Seven Star Gazette

"Madam, you wouldn't want Estate Master Ming to lose everything with you, would you?"

Chu Liang looked at Madam Ming, bound by the red rope, and said this.

"Young Master Chu is willing to seek an investiture for me?"

Estate Master Ming might not have fully understood his intentions, but Madam Ming was greatly astonished. She had never expected the youth before her to be willing to help her so much.

She immediately wanted to kneel together with Estate Master Ming, but Chu Liang hurriedly withdrew the Demon-Binding Rope from her first. Otherwise, the scene would have looked rather strange.

Seeking an investiture.

This did not refer to ancient rites like conferring righteousness upon a demon. Rather, it meant petitioning for an edict on behalf of a kindhearted demon, allowing it to live freely in the cities of the human dynasty—the equivalent of obtaining household registration.

Demons without an edict were like those without official registration. If they slipped into a human city and were discovered by cultivators, they could be killed on the spot at any time. The reason Madam Ming had always walked on eggshells before was because she feared her identity as a demon would be exposed.

The authority to grant such edicts rested only with the human dynasties and the Nine Heavens Immortal Sects. Even the lesser Ten Lands Immortal Sects did not possess such power. To obtain an edict was a task as difficult as scaling the heavens for a demon.

The current feudal dynasty was called the Yu Dynasty. It had ruled for over six hundred years, and the realm was in an age of peace and prosperity. Yet every demon living in a human city could become a hidden danger beneath that peace. As the saying went, those not of our kind must harbor different hearts—let alone demons.

Whether it was the imperial court or the Nine Heavens Immortal Sects, granting an edict was equivalent to vouching for that demon. Should the demon cause trouble someday, whoever had granted the edict would bear the responsibility.

Within the Shushan Sect, a junior disciple like Chu Liang naturally had no such authority. His master, Empress Feng, would need to step forward. After a series of procedures such as observing her aura and examining her heart, confirming that Madam Ming was a kindhearted demon who had never harmed a human life and was exceedingly unlikely to rebel in the future, she could be granted an edict. From then on, she would also have to visit Shushan regularly and submit to Shushan Sect tracking spells and the like.

Normally, even disciples of the Nine Heavens Immortal Sects rarely bothered with such troublesome matters.

Simply slaying demons and vanquishing evil—how clean and decisive.

Yet though such a one-size-fits-all approach saved trouble, effort, and responsibility, Chu Liang could not help feeling that his conscience would be uneasy.

After thinking it over, he still decided to lend them a hand.

As for Estate Master Ming's family fortune, of course he could not accept it.

There was no need to speak of their profuse thanks. That very day, Chu Liang brought them back to Shushan. Xingzhou City was not far from Shushan to begin with; otherwise, the Ming Estate's request would not have reached Shushan's Sword Exchange Pavilion.

Once they returned to the mountain gate and he explained everything to his master on Silver Sword Peak, there was nothing more Chu Liang needed to do.

Empress Feng was heroic and righteous by nature, and she greatly praised Chu Liang's actions. With her overseeing the later procedures for the investiture, Heavenly Peak likely would not dare to be negligent.

Chu Liang first returned to the little wooden cabin on his hillside. Only after settling down did he sink his consciousness and arrive within the White Tower... It was time to claim his reward!

Within a vast iron cage, only the golden phantom of a Cat Spirit floated in the air.

Chu Liang skillfully pressed the character for "Refine."

Boom—

A flash of Red Light streaked out, and a gleam of radiance drifted forth. Chu Liang caught it in his hand and discovered it was a talisman. At the same time, a thought entered his mind.

Spirit Cat Leaping Talisman: Upon activating this talisman, the user will be possessed by a Cat Spirit, greatly increasing bodily agility for the duration of one quarter-hour. If you unconsciously begin licking your palm with your tongue, this is a normal occurrence. Please do not panic.

"A talisman?"

This was Chu Liang's first time receiving a talisman. Disposable pills and talismans certainly did not feel as appealing as permanent magical treasures. But on second thought, since it was disposable, its power would surely be greater. Used at a critical moment, it might produce a miraculous effect.

With that thought, he happily put it away.

"Caw—"

Just after claiming his reward, he heard a clear cry outside. Chu Liang raised his eyes and saw a huge white crane land beyond the wooden cabin.

