"Li Ke, there’s no one else here. You don’t have to be all ’Emperor’ this and ’Emperor’ that..." said Yur Ping.
"My sincerity is absolute. It’s the same whether anyone else is here or not," Li Qingxian said solemnly.
Han Anbo secretly gave him a thumbs-up.
Yur Ping pursed his lips. "You’re becoming more and more like an official."
Li Qingxian said, "You’ve just reminded me. I must go and study the spirit of the Emperor’s latest speech."
Li Qingxian opened his Humble Listening to the Holy Explanation Notes, thought for a moment, then picked up his brush to write.
"The Emperor’s establishment of the Patrol Bureau must hold a profound meaning. It’s a shame I am so dull-witted; only after extensive study did I finally grasp His Majesty’s intent. The Emperor is sagacious! ’Under all of Heaven, there is no land that is not the King’s. To the borders of the land, there are no men who are not the King’s subjects.’ Cultivators are the Emperor’s subjects as well, and as subjects, they should obey the Emperor! It is precisely because that bunch of Cultivators refuse to listen to the Emperor that this fine world has been thrown into such disarray! If everyone would just listen to the Emperor, do whatever the Emperor tells them to do, say whatever the Emperor tells them to say, and eat whatever the Emperor tells them to eat, the world would have achieved peace long ago..."
Having finished writing, Li Qingxian felt a deep sense of satisfaction. He bowed, then placed the notebook atop the Scriptures of All Saints.
Afterward, he closed his eyes and focused his mind, guarding his Spirit Platform as he began to study the Life-Seeking Skill.
Li Qingxian had originally assumed this set of Life-Seeking Skills was just the basic version. It was only after a rough read-through the other day that he discovered it was the complete edition, identical to the official version from the Life-Seeking Sect. It even included many Secret Skills and methods for crafting Life Artifacts.
Those Secret Skills and Life Artifacts formed the very foundation of the Sect.
This set of books was nearly all-encompassing. Aside from the Life-Seeking Sect’s fundamental Great Inheritance—the Great Fate Skill, Heaven and Earth Searching Skill—it included practically everything.
It even included the Refining Method for the "Immortal-Seeking Bee," a Gate Guardian Great Inheritance and Great Fate Artifact.
The Refining Method for the Immortal-Seeking Bee was appended at the very end, and its Magic Text was clearly different from the preceding sections.
Li Qingxian suspected the original reward for the Life Play hadn’t included the Immortal-Seeking Bee’s Refining Method. ’My performance must have been so exceptional that Flower-Seeking Master Liuu secretly added it in.’
In the Fate Skill Realm, the status of the Immortal-Seeking Bee was in no way inferior to that of the Great Cutting Sword.
Li Qingxian was overcome with emotion. Both were Major Fate Skill Sects, both led by Great Fate Masters, yet the Celestial Fate Sect actively suppressed other Fate Sects, while the Life-Seeking Sect was willing to part with its fundamental inheritance to cultivate an outsider like him.
Li Qingxian carefully read the Refining Method for the Immortal-Seeking Bee and searched through his Qiankun Bracelet. Finding that he was still missing some components, he had Han Anbo dispatch men to acquire them. He also had them continue purchasing all sorts of rare and peculiar Life Materials.
The next day, with sufficient Life Materials and no shortage of Spirit Gold or gold in his Qiankun Bracelet, he successfully completed the refining of the Immortal-Seeking Bee.
In the afternoon, he went to his rented house and bought eight ordinary Destiny Stars.
For the next several days, Li Qingxian spent his time buying Destiny Stars and studying the Life-Seeking Skill.
One day, just as he finished observing the Destiny River of the World, a piercing whistle echoed throughout the Patrol Bureau.
Li Qingxian hurried to the Patrol Bureau’s training grounds.
Before long, over three thousand members from the Patrol Bureau’s four roads and eight rooms had gathered on the training grounds.
On the inspection platform stood Disciplinary Officer Zhou Chunfeng and Military Supervisor Yan Shixiao, their expressions placid. Below them, a Eunuch was Manipulating True Essence, his voice carrying across the entire field.
"The Emperor will soon celebrate his sixtieth birthday. Yet these vile wretches show no respect for the boundless Celestial Grace! Instead, their traitorous ambitions swarm as they plot to disrupt the True Dragon’s Birthday Celebration! A special decree has been issued: The Patrol Bureau shall mobilize in full, hunt down the rebels and their partisans, eradicate this budding disaster, and cleanse the Divine Capital!"
Following that, a series of orders was passed down.
Li Qingxian’s unit, the North Road Left Room, was ordered to depart immediately for Beichang County, eighty li northwest of the Divine Capital, and Beishun County, ninety li to the northeast, to investigate the rebels and their factions.
The graded officials of the Left Room gathered to deliberate quickly.
