The lanterns that hung at each house were lit and the birds chirped merrily atop trees. Several pushcarts sold hot pastries while others had already prepared their wares to sell. Farmers jumped between boats and traded food items for other necessities. "Selling fruits and vegetables!"

"Hot soup, one bowl for five coins!"

"Warm pastries, a coin for a single piece!"

The butcher had several different types of meat that hung from hooks as a butler approached him, "How are you selling the meat?"

The butcher laughed, "You are the customer buying my meat, how can I presume to tell you how much you should take?"

When he looked around and saw that n.o.body was looking, he then spoke, "Eight folds for you."

This meant that he would take everything but with a 20% discount. The butler nodded his head in consent. At this point, meat buns were being steamed beside the butchers shop, as smoke and steam rose high up in the air, "Selling meat buns, two coins for a bun!"

An inn which was next to the street was filled with lively noises.

Room

This was one of the best rooms provided here in this inn. Although the ornamentations and furniture aren’t the most upscale, it was at least very clean. The wooden bed frame occupied half of the room. Pei Zi Yun slowly came out of his quiet meditation and felt extremely comfortable. Energy flowed fluidly in his veins, but he didn’t reveal any expression on his face.

A long time later, Pei Zi Yun then exhaled deeply, "Although I’ve made a small progress in my cultivation, there’s a limit to how much a person’s cultivation can do for him after all, in light of the limited spiritual energy. Even if I were to spend more time and cultivated till I was old, it wouldn’t make much of a difference."

"Without gaining Paradise and Prestige, there’s nothing much for me to gain. It’s no wonder that Xie Cheng Dong was the first person in this cultivation world to gain an immortal body. It seems like I have to find these Dragon Veins regardless of the cost."

Pei Zi Yun stood up and rinsed his face before he left. He then spoke to the waiter, "There’s no need to prepare food for me. I heard that the stall selling buns outside is rather good. Help me get a single box of buns, that would suffice."

As soon as Pei Zi Yun said this, he took his seat. The waiter then came and delivered some tea to him. He took a sip while deep in thought.

The Lightning Tribulations had killed the Daoist and destroyed every shred of memory he possessed. However, the knowledge that Hill County was involved still remained in Pei Zi Yun’s mind.

"Hill County isn’t big, although it isn’t very small as well. With my geomancy skill improving daily, it shouldn’t be a problem for me to detect the location if I took a walk within the county."

"But that would waste far too much time."

"The Daoist had spent 11 years before he could find the Latent Dragon. Although that’s not what I’m searching for, if I were to walk down every street here in Hill County, it would probably take me a month or two as well."

Thinking this way, Pei Zi Yun rubbed his temples and looked visibly stressed. He had to find the cracks within the ground in order to ascertain the location of the Dragon Veins, which would run on for thousands of kilometers. He wished that he would get to it sooner rather than later.

The waiter was all smiles as he wore a cap over his head and carried a box of buns, "Young Master, your buns are here!"

A small saucer containing vinegar and spices was placed at the side. As soon as the box was opened, steam wafted out from it. The white buns within looked soft and tender, and caused Pei Zi Yun’s appet.i.te to grow just by looking at them.

Pei Zi Yun used a pair of chop

sticks to pick up a bun and place it into his mouth. As soon as he bit down, the juices from within the bun oozed out, the meat within was tender and flavorful.

He placed the chopsticks down and looked at the waiter, "Do you know how many people moved in here within the last 20 years?"

The waiter looked rather embarra.s.sed, "Young Master, I’m only twenty this year. How could I possibly know who’ve moved in over the past twenty years. But Grandma Li would know. She’s 60 years old this year and she would know for sure."

"You’re right. This is for you." Pei Zi Yun threw him a string of coins, "Invite her here please."

"Many thanks Young Master." The waiter replied, "She lives nearby. I shall call for her to come at once."

