Dad, I Came Looking for Something to Do!

The Cloudstep Light-Carriage stopped at the training grounds of Cloud-Treading Villa. Qian Xunzong turned it into a ring and put it on his hand. Chrysanthemum and Ghost took a full hour to barely suppress their nausea. From then on, whenever they saw that gleaming white jade carriage, they instinctively detoured around it, refusing to accompany Qian Xunzong on another ride no matter what.

Over the following days, Qian Xunzong completely sank into utter boredom.

His AFK cultivation ran automatically, his Soul Power steadily rising every moment. He did not need to meditate or polish his soul skills. The Jade Balance Xiejing Beast spent all day nestled in his arms, gnawing on spirit fruits, while Mo Hengchuan led Chrysanthemum and Ghost in studying and cultivating every day.

Shen Ye led the Embroidered Uniform Guard in handling intelligence from all over. Shen Wansan and He Shen expanded their commercial empire outside, while three hundred Judgment Knights dutifully guarded the villa. In the enormous Cloud-Treading Villa, there was not a single thing that could stir even the slightest interest in him.

Lying on the cloud-patterned soft couch in Nine-Cloud Residence, Qian Xunzong tossed and turned. Xiaojing, held in his arms, had its fur kneaded into a mess and let out aggrieved little whimpers.

"So boring. I'm sick of fishing, and I scared my two subordinates into psychological trauma with my speeding. I've looked at every view in the villa hundreds of times. Even the fish beneath Silver River Waterfall recognize me now."

He stuffed Xiaojing into his robes, rolled over, and rose to his feet. An idea surfaced in his eyes: staying at the villa was nothing but wasting time. He might as well go to the Papal Palace and ask Qian Daoliu for some work. At least it would pass the time.

"Come on, let's ask the old man for a job!"

After briefly straightening his robes, Qian Xunzong summoned Shen Ye to accompany him and rode the Cloudstep Light-Carriage straight toward the Papal Palace in the center of Spirit City.

Inside the Papal Palace's inner hall, sandalwood incense curled through the air. A thick stack of memorials and dossiers submitted from every region covered the gilded long table.

Qian Daoliu wore golden papal robes embroidered with patterns. A Spirit-Inked Jade Brush rested between his fingers, and his brows were slightly furrowed as he carefully reviewed documents submitted by soul masters from various regions, looking every bit the solemn and imposing Pope.

Qian Xunji, seated to one side, should have been helping sort the memorials. But Qian Daoliu had dragged him into handling palace affairs until the latter half of the night. His head was bobbing now, his eyelids too heavy to lift. With one arm propped on the table and his chin in his palm, he breathed evenly, already half asleep. Drool was nearly dripping onto the documents.

The heavy hall doors were guarded by two Soul Douluos, and ordinary people would not dare disturb the Pope at work.

But Qian Xunzong did not care about rules. Reaching the door, he raised his leg and gathered strength. With a thunderous bang, he kicked the gilded carved doors open. The door panels slammed hard into the walls on either side, making the glass lamps hanging in the hall sway wildly.

"Dad! Brother! I came looking for something to do!"

The clear, ringing voice of a youth resounded through the entire hall.

Qian Daoliu's brush tip trembled violently, and a blot of thick black ink spread across the memorial in his hand. A perfectly good document was ruined. His entire body stiffened as he slowly raised his head, several dark lines instantly appearing across his normally steady, dignified face.

Qian Xunji was even more frightened. He jerked his head up and slid right out of his chair, his backside slamming heavily onto the cold white jade floor tiles. The back of his head struck with a dull thud. Dazed, he rubbed it, his gaze vacant.

"W-What happened? Did someone from Worship Hall come to inspect our homework?"

"Qian Xunzong! Can't you learn some manners? The Papal Palace is where matters concerning soul masters across the entire continent are handled. Kicking the door open like that—what kind of behavior is this?"

Qian Daoliu tossed the ruined draft aside, put down his jade brush, and scolded him irritably.

Qian Xunzong did not care in the slightest. He strode to the long table, casually pulled over a chair, and sat down. The Jade Balance Xiejing Beast poked its head out from his arms and curiously examined the piles of dossiers on the table.

"Dad, I'm so bored at Cloud-Treading Villa that I'm itching all over. My cultivation is almost at rank forty. Every day, all I do is fish and walk the beast. If I stay idle any longer, I'll get sick from boredom. Give me some work to do."

