness.

It was not a sound from outside, nor bodily pain.

It was a… connection.

A resonance between him and the Fortune Momentum within him that was rapidly dissipating yet vast beyond description—a final, utterly pure thread.

This Fortune Momentum bore his lifelong struggle, bore the fate of the Great Chen dynasty, bore the livelihood of countless common folk.

It arose because of him, gathered because of him, and now it is about to dissipate because of him.

At the absolute threshold between life and death, at the moment of completely letting go and identifying with extinction.

Between him and this Fortune Momentum, he instead attained a state never before seen—absolutely unified, with all distracting thoughts and artificial interference removed.

He was not 'using' it, nor 'guiding' it.

He, is it.

It, is also him.

A realization, like the first dawn breaking through eternal night, suddenly illuminated his consciousness that was about to plunge into total darkness.

"So… this is how it is…"

A thought arose soundlessly.

Not a sound, but a pure cognition.

He had always thought the Cow Horse System was his tool to change everything, an external 'cheat'.

He relied on it to boost efficiency, grant others power, oppose the Iron Crow Army, and found the dynasty.

He had even been exploring the Balance of Fortune Momentum, trying to comprehend and master the manifestation of the dynasty's power.

Only now, at the moment when his life and the dynasty's fortune momentum both reached their end and merged without barrier.

Only then did he truly touch a thread of its essence.

The so-called 'System', the rule of 'Heaven rewards diligence', its deepest foundation.

Perhaps it is not some external boon, but rather rooted in this Fortune Momentum itself.

Rooted in this heaven and earth, in the 'existence' jointly formed by myriad beings!

Effort brings change;

Change gathers Fortune Momentum;

Fortune Momentum upholds the rule;

The rule rewards the striver!

This is a complete, self‑consistent cycle!

He, Chen Wen, is not merely a 'user'.

He is more like a… hub, a spark that ignites and sustains this cycle!

The so‑called 'multipliers' and 'levels' are merely external manifestations of this cycle at different stages and energy tiers.

And the Fortune Momentum he could not actively expend, only passively sense and trigger to counter the domain, is also not unusable.

But the 'key' to using it is not a simple act of will.

Rather, it requires an extreme state of resonance with the dynasty's fortune momentum!

A state… attainable only at the instant when, in the ultimate course of founding and guarding, life and national fortune simultaneously reach a critical point—a state of unity!

At this moment, he happens to be exactly at that critical point.

His life is about to end, his consciousness about to fade, yet his resonance with the dynasty's fortune momentum has reached an unprecedented pure peak.

The Lv. 6 (64×) bottleneck that had long troubled him now appears so fragile under this mysterious state of unity.

Like thin ice under sunlight, it melts away silently.

The breakthrough is not a deliberate pursuit; it comes naturally when conditions are ripe.

It is the final, and most glorious, note co‑composed by life and national fortune in their ultimate symphony.

【Growth Progress Bar...... overflowing......】

【Conditions met...... bottleneck breakthrough......】

【Lv. 7 (128x)……unlocked……】

No earth-shaking momentum, no dazzling divine light phenomena.

Within his body, at the mysterious level where consciousness and Fortune Momentum intertwine, a certain limit was quietly crossed.

A force far more vast and pure than before, seeming to contain some primal law, flowed forth naturally.

This is……128x.

This power is so vast, it seems omnipotent.

It can endow the army, creating an invincible force;

It can be poured into agriculture, creating boundless fertile lands;

It can empower craftsmanship, triggering earth-shaking change.

Countless possibilities flickered through his near-extinct consciousness.

However, at this final moment of his life!

At this instant of comprehending part of the world's rules and his own nature!

A crystal-clear thought!

Like a torch igniting on its own in the darkness, it illuminated Chen Wen's entire consciousness.

——He needs time!

Not a brief continuation, but a sufficiently long time span capable of spanning great changes.

To protect the Crown Prince's growth, to ensure the dynasty's stability.

To investigate the Iron Crow Army and the truth behind this world!

To face, for the civilization he himself built, the deeper challenges that may come from the 'game rules' themselves!

A flash of insight, suddenly penetrating!

He would take this just-acquired 128x power capable of moving mountains and rivers.

Not for external things, not for conquest, but……

Fully, thoroughly, without reservation!

Acting upon his own fundamental concept of 'lifespan'!

【Warning: Using 128x or greater effect will directly consume the dynasty's Fortune Momentum.】

【Current operation: Guiding the 128x rule to act upon the essence of his own lifespan……】

【Estimated Fortune Momentum consumption: immense.】

【Consequence: Triggering an unpredictable nationwide large-scale disaster.】

The system's warning was icy and clear.

He "looked" toward the vast sea of Fortune Momentum being frenziedly drawn.

He "heard" that, amidst the dim, the mountain-river veins and people's livelihoods began to become unstable due to violent fluctuations in Fortune Momentum.

Cost……

Immense cost……

But this realm, these people.

Because of him deviating from the set course, he should also bear this final backlash.

And strive for them a more distant future!

"Then with this body, I shall again protect these mountains and rivers... for a thousand years!"

Determination set!

No more hesitation!

He is not merely extending the fleeting moment left, but reshaping the 'scale' of his own life!

Taking his current roughly sixty-year life course as the 'base amount', multiply by this astonishing 128x!

【Confirming operation……】

【Rule taking effect……lifespan essence reconstruction……】

【Calculation baseline: current life course……】

【Reconstruction result: theoretical lifespan limit greatly extended……】

Vast energy, like a flood that splits heaven and earth, surged into the deepest rules of his life!

A fundamental, source-level transformation occurred at the final instant of his life!

And this force acting upon the essence of life, of excessively high level

At the moment of taking effect, it inevitably produced a violent, uncontrolled 'overflow'!

Like a supernova explosion, light and heat radiate naturally, unrestrained.

First to bear the brunt!

Those five kneeling before the couch, whose fates are tightly bound to his.

Core ministers whose hearts and minds are wholly bound to him, now in extreme sorrow and protective state.

——Zhang Cheng, Wang Ru, Shi Dun, Qian Gui, Zhao Lao Nian!

The energy ripple containing part of life's rules and a vast amount of the dynasty's Fortune Momentum.

At this extremely coincidental moment, it gently yet profoundly brushed over their bodies.

What they obtained was not the full 128x, but merely an infinitesimal fraction of this power naturally dissipating.

But even so, it was enough to engrave upon their life essence a 'scale' far beyond ordinary people!

It is enough for them to accompany their king, to whom they have sworn deathless loyalty, as they walk into the coming ages—long and far beyond imagination.

At the same time

In the dim vastness, the enormous 'Sea of Fortune Momentum' that sustains the fortune of the Great Chen Dynasty

As if an invisible giant blade had ruthlessly chopped off a corner, it instantly dimmed and a huge section was depleted!

Inside the inner hall, the five ministers knelt in attendance, while outside in the outer hall the crown prince waited anxiously.

Even every energy-sensitive being in the entire city of Bianliangcheng, throughout the Great Chen realm,

All felt a sudden, inexplicable palpitation at that instant!

As if the earth beneath their feet and the sky above were emitting a silent, painful groan!

Chen Wen's breakthrough and decision were finally complete.

In an instant of enlightenment, his lifespan increased by thousands of years!

And the massive upheaval and drastic change it triggered, sweeping across the entire dynasty, has only just begun.