The Pope Queued Up and Signed the First Order
Inside Perching Swan Academy's new quarters, Qin Zhaoye sat at his desk, opened the special session's host console, and began the closing stage of the Godhood special session.
What was there to wrap up? Collecting money, of course. With a casual swipe across a backend slot, he personally pushed a prepared "fate-changing price list" to the very top of the public screen.
The gold-edged list unfurled with a rustle. Three columns stood side by side at the top, setting out the pricing criteria: Talking Capital Points, real-world resources, and cooperation on session topics.
Below them were four tiers, from lightest to heaviest, with every item and its price clearly marked:
Tier one, minor detail rewrite: priced in Talking Capital Points per transaction, with heavenly treasures or Soul Tools accepted as offsets.
To put it bluntly, this tier was for small, piecemeal deals.
Tier two, side-branch loss containment and inner demon removal: full payment in Talking Capital Points required, plus real-world resources and cooperation on designated special-session topics.
At this tier, the price started climbing.
Tier three, Rakshasa God's dead end · small-scale evaluation and inspection order: submit a deposit pledge and a commitment to cooperate with the special session to lock in a dead-end evaluation slot.
Tier four, Rakshasa God's dead end · full-case evaluation: available after satisfactory inspection of the small-scale order. All three columns required maximum payment, with slots assigned in order.
Anyone with eyes could see whom the last two tiers were aimed at.
The moment the price list was pinned to the public screen, the entire group erupted.
"The audience seats are boiling ×5,860!"
"The audience seats are boiling ×6,490!"
The counter kept leaping upward. After all, which of these cross-era observers had ever seen someone put a dead end on the path to godhood up for sale like merchandise in a shop? This was a first.
[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Good grief, he's turned changing fate itself into a business with clearly marked prices! He's collecting on all three fronts-Talking Capital Points, real-world resources, and cooperation on topics—and if you want to change your fate, you have to pay a deposit and take a number first?!]
[Group owner: This historian has always dealt honestly with young and old alike. Sign first, get scheduled first. Miss your chance, and there will be no waiting.]
Deep in the Heaven Dou Imperial Family's palace, Qian Renxue stood before her desk, her gaze fixed on the second tier's "side-branch loss containment and inner demon removal." She did not look away.
Her fingers drummed rapidly on the edge of the desk as she calculated the private treasury resources she could draw on and her Talking Capital in the group. As soon as she finished, she spoke on the public screen.
[Qian Renxue: For inner demon removal in the second tier, if I double the payment in the real-world resources column, can I jump the queue?]
Qin Zhaoye glanced at it and answered just as directly.
[Group owner: Rules are rules. Orders count, not identities. Whoever signs first gets the first slot.]
At Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy, Tang San stared at the first two tiers of the price list for a long while. He still remembered the list of costs he had saved locally last night.
[Tang San: As long as I put together the payments for all three columns, can the fatal calamities on the chronology that haven't happened yet also be changed one by one?]
A direct question, at least.
[Group owner: As long as they haven't become reality, they're all within the scope of revision.]
While Tang San and Qian Renxue were still checking the prices, Bibi Dong had been sitting on her throne in the Pope's Palace in Spirit City for the entire night.
The fingers resting on the armrest tapped intermittently.
Last night's "the ending is known, the price is negotiable" had made things clear, but today the price list had gone straight up on the public screen. Qian Renxue was calculating, and so was Tang San—and both were calculating how to get a slot.
And her? Was she going to keep putting on airs as the Pope and drag her feet?
If someone snatched the first slot, her hidden Rakshasa God injury, which could rebound on her at any moment, would have to wait even longer.
But could she afford to wait?
She had weighed it all night. It was time to decide.
She sent no more private messages and did not bargain over the price. She opened the contract page for the third tier, picked up the Pope's vermilion brush from her desk, and lowered her wrist. With a few swift strokes, she signed her name beneath "Rakshasa God's dead end · small-scale evaluation and inspection order"!
The Group Hub's cross-line broadcast cut over immediately. In the center of the public screen were the hand holding the vermilion brush and the gold-paper contract.
The furnishings of the Pope's Palace were not visible in the image. All anyone could see was the brush sweeping across the gold paper, writing the three characters "Bibi Dong" together with the deposit pledge mark in a single stroke. Just like that, the first order's slot was locked in before everyone!
Tang Wulin was the first to erupt in the group, shouting over and over that His Holiness the Pope had really signed. He said he had already saved a screenshot of "the Pope's signature" and would definitely have it framed and hung on his wall later.
Lan Xuanyu was moved by something else.
The dignified Pope of Spirit Hall had actually queued up and signed the first order. If that scene had appeared in an official history textbook, it would have been unthinkable.
In the new quarters, Qin Zhaoye was looking at the first order's finalized letter of intent in the backend. With a tap of his finger, he accepted the deposit voucher and added another line to the public screen.
