Even the Imperial Family Had to Queue Behind the Pope

Above the Myriad Ages Douluo Group, the group's cumulative transaction total jumped to 40,000.

The upgrade countdown hanging high above hit zero on the spot.

The bronze scroll hummed, and the crimson-gold light screen of the Group Hub's fourth tier stretched across the entire public chat.

In the new building of Perching Swan Academy, Qin Zhaoye sat at his desk and unhurriedly reached out to open the fourth-tier permissions package.

Three rays of golden light sprang out one after another beneath his fingertip.

First, the cross-era materials channel had officially expanded. Each transfer was still limited to what one person could carry, but the permitted frequency had doubled.

Second, the limit on each packet in the group-wide red packet rain had doubled.

Third, a "Group Owner Nomination Voucher" engraved with dark-gold patterns landed in his palm.

With a flick of his fingertip, Qin Zhaoye tucked the second nomination voucher into an inner pocket of the scroll, saving it for the next time he brought in new members.

No sooner had he finished checking the three permissions than the bonus fourth-tier upgrade red packet rain poured across the public chat.

"The spectator gallery is boiling over ×8,600!"

Several of the descendants grabbed red packets while flooding the chat with animated memes the Fourth Era had just made.

The image showed a service window labeled "Myriad Ages Fate-Changing Shop," with a long queue beneath it. At the very front stood someone unmistakably wearing the Pope's crown.

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Fourth tier unlocked! The group-wide red packet limit has doubled. My luck this round feels amazing!]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Check out the new "Pope Takes a Number and Queues.gif"! That really nails the occasion!]

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: Haha! I grabbed a Qi and Blood Pill voucher! This picture is gold. I've saved it in the ancestor operations manual!]

[Group owner: Fourth tier is open. The rules remain the same.]

After sending that message, Qin Zhaoye personally pinned the "Fate-Changing Price List" and the schedule to the group notice board.

And so the makeshift negotiating table became an official counter on the permanent notice board.

At the very top of the list was Bibi Dong's newly submitted expression of interest in a second order: an appointment for a full assessment of the Rakshasa God's dead end.

Right behind it, on the second line, was Qian Renxue's consultation order for the Angel God route.

Further down, the queue numbers for individual appointments had already reached number eleven and beyond, all in gray text as they waited to be called.

The counter for the cross-era spectator gallery jumped several times, and the screen filled with comments joining in the bidding and clamor.

Deep in the Heaven Dou Imperial Family's palace, Qian Renxue stared at the schedule on the notice board, her expression darkening bit by bit.

Although her consultation order only required a review of the route, it was still held firmly behind Bibi Dong's expression of interest in a second order.

Qian Renxue raised a finger and tapped "Rush" three times in a row on her number two order.

But the queue number on the public chat did not budge. Instead, an icy annotation from the historian appeared.

"The number one client's place at the front is locked. Rush requests are invalid. Please wait your turn."

[Qian Renxue: Hasn't her first order already passed inspection? What gives her second-order inquiry the right to hold the number one spot?]

[Group owner: The number one order has a consecutive booking. All payments for the first batch have been settled. Number two, please wait patiently for your number to be called.]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: The young master's three rush requests were all rejected! Even the imperial family has to queue behind the Pope!]

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: Those are the rules! Grand Patriarch, the queue's only reached eleven. If you have something in mind too, why not hurry up and place an order?]

On a road outside Nuoding City, Tang San was traveling along and took a passing glance at the long queue on the notice board.

[Tang San: My road hasn't reached a fork yet. I'll get to the bottom of what's in front of me first.]

[Tang San: When the day really comes that I need to rewrite my death tribulation, I'll naturally prepare the stakes and submit an order.]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Grand Patriarch's keeping his cool! Even the Pope has registered for another order, so Spirit City must have given up on drawing blades.]

Just as the group expected, the Pope's Palace in Spirit City was brightly lit with candles at that moment.

Bibi Dong sat on the papal throne. On the long table before her lay two newly drafted dossiers, side by side.

The one on the left had a scarlet cover bearing the words "Mobilize the Elder Hall and eliminate the Suotuo historian."

The one on the right had a pure white cover and listed follow-up purchases and negotiations concerning the Myriad Ages Historian.

Bibi Dong's right hand hovered in midair, pausing between the two plans, "elimination" and "negotiation."

After all, the report on that page of Suotuo City's remnants of destruction and the receipt stating "Three layers caused the dead end; they can be dismantled" were both lying on the table.

"Draw blades, and even a level fifty-five man in charge was brought to his knees in the street."

