Chapter 754: System Promotion

Three days later, the Chen Dynasty's central hub.

All daily governmental affairs had nearly come to a halt.

All levels of offices handled only the most urgent military and civilian matters; the remaining manpower, material resources, and even intangible 'attention' were all directed toward a single core——

located deep beneath the imperial palace, the 'Fortune Momentum Ancestral Vein Hub'.

This was not a natural cavern, but a magnificent earth palace built over the four hundred years since the founding of the Chen Dynasty, using the nation's full strength, relying on the initially discovered vast strange-iron vein, continually excavated, reinforced, and inscribed.

The earth palace is ring-shaped, divided into nine layers.

The lowest layer, also at the center, is a circular platform with a diameter of one hundred zhang.

The platform is cast from the purest strange iron, its surface etched with bewilderingly complex fortune-momentum guidance patterns.

At this moment, Chen Wen sat cross-legged at the platform's center, his eyes slightly closed.

Beneath him lay the deepest binding node where the Chen Dynasty's national fortune and the Cow Horse System were intertwined.

On the eight concentric corridors surrounding the platform, eight forces stood in solemn readiness according to the eight trigrams' directions.

Zhang Cheng led the elite of the Observation Platform, guarding the Li position (south), responsible for monitoring and regulation.

Zhao Lao Nian led the master artisans of the Works Manufacture Office, guarding the Kan position (north), in charge of energy transmission and stability.

Yue Fei led the battle-hardened veterans of the Northward Aspiration Army, whose killing intent was strongest, guarding the Dui position (west), tasked with slaughter-defense and suppressing external evils.

Lin Chong led the most steadfast of the Forbidden Army, guarding the Zhen position (east), responsible for internal tranquility and preventing ritual backlash.

Gong Sun Sheng led the Heavenly Works Institute's foremost calculators, guarding the Kun position (southwest), in charge of array foundation deduction and correction.

The remaining three positions were likewise personally led by senior ministers, each fulfilling their duties.

The dome of the earth palace was inlaid with countless strange-iron crystals, now pulsing faintly in time with a slow, vast rhythm.

With each shift of light and dark, a vast yet intangible 'momentum' surged from all corners of the Chen Dynasty's territory, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, pouring into this earth palace, into the ancestral vein beneath the platform, and then rushing into Chen Wen's body at the center.

He was 'eating'.

He consumed the Chen Dynasty's four-hundred-year accumulation of national fortune, the belief and identification of billions of commoners with the concept of the 'Chen Dynasty,' and every orderly 'possibility' of development on this land.

All of this would be transformed into the purest 'authority,' striking at the formless system's barrier.

"National fortune flow has reached seventy percent of the baseline."

Zhang Cheng's voice, transmitted through fortune-momentum resonance, rang clearly in everyone's ears within the earth palace, calm and devoid of any emotion.

"Feedback from the prefectures: popular sentiment shows slight fluctuation, celestial phenomena exhibit expected disturbances, and three border garrisons report faint tremors."

"Everything remains within the controllable model."

Chen Wen gave no response.

All of his mind and spirit were immersed in the deepest communication with the System.

Deep within his consciousness, that icy, vast interface was violently fluctuating.

System Core Authority (Fortune Momentum) integration: 71%... 73%... 75%...

Each percentage point increase was accompanied by the burning of vast amounts of 'experience'.

That was not a number.

That was the substantive consumption of the Chen Dynasty's national fortune.

It was an omen that some remote regions might suffer a slight poor harvest this year.

It was a potential risk that a certain waterworks project might be delayed due to insufficient 'qi fortune'.

It was countless minute 'possibilities' being prematurely redeemed and focused here.

"Flow has risen to ninety percent of the baseline!"

Zhang Cheng's voice rose slightly.

"Youzhou and Qingzhou report: spiritual springs temporarily dried up, and the strange-iron vein shows spontaneous weak resonance."

"The Bei Jing Light Curtain Observation Station reports: on our side of the light curtain, corresponding energy ripples have appeared, of moderate strength."

"The Iron Crow Army may have been startled."

Yue Fei bellowed sternly.

"The Dui position is set! Killing intent forms the formation—let no external evil enter!"

Behind him, the hundred veterans roared in unison, a iron-blooded, solemn killing intent surging skyward—not a physical attack, but a spiritual and momentum barrier blended with fortune-momentum guidance, enveloping the earth palace's exterior.