Ultimately, they decided that Room Leader Hex Lei would take Departments C and D to the more distant Beishun County. Meanwhile, Li Qingxian and Jingg Guan, another Seventh Grade Deputy Room Leader, would lead Departments A and B to investigate Beichang County.
Once the plan was settled, Li Qingxian collected his Token and Seal, checked his weapons and pack, and received his military mount. The two hundred men of Departments A and B mounted their horses and rode straight for Beichang County.
Upon arriving outside Beichang County, Li Qingxian halted the men. He took out a Feather Charm, tied it to his waist, and selected a tall poplar tree. His body moved like a nimble ape, and within a few breaths, he had scaled it to the top. Standing on a branch and steadying himself against the trunk, he gazed out toward Beichang County.
Under the veil of night, Beichang County was shielded by mountains to the west and north, and surrounded by fields to the east and south. It was the sixth month, and the green wheat leaves appeared black in the darkness.
Within the county seat of Beichang, the lamps were brightly lit, and the streets bustled with horses and carriages.
Li Qingxian had heard of Beichang County’s reputation. The area was rich in mineral deposits, supporting a great number of gentry and local magnates.
There was a story that had been circulating for decades about some wealthy families from Beichang County who went to the Divine Capital and bought everything in sight.
The people of the Divine Capital laughed at the people from Beichang County, calling them country bumpkins. Who would have guessed that the Beichang natives would declare that everything in the Divine Capital was "so cheap"?
The people of the Divine Capital hadn’t paid much attention, but a closer investigation revealed that a vast number of residences, luxurious carriages, and shops in the Divine Capital had been bought up by the people of Beichang.
The behavior of the Beichang people infuriated the powerful and noble clans living Under the Emperor’s Feet.
Before long, the powerful clans of the Divine Capital made their move, descending upon Beichang County in wave after wave.
With every wave, a large number of Beichang County’s people would suffer a calamity. Either their entire family would be massacred, their household imprisoned, their clan forced to flee into exile, or they would be compelled to pledge allegiance to a powerful Divine Capital faction.
Over the course of several decades, the wealthy households of Beichang County were completely replaced.
In the past, the people of Beichang County illegally worked the mines for themselves. Now, people from the Divine Capital use the people of Beichang County to illegally work the mines.
Pick any five people here dressed in fine silks and brocades, and at least three of them would be Stewards for the great and noble clans of the Divine Capital.
In recent years, Beichang County has also come to be known as the Little Divine Capital.
Li Qingxian silently chanted the words to his Observation Skill to observe Beichang County’s Trend Formation. He focused his gaze, and his mind began to buzz.
Above the small county seat, the sky looked as if a massive dye vat had been overturned. Countless clouds of every imaginable color were heaped together—yellow, purple, red, black, blue, white, green, bicolored, tricolored... They surged and roiled, hopelessly entangled and intermingled.
Each cluster of clouds represented the Trend Formation of a single faction.
Normally, when Observing the Situation, one would ignore the smaller, more ordinary factions.
Even so, the sky above the county seat was still a chaotic mess. Hundreds of factions were tangled together, a great battle of clouds.
After only a few moments, Li Qingxian felt his Magical Power drain completely. He quickly stopped, trying to recall the details of the Trend Formation clouds.
’I can’t be sure who each Trend Formation cloud belongs to, but I can make some educated guesses. For example, the Trend Formations of the Royal Family always have a yellow sheen, regardless of their other colors. But I can’t tell which specific Royal Mansion is behind each yellowish cloud right now.’
’Those Trend Formation clouds with a purple sheen belong to the top-tier noble families, the ones with at least one member who has reached the Upper Grade.’
’And apart from the yellow ones, nearly all the other Trend Formation clouds have that purple sheen.’
’The only Trend Formation cloud without a purple sheen belongs to Beichang County itself, and it’s being crushed beneath the overwhelming mass of yellow and purple clouds.’
Li Qingxian gazed at some of the Trend Formation clouds that were clashing with the yellow-tinged ones, pondering.
’Even a Great Fate Master can only make an ’Inference’ about a Trend Formation; they can’t actually ’see the Trend Formation clouds.’ Coupled with the inherent uncertainty of Fate Skills, this means that even Great Fate Masters can’t make perfectly accurate and detailed distinctions. There was even that incident years ago where a Great Fate Master framed a Vassal King. But I... I can see them clearly...’
Jingg Guan manipulated his True Essence and leaped up into the tree. "Well? Did you see anything?"
"Tell me," Li Qingxian asked, "do you think Room Leader Hex deliberately avoided Beichang County?"
"You’re only just figuring that out?" Jingg Guan said. "When I was first made a Military Supervisor, my role was just to issue orders, not interfere with operations, so I kept my mouth shut. Then again, it’s also possible he just knows nothing major will happen here. After all, all the great clans from the Capital City have manors and mines in this area."