Ninth-Rank Citizen, Return to the Present World

Atop the city wall. The eagle banner streamed. A burly man in bright red-and-gold armor stood with his cloak snapping in the wind, brows knit with worry. "Night is about to fall." He looked up at the slanting sun. "The wall is only half repaired. How are we to resist the abominations' encroachment? Even with me here, able to hold back most of the abominations, there is no guarantee none will slip in through a gap..." "If evil spirits steal into the city, the citizens living there will not be able to resist them!" Before the words had fallen, a tremor ran through the wall beneath his feet. "Hm?" The man looked down, and his gaze turned sharp in an instant. "A living spirit... the Living Spirit of Heishi City has awakened!" "Who disturbed it? Or else..." His keen gaze dropped from the battlements and soon swept the clamorous, panicked crowd. A heavy sensation flashed over every person and was gone. At last his eyes settled on an unremarkable youth among them. "He is..." The man first went blank, then let out a soft sound of surprise. "A ritualist!" "A ritualist?" The attendant beside him, in a suit of pitch-black metal armor, followed his gaze down, and then drew a deep breath. "How can there be a ritualist here?" "The ritual on the wall can be repaired only by a ritualist's hand. If a second-order ritualist were willing to act, there would be no need to mobilize so many laborers." The attendant seemed to remember something, and said through clenched teeth, "And yet, no matter how high we set the bounty, those damned ritualists refuse to come out and serve the empire!" "It is not that they are unwilling to serve the empire... They are only unwilling to serve me." The burly man shook his head, his voice low. "Those of the academy faction hold themselves very high. To be stained by abominations is, to them, a thing of the utmost filth. But in the end, it is still because of that upheaval in the provincial capital..." The man said no more on the subject. He only locked his gaze hard upon the youth from a moment ago. "This young man..." "No mistake. He is a ritualist! He is communing with the wall's ritual and clearing it, and has even drawn the Living Spirit's awakening by it! This young man must be an initiated ritualist, but only first-order, not yet second-order." "What an unexpected delight!" At the words, the attendant beside him first took heart, then hesitated. "But how did he manage it? To step into a ritual on the scale of the Heishi city wall, even a second-order ritualist risks losing himself, and none would dare say success was certain... Should one call it the boldness of ignorance, or uncommon talent?" Hearing the attendant, the burly man pondered, and shook his head. "Among ritualists, different schools and different talents can leave a gap sometimes wider than that between a man and a dog—just as between the Destined and an ordinary Extraordinary." "There are indeed ritualists who show astonishing talent already at first order." "And besides, he has even woken the Living Spirit. Even if he does nothing, with the Living Spirit's will to guide it, the ritual ought to recover all the faster." "Of course, that does not erase this young man's merit." He said, "Young as he is, he has not only initiated, he even dared to step into a ritual of this scale, and has won the Living Spirit's favor... Which school's genius is he? How did he come to be here?" Faced with the question, the attendant gazed at Bai Zhou standing quietly where he was, and frowned, trying to make him out. "That robe bears a family emblem of grapevines... A boy of the Nies? But hasn't the Nies family already gone bankrupt?" "Mm." The burly man nodded. His eyes flicked to the shackles on the youth, and he said, understanding, "It seems he, too, is a pitiful wretch dragged down with his family." "But now—he will receive the reward his actions deserve." A flicker passed through the adjutant's eyes. "Lord Governor, you mean...?" "I do not care how he won the Living Spirit's favor. But the Living Spirit would never turn a gaze upon the treacherous and the wicked." "More important still..." The man called Lord Governor said: "An initiated ritualist willing to serve the empire cannot be had for any price. The empire's war with its enemies has already burned on for several thousand years. You and I are both figures within an epic." "The empire needs talent!" "Whether or not he can repair this wall—a genius willing to serve the empire, and to serve me, ought not to be a prisoner in shackles. Wouldn't you say?" The man turned to the attendant. "If he truly repairs the wall before dark, my bounty still stands. He shall have my promise—and that includes his freedom." The attendant nodded. "You are right." "But night is about to fall. Even if the Living Spirit has cast its gaze down upon him, can he really repair the wall before dark?" The attendant could not be sure. "Being able to enter the inside of a ritual, and being able to repair a ritual, are still a threshold apart!" "A thing difficult even for great figures such as second-order ritualists..." "A young man this young? A mere first-order ritualist?" In the gap while the attendant doubted, the wall beneath the two of them shook again. An intangible consciousness