"Flow……one hundred twenty percent of the baseline!"

Zhao Lao Nian's report carried a tremor.

"Your Majesty! Overload! Some prefectural feedback already shows signs of drought!"

"Continue."

Chen Wen's consciousness transmitted two icy words.

Integration: 84%... 86%... 89%...

The sensation of striking the barrier grew ever clearer.

That was not a physical barrier, but a rule‑level 'lock'.

It required sufficient power, continuously bombarding at the correct 'frequency'.

"One hundred fifty!"

"Bianjing was suddenly hit by a rainstorm, the rain slightly murky!"

"Longxi's livestock stampeded for no reason!"

"Altars of the Land and Grain everywhere trembled slightly!"

Bad news began to increase.

Overdrawing of national fortune has already begun to provoke substantive natural backlash and social turmoil.

Chen Wen remained unmoved.

His consciousness was like the finest file, guiding the vast surge of national fortune, repeatedly scouring that intangible 'lock'.

Not enough.

Still a bit short.

The most crucial point.

「Two hundred！！」

Zhang Cheng was almost howling.

「Cracks have appeared in the strange iron base at the core of the ancestral vein! The energy-guiding patterns are overheating from overload! 」

「Tremors are intensifying in the three border towns, damaging civilian homes! 」

「Emergency reports are flooding in from all regions like snowflakes, and public sentiment is unsettled! 」

The cost is rapidly becoming apparent.

Chen Wen finally opened his eyes.

Deep in his eyes, a golden data stream flashed and vanished.

He raised his hand, bit his fingertip, and a drop of blood imbued with intense personal will and the origin of authority fell onto the strange iron platform beneath him.

Hum——

The entire underground palace shuddered violently!

Half of the dome's crystals instantly dimmed and shattered!

The guiding patterns on the platform blazed to their utmost, then suddenly large sections went out!

But that drop of blood, like the hottest lava, spread wildly along the remaining patterns, directly injecting into the deepest part of the ancestral vein!

Now!

Chen Wen's consciousness resonated completely with all the burning national fortune and the entire Chen dynasty's 'sense of existence,' transforming into an intangible, massless yet matchlessly sharp chisel that fiercely struck the final barrier!

Crack——

A sound only Chen Wen could hear, like a faint crack from the world's foundation.

System core authority (Fortune Momentum) integration: 100%.

Conditions met.

Authority level increased.

Current level: Lv. 7.

New module unlocked: Life-code perception and basic intervention.

A vast stream of information instantly surged into Chen Wen's mind.

A code perspective on the essence of life.

A theoretical framework for remote linking.

On how to bypass the light barrier to perform limited life-information manipulation...

Possibility.

It succeeded.

But the cost...

「Cough...... 」

Chen Wen let out a muffled groan, and a trace of pale gold blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

The strange iron platform beneath him, cracks spread like a spiderweb.

The light of the entire underground palace dimmed by at least half.

「Your Majesty! 」

「Stop the extraction! Quick! 」

「Recirculate! Activate protective recirculation! 」

Amid the shocked and angry shouts of Zhang Cheng, Lao Zhao, and others, the massive surge of national fortune began to flow backward, difficult and loss-ridden, attempting to return to the Chen dynasty's lands.

But some things, once consumed, can never return.

Chen Wen slowly rose to his feet, his body swaying slightly.

He felt a brand-new authority within him, yet tinged with a sense of 'deficiency'.

Achieved.

But the Chen dynasty's national fortune also suffered great vitality loss.

Heavenly disasters, human calamities, and public unease all need time to be soothed.

「Report……loss. 」

His voice was hoarse.

Zhang Cheng quickly calculated, his face growing paler.

「Preliminary estimate……the national fortune's total amount permanently diminished by about one and a half tenths. 」

「The resulting chain of heavenly disasters and terrestrial changes, direct economic loss……roughly equivalent to two years of national tax revenue. 」

「Public stability has declined, requiring time and good governance to recover. 」

Chen Wen closed his eyes.

One and a half tenths of national fortune.

Two years of tax.

What was gained was Lv. 7, and that faint possibility of remote bestowal.

「Is it worth it? 」

He asked himself.

No answer.

Only outside the northern light curtain, the increasingly urgent pulsation of the yin energy urged him on.

"Prepare for the second stage."

He opened his eyes, wiping away the blood at the corner of his mouth.

"Construct the link."

"We... have no time to rest."