It was indeed very near to the inn. After he had finished his meal, a woman of around 70 years walked in. When she saw Pei Zi Yun she bowed, "Young Master, what information do you need? There’s nothing about this place that I don’t know."

"Oh, do you know if there’s a Du family who moved in here in the past 20 years? If you do, which village they are in?"

When she heard his words, Grandma Li paused for several seconds and thought hard. "Young Master, for many years, the world was at war and chaos. There are many households who’d come and gone. I know of several such families who moved in here, but none of them were surnamed Du."

"Oh, did it mean the Du family didn’t move in here?"

"But that’s impossible. Du Zi Nong’s heaven defying act of killing the latent dragon, causing the Imperial Qi to weaken caused the entire world to fall into unrest. Hence, even the Imperial Tutor had no way of defending him. The tutor was subjected to the death penalty, which involved tying him to five horses and making them sprint in different directions."

"And his entire family was killed as well."

"If n.o.body surnamed Du moved into this County, it probably means that everyone in the family perished then."

"If that was truly the case, then I’m in a difficult spot. Without the map of the terrain from the Imperial Tutor’s descendants, is the only other choice left is to walk the entire area and manually look for it?"

"And yet if that’s what I have to do, I might have enough luck to actually seek it out." Pei Zi Yun consoled himself as he threw a string of coins to the women.

"Thank you, Young Master." Grandma Li opened her eyes as she smiled and accepted the money.

Pei Zi Yun no longer had an appet.i.te, as for the remaining two buns and he pushed them away. Just as he was about to stand up, he seemed to realize something. He could find records of people who had lived here from the relevant officials.

Thinking this way, Pei Zi yun turned around and called for an oxcart, "To the County Magistrate’s office!"

The oxcart driver looked rather shocked but managed to reply him. The oxcart then started to make its way down the streets.

Hill County’s Magistrate’s office was located in the west of the county and was rather vast with many rooms and accommodations.

When he arrived at the outer entrance, he entered and started to walk up a flight of stairs. A constable eyed him as he approached. Pei Zi Yun looked very young and was dressed neither too richly, nor did he look poor. It was tough to guess why he had come and yet the constable could tell that he had a scholarly air about him. He then asked, "Young Master, have you come to file a report?"

Pei Zi Yun didn’t wish to make things difficult for him and thus handed him a note, "I am High Scholar Pei Zi Yun, and wish to seek an audience with His Excellency, the Magistrate."

Pei Zi Yun spoke this way and cause the constable to feel rather fl.u.s.tered as he took the note and entered the compounds hurriedly. Before long, a seventh ranked official that was about 40 years old came out and welcomed him, "So it’s High Scholar Pei Zi Yun who has come to my Hill County. It’s an honor."

The Magistrate welcomed him before he invited Pei Zi Yun to take a seat.

The Magistrate then said, "I’ve long heard of Top Scorer Pei’s reputation, with the ability to recite masterful poems at your disposal. Everyone who has a little scholarly bone in him would’ve heard of Pei Zi Yun, and now I get to see him for myself."

Pei Zi Yun then spoke, "Indeed, I’m fortunate to have people recognize my works, and that is my honor."

They exchanged pleasantries for a little while before the Magistrate enquired to the nature of his visit.

Pei Zi Yun looked around before he spoke, "My family has been a victim of tragedies and was split up during the war times. Now that everything is peaceful, I wish to rebuild my clan from scratch and contact my lost relatives. I heard that one of them fled the chaos to Hill County, and I am not sure if he has changed his name as well. That’s why I wish to take a look at the records for citizens who have moved over to Hill County within the past twenty years."

"That’s a small matter, and is easily solved." When the Magistrate heard this, he didn’t even hesitate and agreed to Pei Zi Yun’s request. "Men, call the Census Official over!"

A short while later, the Census Official walked over and heeded the instructions of the Magistrate, "This is Top Scorer Pei. He wishes to check the records of citizens who moved into Hill County over the past 20 years. Don’t delay. Do it now."

