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Ascension City.

The tavern’s business was brisk today. Two groups of drinkers arrived one after the other. Fan Dache and Wang Xinshui, along with several other bachelors, had just taken their seats when Situ Longqiu and Luo Zhenyi arrived with a few other women.

Without needing a glance from the acting shopkeeper, Zheng Dafeng, Fan Dache and the others voluntarily yielded the last table to the latter, obediently squatting by the roadside to drink. They wanted to hear some tales of immortal battles and bedroom escapades from their brother Dafeng.

Unexpectedly, Zheng Dafeng had already hurried to take a seat at the table.

An old Golden Core sword cultivator sitting by the roadside sighed. This old bachelor, no longer young, could nurse a bowl of wine for half a day. Every time he listened to Zheng Dafeng’s stories, more than half the wine would remain. After lending an ear to the acting shopkeeper’s tales,

The old man would always lament with his catchphrase, “Who would have thought that this old man, having lived a life of integrity and uprightness, would end up hearing such things?”

After Zheng Dafeng sat down, already at the edge of the long bench, a female sword cultivator still immediately rose and squeezed onto a bench with two friends.

Zheng Dafeng silently shifted his weight, sliding along the bench all the way over. “Hmm, warm.” He hadn’t even drunk any wine, yet Brother Dafeng already felt a warmth in his heart.

Seeing this, the woman’s willow eyebrows shot up in anger. But realizing that scolding him would be useless, and might only make him worse, spouting even more nonsensical nonsense, she lifted her wine bowl and took a large gulp of sullen wine.

Sitting opposite Zheng Dafeng was none other than Luo Zhenyi, the female sword cultivator from the Hidden Official lineage of the Summer Retreat Palace.

The woman’s face, figure, temperament, and swordplay realm were all beyond reproach.

Looking left and right, front and back, she was pleasing to the eye no matter how you looked at her.

Perhaps Luo Zhenyi was to the young men of Ascension City what Song Caiyun and Zhou Cheng had been to the old-timers of the Sword Qi Great Wall.

Our acting shopkeeper, Zheng Dafeng, had only been in charge of the tavern for a short time when he quickly gained a foothold in the Sword Qi Great Wall with just three things.

His handsome looks, with thick eyebrows and bright eyes, his good gambling etiquette at the wine table, and the two lists he created, selecting the Ten Fairies and the Ten Beauty Buds every few years, capturing them all in one fell swoop.

Reassessed every two or three years, Luo Zhenyi consistently ranked among the top three of the Ten Fairies.

As for Dong Bude, who wasn’t drinking today, she was selected twice, with fluctuating rankings, a significant difference. The first time she was at the bottom, and the second time she directly broke into the top three.

However, in the upcoming new selection, Miss Dong had already been internally decided by Zheng Dafeng as the top choice.

There was no choice. Before leaving the Five Colors World, Guo Zhujiu secretly gave him another sum of immortal money, saying that a certain old maiden had to be first this time, or she would really be unable to marry.

The little girl also had the style of a nameless heroine, repeatedly instructing the acting shopkeeper not to mention her contribution, and if the old maiden asked, to say that Deng Liang, the chief, had paid for it.

Situ Longqiu asked, “I heard from the Hidden Official that you have a place called Yandang Mountain in your Treasure Bottle Continent, with beautiful scenery? Is it going to become some sort of Crown Prince Mountain?”

Previously, she and two close friends had asked Chen Ping’an for three seals. Her collection seal was related to a scenic spot called Dalongqiu in Yandang Mountain.

Zheng Dafeng nodded and said, “The scenery is indeed excellent. If you have the chance, you should go and see it. Next time, Brother Dafeng will help lead the way. Miss Situ, you don’t know, there are many scholars in the Great Harmony World, but few decent people like Brother Dafeng.”

Situ Longqiu was a concubine’s daughter from the Situ family in Taihang Street. Before the great battle, she was only a Horizon Realm bottleneck sword cultivator. She broke through in this Ascension City, and later, during her travels in the Five Colors World, she attained the Golden Core.

She was a close confidante of Dong Bude, and Situ Longqiu was not considered a genius among the younger generation of the Sword Qi Great Wall, but she was extremely popular.

As a result, a few years ago, she inexplicably got a nickname, a rather long title, called “a walking landscape gazette of the Sword Qi Great Wall.”

Her nickname immediately spread throughout Ascension City, said to have originated from a careless saying within the Summer Retreat Palace.

In fact, it was the Hidden Official who unintentionally let it slip in his early years. The well-known bootlickers of the Summer Retreat Palace were amazed and applauded, and gradually it spread.

Moreover, there was Dong Bude in the Summer Retreat Palace. How could she keep a secret?

As a disciple, with her master not in Ascension City, Guo Zhujiu naturally had to take over.

Since there was the concept of a son repaying his father’s debts, then a disciple repaying her master’s debts was even more a matter of course! If you have any unresolved grievances, come at me!

Thus, Guo Zhujiu’s fate was the “dong, dong, dong” sound of knocks on her door.

Zheng Dafeng suddenly asked, “Miss Situ, what do you think of Brother Dafeng as a person?”