vanished all at once, like a tide going out, and the two atop the wall marked it keenly. "The Living Spirit... has fallen asleep again?" The two looked at each other, at a loss. But right after, upon the collapsed ruins, amid a wide cry of alarm from the crowd, bricks appeared of themselves and stacked. In the turn of an eye, a wall twenty meters long and thirty meters high was rebuilt with a roar. Atop the wall, shock broke across the attendant's face, and the Governor's expression was strangely unreadable— "He actually... this young man truly did it!" In the noisy crowd, Bai Zhou opened his eyes. A ritualist's work is hidden. At that moment everyone was giving blood and spirituality to the wall, and the surge of spirituality was like a great tide. Bai Zhou's movements, mixed in among them, were quite inconspicuous. He shrank inside the crowd with no presence at all. At his ears there was only the clamor of those around him. "What happened?" "Did the Lord Governor do this?" "If the Lord Governor could do this, there would be no need for a bounty... A ritual master must have come!" "So we don't have to have our blood sucked anymore?" The ruins had been rebuilt in a moment. The black wall stretching before their eyes looked as if it had never been damaged in the slightest. The marvel they had seen with their own eyes left them in a shock they could not name, and within the shock was mingled joy. In their words, what mostly mixed in was the joy of being able to return to the city. Deep down, they did not feel that repairing the wall had the least thing to do with them. Lofty great figures had pressed them to come repair the wall, and so people beyond counting had fallen. And now a still loftier great figure, one even those lords had been unable to invite, had finally been willing to act, and so they could go home... In their eyes, that was roughly how it was. Until— "The Lord Governor has arrived—" A great shout cracked like a thunderbolt, and then came the clatter of armor and the sound of salutes and footsteps all in step. Dust flew. The burly man in bright armor of red and gold descended from the sky. It was as if there were steps in the air that no one could see. The man strolled down them, walking straight toward the crowd of shackled laborers. "The Lord Governor is here..." "What is he doing, coming to us?" Soldiers bowed their heads in respect. Jailers saluted with solemn faces. The many laborers dropped their heads amid cries of alarm, not daring to meet the Governor's eyes. Bai Zhou lowered his head with the crowd, making himself as small as he could. The newcomer seemed to merge as one with the sun in the sky. Walking through the air, he was like a blazing sun come down. He had clearly done nothing, and yet he pressed the crowd until they could not draw breath. "Terrifying!" A cold dread gripped Bai Zhou's heart. The Lord Governor, master of a city, the highest authority of Heishi City, was of course a powerhouse above Level 6. Without thinking, he set this Governor beside the beings above Level 6 he had seen before. Then Bai Zhou made a shocking discovery. Whether it was that chilling white-robed Inspector of the Statute Hall, or the four powerhouses treading the void whom he had once glimpsed in passing, on their way to aid Yuanmeng Middle School... by the oppressive weight of presence alone, all of them seemed faintly short of this man! And yet Bai Zhou had a perfectly clear feeling. This Lord Governor was coming for him! Sure enough. Crack. The shackles on Bai Zhou split open all at once, and then, under stares of horror, as if the crowd had seen a ghost, fell to the ground with a smack. "You did well." Armor sounded twice. The Governor landed, looking mild and kindly. The adjutant at his side looked faintly stunned. Even he seldom saw the ever-dignified Lord Governor wear such a look. Beneath the uproar, and the burning curious stares of countless people, Bai Zhou heard the Governor ask in a low voice: "Boy of the Nies family, what did you do?" Bai Zhou's heart stirred. He knew the crucial moment had come. He could not expose the Celestial Pivot. But as a ritualist, repairing a ritual was precisely his proper work. So Bai Zhou stepped out from the ranks of the laborers, and in a blink became the sole focus of every eye. "Lord Governor, since I was small I have had a sense for the structure of rituals beyond that of ordinary people... Just now, I found the wall's ritual silted and blocked, and I thought to try clearing it with spirituality." Bai Zhou answered with the utmost care, showing the fear a prisoner ought to show. "Perhaps... by a lucky accident, I straightened the ritual out a little?" As Bai Zhou understood it, among ritualists there were indeed geniuses of this kind, and the gaps between schools were immense. And Bai Zhou, who possessed the Celestial Pivot, could all along disguise himself as any sort of genius—because before a ritualist who had mastered the Celestial Pivot, a genius was nothing. As for why a ritualist apprentice had become an initiated ritualist? As a noble youth of the Academy, he ought to have had a chance to contend for a Spirit Pivot passed down from former generations. That Spirit Pivot circulated through the bodies of ritualists across the ages, and was part of the Academy's