Chapter 518: Star An Examination

Historical records state that in the winter of the Gengchen year, the capital experienced an earthquake. Mount Yushan at the Imperial Academy sank seventeen zhang, and a red flame soared eight hundred li into the sky, creating an extraordinarily magnificent sight. However, the cause of the earthquake was not recorded by the historians. Instead, they subtly mentioned that Qin Mu, the Grand Libationer of Tian Sheng Academy, was negligent in his teaching duties and was consequently fined two years' salary by the emperor, his official rank demoted from fourth grade to fifth grade, junior.

According to palace insiders, the emperor was awakened by a tremendous sound early that morning. He rushed to investigate and found the explosion site was Jade Dragon Lake. Countless red dragon carps were blown out of the water, floating lifelessly on the surface. Jade Dragon Lake had become several times larger and deeper than usual. The emperor was furious on the spot.

It is said that the emperor also suffered an injury to his hand and was demanding to execute someone.

That day, the emperor roamed the mountains, red-eyed and clutching a blade, but failed to find the person he sought. He only found the sleeping Dragon Qilin and the chest. So, he stood guard by the Dragon Qilin with his blade until noon, and only then did he give up when no one appeared.

There were also rumors that the person in question had fled a thousand li early that morning. By noon, the awakened Dragon Qilin rode the chest in pursuit, finally catching up after two days and two nights.

Another rumor suggested that the emperor went to the barracks and lingered by the Sun-Shooting Divine Cannon for a while before finally sighing, "His merits outweigh his faults; his crime does not warrant death. A demotion and fine will suffice." He then put down his great blade and departed.

Of course, these are all rumors and cannot be verified. The court historians do not record such unsubstantiated reports.

More than ten days later, Qin Mu activated the Boundary of Life and Death in Xianglong City in the Great Ruins. A long river stretched across the void, making Xianglong City a gateway to Fengdu, which immediately drew considerable attention.

Xianglong City was originally Qin family property, and most of its businesses were Tian Sheng Cult shops, transporting goods from Yankang to sell in the Great Ruins and bringing goods from the Great Ruins back to Yankang.

This location was the first stop for entering the Great Ruins. Divine arts practitioners embarking on their training in the Great Ruins all chose to settle here. In recent days, the number of practitioners in Xianglong City surged, and prices soared, much to the delight of Si Yunxiang and Hu Ling'er.

A few days later, officials from the Ministry of Revenue arrived in the Great Ruins, announcing their intention to collect taxes. Qin Mu rebuffed them, prompting them to complain tearfully to Emperor Yanfeng. Emperor Yanfeng was left speechless, saying, "The Great Ruins are not within Yankang's territory. If you go there to collect taxes, it's already an honor to me if they don't kill you. According to their rules in the Great Ruins, they would take your head. Don't be absurd; the Great Ruins are not our domain."

"Your Majesty, Grand Libationer Qin is making a fortune! The trade in Xianglong City alone is a huge sum!"

The Minister of Revenue argued, "Moreover, Your Majesty plans to build roads connecting the Western Lands and Yankang, and these roads will pass through the Great Ruins, including Xianglong City! Grand Libationer Qin has planned two routes, both passing through Xianglong City! Xianglong City is bound to become the most important town in the Great Ruins, wealthy beyond compare! Your subject believes the Grand Libationer has selfish motives, using the court's money to build roads for his hometown!"

Emperor Yanfeng sighed, looking at him deeply and meaningfully, "The Western Lands, he conquered them, saving countless military provisions and preventing countless soldiers from dying."

The Minister of Revenue countered, "But most of the divine arts practitioners who go to Xianglong City for training are from Yankang. If they spend money there and we don't collect taxes, it will become a state within a state, and Yankang's wealth will surely be drained! If this continues, what will become of us? Yankang will have no money left to use!"

Emperor Yanfeng was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, "Daoist Yuanfeng, you are a master of calculations from the Daoist school, how can you not understand?"

The Minister of Revenue was puzzled, "Your humble subject is dull; please enlighten me, Your Majesty."

