“Is there a computer?” Xu Yangyi asked.

“There is!” Zhou Tingting immediately brought over a very old laptop. After Xu Yangyi opened it, he swiftly entered the url of a website that couldn’t be even more intimate.

www.chinacultivation.com

He tapped the computer keys in a practiced motion, and a familiar web page instantly appeared in front of him again.

In the following second, Zhou Tingting’s hand nervously shut off the computer. Moreover, her chest was faintly moving up and down. Her complexion was wan, and she appeared to be very frightened.

Xu Yangyi raised a brow, indicating for her to explain.

“Cough…” Zhou Tingting realized what she had done and said in trepidation, “Cough… Perhaps sir is used to connecting online this way, but we can’t do it like that…”

“Chinacultivation.com is a website that requires payment. A low-grade spirit stone per week, but my monthly expenses have already been depleted. So…” She opened up a website with a green-colored symbol on the computer a bit awkwardly. “you have to use this…”

“A VPN?” Xu Yangyi was a little curious. This was something he had truly never seen at Heavens Law.

“This isn’t a normal VPN.” Zhou Tingting’s laughter carried a sliver of haughtiness. “This is the Green Leaf VPN!” 

“I decoded this from hundreds of cultivation softwares. In case the spirit stone isn’t paid on time, Chinacultivation’s general proxy will immediately block your IP address. But with the Green Leaf VPN, all blocked addresses can enter the site! Not only does it use a proxy server, but it’s also said that its super-hard to pinpoint the server! At the very least, I still haven’t been discovered! What’s most important, though, is that it accepts Chinese dollars!” 

Xu Yangyi was unable to stifle his laughter and shook his head. There would always be a countermeasure to deal with a policy. It seemed he was a person ignorant of others’ plights.

[1]

The website quickly loaded once more. It was unknown who drew the background, but in the midst of immortals lingering on clouds, there were several handsome young cultivators of ancient times riding on flying swords. They were surrounded by winding mountains and freely scattered mystical clouds, immortal cranes flying in harmony. Above their heads, there were large characters drawn in ink, dazzling to the eye.

Chinacultivation.com.

At the center, there was a section that took up around three-fifths of the screen. On the left and right, there were two lines of messages. The left said: 

‘A Dao that can be trod is not the everlasting Dao’

. The right said: 

‘That which is true is that which is the Dao’

.

[2]

Zhou Tingting’s breathing was hurried as she clasped her tea, kneeling behind Xu Yangyi as if she was a maid. She had already stretched out her neck as far as she could, appearing like she wanted to bore through the computer. Nevertheless, she gritted her teeth and restrained herself and even assumed the manners of a pretty daughter from a humble family.

“Can’t you link up without a VPN?” Xu Yangyi raised a brow and asked suspiciously.

“It’s not the same!” Zhou Tingting shouted a reply without missing a beat. Afterwards, she gently coughed and said bashfully, “This website… even if you use a VPN to connect to it, we can only get into the listings and transactions sections. As for other ‘Cultivation Tips’, ‘Issued Missions’, ‘Dao Result Conventions’ and ‘Industry News’, small clans like ours can’t get into these four sections.”

“Why?”

“Because the website needs real-name authentication…” Zhou Tingting sighed with secret bitterness, “In case it detects fringe cultivators like us, the system won’t supply higher privileges… and Chinacultivation.com doesn’t offer a service for privilege promotion…”

Before she even finished speaking, Xu Yangyi had come to understand.

This site was open with full access to Heavens Law. They had the privileges to enter all sections. For many years, this was the only website they were able to access, a view that was no longer capable of even greater familiarity to him. He well understood that Chinacultivation.com only had two kinds of methods to increase one’s privileges.

Method one: if you made contributions to the real world, your ranking would increase. You could then enter setup messages such as ‘Reading Privileges 100’ or ‘Reading Privileges 888’. The highest reading authority a Qi Condensation cultivator could have was 50. The highest reading privilege set up for a Foundation Establishment cultivator would be 100. As for Core Formation cultivators… whatever amount they wanted it to be was whatever it was. In any case, weren’t there only ten people that could view it?

[3]

The second method was even simpler, and that was to recharge. 