foundation. In the words of the Wolf Knight's statue, to transplant from a predecessor—to move into one's own body a natal ritual that a genius of an earlier generation had nurtured—this belonged to a medium-grade Spirit Pivot. But Spirit Pivots of that grade numbered only a scant few in the Academy. Even with side effects each worse than the last, they were not something Lucus could covet. After he was shut into a cage, only one way of advancement remained before Lucus. "A lower-grade Spirit Pivot: copy the pattern by rote, simply channel spirituality, and construct within the body the lowest grade of natal ritual." The Nies family was, after all, an ancient family with a history. In Lucus's memories there even existed diagrams for constructing two kinds of natal ritual. One had only to copy them by rote to build a lower-grade Spirit Pivot and successfully initiate. The threshold between apprentice and initiated was sometimes impossibly hard, and sometimes only a paper-thin barrier. Lucus had met with great upheaval. After that great upheaval, and in the full awakening that followed, it was not impossible that he had spent ten barren, silent months in the Black Prison single-mindedly building a Spirit Pivot and initiating. This was why Bai Zhou had dared to act as a ritualist. And in the end, every result proved that he was right. The Governor narrowed his eyes, turned toward the wall, and looked over the several blocked places in the ritual that Bai Zhou had described. Though he was no ritualist, an Extraordinary of his level was keenly sensitive to the circulation of spirituality, and the store of knowledge he held was beyond anything Bai Zhou could imagine. So he looked for only a little while before understanding showed on his face. "Not bad. These few places are indeed quite crucial!" With that, he turned to Bai Zhou, his gaze calm. "Under the empire's order, at every moment countless families go bankrupt, and people beyond counting fall from ninth-rank citizens to slaves and wanderers. Yet those who turn back from wanderer or slave into citizens have always been vanishingly few." "However..." The Governor looked at Bai Zhou, and his voice paused there. "Night is about to fall. I have had word that a tide of abominations is about to harass Heishi... What your repair of the wall means to this city is beyond anything you can imagine." "Therefore, you will receive the treatment your contribution deserves." With that, he turned to the attendant beside him and said: "Record this. The prisoner Lucus Nies Nolanus, in this emergency repair of the wall, discerned the subtle and understood the whole, repaired the wall, and established merit. Though he is a convict still bearing his crime, what he has done is of great benefit to the realm." "By law and by municipal custom, with this merit, part of the labor for a minor offense may be offset." "Therefore I, Governor of Heishi, sign this decree." The Governor's voice suddenly sank. The sound faintly warped. It was no longer a purely human voice, but seemed to fuse and resonate with some vast existence, stirring layer upon layer of pale-gold ripples in the air. "From this day, Lucus Nies Nolanus is released from the shackles of hard labor, and is made..." "A ninth-rank citizen!" The instant the words fell, the attendant beside him likewise stopped his brush and set his seal on the parchment scroll in his hand. The pale-gold ripples within the surge of sound suddenly burned fierce and bright, and enveloped Bai Zhou. The decree the Governor issued stood for the will of Heishi City, and even for the official will of the whole Xiluo Empire. Ringed by the shocked and envious stares of countless fellow prisoners and jailers, pale-gold ripples beyond counting became, all at once, many golden chains streaming with torrents of information. The phantoms of the chains pierced the purple robe on Bai Zhou and touched his skin. "Hum!" "Clack... clack!" A vast sound, as of enormous gears the size of stars biting and turning against one another, fell from beyond the sky and exploded in the depths of Bai Zhou's mind. A cold torrent of information and data poured in, flickering with pale-gold light. [Authentication Protocol activated.] [Individual: Lucus Nies Nolanus.] [Biological identification: human faction.] [Bloodline traced: matched (last branch of the Nies family).] [Former identity mark: prisoner bearing guilt (Heishi City, Seventh Dungeon, No. 7743)] [New identity mark: legal citizen of the Xiluo Empire (ninth rank).] Golden radiance enveloped Bai Zhou and made him look like a little glittering sun. In that moment Bai Zhou felt his own existence become, all at once, incomparably small, as if some enormous being had cast him into a cold and boundless field of stars, to be surrounded, scanned, and authenticated by golden starlight. That vast, cold voice went on proclaiming, every word crushingly heavy. [Identity entry in progress... Entry successful.] [Identity issued—the Citizen's Credential shall be marked in the depths of your soul.] [Congratulations, Lucus Nies Nolanus. You have become the 87,392,651,577th registered legal citizen of the current generation of the Xiluo Empire.] [Every legal citizen of the empire enjoys the imperial right of inheritance. As a ninth-rank citizen, Lucus Nies