Situ Longqiu glanced at the burly man and said, “I don’t know if he’s useful, but he’s definitely not good-looking.”

Such a woman, such an Ascension City, how could Zheng Dafeng not like it?

It was really no different from his hometown.

Zheng Dafeng raised his wine bowl, “You can’t trust pretty women’s words. You have to take them as the opposite of what they mean.”

Luo Zhenyi lightly stepped on her friend’s foot under the table.

The woman named Guan Mei rolled her eyes at her friend and asked Zheng Dafeng with a smile, “Acting Shopkeeper, when Ning Yao returned here from the Great Harmony World, didn’t she bring back any news? Like how Lin Junbi and the others are doing back in their hometown?”

On the way here, Luo Zhenyi had asked her to ask Zheng Dafeng about something, saying that she wanted to know how those foreign sword cultivators from the Summer Retreat Palace were doing now.

Guan Mei had a good impression of Zheng Dafeng. He was humorous and had a good temper. No matter what anyone said, he didn’t get angry. He had too many lewd jokes, and his eyes would light up whenever he saw a woman with a good figure, but this acting shopkeeper of the small tavern never laid a hand on anyone.

Zheng Dafeng rubbed his chin, looking troubled. “Calling me Acting Shopkeeper, you’re being too polite, it hurts to even speak.”

Guan Mei quickly leaned forward and poured Zheng Dafeng a bowl of wine, saying in a sweet voice, “Brother Dafeng, tell me, I’m begging you.”

Zheng Dafeng lifted the bowl with both hands, stretching his neck to get a glimpse into her collar, and said, “Sister Guan Mei, if you say that, Brother Dafeng will be heartbroken. Why are you saying ‘begging’? Do you need to beg at Brother Dafeng’s place?”

Guan Mei deliberately maintained her pouring posture, not rushing to sit back. She gave a coquettish shake of her fragrant shoulders, “Tell me.”
This old woman is going all out for her friends today!

Alas, that made Brother Dafeng’s heart tremble and his eyes ache.

Zheng Dafeng watched the lass sit back down. “Ning Yao didn’t say much, just that everyone went back to their own homes to cultivate. But it seems that Lin Junbi kid has become the Royal Preceptor of the Shao Yuan Dynasty, the youngest Royal Preceptor among the ten great dynasties of Haoran. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he’s famous throughout the world. Cao Gun is lucky, his sect is in the Flowing Rosy Continent and wasn’t affected by the war. They’re planning to open a sub-sect in the Supporting Sky Continent, maybe Cao Gun can get lucky and become the sect master. Song Gaoyuan and Xuan Shen are less fortunate, their sects are in the Supporting Sky Continent and Golden Armor Continent respectively, and they’re busy rebuilding their sects now. As for whether they’ll repair the old sites or start anew, I don’t know.”

The previous generation of the Summer Retreat Palace, the Hidden Official lineage of swordsmen.

Foreign swordsmen include Chen Ping’an, Lin Junbi, Deng Liang, Cao Gun, Xuan Shen, and Song Gaoyuan.

Local swordsmen include Chou Miao, Pang Yuanji, Dong BuDe, Guo Zhujiu, Gu Jianlong, Wang Xinshui, Xu Ning, Luo Zhenyi, and Chang Taiqing.

Any one of them, when facing a swordsman from elsewhere, is both skilled and cunning. As long as the difference in their realms isn’t too great, they can’t be said to be guaranteed victory, but their chances are definitely high.

In Zheng Dafeng’s opinion, the two groups of young people in the current Summer Retreat Palace who will later become Hidden Official lineage swordsmen are still inferior to these “predecessors.”

Guan Mei waited for a long time, but Zheng Dafeng just lowered his head and drank. She asked doubtfully, “Is that it?”

Zheng Dafeng raised his head, looking shy. “Some things can’t be forced, you know? It’s not like a scholar writing an essay, where you can just grind and squeeze something out.”

Guan Mei was puzzled for a moment. What was he being shy about?

It’s a pity that the shameless Dong BuDe wasn’t there, otherwise she would have known what Zheng Dafeng was thinking.

As soon as Si Tu Longqiu and her group of women left, Zheng Dafeng seemed to collapse, finally not having to deliberately maintain that old man’s unique charm.

Otherwise, these young girls who haven’t seen much of the world might not be able to resist.

If they couldn’t resist, it would just lead to a pile of love debts, not worth it, no need for it.

Zheng Dafeng quickly turned his head and waved. “Hurry up, what are you all doing squatting there? Any later and the benches will be cold.”

Zheng Dafeng kicked off his boots and sat cross-legged on the long bench, asking, “Xinshui, are there any girls that you yearn for day and night, tossing and turning in bed over?”

A group of bachelors scurried over to grab seats. Wang Xinshui shook his head upon hearing this. “No.”

Zheng Dafeng shook his head. “If you put a little effort into romance, you wouldn’t be hanging out with Fan Dache.”

Wang Xinshui is indeed a true sword cultivator genius, but the only problem is that his mind is too fast, his premonitions are too accurate, so much so that his sword-drawing speed can’t keep up. This subtle situation is extremely difficult to improve.

So, over the years, Wang Xinshui still likes to come here to drink and drown his sorrows.

