After Sir System’s awkward display of power, Old Man Wei, who had taken the gold, hired three carriages from the dock’s car dealership and returned the piece of gold to him.
Fang Ning was unsurprised and took it back directly. This was meant to be a little test, after
all.
If the other was tempted by a piece of gold, then it would have been pointless to use them.
The group boarded the horse carriage and headed towards the Tower of Babel.
The carriage trudged slowly on the bumpy, muddy road. With that, there were few people fixing the roads around here.
An unknown amount of time later, the driver respectfully announced, “Sir, we have arrived at the Tower of Babel.”
Fang Ning came down from the carriage. As he looked up, a white tower, standing high till it reached the clouds towered right before his eyes.
This was not a simple literary adjective, but it was the truth because half of the tower had been enshrouded by clouds.
The high tower was surrounded by a tall wall, with only four entrances — East, West, South, and North.
After which, at one of the entrances, stood several blue-clothed guards.
If a scholar passed through, the guards would bow; if a peasant passed through, then they would collect a fee.
They were especially harsher and made things even more difficult for those in the working class, such as musicians, doctors, and laborers.
Sure enough, no matter when, those who practiced skills would never win against those who ran management.
Fang Ning took a careful look at those guards and found that they were all but sixteen, seventeen-year-old young people. Moreover, they were definitely natives.
If it were those ancient ones, they would have still harbored considerations in their hearts and they would certainly not do such an offensive thing.
Fang Ning walked over with a few others, and those guards immediately greeted him respectfully.
As Fang Ning was about to enter, an anxious voice called out.
“The mister in front, please wait.”
Fang Ning turned his head calmly and saw a group of officers escorting Scholar Wang over. Leading ahead appeared to be a person who looked like a county magistrate.
“Oh, if it isn’t Magistrate Zhang?”
“My respects to Sir Fang, this evil person has groundlessly made accusations of you. So, I have apprehended him. Please deal with him, Sir!” Magistrate Zhang gave a flattering smile.
“Oh, what did Scholar Wang accuse me of?” Fang Ning said nonchalantly as he gave a glance at the disheveled Scholar Wang.
“This wicked person dared to accuse Sir of witchcraft, casting demonic arts in order to win the favor of the people, and plotting a rebellion…” Magistrate Zhang glared at Scholar Wang, with a look full of disgust.
How ruthless! Each and every one of those were in severe crimes that warranted an entire family’s execution. However, none of these were beyond Fang Ning’s expectations as he knew the evil inside a human’s heart and the depths of it.
Often, those who were cruelest to you were those who were around you, whereas the strangers do not deal as much damage.
“Why?” The Scholar Wang muttered in a small voice, “How could this be? Right, it must’ve been because of that Councillor Liu’s background. I was too foolish. Brother Feng had reminded me before,
but I still thought that all the crows under the sun would be black
.”
Fang Ning looked at this person he had once acquainted and sneered inside. Even in the face of his death, the other had yet to realize the mistakes he had made.
If he had shown any reaction, the imperial court would only be elated because the people who were currently inside the court was still the ancient ones.
To them, power could never compare to Immortal Souls.
What good did it do for them to suppress Fang Ning?
Nothing.
They had already seen the golden age of the immortals. So how could the current imperial court compare with such a golden age?
Now that such an auspicious sign had appeared, how could they not worship it immediately?
As for encapturing and interrogations, that was without a doubt out of the question. After all, the key characteristics of an immortal soul had concluded that they were not bad guys, to say the least.
Fang Ning could not be bothered to get involved with the person. Hence, he gave a wave of his hand. “Then I shall trouble Magistrate Zhang to deal with him according to the law.”
“Yes, the accuser is to be sentenced to the punishment facing the person he had falsely accused.” Magistrate Zhang waved his hand, and the officers dragged Scholar Wang away like a dead dog.
Seeing this, Scholar Feng opened his mouth as if he was intending to say something but instead heaved a sigh.
“Why, does Brother Feng wish to say something?” Fang Ning asked purposefully.
