Mortal Mage

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The blue sky is like the sea and the distant mountains are dark blue.

Taicang Empire.

Large tracts of green covered the towering city. The breeze blew through the treetops, swaying gently like a girl's skirt. Under the mottled high walls, endless clumps of green grass and leaves grew wantonly.

A new tiger-shaped gatehouse has been erected on the East Street of Taihe Palace. Looking up, one can see a brand new golden wooden plaque hanging on the top of the building, with a line of large characters neatly carved on it.

"Taicang Empire National Development and Reform Commission"

There is a ceremonial gate inside the gate tower with a row of couplets inscribed on it.

First couplet: "The magnificent scenery of mountains, rivers and everything in between, the brilliant sun, moon and stars, the peace and prosperity of the country and the people"

Second line: "Reform and innovation improve people's livelihood and welfare, opening up and developing national policies will make the country prosperous and integrated"

Banner: "Sustainable Development"

Behind the ceremonial gate was a courtyard paved with blue bricks. Officials from various departments in official uniforms were coming in and out of a hall in the center. On the wall of the hall hung seven large characters: "Hall of National Reform and Prosperity."

Qi Yuanqinghe was sitting in the hall, wearing a bright red official uniform. Although he was thin, he looked much more energetic than he was half a year ago.

He reviewed the memorial in his hand.

"Your Majesty is wise:

Over the past six months, I have visited Taicang and Tianze, and have visited the people there to investigate the spiritual stones and other objects. The following are the results:

Eighteen thousand privately stored spirit stones, 128,000 volumes of classic manuals not recorded in the "Chronicles of the Emperor Huang Dynasty", 72,000 jade slips of unknown purpose, 5,310 items believed to be storage rings, 7,800 unidentified items, and countless unclassified miscellaneous items were seized in the territory.

At the same time, it was discovered that 850,000 people were intentionally concealing their cultivation, and that people from multiple departments were involved.

I hereby inform you of this and hope that Your Majesty will consider it with wisdom.

The ministers: Dang Nanzhi, the commander-in-chief of the Western Depot, Guo Zhuoran, the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot, Liu Zhong, the chief steward of the Imperial Guards Bureau, Chen Zhize, the minister of Yamato Temple, and Lian Zuo.

Qi Yuanqinghe stroked his goatee, picked up a piece of yellowed rice paper from the other side and began to read it.

On the yellowed rice paper covered with wormholes, the header was neatly written with "The 51st Imperial Examination of the Taicang Empire", followed by the neatly arranged answer sheets. At the end of the page, there were three delicate small characters, which clearly read "Zhang Mingxuan".

Qi Yuanqinghe picked up the brush, dipped it in red ink, looked at the test paper again, compared it with the memorial, hesitated for a long time, and finally began to write neatly on the memorial in order: "Spirit stone compensation is one tael of silver, each manual is compensated with 20 stones of millet, jade slips are compensated with 10 stones of millet, storage items that cannot be opened are compensated with 6 stones of millet, and undiscovered items are compensated with 5 stones of millet. Other matters are all subject to this standard. No compensation will be given if they are not handed in voluntarily. Those who hand them in after the deadline will be held accountable for legal liability. Those who hide their cultivation will be forcibly conscripted and transferred to the Ministry of War."

Then he looked sideways at Zhang Mingxuan's test paper, his expression hesitant. "Although the emperor wrote a policy to deal with the private storage of armor by the people, the jade slips of the exercises should also fall into this category. There should be no problem in executing it according to this standard. However, I only know how to deal with it according to the law, and have never heard of legal responsibility. What exactly is this legal responsibility?"

He looked up at a young third-rank official working on his right, and pointed to the bookshelf by the wall in an imperative tone. "Zhao Junyi, go get the state examination papers of His Majesty and check to see if there is any mention of legal liability."

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On the vast ocean, the smooth waves hit each other, shattering into pieces of white waves.

A huge mahogany ship with a side length of more than 300 meters and a width of more than 40 meters slowly descended from the blue sky to the sea, hitting the blue sea with a loud "bang" sound.

The ship swayed on the sea for a long time before gradually becoming stable.

This is the "small boat" that escaped from under the flying boat.

"Why did Zhoucheng sink?"

A dark-skinned man was squeezed on the deck, talking with another burly man beside him with his head down.

"I heard from the steward of Zhou City that a white-faced disciple of the Xuanjian Sect chased the fox demon to the underground palace of the formation in Zhou City in order to catch it, and accidentally burned the formation center with a fire-burning talisman."

"If I remember correctly, the Xuanjian Sect is a third-rate sect, right?"

"Yes, a third-rate sword sect."

The big man nodded and responded to the man who was chatting with him.

"A third-rate sword sect? Using a fire-burning talisman? Accidentally burning the center of the underground palace array? Do you believe it?"