Fan Dache looked helpless. What did I do to deserve this?

Zheng Dafeng took a sip of wine and picked up a piece of appetizer. It was really salty, so he quickly took another gulp of wine and turned to ask, “Dache, what’s your feeling when you walk down the street now and a kid calls you Uncle Fan?”

Fan Dache laughed. “No feeling, it’s great.”

Zheng Dafeng rubbed his chin. He heard that back in the early days of the Summer Retreat Palace, Pang Yuanji, Lin Junbi, Cao Gun, and of course the Great Swordsman Mi, were all outstanding in appearance.

He wondered if they had seven or eight tenths of his own charm.

After Fan Dache and his group left, the setting sun made the empty tables in the tavern gradually increase. Zheng Dafeng leaned over the counter, doing the accounting.

After Zheng Dafeng took over the tavern, business has actually been pretty good. He hasn’t made less money, and the liveliness on ordinary days is unique in Ascension City.

However, Feng Kangle and Tao Ban, those two little brats, always complain that the tavern isn’t as lively as it used to be, not even close.

Zheng Dafeng is also really frustrated. In the entire Ascension City now, there are only a few sword cultivators above the fifth realm, and not many young Nascent Souls either.

This is like asking a skilled woman to cook without rice. Where am I supposed to find a group of Jade Purity and Nascent Soul sword cultivators for you to squat on the side of the road and drink?

The tavern is still full of old faces, except that the manager has changed. It’s still Qiu Long, Liu E, Feng Kangle, and Tao Ban.

However, Zhang Jiazhen and Jiang Qu were taken to the Haoran World by the second manager a long time ago.

Actually, Qiu Long and Liu E had long reached the age for marriage, and they had been dragging it on for many years. Later, Qiu Long finally listened to the acting manager’s words and reined in his thoughts of the distant horizon, choosing to cherish the person in front of him. The two were married before the new year. Qiu Long married Liu E, Zheng Dafeng officiated the wedding, and of course, he also led the way in making a ruckus in the bridal chamber and eavesdropping on the wall.

The young couple lived a stable life and planned to earn more money and save up some more savings before opening their own husband-and-wife tavern. Of course, they wouldn’t open it in Ascension City, but would choose a place to settle down among the four border vassal cities. The most likely choice would still be Summer Retreat City, because the city lord is a sword cultivator of the Summer Retreat Palace’s Hidden Official lineage, so they are considered half-family. If the tavern really runs into trouble, they’d have someone to look after them.

Swordsmen who have just entered the Summer Retreat Palace will come here to drink. This has become a convention, similar to paying respects to the mountain.

Feng Kangle and Tao Ban, the two teenagers who used to help out with odd jobs, have now become the tavern’s legitimate waiters.

The tavern still only has three kinds of drinks: the cheap Bamboo Sea Grotto Heaven wine, the ridiculously expensive Azure God Mountain wine, and the moonshine-like Mute Lake wine, plus a free plate of pickled vegetables and a bowl of plain noodles.

The wine bowls are the same size as before, and the benches are still just as narrow.

It’s just that the “no trouble” plaques on the walls of the two adjacent tavern rooms are still the same as always, none missing, and none added.

Since Zheng Dafeng came to Ascension City and became the acting manager, the tradition of writing a “no trouble” plaque after drinking has been abandoned.

It’s like a mountain being sealed off.

Since there really is no trouble, there’s no need to write a “no trouble” plaque.

In the beginning, some people made a fuss, both old customers and new drinkers, but it was no use. Zheng Dafeng bowed his head and apologized with a smile, punishing himself with three bowls, but the “no trouble” plaque, he wouldn’t let them write it anymore.
Fortunately, the Second Shopkeeper had secretly cultivated many barmaids in his early years, and most of them spoke up for Zheng Dafeng. Over time, as Zheng Dafeng was indeed a likable fellow, the customers gradually got used to him and no longer made things difficult for this deputy shopkeeper, who was also a foreigner and a scholar.

The deputy shopkeeper truly had read a lot of books, especially in certain areas where his knowledge far surpassed that of the Second Shopkeeper.

Elsewhere in Ascension City, some restaurants had acquired, at great expense, a few jars of genuine Green God Mountain wine, which they treated as their prized possessions. Of course, this was also meant to challenge the small wine shop. They sold it by the tael, and soon people went to try it. After drinking a cup, they all left cursing and complaining, almost unwilling to pay.

“Fake wine! Selling fake wine! Green God Mountain wine doesn’t taste like this at all!”

They were all convinced, nodding their heads like chickens pecking rice at the tables and along the roadside.

The restaurant owner was going crazy.

To this day, they had sold less than a jar of Green God Mountain wine. The restaurant couldn’t even recover its costs, let alone make a profit.

Zheng Dafeng glanced at the two figures at a table not far away, who were immersed in eating bowls of plain noodles, not mistreating themselves by adding two fried eggs.

Tao Ban and Feng Kangle were now strapping young men, capable of “baking pancakes” on their buttocks, both sporting stubble.

When he was still a child, Tao Ban had asked the Second Shopkeeper a question. Now, with Deputy Shopkeeper Zheng Dafeng, he asked a similar one, only changing “sword immortal prodigy” to “martial arts genius.”

