Heavenly Selection

Heavenly Selection is an Eastern fantasy novel by the web author Juantu, serialized on Qidian Chinese Network from October 17, 2013, and completed in February 2016. The full text is about 5.17 million characters, and no print edition has been published. The story takes place in a fictional ancient high-martial world: the observatory of the David Dynasty's sacrifice to heaven suddenly catches fire, and Prince Wu Qian Zhen uses a sharp object to leave six characters on a stone: A baleful star appears, and the world falls into chaos. The next year the baleful star appears, Emperor Wei dies suddenly, and the world splits into five states: Northern Qi, Southern Zheng, Western Rong, Eastern Xia, and Middle Tang, while grassland forces also wait for an opportunity to move. Confucianism, Legalism, Mohism, Daoism, Yin-Yang, and the School of Vertical and Horizontal all establish academies to compete for talents. On the surface it is a hundred schools contending; in reality it is the dismissal of the hundred schools in pursuit of sole supremacy. The protagonist Lin Fengjin was originally the only son of a grain merchant and possesses the destiny of the baleful star. After passing the imperial examination as a child scholar, he enters the Donglin Academy and studies under Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Yangming. He originally wanted to secure a place in the chaotic world, but is drawn into the strife among schools and the rivalry of the five states. Relying on wisdom and planning, he steps onto the road to hegemony, ultimately ending the chaos and enabling Eastern Xia to unify the world. The work uses destiny and qi luck as its core system, integrating divine powers, cultivation, official posts and popular support, and national qi luck, and blends the thought of the hundred schools with high-martial hegemony. It is Juantu's transitional work from infinite flow to Eastern fantasy.