Page 723

The second competition was particularly grand, with common folk gathered outside the gates of the Four Holy Palace, continuing to watch the huge crystal, while the scholar families with official titles were invited into the Imperial Palace, to watch an even larger levitating crystal from their seats in Zhenghe Hall, which is usually used for evening banquets.

When Chen Qing and Chen Baifeng and the others arrived, the hall was already overcrowded. Although it was better than the throngs of hundreds of thousands outside the palace gates, at a glance there were still at least a few thousand people in the grand hall.

After finding a place to sit, Chen Qing and Chen Baifeng started to casually chat about the current scene.

"Who are all these people in the hall? It seems there are both those with and without spiritual power," Chen Qing was quite curious about this.

In Yundu, there are no warriors, since the previous dynasty was overthrown by mercenaries and other such martial forces.

Here, lineage families are shunned, making it a paradise for some of the most ancient sorcerer families, and it’s said that many sorcerer families from the Central Plains originated from here.

"Those with spiritual power are from sorcerer families, and most of those without it are also from scholarly families with official titles," explained Chen Baifeng as he sipped his tea.

"Yundu is different from the outside, treating the literate with official titles quite well. Even if they’re not magicians, their status here is not low, and they can receive a certain amount of Dabao currency daily. "

"Dabao currency...," Chen Qing had heard of this before.

The Dabao currency of Yundu is made of pure gold, not only finely crafted but also full of gold, which has led to it being used for transactions throughout the Central Plains even a thousand years after the downfall of the previous dynasty, even under the Great Jin.

What’s odd, though, is that Yundu has no gold mines, but according to those who’ve taken an interest in the matter, the amount of gold coins Yundu has put into circulation over the years is even more than several of Great Jin’s major gold-producing cities.

With the scarcity of gold mines, Yundu’s currency is extremely valuable on the market.

Some even suspect that the Heavenly Master Mansion possesses the art of alchemy that can create gold from nothing!

However, Chen Qing didn’t believe this rumor.

Gold in this world is not simple. It’s a top-tier resource for late-stage.

If Jadeite is the top material for energy storage, then gold is the best material for conducting and channeling energy.

In the third version, the world’s concentration of spiritual energy reached unprecedented levels, and many objects had strong resistance to spiritual energy; the more powerful the force, the less stable the output.

In the third version, materials that could increase output power were in high demand, so the value of gold mines then was even more precious than high-grade Jadeite.

Such a thing wouldn’t be allowed in Chen Qing’s designs to be produced by a power without limits.

Otherwise, how would one create conflicts over mineral sources?

But according to the information available, the gold coins flowing out of Yundu did seem exaggerated. If there were no huge gold mines, where was all this gold coming from?

He remembered the game’s map clearly. He knew where the good gold sources were; definitely, places like Yundu, which are all plains, didn’t have such things.

It couldn’t possibly rely on some kind of alchemy, could it? That would be game-breaking. If it really existed, the major guilds would probably spare no expense to swallow up Yundu. With this thought, Chen Qing glanced at Shen Le.

Shen Le had come here personally this time; could it be to investigate this matter?

With that in mind, Chen Qing decided to change the subject and continued to ask, "Since they don’t respect Great Jin, how is official title calculated here?"

"They use the examination system from the former dynasty," said Chen Baifeng with a wry smile.

"This is also the biggest contention between Yundu and Great Jin.

By rights, Your Majesty is the lord of the Central Plains, but Yundu still uses the examination system of the previous era.

The literati who pass the exams are not recognized by Great Jin, so they can only stay in Yundu to enjoy benefits. "

"Great Jin doesn’t recognize the titles from Yundu. Over the years, Yundu has granted a lot of titles, right? Can it sustain the benefits for so long?" Chen Qing asked curiously.

"Yundu has very strict qualifications for titles, and the number of titles granted each year is limited. Moreover, those with titles can hold positions in Yundu. Here, even a minor patrol officer needs an official title to hold the position. Usually, in a Great Jin county, only the County Magistrate, County Magistrate, and Magistrate Assistant are officeholders with titles. But it’s different here.