Later, Tao Ban asked a question that Zheng Dafeng didn’t know how to answer.

“Will I ever see the Second Shopkeeper again in my lifetime?”

Because Tao Ban knew that he was neither a sword immortal prodigy nor a martial arts genius, just an ordinary person who would soon become middle-aged, then old, and might not be able to wait for the next opening of the Five Colored Heavens.

Seeing that Zheng Dafeng didn’t say anything, Tao Ban muttered to himself that he was too young back then to drink wine, so he had never had a drink with the Second Shopkeeper.

As dusk settled, a table of drunkards, thoroughly intoxicated, chuckled, “Brother Dafeng, constantly winning your money… It started with joy, then awkwardness, then heartache, and now it’s almost regret.”

Zheng Dafeng, calculating on his abacus, nodded. “Yeah, it’s pretty much like love between a man and a woman.”

Someone understood, savoring the lingering flavor, and loudly applauded.

Another person asked, “Deputy Shopkeeper, tell us the honest truth, are you just lucky at gambling, or is it because you don’t wash your hands all year round?”

Zheng Dafeng didn’t bother to reply, raising his middle finger.

Someone started talking drunk, “To tell you the honest truth, I couldn’t even take two punches from the Second Shopkeeper.”

“Why doesn’t the Second Shopkeeper come back? There’s no one to be the bookie.”

The Sword Qi Great Wall once had two versions of the “Five Uniques,” old and new.

The old ones were: that damned guy’s peerless gambling luck, Old Deaf’s ability to speak human language, Lu Zhi’s captivating beauty, Hidden Official’s care for the delicate, and Mi Yu’s inability to hold onto deep affection.

The new ones were: Second Shopkeeper’s honesty and never being the bookie, Situ Longqiu’s “I swear it’s absolutely true,” Gu Jianlong’s “Let me say something fair,” Dong Huafu’s extravagant spending, and Wang Xinshui’s “No problem before the sword is drawn, I’ll take responsibility after the fight.”

Both lists included foreigners, and both foreigners were scholars, albeit with some differences. A’Liang couldn’t wait to engrave “civilized,” “scholar,” “if you don’t think I’m handsome, you have vision problems…” on his forehead.

The young Hidden Official was the opposite, never deliberately flaunting his scholar status. At the wine shop, he would make false statements like, “I really have a low alcohol tolerance,” “I never act as the bookie,” “Trying to force someone to drink is bad manners,” “You have to be reasonable,” “You need evidence for false accusations…”

Later, Ascension City actually developed a new saying, the “Four Oddities.”

One was Ning Yao temporarily leading as Hidden Official, but not becoming the City Lord.

Another was Nian Xin, the second-in-command of the Criminal Office, whose true identity no one could figure out even now.

It was said that Nian Xin never spoke during discussions at the Ancestral Hall.

Then there was Winnowing Fan Studio, formerly one of the sword immortal residences outside the city, where three male sword cultivators wore women’s clothing.

Finally, there were the money-grubbing, trash-collecting accountants of the Spring Mansion lineage, who would challenge anyone who interfered with their money-making.

These cultivators hung unique calligraphy plaques in their respective accounting houses, with inscriptions like “Heaven rewards diligence,” “Diligence can compensate for clumsiness,” “Wealth pours in,” and “The sky is three feet higher.”

Especially the latter two, their reputations had spread throughout the entire world.

This was because the three earth immortal sword cultivators of Shezhou, Shuiyu, and Yanzhen, using some kind of inherited divine ability, took turns searching for sword immortal prodigies from other lands.

This secret inheritance had a very high threshold, and only two of the dozen or so direct disciples had barely mastered it.

Among them, Shezhou had already reached the Nascent Soul stage. According to the decree left by his master, he could have changed into normal attire.

It was said that Shezhou had just put on a standard robe from the clothing workshop and was about to go out to find someone to drink with when his two junior brothers came to his door, almost turning against him, so he had to continue to “share the blessings.”

Thanks to a poorly worded question asked by the direct disciples taken in by Shezhou and his junior brother Shuiyu, all the disciples of the Winnowing Fan Studio now had to wear women’s clothing along with their masters.

Thus, these two “senior brothers” were now thorns in the sides of their fellow disciples.

Actually, this saying of the “Four Oddities” was interesting and amusing.

But for some reason, everyone felt that it wasn’t quite as fun, as if something was missing.

Perhaps it was because the current Ascension City lacked those familiar High Realm sword cultivators, those old-timers of the Sword Qi Great Wall, or those two scholars who were most often cursed at.

It’s like cursing someone. If you’re the only one there, hands on hips, cursing and spitting, with no one to argue back, you’ll eventually get tired.

So you need someone to argue with!

Cheng Quan and Zhao Geyi could be considered old sword cultivators who knew how to curse, right?

But when up against the Second Shopkeeper, both of them combined weren’t a match.
The current head of the Bureau of Punishments, Qi Shou, was rumored to have once sat atop the city walls, doing nothing, saying nothing, merely an innocent bystander caught in a dispute, and was almost cursed into vomiting excrement by Cheng Quan.