Bibi Dong murmured to herself, her fingertip slowly tracing the assessment receipt.

"Trade, and the root of the hidden injury from the Rakshasa God Trial that has trapped me for years was laid bare on the spot."

Bibi Dong withdrew her hovering hand, picked up the "elimination" plan on the left, and pulled open a hidden black-iron compartment beneath the table.

She personally pressed the scarlet dossier hard against the bottom of the compartment, then snapped the bronze lock shut.

"Pass down my order: withdraw all plans to encircle and eliminate him in Suotuo City. From now on, deal with him only through purchases."

An attendant from the Night Owl Terrace waiting outside the hall heard this and hurriedly bowed to accept the order. "As the Pope commands!"

At the same moment, outside the new building of Perching Swan Academy, Dean Feng Yanqiu rubbed his hands and knocked on the door.

"Zhaoye, that Heaven Dou Imperial Family envoy at the relay station in the south of the city has sent someone to press us again. He wants to know when we can give him a definite answer."

Without looking up, Qin Zhaoye picked up a bronze number token engraved with "second place" from the desk and tossed it over.

"Take this to him. Tell him we can talk, but he has to queue by number."

Feng Yanqiu caught the token and looked at it, his beard bristling with delight. "Putting the imperial family behind Spirit Hall? I'll deliver it myself right away!"

Half a quarter of an hour later, at the relay station in southern Suotuo City, the Heaven Dou Imperial Family's envoy received Perching Swan Academy's reply.

An attendant entered the room carrying a gold-stamped reply. "My lord, the Myriad Ages Historian has finally relented and sent an answer!"

The Heaven Dou envoy perked up at once. He hurriedly opened the reply and saw two words written on it: "Can negotiate."

But when he picked up the bronze number token enclosed with the note, the smile froze on his face.

A line of small characters was engraved on the back of the token: "An appointment from Spirit Hall headquarters precedes yours. Your side is provisionally ranked second."

"Outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!"

The Heaven Dou envoy stared at the second-place token, his fingers tightening so sharply that he crushed deep creases into the gold-stamped reply.

The attendant beside him jumped and asked cautiously, "My lord, should we go straight to the academy and argue with him?"

"Argue, my ass!"

The envoy glared fiercely at the attendant, but immediately recalled the sky-spanning image of destruction on the main street the day before yesterday, the one that had frightened a level fifty-five Soul King to his knees.

More than half the anger burning in his chest went out in an instant, and he could only curse as he sat back down in his chair.

"Even the Pope of Spirit Hall got an order in ahead of us. The Heaven Dou Imperial Family is second in line, so what are we going to do, flip the table?"

The envoy released the crumpled reply, carefully smoothed out the creases with his sleeve, then obediently tucked the number two token inside his robes.

"Have a carriage ready and wait. We'll wait for the Myriad Ages Historian to call our number!"

With those minor matters outside dealt with, quiet returned to the new academy building.

Qin Zhaoye turned up the oil lamp on the desk and personally opened the ledger of income and expenditure for this stage on the bronze scroll.

From the launch of the godhood nuclear-bomb topic to the present, every entry was clearly listed on the gold paper: 8,000 from the godhood special's revenue split, 4,000 from the chapter-level deviation brought about by the failed Suotuo expedition, 1,500 from the Record of Destruction revelations, plus 300 from the pre-launch buildup.

That stretch of drama alone had brought in exactly 13,800 Talking Capital.

Qin Zhaoye picked up his brush, drew a check mark at the end of the bill, and rolled the balance from this stage into his private account.

Afterward, he turned to the contents page of the Official History of the First Era.

Over the past few days, the entries awaiting revision had turned gray in batches because of the expedition's defeat and the Pope signing an order, and he had gathered them all together personally.

At the end of the dossier, he made a separate entry titled "Summary of Gray Files from the Suotuo Upheaval," then sealed the file.

His level thirty-eight Soul Power circulated steadily within him. He was in fact drawing closer and closer to the major hurdle at level forty.

Just as Qin Zhaoye was about to close the scroll, the historical records window on his right suddenly moved without a breeze, rustling open to a new page.

A line of gold text glowing red appeared on its own in the center of the page.

"Historical records monitoring notice: The window of opportunity for a 'lost-text-grade' hunting site deep within the Ten-Thousand-Year Ancient Forest is approaching."

Qin Zhaoye's gaze sharpened, his fingertip stopping in midair.

He stared at the line for a while, then reached out and circled the words "Ten-Thousand-Year Ancient Forest."