After all, the present age was Cultivation Civilization. The cultivation world and the human world were intimately connected, and a majority of genuine high officials, for instance one like Chu Zhaonan’s affluent three generations, were incredibly well-versed with the cultivation world. Perhaps a good part of Qi Condensation cultivators didn’t possess their thorough understandings.

If they were aware, who didn’t want to cultivate? Those clan masters’ ages were too old to cultivate but didn’t they have grandchildren? Great-grandchildren? There was no short supply of their posterity! 

However, if you weren’t a cultivator, you were simply incapable of advancing through the real-name authentication. Thus, after China set up the internet in the 90s, the people at the top of the nation’s pyramid joined together to draft a bill. A requirement in “accordance to circumstance” that the children of ordinary people ought to enjoy equal benefits. Later on, this wasn’t only limited to the inheritance of Dao legacies...

On the next day, there was a function to recharge credits. 

A union master cost ten thousand low-grade spirit stones. 

A gold union master cost a thousand middle-grade spirit stones. 

A diamond union master cost a hundred high-grade spirit stones.

An exalted lord cost ten supreme-grade spirit stones. 

Basically, once you were an exalted lord, it wouldn’t be a problem even if you wanted to read a Dao Master’s post. But for fringe cultivators, who didn’t even have enough time to cultivate, how could they recharge a price of 10,000 low-grade spirit stones?

Originally, the powers-in-charge wanted to compromise on the balance of power between the cultivation and human worlds, but who would’ve imagined the magic of money would truly be so boundlessly great? On that next day, twenty-three exalted lords appeared. It was now the service merchants of the cultivation world’s turn to be stricken dumb. 

Halting his train of thought, Xu Yangyi laughed and entered his account information. He smoothly logged on in an instant, and felt Zhou Tingting’s eyes beside him stiffen.

“HL...01…” Zhou Tingting took a glance, and in the next second her screech nearly flipped the roof. “HL! Heavens Law! You’re from Heavens Law?! A-And you’re also 01?!”

She covered her mouth in shock. Although she couldn’t enter the sections she wanted to the most, she’d been around long enough to know that discounting Heavens Law, there was the Big Three: the Bountiful Treasures Pavilion, the Featherwood Guard, and the CSIB. However, Heavens Law was known as the cradle of high-level cultivators! Out of every ten Foundation Establishment cultivators, half would come from Heavens Law!

The organization couldn’t join in on the struggle of power, but it was a publicly-acknowledged apex power.

Even more importantly… the two letters “HL” required authentication. It was said to be incredibly difficult to graduate from Heavens Law, but which graduate wouldn’t be headhunted for during each graduation? Those with the two letters “HL” in the front of their login ID were all graduates-to-be or graduates!

In particular… the two digits of 01...

“You… You… Sir…” The girl felt her breathing become rushed!

Heavens knew that the first time she had seen Xu Yangyi her initial thought was to bother him! So long as he was willing to dispel her cultivation woes for her, everything was fair game besides her body!

But as she now got a clean look at the demon slayer’s appearance and build… she felt that 

maybe

 her body wasn’t exactly off the table… 

In the end, the two digits of 01 appeared, and she completely gathered all of her thoughts. Being 01 was the representation of a city champion! A candidate to contest the title of paragon! The highest priority that all parties would fight over for!

“Sir… Sir is a champion?” Her gaze suddenly twinkled. She dared not believe by any stretch of her imagination that she’d managed to pick up treasure as she went out for a stroll!

“In the past.” Xu Yangyi answered indifferently and clicked on the ‘Cultivation Rankings’ section while he was at it. No one knew whatsoever, but the instant the ID HL-01 logged in, the computer screens of the four major powers all rang out with an ear-piercing beep!

“Lost information captured… Lost information captured…”

 At this moment, in the Mingshui Province branch, a mechanical face suddenly opened its mouth and a stream of zeroes and ones endlessly circulated within its eyes. 

“Locating position…”

“Verifying data chain… Position captured…”

In the Mingshui Province Featherwood Guard Panshan City branch, a middle-aged woman skeptically raised her wristwatch and looked at it. As she saw the watch face emit red flashes, her pupils immediately sharpened.

In the following second, she ran to the front of the office without the slightest hesitation, stifling the wild palpitations of her heart. Knocking gently on the door, she didn’t even wait for those on the other side to answer, and pushed her way through. Her voice carried a trace of urgency, “Branch Master, the person the higher-ups requested to track has appeared!”

