The Blood Blade Ranking and the Longshan Ranking

Inside the castle, within a pavilion along the corridor.

Dongbo Xueying and Master Si An sat opposite each other, while servants brought over some snacks and hot tea. Others, including Zong Ling, Tong San, and You Tu, waited in the corridor outside the pavilion.

Master Si An held his hot tea, took a gentle sip, and watched the heavy snow drifting outside the pavilion.

"Lord, your place is so quiet and comfortable; it truly is a wonderful spot. The city is just too noisy, with people coming and going; one can even hear the clamor outside while trying to sleep," Master Si An said with a smile. "When I retire from my position, I, too, shall find a quiet, pleasant place to enjoy."

Dongbo Xueying laughed. "Many people desire to hold high office but cannot attain it."

"High office? It's merely being the person in charge of the Dragon Mountain Tower in a small county, hardly a high office." Master Si An flipped his hand and produced a small stack of gold notes. "This is eight hundred gold coins! It is the bounty for Gai Bin. Although it is a bit meager, it must still be given."

Dongbo Xueying took them.

Criminals wanted by the Empire... generally must be at least of the Star Rank, or truly heinous, to have a bounty placed on them. Ordinary bandits and thieves are not qualified to have a bounty.

"This is the Black Iron Token." Si An flipped his hand again to reveal a black token, with the two characters 'Dragon Mountain' inscribed upon it. "Every citizen of the Empire, generally upon reaching Meteor Rank strength, will receive this Black Iron Token."

"Meteor Rank strength, Black Iron Token?" Dongbo Xueying mused.

"Tokens are mainly divided into two types."

Si An said casually, "One is the Black Iron Token, the other is the Bronze Token! One can obtain a Black Iron Token upon reaching Meteor Rank strength, while one must reach Title Rank strength to obtain a Bronze Token... Beyond that, there is Transcendence! Transcendence is the power that anchors our entire Xia Clan and the entire Empire. Of course, that is an entirely different world, so there is no need to say more."

"Take it, this is your exclusive Black Iron Token; it has great utility." Si An placed the Black Iron Token in front of Dongbo Xueying.

Dongbo Xueying examined it carefully. Aside from the two characters 'Dragon Mountain', the black token was covered in complex patterns. The patterns were so natural and harmonious that they were beautiful to behold.

Si An flipped his hand again and handed over a publication: "This is the Imperial Newspaper compiled by our Dragon Mountain Tower. It generally records a few major events from across the Empire, but primarily introduces detailed matters within the entire Qinghe Prefecture. For instance, your killing of a Silver Moon Wolf King and your single-handed elimination of the entire Curved Blade Alliance. It will be recorded in the next issue of the Imperial Newspaper, and all the experts in the entire Qinghe Prefecture will see it."

"Oh?" Dongbo Xueying took it and flipped through it.

The entire newspaper consisted of over a dozen sheets of paper. Only one sheet recorded matters outside of Qinghe Prefecture, while the rest were all about Qinghe Prefecture—

"Longshan Calendar Year 9623, November 19th: The Fifth Division stationed in Qinghe Prefecture, on the third day of entering the Destruction Mountain Range, encountered a Tier 6 Magic Beast, the 'Dark Demon Bear', that had awakened from its slumber. Two thousand-man battalions were completely wiped out..."

"Longshan Calendar Year 9623, November 10th: Within the territory of Tianping City, Qinghe Prefecture, a Transcendence expert appeared. It was an elderly man with gray hair, dressed in rags and walking barefoot as an ascetic..."

"November 5th: The Si Family and the Zhang Family entered into a marriage alliance..."

The newspaper recorded relatively important information from various parts of Qinghe Prefecture. For matters of extreme importance and formality, even the calendar date was written.

As for local anecdotes, the records were much more casual.

Dongbo Xueying's eyes were opened wide. He had no idea so many things were happening across the nearly ten thousand li of land in Qinghe Prefecture.

"Master Si An, a Transcendence existence actually appeared within the territory of Tianping City?" Dongbo Xueying asked curiously.