The Sword Qi Great Wall either adored or detested that young Hidden Official; there was no middle ground.

Of course, there was also a distinction between those who had been swindled out of their money and those who hadn’t.

Once, a Spring Manor cultivator, driven mad by greed or perhaps infatuated with the Second Shopkeeper, attempted to sneak into the wine shop one night, intending to steal the Second Shopkeeper’s couplet, not forgetting to bring a “fake” one with him. However, this petty thief was grabbed by the neck by Zheng Dafeng. Afterward, he had to drink at the wine shop for an entire month to settle the debt.

Zheng Dafeng turned to look at the street and sighed.

Currently, the Ascending City has roughly taken shape with three major factions.

These are the Bureau of Punishments, the Hidden Official faction, and the Spring Manor.

Ning Yao temporarily holds the position of Hidden Official, and the number of sword cultivators in the Summer Abode lineage has reached twenty.

However, in Zheng Dafeng’s view, the Ascending City still has many hidden concerns.

Within the Hidden Official faction alone, there is a lack of a second-in-command who can truly command respect. Although Luo Zhenyi is a Golden Core Realm sword cultivator and is almost certain to reach the Upper Five Realms, due to her personality, when Ning Yao is not in the Ascending City, it is difficult for anyone to truly make a final decision when disputes arise within the Summer Abode. It’s not that they aren’t smart enough, but rather that everyone is too clever, yet no one can be considered the “smartest.”

Furthermore, the atmosphere of the Summer Abode’s new Hidden Official faction is not as close-knit as before; it has become much colder.

For example, the small faction that first aligned itself with the new Hidden Official, comprised six sword cultivators, including Guo Zhujiu and the Great Sword Immortal Mi, as well as four others:

Gu Jianlong and Wang Xinshui, along with Cao Gun and Xuan Shen.

Two locals and two outsiders, these four young sword cultivators were known as the Summer Abode’s Four Hounds, wholeheartedly devoted to Guo Zhujiu as the leader of a certain gang.

How could such a scene ever occur in the current Summer Abode?

After all, neither Chen Pingan nor the Worries-No-More Sword Immortal are present.

Ning Yao is now the foremost figure under the heavens, the only Ascending Realm cultivator in the Five Colors World, and a sword cultivator at that.

However, Ning Yao finds it difficult to attend to all the trivial matters, and it is not something she should be doing in the first place.

In addition, Chief Offering Deng Liang has also gradually gathered a hidden faction around him.

It’s not that Deng Liang is motivated by personal ambition to compete for power, but rather it is the inevitable trend of events.

Furthermore, with the general trend of the world becoming clearer, more and more foreign cultivators are flocking to the Ascending City. Although there are four vassal cities acting as barriers, layer upon layer of screening, various forms of infiltration are endless and difficult to prevent.

Moreover, the entire Ascending City has not yet realized one thing:

Those who can truly determine the future of the Ascending City are not just the handful of sword immortals on the surface, or even all sword cultivators, but rather those inconspicuous mortal scholars.

Zheng Dafeng knows some inside information that ordinary sword cultivators do not.

Not long ago, Ning Yao suddenly left the Five Colors World with her sword and returned to the Ascending City from the Vast World.

She convened a meeting in the Ancestral Hall. After offering incense, Ning Yao said only a few words, but it stunned the forty or so people present.

Chen Pingan took her, Qi Tingji, Lu Zhi, the Bureau of Punishments’ Hao Su, and the Third Master of the Jade Capital, Lu Chen, on a trip to the heart of the Barbarian World.

They cleaved Immortal Hairpin City in two, killed the Ascending Realm Great Demon Xuanpu, opened the Sword’s Path on Mount Tuoyue, and killed the Prime Villain, the eldest disciple of the Barbarian World Ancestor. A round of bright moonlight was moved to the Azure Billows World.

As for how they accomplished it, and who achieved which feat, Ning Yao didn’t say, and quickly changed the subject to discuss other matters.

Even when the sword cultivators of the Hidden Official faction asked afterward, Ning Yao didn’t reveal any secrets, only saying that they should ask someone else in the future, as she didn’t contribute much on this journey.

One of the items on the agenda at the Ancestral Hall meeting was the selection of an almanac.

The first year of the world was designated as “Jia Chun,” established by the Confucian Temple. The Five Colors World was originally a brand new territory opened up by Confucian sages at great cost, so no one objected to this.

However, the compilation of the almanac was not interfered with by the Confucian Temple, but rather entrusted to the local forces of the Five Colors World. This was no small matter, especially if this almanac could be circulated throughout the world, it could secretly occupy a precious “Heavenly Timing” that “complied with the will of Heaven.”

In the Vast and Azure Billows Worlds, changes in celestial phenomena have been related to the rise and fall of human emperors since ancient times. Therefore, compiling almanacs and granting time on behalf of Heaven are major measures regarded as establishing legitimacy. The Imperial Astronomical Observatories of various countries all have departments dedicated to mathematical calculations, specializing in calculating the movement of the celestial bodies, with layers of checks to prevent the slightest deviation.

The Taoists of the Jade Capital were the first to release an almanac, which has already been widely circulated in the Five Colors World.