Before her was an old man that appeared to be over seventy years old. He wore a pair of rimless silver glasses with crystal lenses and an azure changpao. His hand holding a brush was comfortably writing. He was hale and hearty, his age not showing the least bit. 

“Great character!” The secretary at his side holding a towel didn’t pay attention to the middle-aged woman and laughed, “Branchmaster Chen’s Liu Style calligraphy is simply divine. Sir, look at the straight hook of this 託. Even if Liu Gongquan was still in this world, he could do no better than this.”

[4]

The old man smiled and set down his brush, extending his hand to take a lukewarm towel. He casually wiped his hands, not raising his head. “The person being tracked?”

“Among the Featherwood Guard, the CSIB, and the Bountiful Treasures Pavilion, which branch doesn’t have someone they want to trace?” He lifted his changpao and sat down on the sofa, crossing his legs in satisfaction. With a wave, a cup of lukewarm tea flew into his hand. “Who is it?”

“Three years ago on September 8th, sir specifically mentioned a person to track.” The middle-aged woman said gently without delay, “It was just discovered that his Heavens Law username HL-01 appeared again! He’s in our Mingshui Province!” 

The old man’s gaze flashed, and he inhaled deeply. “Are you certain it’s him?”

“No!”

“Then what are you waiting for?” The old man laughed grimly as he set down his tea. “Conduct an investigation at once!”

“Yes!”

“Slow down.” Just as the middle-aged woman was about to leave, the old man laughed, “If you’re certain, don’t take action by yourself. Notify me at once.”

“Understood!”

The middle-aged woman left, and the secretary laughed, “Branch Master, does this necessitate such importance?”

“Moron…” Branchmaster Chen closed his eyes, his smile even colder than ice. “What do you know…”

The one being tracked was a cultivator who had escaped from Vermilion Snow’s clutches!

Eight Foundation Establishment cultivators about the same as himself had died in battle! Among them, four were at the Great Circle of Foundation Establishment! But from that landscape of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, Xu Yangyi was able to survive against all odds!

Most importantly, though… supreme authorities had mentioned him by name to be tracked down! Otherwise, why would he be concerned over a trifling Qi Condensation cultivator? 

He just didn’t understand. Why was it that an insignificant Qi Condensation cultivator treated so importantly by such a noble figure?

At the same time, in a jungle, a group of thirty to forty people were leaping on a twenty-plus-meter-tall tree, like energetic squirrels.

“Distance from the target is forty meters!” A series of red numbers appeared on the goggles of a camouflaged man wearing protective eyewear. “It’s already been confirmed the demon waiting on the Featherfall Grass to bloom is late Qi Condensation. Moreover, it’s a demon of unknown size. Commander Chu, report complete.”

“Close in on three sides, leave one path open.”

 The chilly voice of a man could be heard in everyone’s earpieces. 

“Stick to the plan.”

“Yes!”

“Roger!”

Of the last troops, there were only two people. One man whose entire body was wrapped in a cloak. He only held two enormous eye-grabbing pistols that radiated coldness in his hands. The second man’s fingers seemed to fly as they moved over a tablet, making repeated calculations.

At this moment, both men’s watches beeped in sync. They nearly paused in step at the same time. 

“This…” The cloaked man’s voice revealed a hint of wavering for the first time. “He’s still alive?”

“Gao Ye!” He immediately turned his head towards the person at his side. 

He obtained the second man’s low roar of excitement.

“Understood!”

On the tablet, the entire chart that had just appeared on it vanished straightaway, and another completely different data chart surfaced.

1. “Ignorant to others’ plights” Direct translation is “Why don’t they eat meat” A phrase allegedly said by Emperor Hui of Jin when he heard his people did not have rice to eat. Somewhat along the lines of Marie Antoinette saying “Let them eat cake.”

2. “The Dao that can be trod is not the everlasting Dao.” This line is the first line of the Dao De Jing, THE Daoist scripture, one of the most translated works in the entire world. I am unsure of the second line specifically.

3. Quick explanation on the forum tier level things: its also like that on China’s forums. There are different VIP levels, privileges granted that are based on level, etc.

4. Liu Gongquan is a Tang Calligrapher. Very famous.

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