An Audience with the Pinnacle of Mingyang City!

For as long as Lü Yuan could remember, the Bright Yang Tower had stood at the very center of the city.

It pierced the heavens, radiating a celestial light that countless neon lights could only cluster around.

Like a giant god holding up the sky, it looked down upon everything.

It stood 3,300 zhang tall. In height alone, it far surpassed any mountain Lü Yuan had known in his previous life.

For over a century, it had housed the megacorporation's branch in the Lower City. It was also the most important landmark and most magnificent wonder in all of Mingyang City.

Once, Lü Yuan's greatest dream had been to get into an ordinary junior high school, then do his best to enter a technical secondary school, and, after graduating, become a lackey for the branch stationed here.

Thus, he only had to recall the scenery he had glimpsed during the few seconds before entering.

Lü Yuan could be certain that this was the Bright Yang Tower, the place he had once dreamed of entering to change his fate-

He had simply never expected that he would now leap straight across those hundred-plus floors and his old ambitions to reach the top.

He stood here, waiting for an audience with a four-dharma great true person who ranked among the top five of the Lower City's forty-two Purple Mansion cultivators...

Radiant Heavenly Sun, Li Yelan!

That day, she said she would see me in three months... So she meant having me come to the top of the Bright Yang Tower for an audience today?

Lü Yuan slowly straightened up, somewhat surprised by the treatment he was receiving. I'm truly overwhelmed by the favor-

It would be one thing for the elementary school principal to act that way...

But here, before this lady, is a top-grade pseudo spirit root like me still worth treating this way?

The more favorable the treatment Lü Yuan realized he was receiving at this moment, the more puzzled he became.

Pseudo spirit roots could be divided into android pseudo spirit roots like Sima Mingli's and apple pseudo spirit roots like Lü Yuan's.

Android pseudo spirit roots were not rare.

Whether it was Qin Huai, the man in charge of the acupoint-opening institution, or the elementary school principal, which of them had not been among their ranks back then?

That was why the elementary school principal had been so indifferent toward Sima Mingli.

Apple pseudo spirit roots, on the other hand, were hard to come by even once in a century.

Because they were almost certain to secure guaranteed admission to junior college, the Foundation Establishment Peak cultivators in the city had been willing to treat Lü Yuan gently.

But all along, Lü Yuan had believed that was the limit.

Because even after graduating from junior college, one would only be at Purple Mansion-

And the woman atop the Bright Yang Tower was a genuine four-dharma great true person sent down from the megacorporation's headquarters to its Lower City branch!

Whether in the Upper City or the Lower City, a newcomer to Purple Mansion would count it the greatest of honors to carry her shoes.

Even someone like Lin Qi in his previous life, an Upper City native at Purple Mansion, Two Divine Abilities, would have no choice but to kneel before her.

He was just a Lower City apple pseudo spirit root, with advantages inferior to those of any Upper City celestial dragon.

What virtue or ability did he possess to receive such treatment before her?

At that thought, Lü Yuan said inwardly, It seems I still underestimated my value in her eyes.

I originally thought she valued me as a top-grade pseudo spirit root perhaps because I had a decent chance of getting into junior college and reaching Purple Mansion in the future, making her, who has long lived in the Lower City, willing to bend down and spare me a glance.

Or perhaps someone in my situation could later be used for pill refining or as some kind of material, so she had laid claim to me...

But now it seems none of that is true-

Lü Yuan discarded all his previous ideas. Whichever of those possibilities it was, why go this far?

Why let a mere Embryonic Breathing cultivator like me come to the Bright Yang Tower for an audience with the master of Mingyang City, its only Purple Mansion great true person...

Just what is it about the top-grade pseudo spirit root talent I've displayed that makes it so highly valued?

And what kind of value could even move a Purple Mansion great true person?

Lü Yuan could not understand it, so he simply calmed himself and stopped dwelling on it. He had not heard the lady's voice, so he did not move about.

He merely stood where he was, gazing curiously at the splendid magnificence of the Bright Yang Tower's summit.

And at the figures moving constantly in the distance within his field of vision.

The top floor was fully furnished. Though vast and luxurious, it did not feel empty.

It was also clear that the arrangements and objects in every area were perfectly orderly.

Not a single thing was superfluous or failed to serve a purpose.

As for the figures moving in the distance, Lü Yuan did not dare look too closely.

According to what he had read online, in each Lower City, at bases like the Bright Yang Tower,

the topmost section was always reserved exclusively for the Purple Mansion true person...

Thus, some of those figures might be company employees she had summoned up on business-

But her true body might also be hidden among them.

To avoid giving offense, Lü Yuan simply fixed his gaze on the floor, which seemed to be made of light.

He stood motionless, watching the specks of light that occasionally rose from it.

He did not know how much time had passed before a voice identical to the one from that day sounded in his heart.

[Come here-] she said briefly.

Lü Yuan did not hesitate. He faithfully carried out the command, walking in the only direction where he could see figures.

But he was surprised to find that none of the figures he had seen earlier seemed to have disappeared or left a gap.

Though surprised, Lü Yuan did not dwell on it and simply minded his own business-

To be frank, the place was enormous. Lü Yuan felt he had walked three kilometers before reaching the figures.

The area was like a vast office, with a very clear layout.

The figures were busy with different tasks in their respective areas.

Unexpectedly, there was nothing wondrous about them that lay beyond his understanding.

They were far less shocking than what he had felt that day when Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan had shown him Liu Bang manifesting his dharma form in his memories.

They were more like Liu Bang as he usually was, restraining all of his presence and returning to his original simplicity.

Their only common feature was probably the countless panels and data before each of them.

No-

That's not the only thing they have in common... Lü Yuan said to himself inwardly.

Only now did he realize with a start that the faces of these figures all belonged to the same person.

They merely differed in certain respects.

Age, for instance-

In the farthest corner was a little girl handling some stock data and tax reports. She looked no more than a few years older than him.

Or build-

The most obvious example was the difference between the one closest to Lü Yuan, practically right in front of him...

The one bent over a desk, writing or reviewing something by hand, and the one behind her.

The former had hair that nearly reached the floor and stood at least two and a half meters tall.

As a result, even sitting down, her legs looked longer than Lü Yuan was tall.

Gold-rimmed glasses rested at the corners of her eyes, and she wore only a thin, loose outer garment wrapped around her whole body.

Her chest was very... see no evil.

She was the most perfect person Lü Yuan had ever seen, almost unlike a human-

As for the one behind her, her figure was hard to describe.

Before Lü Yuan could speculate about it, however, the woman in front of him had already finished her work.

She put down her pen and looked up at him.

[There's no need to guess. Everyone you see is me—or, to be precise, my prosthetic bodies-]

The person before him did not open her mouth, yet the words came from within Lü Yuan's heart.

But Lü Yuan did not panic at having his mind read. He simply followed his instincts and, without a shred of shame, dropped to one knee.

Following one of the plans he had prepared beforehand, he lowered his head and said respectfully:

"This humble subject, Lü Yuan, pays his respects."