The Palace of Banishing the Year, in conjunction with the Mysterious Capital Temple, also compiled an almanac in opposition to it.

In addition, the “exiled refugees” from Floating Clouds Continent and Tongye Continent have also released as many as a dozen different versions of the almanac.

At this Ascending City Ancestral Hall meeting, Ning Yao suggested using the almanac jointly compiled by the Palace of Banishing the Year and the Mysterious Capital Temple.

No one objected, but all the members of the Ancestral Hall, except for the sword cultivators of the Hidden Official faction, looked at Ning Yao one by one, most with complex expressions, curiosity, and doubt.

It was as if they were asking Ning Yao if their Hidden Official knew about this?

Ning Yao was amused and exasperated, “Do you really think he is omniscient and omnipotent?”

In the twilight.

Fan Dache left the wine shop. After parting ways with his friends, he walked alone on the street, which he couldn’t tell if it was more bustling or more desolate than before. The lone Golden Core Realm sword cultivator neither returned to his own residence nor went to the Summer Abode to review files. He simply wandered, wandering until late at night, and returned to the entrance of the wine shop. It was already closed, so he sat at the outdoor wine table that was never charged, according to the old custom.

Nian Xin was sitting in a daze in her small house. A resolution had been passed at the previous Ancestral Hall meeting, and she now secretly manages a newly built prison, similar to the old Deaf Man.
Upon a high, carved balustrade of her chamber, a woman, whispered to be past her prime, sat gazing at the faintly lit Ascending City.

In her hand, she held a delicate silken fan, gently stirring the air, a hint of melancholy about her.

Years ago, during the division of spoils at the Summer Palace, Dong Budé had acquired this very fan. Its precious aura shimmered, and upon its surface were inscribed elegant words: “Golden ripples, jade spheres. An old fool, wandering in a moonlit dream, fells the osmanthus tree. ‘Tis said, the clear light shines brighter still. On this most united night, millions of homes are lit.”

To say the young Hidden Officer abused his position for personal gain was both true and untrue. Untrue, because the Hidden Officer’s lineage of sword cultivators earned everything through genuine battle merit. True, because the Hidden Officer ultimately reserved certain treasures for his own people.

Luo Zhenyi, who had resided within the Summer Palace all these years, sat at a table, propping her chin with her hand. Beside her lay an ancient inkstone, a miniature treasure.

Upon this inkstone, carved with Kui dragon patterns and riddled with wormholes, was an inscription of a connoisseur’s seal: “Clouds droop, waters stand. A deep connection to the written word.”

Xu Ning and Chang Taiqing were drinking together elsewhere within the Summer Palace.

The two old friends discussed many things, yet consciously avoided mentioning the young Hidden Officer.

How could a mere outsider, unfamiliar with swordsmanship, have secured such a prominent position?

One incident alone left Xu Ning with complex emotions whenever he recalled it.

The young Hidden Officer remembered every single sword cultivator of the Sword Qi Great Wall, even those who were not sword cultivators but were recorded in the Summer Palace archives.

Simply remembering names and brief biographies was nothing. The true marvel lay in the Hidden Officer’s ability to connect them all, forming a network with the sole purpose of identifying potential spies from the barbaric lands.

Qi Shou was not in Ascending City at this moment. He stood atop the walls of Dragging Moon City, hands clasped behind his back, gazing at the starlit sky.

In his eyes, some of those celestial masters, carefree on their cultivation path, might possess a century of age but remain mere embryos. Their wisdom, especially their understanding of human nature, paled in comparison to young men in the mundane world.

Fortunately, the young sword cultivators of Ascending City were maturing at an astonishing pace.

Each one possessed a fierce spirit, dedicated to territorial expansion.

While displaying their brilliance, the sword cultivators continually made mistakes and corrected them. Luckily, this was a new realm, offering both space and time for the sword cultivators of Ascending City to err.

Furthermore, Deng Liang, the chief consecrator from the Blessed Land, served as an excellent bridge.

Currently, eight peaks had been claimed, and four cities constructed, forming a thousand-mile radius around Ascending City.

Additionally, four distant outposts, extremely far from Ascending City, had been established. The sword cultivators stationed there had not crossed swords with outsiders in two years.

Qi Shou abruptly patted the brand-new city wall, smiling with narrowed eyes. “At last, everything is new.”

Within the Chen family estate on Grand Similitude Street.

A youth named Chen Ji, with nothing better to do, was perusing a scholar’s notebook in his study, purchased cheaply by a wandering sword cultivator from the remnants of the Tongye Continent.

A personal attendant stood silently within the room. She had recently advanced to Jade Purity Realm from the original Nascent Soul stage.

Thus, Chen Ji, who had stagnated at the Nascent Soul stage, had taken a Jade Purity sword cultivator as his primary disciple in this lifetime.

Given the surname Chen, and the name Hui.

Hui, the last day of each month.

The implication was that she would reach the grand Dao, achieve true longevity, and therefore remain in Ascending City, becoming a contingency for critical moments.

Chen Ji, or rather, the previous incarnation of Chen Xi, had managed to restore a portion of his soul and spirit after dissolving his body. Given the changes to his soul and spirit, his temperament had inevitably altered. Hence, he was not particularly eager to become the first city lord of Ascending City, hoping that Qi Shou or someone else would shoulder the burden.

