Where Are My Patent Fees?

Eldest Senior Sister produced a gold-embossed invitation. One glance at the cover was enough to tell it was extraordinarily valuable. "There is a junior-generation tournament at the Grand Qingzhou Festival, and the Qingzhou authorities sent an invitation to our Dao Seeking Sect, hoping we will dispatch someone to attend. I originally intended to bring this up with you, but since Junior Brother Meng mentioned it first, that saves quite a bit of trouble." "A junior-generation tournament?" Lu Yang was eager to give it a try. Aside from the Five Elements Sect, he had yet to spar with peers his own age. "Then let's go! We'll take my carriage," Meng Jingzhou called out. "Just the two of us? Junior Sister Tao and the others aren't coming?" "I did check with all of them. Junior Sister Tao said she's waiting on results from the Second Elder and the Eighth Elder—who knows what results. Besides, seeing how devoted she was to researching the Feathering Immortal Physique, I didn't press her. "Junior Brother Man went back to the Barbarian clan to visit family, and no one knows when he'll return. "Junior Brother Li is busy enjoying domestic bliss and doing everything he can to help our niece form her core, so he wasn't willing to come out either." Meng Jingzhou felt it was a pity. What a rare opportunity this was! Across Great Xia's fifteen provinces, events of this scale occurred only fifteen times a year. If they missed this one, they would have to wait a whole month for the next. The others were truly missing out on the good times. He loved lively occasions, so naturally, the more people who came along, the better. Only after Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had departed did Eldest Senior Sister suddenly recall something. She flipped open the invitation: *Great Xia Calendar, year ninety-nine thousand eight hundred and sixty, third day of the first month. As is customary, the Grand Qingzhou Festival shall convene. We respectfully request your esteemed sect to dispatch an outstanding disciple to attend the grand festival and serve as a judge to offer guidance.* "Little Junior Brother and Junior Brother Meng wouldn't step into the fighting ring... right?" Yun Zhi murmured to herself, concluding that she was probably worrying over nothing. As the first- and second-ranked disciples among the Dao Seeking Sect's younger generation, their strength was beyond doubt, towering far above the rest. If they actually entered the ring, it would simply be bullying. *** "Back when I was at home, I often heard people talking about how magnificent the festivals were in this place or that place. Just listening to them describe it made me want to go see for myself. "Pity I hadn't begun cultivating back then, so I wasn't qualified to attend. "The Grand Qingzhou Festival is held specifically for cultivators. To avoid disrupting mortal life, Qingzhou cordons off a dedicated tract of land outside the city, where powerful cultivators lend their strength to erect a temporary city." Inside the carriage, Meng Jingzhou gestured with vivid animation, leaving Lu Yang wide-eyed with fascination. "Aside from sparring matches and magical duels, the festival also features auctions, treasure evaluations, bartering, ruin exploration, Golden Core appraisals, and all sorts of other events. Every cultivator who attends comes away with substantial gains. "It isn't just our younger generation, either—mid- and high-level cultivators show up too. But those seniors have their own social circles and don't mingle with our rowdy crowd." Mid- and high-level cultivators were considerably older than Lu Yang and his peers. If they were around, the younger generation would inevitably feel constrained. Lu Yang could deeply relate: when classmates came over to play, having parents at home versus having parents away made for two completely different kinds of fun. "Cultivator exchange conventions, huh? We held those back in our day too," the Immortal Fairy reminisced with a sigh. "Only everyone harbored such venom back then—they'd threaten to slaughter your entire family at the drop of a hat. What looked like an exchange on the surface was often just a front for marauding rogue cultivators to strike from the shadows, murdering people for their treasures. It was exceedingly dangerous. "That's why only the great clans were qualified to host exchange conventions; they offered the highest security. For instance, the Lianshan Clan behind Immortal Jiuchong, the Dragon Clan, the Phoenix Clan, the Four Ferocious Clans, and the like." Recalling those bygone days, the Immortal Fairy reflected on how hard things had been. Lu Yang recalled how Immortal Jiuchong had once made the Immortal Fairy cook to extract confessions from prisoners. Those prisoners had likely been rogue marauders who crossed the bottom line of the ancient Lianshan Clan. "Later, after the five of us became immortals, we held exchange conventions from time to time. The gatherings we hosted were very safe; no blind fool would dare commit murder and theft. Still, I wasn't any good at organizing conferences, so Qing He took care of the arrangements for me. "Once, I suggested that since the gathering was being hosted in my territory, we should hold it somewhere distinctive—like the Child-and-Mother River or the Twin River. With mountains and water, the scenery was so lovely! And anyone who wanted to play in the water could just jump right in. "Qing He sternly and righteously rejected my proposal, saying it was far too dangerous." *Fairy, the water in your rivers is the mortal enemy of family planning,* Lu Yang thought to himself. *Who would dare get in?* "Sometimes Immortal Ying Tian would pretend to let books 'leak out' unintentionally at the conventions, recording the glorious achievements of us five immortals. "When I asked him why he did that, he said that if an immortal openly bestowed a book, the world would question its veracity. But if it appeared to have slipped out accidentally, people would find it far more credible." Lu Yang found Immortal Ying Tian's logic remarkably sound and felt he had learned a clever trick. What Lu Yang did not know was that the rumor about Immortal Ying Tian impregnating countless women had started spreading through the exact same method. The old horse ambled leisurely for two days, traversing mountains and rivers before finally arriving in Qingzhou. The moment they entered Qingzhou's borders, the old horse curtailed its space-traversing abilities. Traveling through deserted wilderness was one thing, but Qingzhou was full of watching eyes, and doing that here would startle the travelers. Meng Jingzhou poked his head out, beamed at the distant scenery, and said, "We're almost there!" Lu Yang poked his head out from the opposite side. The mountain forests were dense and lushly verdant. Nestled between the great peaks stood an orderly array of blue-stone buildings, arranged in picturesque harmony like a landscape painting. Though temporarily constructed, the intricate architecture clearly reflected meticulous effort. Innumerable black specks bustled between the buildings—all of them cultivators. The carriage was utterly ordinary, so the pair's arrival drew no special attention. *Whoosh—* A dark shadow streaked past overhead. The two looked up and saw a remarkably swift flying boat. Its arrival elicited gasps from the pedestrians below. "Look! That's the Thunder Fire Sect's flying boat—so fast! How many spirit stones must that vessel be worth? I hear an extraordinary prodigy emerged in the Thunder Fire Sect's current generation. Are those figures trailing right behind the boat his Dao Protectors?" "Oh, my mistake. The Thunder Fire Sect's boat was speeding, and the people behind it are constables!" "What on earth is that strange artifact? Look at the emblem—it's from the Yunmeng Sword Sect!" "The bottom of the artifact is a flying sword, but resting on top of it is a massive iron shell. I've never seen anything like it!" "I know what that is! It's called a flying car. Rumor has it that a sword-dao genius from the Dao Seeking Sect invented it, though it hasn't caught on widely yet. Sword flight used to carry only one person at a time, but that flying car can carry five!" "As expected of the Dao Seeking Sect! Such wondrous ingenuity is far beyond what the rest of us could ever imagine." "You can say that again! I hear the Dao Seeking Sect is quietly showing signs of becoming the foremost among the Five Great Immortal Sects. Every single disciple in their sect is a peerless paragon!" Meng Jingzhou turned to look at Lu Yang, who wore a very peculiar expression. He was the one who had invented that flying car. Afterward, the Fifth Elder had instructed Li Haoran to apply for a patent registration, and Lu Yang hadn't paid any attention to the matter since. Who would have guessed it was already in mass production? "Wait a minute... where are my patent fees?"