Emperor Yanfeng smiled, "The divine arts practitioners going to Xianglong City use Yankang's Great Abundance Coin. If they want to spend this money, they must buy Yankang's goods, which means the money will still return to Yankang. "

The Minister of Revenue frowned, "What if the Great Abundance Coin circulates in the Great Ruins and doesn't return to Yankang?"

Emperor Yanfeng laughed, "If the Great Abundance Coin can replace gold and silver and circulate in the Great Ruins, that would be even better! Because it's minted by the court, and the Great Ruins have no power to mint coins. In that case, wouldn't the court control the coinage power of the Great Ruins? How much wealth the Great Ruins has, isn't it all decided by the court? Once the Great Abundance Coin replaces gold and silver, the court can use it to buy mines and rivers in the Great Ruins, unifying the Great Ruins with the Great Abundance Coin will be just around the corner!"

The Minister of Revenue was dumbfounded.

Emperor Yanfeng tossed the memorial aside, stood up, and gazed outward, his eyes distant. "Without expending a single soldier, merely by using the Great Abundance Coin, we can gain the rich land of the Great Ruins. What a profitable deal is this? You are too rigid, thinking that the outflow of Yankang's wealth to the Great Ruins is a bad thing, but you don't realize that unification through wealth is the highest form of conquest. In governing a nation, one need not fret over minor gains and losses; one must look far ahead, decades, centuries into the future. The Grand Libationer wants to earn money, but those are small sums. I want to earn money; I seek the entire nation, achieving peace without bloodshed, benefiting the people, and unifying the economy!"

The Minister of Revenue was utterly convinced, "Your Majesty's words can serve as a warning for future generations."

In Xianglong City, Qin Mu observed the bustling divine arts practitioners and an endless stream of merchant caravans. The practitioners and merchants from Yankang made Xianglong City particularly lively.

"If the Imperial Preceptor leads the divine arts practitioners from the Western Lands to build roads here, connecting the Western Lands and Yankang, the people of the Great Ruins will not suffer such hardship."

Qin Mu calculated that over a month had passed. The Imperial Preceptor, along with the craftsmen from the Ministry of Works, had gone to the Western Lands and should have almost finished transforming the desert into an oasis using the Azure Dragon Pearl, one of the four great spiritual treasures of the Western Lands.

And opening rivers and diverting melted snow from the mountains into the desert would allow vegetation to flourish.

If the Ministry of Works could carve open the great mountains south of the desert and draw the clouds from the South Sea northward, the desert would have an unending supply of water, eliminating worries about rainfall and snowfall.

In just a few years, the Flaming Desert would be a thing of the past.

And once the roads were paved, connecting the Western Lands, the Great Ruins, and Yankang, with unimpeded travel and trade, market towns and cities would be established along the routes in the Great Ruins, enriching its people.

"Divine Physician Qin, I hear you are from the Great Ruins."

Xing An stood behind him, interrupting his thoughts, and said, "You are from the Great Ruins, yet you bring Yankang's influence into it. You are a sinner to the Great Ruins."

"The Great Ruins has no country, so how can there be a sinner?"

Qin Mu was puzzled, saying, "The people of the Great Ruins have always lived off the land and water. There are no rulers here. Even if Yankang arrives, the Yankang people will also be citizens of the Great Ruins and will not usurp control; they must abide by the rules of the Great Ruins. Here, the rules of the Great Ruins are more effective than the emperor's laws."

Xing An shook his head, "I have not met Emperor Yanfeng many times, but I can see his great ambition and talent. He will surely unify the Great Ruins in the future. By then, when his army besieges the city, it will be too late for you to regret."

Qin Mu smiled, "If the emperor uses military force against the Great Ruins, his throne won't last long either. You should know how terrifying the Great Ruins are, these stone statues..."

He pointed to the temples in Xianglong City and calmly said, "They are awaiting the call of resurrection. When they revive, heaven and earth will be turned upside down. Yankang can never be the master of this land; the true master of this land is someone else."