Its entire body was snow-white, without a single stray feather. Standing upright, it was taller than a grown man. Its eyes were bright black, and at a glance, it was clearly no ordinary creature. A basket hung from its long crane neck. With its sharp beak, it pulled out a small booklet and set it on the stone table outside.

So this month's Seven Star Gazette had arrived.

Chu Liang called through the window, "Thank you."

"Caw—" The white crane lifted its neck and cried again, seemingly in response. Then it spread its wings and soared away toward its next destination.

This was Shushan Sect's white crane messenger, specially tasked with delivering letters to disciples of the various peaks. What it had delivered today was the monthly Seven Star Gazette.

Among the Nine Heavens Immortal Sects was a sect known as the Heavenly Pivot Pavilion.

The Heavenly Pivot Pavilion's primary craft was divination and calculation. It was the lineage closest to the secrets of heaven in the world. Though it did not excel in battle, it had always been respected by all major powers. Its place among the Nine Heavens was the finest proof of that.

Its side business was gathering strange tales and curious happenings from the human martial world, then issuing a Seven Star Gazette every month. Over the centuries, the Heavenly Pivot Pavilion's Seven Star Gazette had long swept across the world. From the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands to children in the marketplace, everyone relished discussing it.

With a flick of his finger, Chu Liang drew the booklet into the room and began reading.

The Seven Star Gazette was divided into three sections: "Tales of the Martial World," "Record of Myriad Treasures," and "Chronicles of the Nine Provinces."

Among them, the "Record of Myriad Treasures" was a grand ranking that catalogued and ranked magical treasures throughout the world. Its rankings did not change much each month, and a separate article would describe that month's changes for easy reading. Most changes occurred among the lower ranks; the heavenly and earthly treasures at the top had scarcely changed over the centuries.

For instance, the number one treasure was always the human realm's divine artifact, the Demon-Suppressing Tower.

Unfortunately, a line of small print trailed after it: "Formerly belonged to Shushan; now lost."

That was right. The reason the Shushan Sect had once ranked among the Nine Heavens—and even, for a time, stood as the foremost immortal sect and led the righteous path of the human realm—was entirely because of the Demon-Suppressing Tower. Yet five hundred years ago, amid a great upheaval, Shushan lost that supreme divine artifact.

That was what caused the sect to decline with each passing day. By now, several of the higher-ranked Ten Lands Immortal Sects likely surpassed the Shushan Sect in sheer strength. The voices throughout the martial world claiming that Shushan was unworthy of its place among the Nine Heavens had grown ever louder.

Ranked second was the Heavenly Pivot Pavilion's Seven Star Sword, an ancient divine sword possessing the mighty power to move mountains and overturn seas.

Yet the Heavenly Pivot Pavilion had always stayed aloof from worldly disputes and rarely involved itself in martial conflicts. The Seven Star Sword had not been used for many years. Its last recorded appearance was a century ago, when the demonic Beast Sect awakened the ferocious Qiongqi and attempted a surprise attack on the Heavenly Pivot Pavilion. The Seven Star Sword emerged; with one strike, it suppressed Qiongqi, and with another, it slew three hundred demons, directly annihilating the Beast Sect's lineage.

Legend said that every use of the Seven Star Sword cost the Heavenly Pivot Pavilion dearly, but such secrets were not things they would write for outsiders to know.

Ranked third was Mist-Hidden Immortal Mountain's Mirror Heaven Bagua, which communicated with the Great Dao and possessed endless wondrous uses.

Mist-Hidden Immortal Mountain was likewise one of the Nine Heavens, while the Mirror Heaven Bagua was said to be a divine artifact that had fallen from the immortal realm. The martial world widely claimed that the Mirror Heaven Bagua ranked below the Seven Star Sword only because the Record of Myriad Treasures was compiled by the Heavenly Pivot Pavilion. In terms of true power, it was no weaker—perhaps even stronger.

Those distant divine artifacts were things one would never encounter in daily life, and they stirred little feeling. The one Chu Liang saw most often was ranked fifty-seventh.

Phoenix Blood Jade.

Formed from the concentrated essence blood of an ancient divine phoenix, it could nourish the body when worn. When one used divine abilities, it added the blood aura of a divine phoenix, greatly increasing destructive power.

This treasure was embedded in the chest of his master, Empress Feng.