"What's there to believe or not? The Xianyuan Sect's actions don't care whether we believe them or not. Zhou City has been running for hundreds of years, it's time for it to sink. If it doesn't sink, the ancestor of the Xianyuan Sect may not be able to survive the disaster, haha."

"how do I say this?"

"Only Xianyuan Sect can set up Zhoucheng's flying formation. Do you know how many spirit stones it costs to rebuild it?"

"How many?"

"One hundred thousand! Medium quality!"

The big man bared his teeth, turned his head and glanced at the disciples of many major sects standing in the middle of the boat, and continued to respond to the man; "But it seems that seven or eight thousand spirit stones are not enough to operate the flying formation."

"Oh my god, can Xianyuanmen earn 80,000 to 90,000 spirit stones just by rebuilding Zhoucheng?"

The man sounded surprised.

"Do you think that such a large boat city can be sunk so easily by a disciple of a third-rate sword sect? The stone room at the center of the formation is guarded by a boat city steward in the late foundation building stage every day. Small fish and shrimps like you and me can't even break the stone door of the stone room at the center of the formation. Moreover, it is said that the white-faced man is only at the fifth level of Qi Refining."

There was a lot of discussion among the thousands of people on the deck of the huge boat.

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In the center of the boat deck.

"Did Shi Manman reply to the jade slip?"

?Lichao took the wooden sign in the center and put it into his storage bag.

This wooden sign is the sect's magic weapon of the Xuanxiangfang, called the Rosewood Dao Curtain. After activation, it can generate a huge formation, which the Xuanxiangfang uses to rescue disciples who are training in Monster Island. Although its defensive power is far inferior to the city defense formation of Xianzhou City, it is better than nothing.

“No reply.”

Song Chengchen and a group of purple-robed monks stood outside several sect deacons.

"For now, we should first send everyone on the boat to the nearby Beast Cloud Villa. Most of them are newly recruited mortal disciples from various major sects, and they won't be able to survive on the sea for too long."

凩枟 led 燩韵 down from the air with swords.

"Humph, the wood spiritual root child of my Daoyin Sect is nowhere to be found."

Yang Kun looked at Xu coldly, his tone full of accusation.

"At that time, I was only concerned with following the instructions of the Xianyuan Sect and saving these mortals. The child with earth spirit roots from our Fuyao Sect also disappeared."

Shi Xianyan glared at Xi Yu with a questioning tone.

垩螩 admitted that he was the one who killed the great grandfather of the child with earth and wood spiritual roots, and both major sects pointed their spearheads at him.

"When Zhou City fell, the situation was chaotic. Although I don't know where the child with earth and wood spiritual roots went, I can guarantee that this matter has nothing to do with Xianyuanmen."

"Seven days at most." Shi Xianzeng held a sound transmission jade slip in his hand and looked around at the stewards of the major sects around him, his tone filled with anger; "Our great-grandfather will come out of seclusion to investigate this matter personally. You'd better leave a way out for yourselves when you speak. If you are embarrassed at that time, don't blame my Fuyao Sect for not remembering our friendship."

"Hmph, seven days at most." Yang Kun also held a sound transmission jade slip in his hand at this time; "Our sect leader will come out with the master at the same time to investigate this matter personally. If the child with wood spiritual roots is returned to our sect, perhaps we can save some face for you."

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Bu Dazhen, Ye Buwen, and Lu Ming stood on the edge of the boat deck.

"Brother Bu, your formation that sinks the sea, can it possibly resist an invasion from the sea?"

Ye Buwen looked at the slightly blue sky and calmly spoke to Bu Dazhen beside him.

Behind the three of them, there were large groups of mortals squatting, all of whom were sweating profusely under the scorching sun in the sky.

"Don't worry, my formation can last for many years at the bottom of the sea. At this time, all the major sects prohibit everyone from leaving the boat. When the storm is over, we will return to the bottom of the Demon Continent. When the time comes, we will find out how Zhang Mingxuan came to Cuiyun Fairyland, and then eliminate him and bring your fox demon back."

Bu Dazhen admired the seabirds flying in the sky and spoke to Ye Buwen with an indifferent expression.

"Brother Bu, to be honest, there is one more thing."

Ye Buwen looked uneasy, and twitched his cheeks lightly, as if he had made up his mind. He continued to transmit his voice to Bu Dazhen, "I stole those two civil engineering children and locked them in a dark room next to Room No. 6 in Huangzi."

"Old Ye, why did you tell me such a good thing only now? I'm afraid the child has been drowned by now, right?"

Bu Dazhen raised his lips to smile wickedly and glanced at Ye Buwen from the corner of his eye.

"It is very likely that they will not survive. However, if you can attract the souls of those two children when you enter the sea, it will be of great use."

“Tsk tsk, when it comes to being insidious, I, Old Bu, am still no match for you, Brother Ye. If the soul of that pure spiritual child is used to refine a magical flying sword…” Bu Dazhen grinned and laughed sinisterly.

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