Qian Xunji rubbed the back of his head as he climbed up, dusting off his robes with a helpless complaint.

"Little brother, everyone else is desperate for peace and leisure. You're the only one who actively goes looking for work. There's no one else like you in the world."

"Lying around in retirement is comfortable, sure, but it gets boring after a while. You have to find something to pass the time."

Qian Xunzong casually picked up the memorial on top, opened its cover, and skimmed through it at a glance. After reading it, he froze on the spot, the corner of his mouth twitching.

Noticing his strange expression, Qian Daoliu casually asked, "What does it say?"

Qian Xunzong raised the dossier and read aloud with a smile.

"Reporting to His Holiness the Pope: the steward of the Spirit Hall Branch in Bluestone Town of the western border reports that Wang Ergou, a three-ring Soul Elder in our town, keeps a hundred-year Earth Boar Spirit Beast at home. Every dawn, it digs through the neighbors' vegetable gardens and devours dozens of spirit plants. The neighbors have argued over the matter for half a month without resolution. We humbly request that the Papal Palace issue an order regulating privately kept low-level spirit beasts, along with a compensation plan."

The moment he finished, Qian Xunji burst out laughing, while Qian Daoliu held his forehead, looking utterly exhausted.

"Something this trivial needs to be reported to the Papal Palace? The local branch can handle it themselves. Do I have to personally approve this too?"

Qian Daoliu picked up his brush and wrote a note at the end of the dossier, ordering the local steward to mediate the matter himself, compensate for the damaged spirit plants, and strictly restrain privately kept spirit beasts.

Qian Xunzong became interested. He opened several more memorials in succession, finding each one more absurd than the last, and began reading them aloud.

"A memorial from Wind-Sand City in the northern border. The owners of soul master taverns jointly petition that Soul Sages drink without restraint and release their martial soul pressure whenever they get drunk, shattering the taverns' tables and chairs. The owners do not dare ask them for compensation. They request that the Pope issue regulations governing Soul Sages and above when drinking outside."

"A memorial from South River Fishing Village. Fishermen who are soul masters catch Light-Scaled Fish, but a thousand-year Water Python Spirit Beast steals their catches from the riverbank every day. The fishermen do not dare fight it and request that the Papal Palace dispatch soul masters to guard the riverbank."

"And this one. Teachers from an academy outside the city petition that lower-grade children run around everywhere after awakening their martial souls, destroying flowerbeds and chasing down ordinary people's poultry. They humbly request that the Pope issue a document on disciplining children."

One after another, every single matter was a trivial, ridiculous nuisance from somewhere across the land.

Of the thousands of memorials on the enormous table, more than half concerned such insignificant matters. There were only a few documents truly related to sect conflicts, spirit beast disturbances, or territorial disputes.

Qian Xunji had been drowsy before, but now all sleepiness was gone. Hugging a dossier, he laughed so hard he could not straighten his back. Every so often, he pulled out some bizarre memorial and handed it to Qian Xunzong, the two brothers teasing each other.

"Ahahaha, this is killing me. 'Your Holiness the Pope, she's married, but sadly the groom isn't me!'"

"This one is even stranger. 'Has His Holiness the Pope ever married? I have a daughter, aged eighty-eight...' Hahaha!"

"..."

At first, Qian Daoliu patiently wrote annotations on each one. But after half an hour of dealing with endless trivialities, the veins at his temples throbbed, and his patience finally wore away.

"You two, stop laughing and come help. Review these with me."

Qian Daoliu rubbed his throbbing temples and pushed a moderately thick stack of dossiers between them.

Qian Xunzong had come looking for work of his own accord, but seeing the mountain-like pile of memorials now made him regret it to the point his guts turned green. Yet the words had already left his mouth, so he could only grit his teeth and pick up the jade brush.

Qian Xunji wore a miserable expression as he sorted the memorials and wailed.

"I only wanted to take a short nap on the desk. You kicked the door open and scared me awake for no reason, and now I have to work overtime with you. Little brother, you really are my 'good little brother.'"

The three divided the work. Qian Daoliu handled documents concerning major sects and border affairs, Qian Xunji sorted and categorized the ordinary memorials, and Qian Xunzong was responsible for annotating the trivial civilian matters.