As for Ning Yao, she would certainly not become a city lord.

In fact, many sword cultivators in Ascending City lamented the fate of Old Sword Immortal Chen Xi. Had he not been surrounded after slaying a Grand Ascension demon, trapped by two former throne-seated demons leading a horde of barbaric cultivators, ultimately forced to dissolve his body after slaying another Jade Purity sword cultivator, Chen Xi could have become the first sword cultivator in the history of the Sword Qi Great Wall to have two characters engraved.

Chen Ji, of course, cared little for such matters.

On Mount Zifu, one of the eight tributary peaks outside Ascending City.

Deng Liang stood before an ancient stone tablet, gazing at the two lines of ancient seal script: “Six Cavern Danxia Mystic Scriptures, Three Purities Zifu Green Edicts.”

He retrieved a jade box from his sleeve, intending to completely refine it soon. If all went well, he would be able to reach the threshold of the Jade Purity Realm.

This was the unfathomable karmic connection.

It was as if this mountain had been silently waiting for Deng Liang for ten thousand years.

Therefore, Deng Liang had built a hut here for cultivation over the years.

The woman he admired, named “Budé,” since he couldn’t obtain her, he would cease to seek her.

Deng Liang had entered the Fifth World in the seventh year of Jiachun, serving as the chief consecrator of Ascending City.

At that time, Qi Shou had just entered the Jade Purity Realm, but Gao Yehou was still at the Nascent Soul stage.

Deng Liang turned and left, strolling through Mount Zifu.

The Fifth World was vast, and the number of people who had entered this new world was too small. It was like throwing a few baskets of fish into a massive lake.

He walked to a tree, squatted down, and picked up a fallen leaf.

A fallen leaf from a tree in a foreign land.

His thoughts were like fallen leaves covering the ground, each seemingly identical, yet each uniquely different.

As the acting manager had said, unrequited love was like a hanging. The rope used for the self-strangulation was longing, and the beam overhead was the unobtainable beloved.

Every unfulfilled unrequited love was a lingering ghost.

It didn’t frighten, didn’t harm, only annoyed, only saddened.

Gao Yehou was now a Jade Purity sword cultivator as well. The Spring Office merged the former Sword Qi Great Wall’s sword forges, clothing shops, and pill refineries, making Gao Yehou the undisputed God of Wealth for Ascending City.

However, Gao Yehou rarely interfered in specific matters. Most of the cultivators of the Spring Office who truly managed the money and affairs were young people selected from the Yan and Nalan families. Few were sword cultivators, and their aptitude was mediocre; otherwise, they wouldn’t be in the Spring Office, working with abacuses. Perhaps fueled by grief, they were more focused on the ledgers than other Spring Office members.
Within the grand manor of the Marquis of Gaoye, lights blazed, illuminating every corner. The Marquis sat in his accounting room, a pang of longing for his younger sister tugging at his heart. He wondered if her cultivation in the Floating Lotus Sword Lake of Beiju Luzhou was progressing smoothly, and if she had found a suitable, cherished partner.

However, the mere thought of the Flying Ascension City’s impending establishment of an academy caused him a considerable headache. It wasn’t about finances; it was the complications that troubled him.

Under the cloak of night, two outlander cultivators arrived at the southernmost vassal city. One was a middle-aged man in a simple blue robe and cloth shoes, and the other a young man with a yellow hat, a green robe, and a bamboo staff.

At the city gate, a stall had been set up. In this vibrant world, travel permits were no longer required. However, according to the rules established by Flying Ascension City, all visitors had to obediently sit down and meticulously record their origins, names, titles, hometowns, and the sects they belonged to. The more detailed, the better, with a minimum of three hundred characters. Writing for an hour or two was considered a skill. Those who wrote more would even be treated to a pot of wine, like the Mute Lake Wine in the northern Summer Refuge City. Here, it was the wine brewed by the Yan family.

Behind the stall, on a long bench, sat two young sword cultivators, a man and a woman. Their realms weren’t high; one of them wasn’t even a Middle Fifth Realm cultivator.

“Who goes there?”

“Can’t understand.”

The man gestured in the north-south direction, essentially asking where they came from.

If they were from the north, their hometown would be either the Ascending Firmament Continent or the infamous Fallen Leaf Continent.

The blue-robed man spoke in the refined language of the Fallen Leaf Continent, “Cultivator from Fallen Leaf Continent, Dou Yi. Follower, unknown.”

The man suppressed his discomfort and asked in broken Fallen Leaf Continent language, “Do you know the rules here?”

“Just arrived, don’t know.”

The man picked up a sheet of paper, turned it over, smoothed it out on the table, and pushed it forward. “Write everything clearly according to the items above.”

Upon hearing that the other party was a cultivator from the Fallen Leaf Continent, his expression soured. However, he didn’t utter any harsh words. If it weren’t for his duty, he wouldn’t have even glanced at them.

Thus, the man calling himself Dou Yi sat down on the long bench, facing the two sword cultivators across the table, and began to write.

The young man remained impassive but asked the woman beside him in a mental voice, “Does this character read as Yi?”