Nolanus, you hold the ordered right of succession in the 87,392,651,577th place.] Eighty-seven billion, three hundred ninety-two million, six hundred fifty-one thousand, five hundred seventy-seven people? Hearing this, Bai Zhou's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. Was this still Blue Star? Do none of you eat or drink? How did you ever feed so many people?? And that "ordered right of succession," ranked past eighty billion? This right of inheritance... and it came with a place in line? Bai Zhou smiled, and said nothing. In theory, every citizen on Blue Star was also a future master of the Federation. But Bai Zhou had never seen any citizen who truly was one. "Clack, clack..." The cold sound of turning gears did not cease. Gold light still covered his eyes, but the vast voice at his ear was coming to its end. Torrents of information and data beyond counting flowed over Bai Zhou, then flowed out to merge into the vast world. [Your Citizen's Credential has been entered into Xiluo's Spirit Web. So long as the Spirit Web does not perish, the identity data will be preserved forever.] [From this moment, you enjoy the basic rights of a ninth-rank citizen of Xiluo, and you are asked to fulfill the corresponding duties.] At the last, it said: [—May the light of Xiluo guide the road before you.] That vast, cold sound of turning gears, as if come straight from the boundless stars, cut off short at his ear. The gold light before his eyes ebbed like a tide, and the scene before Bai Zhou returned to normal. What met his eyes were the awestruck gazes of the jailers, and the looks of the shackled fellow prisoners who had once lined up with him—shock, envy, and a cold distance, all at once. Bai Zhou knew that from this moment, between himself and these fellow prisoners, there already stood a pitiful, thick wall... "Night is about to fall." The Governor's voice brought Bai Zhou swiftly back. "The empire needs talent such as you. In truth, I would very much like to speak with you, but the tide of abominations is almost here... I imagine you are in the same position. You have only just become a ninth-rank citizen, and you must have many things to see to." With that, a few bright clinks— Several glittering gold coins, stamped with fine designs, flicked up from the Governor's fingertips. Bai Zhou raised a hand and caught them. The moment the coins were in his hand, his heart stirred. For he found that every coin carried some kind of spirituality. "The bounty I set before the whole city still stands. Once you have settled in the city, you may come find me at any time, at the Municipal Hall or at my manor, to claim the reward—give your name." "Of course..." The Governor gave Bai Zhou a meaningful look. "Young man of the Nies family, if anyone comes looking to make trouble for you, you may also come to me at any time, and seek my protection." "After all, I said in the bounty that besides choosing any one treasure from the family treasury, the ritualist who completed the bounty would also receive one promise from me." A reward? A treasure? Trouble? Bai Zhou clenched the coins in his fist. His heart gave a few hard thuds. He suddenly remembered why the Nies family had gone bankrupt, and thought also of the Scarlet Curse of unknown origin upon Lucus. Sure enough, this body still had trouble of its own that would have to be dealt with... But set beside that, the Governor's "promise" and "treasure" stirred him more. The family treasury of the house behind a city lord? Bai Zhou was very much interested. The sky was darkening. Only a few minutes remained before Xiluo's evening, the arrival of 36-point time. "Break it up, break it up... Move! Back to the prison!" The fellow prisoners from the Heishi prison, their faces complicated, were driven on by the jailers. One after another they passed Bai Zhou and set out on the road back to the prison. Bai Zhou had left their ranks. Alone, he went back into the city. After twist upon turn, he came to a cramped alley no one visited, piled with garbage. "Here will do..." He turned and looked about. Certain no one was there, Bai Zhou gradually grew quiet. He had at last gained a rare spell of ease, and began to wait for that moment to come. What a busy twelve hours... Inheriting a civilization, a twofold advancement, offering up a curse, seeking life in the midst of death, and shedding a prisoner's identity to become a ninth-rank citizen of the Xiluo Empire. All of it done, Bai Zhou, amid the buzzing of flies and the rotten stench of garbage, quietly and at his ease met the sunset of this city. Clang. At the center of Heishi City, the highest and oldest bell tower rang. The waves of the bell rippled out over the whole city. 36-point time, 0 minutes, 0 seconds. As candle flames quietly lit, house by house, Bai Zhou activated the Zhuluoji Gold Pass at his chest. "Hum!" Even time seemed to stand still. Everything around him froze. A golden avenue spread open beneath Bai Zhou's feet, running toward an end he did not know. "..." Bai Zhou set a foot upon it. Amid the flow of strange, dazzling scenes, the sight before his eyes gradually came to rest. Wind and rain tossing, a pitch-black night, a howling cold wind... And before him, that worried 'huffing little fire dragon.' Bai Zhou had returned to the present world.