[Group owner: The first order's slot is locked in. The small-scale evaluation order will be delivered shortly. If you're satisfied with the inspection, we can discuss the Rakshasa God's dead end · full-case evaluation.]
Clang. The Group Hub's verdict bell rang out above the entire group.
[Historical deviation announcement · passage level] "Official History of the First Era · Spirit Hall volume" originally recorded: "Bibi Dong had no dealings with this person." Current status: deviated. Pope Bibi Dong signed an order before the group to make a purchase; fate-changing orders have been systematized. This passage is marked for revision.
The gray-file verdict had barely been settled when the golden light of the special session's closing settlement washed across the entire scroll.
[Golden report: The Godhood special session is complete. The host's sixty-percent share has been settled in full. Group owner credited with 8,000 Talking Capital!]
Once the 8,000 Talking Capital was in hand, Qin Zhaoye did not hesitate; he had long since planned where to spend it. He opened his cultivation panel, linked the freshly concluded Godhood nuclear-bomb topic, and pressed "directly add three levels."
[Golden report: The Godhood special-session topic has been linked for direct advancement. Talking Capital spent: 1,500.]
This time, he was very decisive, skipping even the reporting ceremony altogether.
In the broadcast, Bibi Dong had not even returned the vermilion brush she had used to sign her name to its rest before the cultivation figures on the scroll had finished changing!
The Soul Power inside Qin Zhaoye surged upward from level thirty-five to level thirty-six, then thirty-seven, finally settling firmly at level thirty-eight Soul Elder!
That suddenly swelling presence traveled across the distance through the contract's golden seal, which had not yet disconnected, reaching the fingertips of the person who had signed.
No one in the entire audience cried out in surprise. Why? Because everyone's eyes were fixed on Bibi Dong's face in the broadcast.
She was the buyer who had signed the order herself. The instant her brush left the paper, that presence came back to her from the other end of the contract. Three successive levels, solid and powerful-Bibi Dong sensed them perfectly clearly.
Just how good were the goods in this Myriad Ages Historian's hands? There was no need for anyone else to vouch for them. As a level ninety-four Pope, she had verified their quality on the spot.
Bibi Dong's fingers paused above the brush rest. Before the entire group, she put down the vermilion brush and typed a line on the public screen.
[Bibi Dong: I have verified the quality. I await your evaluation report.]
Amid a boiling counter, the special session came to a successful close.
At the same moment, outside Perching Swan Academy's gates, branch hall administrator He Zhili sat on horseback, his eyes bloodshot from staying up.
The punitive squad had only just completed its encirclement last night when, in the latter half of the night, a covert contact in Spirit City sent urgent word: rumors had emerged from the Pope's Palace that His Holiness the Pope might be considering signing a major order.
He Zhili had spent over a decade in official circles. The moment he heard the news, he understood that the situation had changed. Without another word, he tucked the arrest warrant he had just pulled out into his sleeve and changed his orders in a low voice:
"Everyone, stand by where you are. Without my word, no one is to smash down the gates!"
Two level-forty enforcement elders accompanying the squad held out until daybreak, then finally could not resist coming forward to say in low voices, "Administrator He, we've been standing around like fools at the end of the street all night. Are we arresting him or not?"
He Zhili felt the vermilion-brushed accountability order from Spirit City tucked against his chest, the one bearing the words "severe punishment for delay," and a bitter twist came to his mouth:
"Of course we're arresting him! The Pope signing an order is a fight between immortals, but the accountability order from above is still hanging over this old man's head. If I don't complete the assignment today, this old man's official hat will be the first to come off!"
Though he knew perfectly well that the wind had changed, he could only grit his teeth and press on.
Inside the new quarters, Qin Zhaoye opened the Group Hub marketplace and spent 2,500 Talking Capital to buy the second limited-purchase trump card in this volume, "Historical Evidence Remnant Image II."
[Golden report: Purchased "Historical Evidence Remnant Image II" (remnant image of the Battle of Godhood). Talking Capital spent: 2,500. Both limited-purchase items for this volume have now been used.]
A dark-gold book page, flowing with the lingering might of a battle between gods, fell into his palm. He casually stored it in his sleeve case.
Just then, someone pounded heavily on the academy gates. He Zhili shook open the arrest warrant from his sleeve and drew on the Soul Power of a level fifty-five Soul King to read it aloud before everyone:
"Spirit Hall Suotuo Branch Hall has orders to make an arrest! Qin Zhaoye of Perching Swan Academy is suspected of stealing a legacy cache and assaulting and injuring the enforcement squad. Come out at once and submit to arrest!"
Before the arrest warrant had finished being read on the long street, Perching Swan Academy's two tightly shut wooden gates slowly opened from within.
Qin Zhaoye casually closed the bronze scroll in his hand and stepped out of the academy gates with a smile:
"What perfect timing. The first order hasn't even been delivered yet, and I was just short of a few people to test my blade on and establish my might."