Inside the castle, in a pavilion along a corridor.
Dongbo Xueying and Lord Si An sat facing each other, with servants bringing some snacks and hot tea. Including Zong Ling, Tong San, You Tu, and others, everyone else was waiting outside the pavilion on the corridor.
Lord Si An held the hot tea, took a gentle sip, and looked at the snow falling outside the pavilion.
"Lord, your place is so quiet and peaceful, truly a good place. The city is too noisy, with people coming and going, and even the noise can be heard while sleeping," Lord Si An said with a smile, "When I retire, I also want to find a quiet place to enjoy."
Dongbo Xueying smiled and said, "Many people desire high positions but cannot obtain them."
"High position? I'm just the head of the Longshan Tower in a small county, hardly a high position," Lord Si An said, flipping his hand to reveal a small stack of gold notes, "This is 800 gold coins! It's the bounty for Gai Bin. Although it's a bit less, it still needs to be given."
Dongbo Xueying took it.
Imperial fugitives... generally at least need to be at the Starry level, or have committed heinous crimes, to have a bounty. Ordinary bandits and thieves don't qualify for bounties.
"This is the Black Iron Token," Lord Si An flipped his hand again and took out a black token with the words 'Longshan' on it, "All citizens of the empire, once they reach the Starry level, will receive this Black Iron Token."
"Starry level, Black Iron Token?" Dongbo Xueying pondered.
"The tokens are mainly of two types,"
Lord Si An said casually, "One is the Black Iron Token, the other is the Bronze Token! Those at the Starry level can receive the Black Iron Token, while those at the Title level can receive the Bronze Token... Beyond that, it's the Extraordinary! The Extraordinary are the true power of our entire Xia clan and the empire. That's a completely different world, so there's no need to say more."
"Take it, this is your unique Black Iron Token, it has great use," Lord Si An placed the Black Iron Token in front of Dongbo Xueying.
Dongbo Xueying examined it carefully. The black token, besides the words 'Longshan', had some intricate patterns. The patterns were very natural and harmonious, and looked beautiful.
Lord Si An casually flipped his hand again and handed over a scroll: "This is the 'Imperial Gazette' compiled by our Longshan Tower. It generally records some major events of the entire empire, but mainly introduces detailed matters within the Qinghe Prefecture. For example, when you killed a Silver Moon Wolf King and single-handedly eliminated the entire Crescent Blade Alliance, it will be recorded in the next issue of the Imperial Gazette, and all the strong in Qinghe Prefecture will see it."
"Oh?" Dongbo Xueying immediately took it and flipped through it.
The entire gazette had over a dozen pages, with only one page dedicated to matters outside Qinghe Prefecture, and the rest were all about Qinghe Prefecture—
"On the 19th of November, 9623 Longshan Era, the Fifth Division stationed in Qinghe Prefecture, on the third day of entering the Ruin Mountains, encountered a sixth-level magic beast 'Dark Magic Bear' that had awakened from hibernation, and both thousand-man battalions were completely annihilated..."
"On the 10th of November, 9623 Longshan Era, in the Tianping City of Qinghe Prefecture, an Extraordinary appeared, a gray-haired old man dressed in rags and barefoot..."
"On the 5th of November, the Si family and the Zhang family were united in marriage..."
...
The gazette recorded important news from various places in Qinghe Prefecture, and for extremely important and formal matters, even the year was written.
As for some local anecdotes, they were recorded more casually.
Dongbo Xueying was amazed, realizing that so many things happened on the nearly ten thousand miles of land in Qinghe Prefecture.
"Lord Si An, an Extraordinary appeared in Tianping City?" Dongbo Xueying asked curiously.
"He just appeared and then disappeared," Lord Si An said with a smile, "Extraordinaries are high above us. What they pursue is different from what we ordinary people pursue. Such wandering ascetics are quite common. Recording them in the gazette is to make the powerful families in various places pay attention, so they don't offend an Extraordinary! Once offended, it's like the sky falling! The entire family might be destroyed."
Dongbo Xueying nodded.
Indeed.
A beggar on the roadside, if you bully him casually, and suddenly find out he's an Extraordinary! Wouldn't that be terrifying?
"Extraordinaries are extremely rare. In the entire empire with nineteen provinces, there are only so many Extraordinaries. Even in our Qinghe Prefecture, which is quite large, there isn't a single native Extraordinary!" Lord Si An shook his head, "This Imperial Gazette is a monthly publication, one issue per month. It's good to read it often to understand the major and minor events of the empire, and to know which forces cannot be offended."
"The gazette is for entertainment."
"The next thing I give you is even more important."
"This is the second most important, two lists!" Lord Si An's expression became serious, and he flipped his hand to reveal two booklets in his hand. One booklet had a black cover with the words 'Longshan'. The other booklet had a blood-red cover with a blood-dripping blade drawn on it.
"Two lists?" Dongbo Xueying looked curiously.
"One is the Longshan List, compiled by our Longshan Tower. The other is the Blood Blade List, compiled by the Blood Blade Tavern," Lord Si An said.
Dongbo Xueying took the two thick books.
He first opened the black Longshan List, which had rankings starting from the first, with a dense list of names and some brief annotations.
"The Blood Blade List is a list of assassins!" Lord Si An's words surprised Dongbo Xueying.
"Assassin list?" Dongbo Xueying looked at the blood-red booklet beside it.
"Yes, the Blood Blade Tavern has a very mysterious background, and our Longshan Tower doesn't want to provoke it! In any city of the entire empire, there is a Blood Blade Tavern," Lord Si An said, "Based on the actual performance of assassins, the Blood Blade Tavern compiles this list. The names on the list are almost all aliases! After all, assassins generally remain anonymous."
"The other Longshan List is more authoritative and is more respected by all the strong in the empire," Lord Si An said proudly, "The Longshan List, compiled by our Longshan Tower, records the top 3,000 Bronze-level strong in the nineteen provinces of the empire." Lord Si An continued, "From first to 3,000th, all are carefully considered and ranked based on performance and various other aspects."
"The 3,000 strong of the entire empire?" Dongbo Xueying's eyes lit up.
Bronze-level.
Only those with Title-level strength qualify for the Bronze Token! This list records 3,000 names.
"There are so few Extraordinaries in the empire, so there's no need to compile a list for them," Lord Si An said, "But those below the Extraordinary, the Title-level, are just one step away from becoming Extraordinary. Some of them are so outstanding that they can rival the Extraordinary. In the entire empire, the number of Title-level is relatively large."
"In the entire Qinghe Prefecture, there are a total of twelve Bronze-level strong. Five of them are listed on the Longshan List," Lord Si An said.
Dongbo Xueying nodded slightly. The Longshan List has a limit of 3,000, not every Bronze-level can make it onto the list.
"Among these five,"
"The fifth is Chang Qingze, ranked 2,895th on the Longshan List."
"The fourth is Zhang Yong, ranked 2,822nd on the Longshan List."
"The third is Dan Chen, ranked 1,259th on the Longshan List."
"The second is Si Lianghong, ranked 569th on the Longshan List."
"The first is Xiang Pangyun, ranked 525th on the Longshan List."
Lord Si An easily reported the detailed rankings of these five.