Even an ordinary accountant in a government office or a jailer in charge of guarding prisoners must have a title," explained Chen Baifeng.

Chen Qing’s mouth twisted into a slight smirk. Wasn’t this just like the civil servants from his past life? With the productivity of the ancient times, how could they afford such a large body of bureaucrats?

"But even though these positions seem lowly, the benefits are not low. The salaries received are often even higher than those of Great Jin’s first or second rank officials, hence they are highly sought after.

However, to support such a large official system, only Yundu, with its huge amounts of gold coins, could afford it. "

Chen Qing’s mouth twitched at the words, "Great, back to square one."

Feeling that the conversation was going nowhere, he turned his attention to the list inside the crystal.

The Central Plains families had suffered heavy losses this time; the Azure Dragon Gate was completely wiped out, the White Tiger Gate only had two people advance, and only the Vermilion Bird Gate fared a bit better.

Zi Yue had shown leniency, allowing nearly a dozen Central Plains family offspring to pass through.

Lastly came the Black Tortoise Gate.

Discussion about the Black Tortoise Gate was the least frequent over the past two days. First, even though the gatekeeper, Murong Ziyi, was a hot favorite, he had less fame and status than Zhang Zhiyun. So, before the competition, people paid more attention to Zhang Zhiyun.

Then Zi Yue’s and Azure Dragon Gate’s Zhang Xiaoyun’s performances were too exaggerated, drawing even more attention. Correspondingly, there was less discussion about the Black Tortoise Gate.

In fact, the gatekeeper of the Black Tortoise Gate was very competent. It was said that only two people passed the trial; one was a descendant from a major local family of Yundu, rumored to be Shangguan Qingyi. The second person was someone Chen Qing was paying more attention to.

Presented by Shen Le, the sole candidate from the north: Bai Su!

"Are those people the so-called Five-Color Families?" Chen Qing’s gaze flickered to a group of people in a corner. They stood out, each dressed in clothes that were too conspicuously and distinctly colored.

"Mm..." Chen Baifeng whispered, "According to rumors, the Five-Color Families were nobles from the time of the Sorcerer Dynasty, intermarried with the Imperial Clan for ten thousand years, holding very high statuses.

Many Sorcerer Families fled from Yundu back then, but for some reason, the Five-Color Families stayed in Yundu, always obeying the Zhang Family to this day. "

"Obeying?" Chen Qing narrowed his eyes. Was that really the case?

It seemed that way on the surface, with Murong Ziyi even having received the Zhang Family’s sacred legacy of the Five-Thunders. But was that the reality?

It should be noted that among those competing for the title of Heavenly Master, he had seen only a few from the Five-Color Families, resulting in almost all outsiders progressing past the second stage.

This didn’t look good. Under normal circumstances, if they respected the position of the Heavenly Master, shouldn’t they actively participate?

Chen Qing approached this trial for the Heavenly Master with extreme caution. But now, seeing that so many spectators had been invited, they probably wouldn’t act during the viewing period, right?

Unless they utterly disregarded the lives of Yundu’s people and the aristocratic clans they had cultivated over the years.

As he pondered, a huge floating crystal already displayed dozens of scenes, each corresponding to the nearly twenty pairs of contestants.

Chen Qing looked up briefly, noting that his clan’s juniors were mostly matched against those from the Central Plains families, which was normal, given that the local Yundu participants were almost entirely eliminated in the first round.

But there were a few exceptions.

For instance, Chen Ying’s opponent was the local magician named Zhou Yuntao.

As the White Tiger Sorcerer of this generation, the Heavenly Master Mansion had deliberately arranged for him to face Chen Ying, capturing plenty of attention.

At least seventy percent of the crowd looked towards their matchup first.

Then there was Bai Su, the sole representative of the northern demon forces and naturally quite eye-catching. Her strength was undeniable, having passed Murong Ziyi’s challenge, and her opponent was none other than the youngster that Chen Baifeng valued highly: Chen Ye.

Representing the younger generation of the Southern Sea and facing the representative of the northern demons, this fight stirred the interest of many from the Central Plains families, including Chen Baifeng himself.