The World Online

7th month 1st day, night, Leishan City.

The Lord’s Manor of Leishan County had already been changed into the town hall of Leishan Prefecture.

Ouyang Shuo chose to reside in a quiet little courtyard in the west of the city. He set down these principles for himself to try his best to not interfere in the running of the town hall.

He did not want to take all the attention and rights from the prefect.

Hence, after Bao Shuya’s appointment, Ouyang Shuo left the town hall.

Along with Bao Shuya’s appointment, the organizational structure of Leizhou Prefecture, the five prefects and the twenty-two county magistrates were all appointed with the help of Fan Zhongyan.

The Four Seas Bank had already set up a branch in Leishan City and contact points at the various House counties. A huge sum of funds flowed into the construction of Leizhou Prefecture.

A bank was a basic structure for a grade 2 town. As such, the Four Seas Bank did not need to construct new banks. They just had to change the signboard and train a batch of workers.

The banknotes that the Four Seas Bank distributed were naturally circulated in Leizhou Prefecture too.

The circulation of the banknotes naturally pleased all the various Chamber of Commerces.

Be it the Cui Chamber of Commerce or the Hequanji Chamber of Commerce, their businesses had spread across Lianzhou, Qiongzhou, and Leizhou. With the banknotes, together with the Four Seas Bank, transactions would become a lot more convenient.

As Shanhai Territory grew stronger and stronger, the various Chamber of Commerces of the imperial cities also started to gather in Shanhai City.

Especially the Cui Chamber of Commerce. They utilized Shanhai City to experience a complete rebirth. This made the other Chamber of Commerces in Dali envious, and they all contacted the Financial Department to request to move into Shanhai City.

The business division naturally would not reject them.

There were now over ten Chamber of Commerces in Shanhai City. The businesses and industries there were becoming more and more prosperous.

The financial director Cui Yingyu was really skilled. In just a few days time, she had managed to raise 150 thousand gold from the Chamber of Commerces; a sum far greater than the amount needed.

The Cui Chamber of Commerce itself decided to loan fifty thousand gold.

Ouyang Shuo welcomed all this money. One could foresee that the future Zhaoqing Prefecture and Wuzhou Prefecture would similarly require huge amounts of construction funds.

Relying solely on the financial aid of Lianzhou Prefecture was definitely insufficient.

With the biggest financial problem solved, the newly appointed governor Bao Shuya had a stage to perform. Compared to Yanluo County, Leishan Prefecture was a more suitable stage.

……

City West Courtyard.

Although it was not big, it was exquisite. With guards waiting outside, it was certainly safe. Ouyang Shuo would usually stay in the courtyard and welcome people from the Leizhou Prefecture.

The uproar and noise in the day seemingly had no effect on Ouyang Shuo’s cultivation.

In his room, Ouyang Shuo sat cross-legged on his bed, closing his eyes as he cultivated. The golden primordial energy was like a stream, slowly flowing along his meridians.

As the number of layers in the Yellow Emperor Internal Cultivation Technique increased, Ouyang Shuo’s meridians were strengthened and opened. Till date, all twelve organ channels had totally opened.

Out of the Qijing eight meridians, the Ren Meridian had opened. As such, if he managed to open the Du Meridians, he would breakthrough to the 8th layer.

Every time he went up a layer in the cultivation technique, the route of flow through the meridians would also change and become more complicated. One rotation cycle would also last longer and longer.

At this point, Ouyang Shuo had reached the most crucial moment.

If one saw it, they could see that he was on the brink of breaking through; he was just one step away.

Ouyang Shuo moved the golden primordial energy. It rotated faster and faster, even forming brushing sounds against the walls of his meridians.

In the end, the primordial energy prepared to infuse itself into the Du Meridian.

A piercing pain spread out from within his meridians.

The huge pain made huge beads of sweat form on Ouyang Shuo’s forehead. At the same time, steam rose from above his head.

Ouyang Shuo gritted his teeth. He could not give up, if he did, his efforts would all be for naught.

”Break for me!”

Hong!

The golden primordial energy unleashed its strongest blow. Finally, it broke the walls of the meridian. It was like a wild horse released into the wilderness, charging into the empty meridian and filling it up.

Ouyang Shuo carefully controlled the primordial energy. After he rotated a round in the Du Meridian, he slowly backed out and returned the energy to his Dantian.

”Phew!”

”System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for successfully opening the Ren and Du Meridians. Bone structure +5, Comprehension +4, Luck +1, Charm +2, all other given stats +5. Congratulations player!”

……

”System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for successfully cultivating to the 8th layer of the Yellow Emperor Internal Cultivation Technique. Bone structure +2, Comprehension +1, all other given stats +1. Primordial energy upper limit increased to two thousand points. Congratulations player!”