His eyes gleamed, and he smiled, "I drove away the Minister of Revenue, and the emperor didn't seek trouble with me; his intentions are perfectly clear to me. However, his ideas are mere fantasies. If the emperor's achievements could surpass Kaihuang's, then there might be a chance, otherwise, it's all an illusion. I'm going to visit graves; would Senior Brother Xing An like to come along?"

Xing An watched the chest run over on its several legs, then withdrew his gaze, saying, "Wherever you go, I will follow. I will only leave you when I find the person I am looking for."

Qin Mu frowned, "When your matter is resolved, I will go visit the graves."

The location of the Human Emperor Hall was a secret, known only to successive Human Emperors. Having Xing An by his side prevented him from going to the Human Emperor Hall; otherwise, leading Xing An there and revealing its location would invite many unnecessary troubles.

Moreover, who knew if Xing An would dig up and collect the bones of the past Human Emperors?

More than ten days later, the court, the Tian Sheng Cult, the Daoist sects, the Great Thunderclap Temple, and other regions collected data on everyone born at the hour of Zi (11 PM-1 AM) on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month of the Jiazhi year. The number of people born at that time reached thirty thousand.

The Ministry of Revenue official who delivered the data said, "Information from the grasslands, ice plains, and Western Lands has not yet been fully compiled."

Xing An looked at the thirty thousand dossiers, feeling overwhelmed. After a moment, he said, "The person I'm looking for is a male. Separate the males and females."

The Ministry of Revenue official immediately relayed the order. Once sorted, he reported, "There are seventeen thousand males, but only eight thousand of them are still alive. Many died in wars and disasters."

After another moment, Xing An said, "Remove those who are not divine arts practitioners."

The Ministry of Revenue official again issued orders for his clerks to sort the data, reporting back, "Four hundred divine arts practitioners remain."

Xing An was silent for a moment, then said, "Now, investigate if these four hundred people had any unusual phenomena at birth, specifically divine arts practitioners born wearing jade pendants."

The Ministry of Revenue official again ordered an investigation into these four hundred people.

Seeing this, Qin Mu grew suspicious, thinking, "Each time Xing An gives an order, he hesitates for a moment, as if he's not giving the order himself but rather following someone else's command. That's right, in Fengdu, Xing An jumped off the Bridge of Forgetfulness and ended up in Youdu. Youdu is far more dangerous than Fengdu, filled with monstrous resentful spirits. How did he return from Youdu? Could it be that..."

His eyes flickered, and a Gate of Sustaining Heaven suddenly appeared behind him. As this gate formed, Qin Mu transformed into a human with a snake's head, and a vertical eye opened on his forehead, looking towards Xing An.

Xing An immediately sensed it, turned back, and his eyes shimmered with divine light, blocking Qin Mu's gaze. He said calmly, "Divine Physician Qin, it's better if you don't know some things."

Qin Mu burst into laughter, dispelling his Zhen Xingjun form, but he was inexplicably shocked. Just now, he had taken advantage of Xing An's momentary distraction to use the Zhen Xingjun's divine eye and saw a terrifying eye hidden within Xing An's Life and Death Divine Treasure!

Just then, that terrifying eye had also noticed his gaze and immediately looked back at him, but Xing An instantly cut off their line of sight!

At this moment, the Ministry of Revenue official returned to report, "We found no divine arts practitioners born wearing jade pendants. Being born with jade is, after all, a mythological legend."

"That person was not born with jade."

Xing An was silent for a moment, then took out a painting and said, "That jade pendant was used to suppress his demonic nature. This is the pattern of the jade pendant. Since we cannot find a divine arts practitioner born at that time, then hang this jade pendant pattern everywhere! Post it in every city and county to find the whereabouts of this jade pendant! Divine Physician Qin, instruct your people to make thousands of copies of this drawing!"

Qin Mu took the drawing, his gaze falling on the jade pendant pattern within it.

"Has Divine Physician Qin seen this kind of jade pendant before?" Xing An asked, seeing him examine it carefully.

Qin Mu shook his head, "I have not."

Xing An's eyes flickered, and he took out a mirror, then suddenly said, "I always forget to ask, how old is Divine Physician Qin?"