The woman replied helplessly, “I don’t know, it’s the first time I’ve seen it too.”

The man couldn’t help but curse mentally, “Damn scholars. No wonder they’re bastards from the Fallen Leaf Continent.”

The woman nodded slightly, agreeing wholeheartedly.

Unexpectedly, the blue-robed guest became more and more enthusiastic as he wrote, requesting one sheet of paper after another, without end.

Each time he finished a sheet, the young sword cultivator would reach out and take it. So many obscure characters! They might recognize me, but I don’t recognize them, all flowery and pretentious. Did he think he was their Second Shopkeeper?

The female sword cultivator, however, watched with great interest. Hmm, the writing was quite elegant.

Looking at the blue-robed man, he wasn’t exactly handsome, but his appearance was decent enough. The more she looked, the more pleasing he became.

Seeing the blue-robed guest writing so diligently, seemingly able to write several more pages—the last page had only just reached the part where he described how he repeatedly failed and repeatedly tried in the imperial examinations, finally succeeding in achieving academic success—although he had long exceeded three hundred characters, the man couldn’t help but ask, “Do you drink? If you do, take a break and write slowly. The wine is free.”

The man continued to write, then looked up and smiled, “I can’t hold my liquor.”

“Then never mind?”

“Drink, why not? It’s free anyway.”

The woman smiled and poured him a bowl of wine.

The blue-robed man put down his brush, gently twisted his wrist, turned his head, and invited, “Xiao Mo, sit down and drink together. Your resume will have to wait a bit. Tonight, my literary thoughts are flowing like a spring, unstoppable.”

The young follower with the peculiar name sat at one end of the bench, upright and proper, took the bowl of wine, and nodded with a smile to thank the female sword cultivator.

Taking a sip, the blue-robed man suddenly narrowed his eyes and asked with a smile, “Aren’t you curious why I suddenly understand the official language of your Flying Ascension City?”

The woman smiled, “Not curious. Anyway, a flying sword message has already been sent to the city.”

It turned out that when the male sword cultivator asked if he drank wine, he deliberately switched to the official language of Flying Ascension City, and the blue-robed guest had foolishly taken the bait.

Chen Ping’an nodded. The sword cultivators of the Penal Officer lineage were quite good.

Qi Shou was capable.

They were good brothers who had made deals and risked their lives together. He must miss him very much.

A cold voice suddenly sounded behind Chen Ping’an, “Is the wine good?”

The underlying meaning was, did he find it fun to make such a scene?

Was he planning to visit all four vassal cities and eight mountain peaks before going to Flying Ascension City?

Why didn’t he just go sit in the Profound Capital Temple and the Year-End Palace? He had many friends anyway.

And when he finally arrived at Flying Ascension City, would he first sit in his own wine shop, leisurely stroll through the Summer Refuge Palace, and then take a look at the Winter Refuge Palace?

Xiao Mo had already stood up and moved a few steps.

The two sword cultivators across the table exchanged glances and then quickly stood up.

Ning Yao had arrived?!

Then the two sword cultivators saw the blue-robed guest take a step, turn around, stand up, and smile as he reached out his hand towards Ning Yao.

Ning Yao raised an eyebrow, what did he mean?

Chen Ping’an smiled, “Take heart.”

Ning Yao glared, “Nonsense!”

The two sword cultivators and a group of city garrison sword cultivators who had arrived on their swords were dumbfounded. Had this guy drunk too much wine from some wine shop, addling his brain? How dare he talk to Ning Yao like that? Even if Ning Yao didn’t kill him, if the Second Shopkeeper found out, tsk tsk.

Chen Ping’an flicked his sleeves, dispelling the illusion and revealing his true face. He cupped his fist and smiled, “Everyone, long time no see.”

The group of sword cultivators hovering in the distance immediately landed on the ground, cupping their fists and saying in unison, “Greetings, Hidden Official!”

They didn’t care whether Ning Yao was temporarily leading the Hidden Official position. Anyway, they were family.

Besides, regardless of their feelings towards the young Hidden Official, good or bad, everyone had to acknowledge him for being the last Hidden Official of the Sword Qi Great Wall.

Sword lights surged throughout the city, and at the same time, lights illuminated one after another, creating a lively and noisy scene with various sounds rising and falling.
“The Hidden Officer is back!” “Really? No joke?” “If I’m lying, may I be cursed to lure drunks with watered-down swill!”

“That dog of a Second Shopkeeper! If you’re running a betting ring, give me a cut!” “Second Shopkeeper! There are charlatans peddling fake liquor inside Ascension City. Are you not going to do anything about it? I can guide the way!”

“I said it long ago, the Hidden Officer can’t bear to part with our spirits here. What’s so good about the vast world beyond? Once he’s here, he shouldn’t leave again!”

Perhaps in the hearts of the sword cultivators of Ascension City, the Hidden Officer of the Great Wall of Sword Qi had long ceased to be Xiao Xun, or even Ning Yao. Perhaps he had always simply been that young man, neither man nor ghost, standing alone atop the city wall, waving farewell to the entirety of Ascension City. That fellow named Chen Ping An, was both a stranger and a native son.