"Extra! Extra! The 'Peerless Ranking' is going on sale in a blaze of excitement! Buy one and receive a poster of the current number-one martial artist, 'Peerless in the World—Lan Yan,' worth twenty coins! Limited quantities, available while supplies last!"
"Those who have never read the Peerless Ranking have lived in vain, no matter how many heroes they've read about! No nine hundred ninety-nine, no ninety-nine—at just nine coins, you can't lose out and you can't be cheated! You're guaranteed to draw a character card of the current number-one martial artist, with a chance to draw a flash card worth thousands of Gold Coins! What are you waiting for!"
"It's the epic character card 'River-Slaying Lan Yan,' with odds of one in a hundred! Congratulations, customer! If you aren't interested in collecting divine general cards, you can take it directly to the Steam Merchant Guild in Koi Alley and exchange it for money. According to regulations, an epic card can be exchanged unconditionally for one Gold Coin!"
Under the envious gazes of the crowd, the young man who had drawn the epic card hurriedly tucked the exquisite card safely against his chest. Holding the Peerless Ranking, he turned and left. "I'm not selling it!"
In mid-September, the first edition of the Peerless Ranking was released to thunderous fanfare. The Statistics Department handled its promotion, while the actual distributor was the Steam Merchant Guild, a new guild jointly funded by the Poetry and Music families. Since the Statistics Department had already alerted all the departments in Flame Capital, no one dared cause the Steam Merchant Guild any trouble.
At daybreak, the shops the Steam Merchant Guild had bought in Flame Capital's two busiest commercial districts opened with a bang. The publicity teams that had been arranged in advance went from street