The Ren and Du meridians were two of the main channels in the human body. If they were both opened, many other meridians would open. This would improve one’s body quality, the strength of their bones and muscles, while also improving circulation.

If the two meridians were not open, the primordial energy would accumulate in the Dantian. If one did not train hard, it would slowly dissipate. However, if the Ren and Du meridians were opened, the primordial energy could flow all over the body and circle all around. It would not dissipate, and it would even grant the body a level of protection.

Opening the Ren and Du meridians was a very symbolic event for Ouyang Shuo. His body had once again improved on an existential scale. He had experienced a true rebirth that let his power reach that of three oxen.

The moment he broke through, his real body inside the game cabin also started to mutate.

If someone saw him, they would see a golden glow glisten on the surface of his body. It looked mysterious but noble. Under the control of the AI, a huge quantity of nutrition fluids was injected into Ouyang Shuo’a body.

At the same time, his body excreted a huge amount of black waste. It formed a film over his body. The cleaning function of the game cabin cleaned up the waste until not even a single speck remained.

After the cleaning process, Ouyang Shuo’s body appeared crystal clear. It looked like he had ice muscles and jade bones. Strand after strand of primordial energy flowed slowly under his skin.

At this moment, the huge migration fleet was slowly proceeding forward in the dark universe.

In the middle of the fleet, there was a huge spaceship that several guard ships closely protected. This was the flagship of the entire fleet—its brain and heart.

This was because the main machine of Gaia was in the flagship.

To put it another way, the entire flagship was modified to become Gaia’s main system.

On the hundred odd guard ships, there were around 80% of the military of the federation. These soldiers were not allowed to enter the game. Their only mission was to ensure the safety of the fleet.

The soldiers who could enter the game had left the force earlier.

In the flagship, there were people with A or S permission levels. Apart from them, there was one more core team.

The mission of this team was to ensure the smooth running of the fleet. They would also keep in contact with the explorer team on planet Hope to set up future plans.

These workers were also not allowed to play the game.

Even if they logged in, it was on a casual basis. They could not affect the runnings of the game.

The moment Ouyang Shuo’s body mutated, Gaia received a notification.

Ding!

”Spaceship number ZGMD105, game cabin serial number ZG10050078 has triggered game clause number 51, reaching requirements for level D permission level, please confirm!”

”Confirm!”

The one giving the confirmation was a young woman with a low but really pleasant voice.

”Confirmation complete, following federation rule number 51-002, granting game cabin serial number ZG10050078 higher grade nutritional fluid, raising AI level of cabin, raising the citizen’s permission level.”

Ding!

”Connecting high-grade nutritional fluid!”

Ding!

”Game cabin serial number ZG10050078 AI level upgraded!”

Ding!

”Citizen number ZG350825216810058271’s permission level increased to D.”

After the notification, Gaia returned to normal.

This series of events remained unknown to Ouyang Shuo.

He only knew that after the Yellow Emperor Internal Cultivation Technique leveled up to the 8th layer, he could increase his primordial energy by five units every day. With his normal cultivation speed, he needed another three hundred days to upgrade once more.

The road was long and arduous!

7th month 5th day, Leizhou Prefecture.

After ten days of reorganization, the 4th division was already in place, and the newly built three divisions were already completed. The soldiers that were retrenched were sent to the various Houses.

What remained was the slow and hard process of training the forces.

Based on the Military Affairs Department’s plan, the 1st division of the Tiger Legion, as well as the newly built 4th division, would sail from Hai An City back to Yashan City.

After calming down and settling the Li Race aboriginals in the south, Ouyang Shuo personally ordered Sun Bin to attack the middle and north regions after they built the 3rd division.

He wanted to settle the entire Qiongzhou Island within two months.

The Guards division would follow Ouyang Shuo and return to Shanhai City.

The 2nd and 4th divisions of the Dragon Legion, as well as the independent division, would remain in Leizhou Prefecture.

The next step would be for these three divisions to continue up north to attack Zhaoqing Prefecture.

Of course, the city protection division of Tianshuang County would also help them in this battle.

Ouyang Shuo still left the command of the troops in the Battle of Zhaoqing to Baiqi.

Compared to Leizhou Prefecture, the situation in Zhaoqing was a lot better.

Firstly, with the Leizhou Prefecture as the logistics base, they had no problems with supplies and resources.

Secondly, they had Tianshuang County helping them.

In addition to the high morale they possessed from taking down Leizhou, it was only a matter of time till they took down Zhaoqing. The only problem would be the future of Zhaoqing.

Song Wen was smart and sent a letter to Ouyang Shuo. He stated that after Zhaoqing Prefecture fell, Tianshuang County was willing to copy Mulan County and merge into the Shanhai Territory system.

Ouyang Shuo was really happy to accept this proposal.