"They just appeared and then vanished," Master Si An laughed. "Transcendence existences are high and mighty; what they pursue is different from what we mortals pursue. This kind of ascetic walking the world... it happens often enough. Recording it in the newspaper is to let the families and magnates of various regions be careful not to be blind and offend a Transcendence! Once offended, the sky might as well collapse! The entire family might be wiped out."

Dongbo Xueying nodded.

Indeed.

If one were to casually bully a beggar on the side of the road, only to suddenly discover the beggar was a Transcendence existence! Wouldn't that be terrifying?

"Transcendence existences are very, very rare. Across the Empire's nineteen provinces, there are only so many of them. Even a place like our Qinghe Prefecture is quite large, yet there isn't a single native Transcendence lifeform!" Master Si An shook his head. "This Imperial Newspaper is a monthly publication. Read it often when you have nothing to do; it helps you understand the major and minor events of the Empire and lets you know which forces cannot be offended."

"The newspaper is for amusement."

"What I am giving you next is increasingly important."

"This is the second most important thing: two rankings!" Master Si An's expression became serious. With a flip of his hand, two booklets appeared in his grasp. One booklet had a black cover with the characters 'Dragon Mountain' on it. The other booklet had a blood-red cover, with only a blade dripping with blood depicted on it.

"Two rankings?" Dongbo Xueying looked on curiously.

"This one is the Longshan Ranking, compiled by our Dragon Mountain Tower. The other is the Blood Blade Ranking, compiled by the Blood Blade Tavern," Master Si An said.

Dongbo Xueying took these two thick books.

He first opened the black Longshan Ranking. It contained a list of rankings, starting from the first and going downward, filled with dense names and brief annotations and introductions beside them.

"The Blood Blade Ranking is a killer ranking!" This single sentence from Master Si An startled Dongbo Xueying.

"A killer ranking?" Dongbo Xueying looked at the blood-red book beside it.

"Correct. The background of the Blood Blade Tavern is extremely mysterious; even our Dragon Mountain Tower is unwilling to provoke them! In every city across the entire Empire, there is a Blood Blade Tavern," Master Si An said. "Based on the actual combat records of the killers, the Blood Blade Tavern compiles this ranking. The names on this list are almost all codenames! After all, killers generally hide their true identities."

"The other one, the Longshan Ranking, is more authoritative and is valued more by all the experts in the entire Empire." Master Si An showed a look of pride. "The Longshan Ranking is compiled by our Dragon Mountain Tower. It records the top three thousand Bronze-rank experts across the Empire's nineteen provinces," Master Si An said. "From the first to the three-thousandth, every single one is a detailed ranking made after careful consideration by our Dragon Mountain Tower, based on combat records and many other aspects."

"Three thousand experts of the entire Empire?" Dongbo Xueying's eyes lit up.

Bronze-rank.

Only those with Title Rank combat power are qualified to obtain a Bronze Token! And this list recorded three thousand of them.

"There are only so many Transcendence existences in the Empire, so there is no need to compile a ranking for them," Master Si An said. "As for the Title Rankers below the Transcendence, they are only one step away from Transcendence. Among them, some are brilliant and talented, even possessing strength comparable to a Transcendence. Looking across the entire Empire, the number of Title Rankers is relatively large."

"In the entire Qinghe Prefecture, there are a total of twelve Bronze-rank experts. There are five who are able to make it onto the Longshan Ranking," Master Si An said.

Dongbo Xueying nodded slightly. The Longshan Ranking had a limit of three thousand; not every Bronze-ranker could make the list.

"Among these five."

"The one ranked fifth is named Chang Qingze, ranked 2895th overall on the Longshan Ranking."

"The one ranked fourth is named Zhang Yong, ranked 2822nd overall on the Longshan Ranking."

"The one ranked third is called Dan Chen, currently 1,259th on the Longshan Ranking."

"The one ranked second is called Si Lianghong, currently 569th on the Longshan Ranking."

"The one ranked first is called Xiang Pangyun, currently 525th on the Longshan Ranking."

Lord Si An recited the detailed rankings of these five individuals with ease.