Night gave way to a golden dawn across the Three Eastern Prefectures.
From thirty-six counties, an unseen river of spiritual energy began to flow.
In one hundred newly built orphanages, forty thousand children woke up in heated bedrooms, laughing as they ate warm steamed buns and put on clean clothes.
In fifty thousand mortal farming hamlets, clean irrigation water flowed through dredged canals, nourishing five hundred thousand acres of rich spirit-rice.
In ten thousand market towns, rogue cultivators swept roads, repaired broken bridges, and studied the Taichu Civic Code under the autumn morning sky.
Every smile, every grateful prayer, and every sincere deed sent a filament of pure golden merit into the sky.
The threads of light converged over the highest terrace of Taichu Central Headquarters.
Lin Mo sat cross-legged on a woven rush mat, his eyes closed in calm meditation. The morning breeze tugged at his dark linen coat.