"Yes!" The Census Official was only a t.i.tle, and wasn’t a true official ordained by the Imperial Court. He bowed and obeyed immediately.

"Many thanks, Magistrate!" Pei Zi Yun stood up and bowed before he followed the Census Official to a room. While he walked through the corridor, he noticed that this particular building only had three rooms and they were all filled with cabinets and shelves. Once he crossed through the door, he could smell ink and saw several people who worked at desks.

Although the Census Official wasn’t an actual official, he was in charge of these people and thus barked orders at them, "Quick, gather the information of every family who has moved into Hill County over the past 20 years."

He then pointed at one of the cabinets, "They’re all here. When you’ve found them, make a copy of all of them. Do it thoroughly."

He then invited Pei Zi Yun to take a seat, "Please wait for a moment Young Master. Serve Young Master the tea!"

As soon as his orders were given, several workers started to retrieve the doc.u.ments. They looked very familiar with the process. Before long, they had taken out more than a hundred different doc.u.ments and started to copy them.

"You seem very familiar and well versed with all these doc.u.ments." Pei Zi Yun sighed after he invited the Census Official to take a seat as well.

As soon as the current Emperor came into power, he decreed that all doc.u.ments which bore information of its citizens be retained and made it mandatory for records of every inhabitant of a county to be kept.

The records kept by these officials included their names, identification number, and status of their families. Such records would be kept by the person himself and copies would be kept by the county, the prefecture, and several other ministries.

Since there are many copies of these doc.u.ments, it would be nearly impossible to fake them. This was done in order to restrict civilians from resettling without the expressed permission of the relevant authorities. In the past, citizens were also split by their occupations.

Such information was kept very confidential and wasn’t allowed to be given without a valid reason. However, to someone who was a scholar, such authority could be granted to them.

"My family have always been low ranking officials." The Census Official sat down and spoke, "Ever since the stabilization of the dynasty, the Emperor has shown his benevolence to my family, and we rose several ranks."

"Since that’s the case, how can I not work hard and live and honest life in repayment?"

"Peace is something we might not have forever."

Pei Zi Yun then suddenly recalled Liao Ge. Like this Census Official, he had slogged hard his entire life and rose to the lowly rank of ninth rank. At last, he died along the way and was killed by bandits. Recalling this incident caused Pei Zi Yun to feel a sharp stab of pain in his chest. "You are right. I have a friend called Liao Ge. Just like you, he was born into a family of low ranking officials. He worked hard and finally attained ninth rank."

The census official looked at Pei Zi Yun, his eyes glowed, "I’ve heard of him before. He climbed to the ninth rank and died while on a mission. The Imperial Court conferred a posthumous t.i.tle on him."

When he saw that Pei Zi Yun’s expression changed, he laughed and sighed, "This humble subject is envious of how he managed to climb in status. All of us, small time officials only want to lead a proper life and provide for our families."

"My father worked hard for 30 years and didn’t achieve much. When his time was up, he took my hand and told me to do the family proud. Just thinking of his eyes before he departed fills me with sadness. I would be willing to die on the job just to get a ninth rank, like your friend."

Pei Zi Yun looked at him and said, "The dynasty only opened up recently and they’re still lacking in many areas. If you work hard you should be able to attain your goals."

"Many thanks for your confidence in me." The Census Official stood up and bowed.

It took less than an hour before everything was copied down. Twenty years of records copied in such a short span of time. Pei Zi Yun took the pages and handed them a single note. "This is not much, please use this money to buy some tea and share it with each other."

The Census Official stood up, "Many thanks to Top Scorer Pei."

The few others who helped copy the records were elated as well. This money could be used to buy some wine and meat for themselves. However, one of them who was around 20 years old had a look of worry on his face.

Pei Zi Yun had left around noon. This worker then found an excuse to leave work and walked out into the streets. Seeing that n.o.body was around, he walked up to one of the stall keepers and said a few words. When the stall keeper heard this, he frowned and hurriedly left his store unattended.