“Oh, although Brother Wang may have brought it upon himself, his family is innocent…”
“Yes, the imperial court has released new laws; guilty by implication has been abolished,” Magistrate Zhang quickly said.
“Then I have nothing else to say. Fortunes and misfortunes are all decided by the heavens, and one brings whichever upon oneself.” Scholar Wang sighed and said.
“Alright, let’s head inside the tower.” Fang Ning could not be bothered with such despicable little people and headed straight for the tower.
“Quick, keep up, and bring a chair for Immortal Fang, as well as refreshments,” Magistrate Zhang hurriedly instructed.
The group of officers busied around frantically.
Lil Wu, Old Man Wei, and Scholar Feng looked at one another, puzzled. It seemed that they, the official followers, had been completely beaten.
…
In the Tower of Babel.
A group of people stood in the lobby on the first floor, eagerly waiting for the Immortal to descend from the stairs.
Fang Ning went straight up to the 20th floor in a single stretch. Of course, he did not walk up the stairs as he was not that diligent. He had Sir System open up an elevator.
“Here’s the industrial data you wanted, but is it really okay for you to
pull the seedlings upwards
?” Sir System asked skeptically.
“This is something you don’t understand. What do you mean by pulling the seedlings upward? I’m a person who has operated civilizations for over a thousand times. I’m well-experienced,” Fang Ning said uncaringly.
“I’ll see what you can do,” Sir System huffed.
Fang Ning copied all the relevant information on basic sciences, classical physics, chemistry, mathematics and more, along with other basic industrial chains. He had also copied the techniques to utilize the extraordinary powers under an environment where magic is rare, and the combination with modern technology into a physical book and placed it inside the jade bracelet.
Then, he returned to the first floor and said to Magistrate Zhang, “Magistrate Zhang, go report to the higher-ups. Tell them that I have been guided by the Heavens to change the world and rebuild humanity.”
“The Immortal is most right. I will report to the imperial court immediately,” Magistrate Zhang
exclaimed in delight.
…
Three days later.
Fang Ning sat face-to-face with the current minister of the imperial court.
“I’ve looked through the Immortal’s plan. It is very good and so I’ve ordered the people to carry it out. Tackling the issue from children to change the world, you’ve indeed gone straight to the heart of the matter,” the minister said seriously.
“Then we’ll leave it to the minister. After it’s done, you will be rewarded by the Heavens and Earth,” Fang Ning said evenly.
He had finally heard those words. The minister wiped away the edges of his eyes and released a long sigh.
He was certain that no one feared the world after death more than him.
That was why he had clung on to his 75-year-old body and refused to pass on. Had it been a few years ago, even before 40, the minute he felt his kidneys unable to function, the thought of reincarnating would have already crossed his mind…
Having been a minister for so many years, he was of the conscience that he had done nothing evil and had completed his tasks diligently. This was not because he was a good person, but because of the fear and reverence, he held.
Unlike the others, he had long felt that a thing such as good as immortal souls was rather unrealistic and short-lived.
After all, everyone could see how hard it was for all those wolves, tigers, and leopards to survive in the wild as they lived each day precariously. There was no reason for human beings to be the exception.
This was the vision of a person who had climbed up to the high-ranks. There may have been many incompetent emperors in the past, but there were very few incompetent ministers.
The minister and Fang Ning then shared another conversation — both of them had made great discoveries.
There was pretty much no conflict of interest between the two. What the minister had sought was an immortal soul. Once he had received Fang Ning’s promise, he was gearing to go.
In order to prevent this old man from dying, Fang Ning had specifically given him a pearl for his health.
After that, Fang Ning had once again spent his days having fun and enjoying a good time in the minister’s residence…
Why did he not seek the emperor? The reason was simple. An emperor had many matters to attend to, and the rewards for his labor was little.
This was the experience that Fang Ning had concluded after going through the journey of civilization for over a thousand times — to never look for the leader in name, but seek out the hardworking deputy.
At least before the moment the deputy overthrew the leader, the strategists would remain safe and sound.
“Richie, I finally understand how your more-than-a-thousand-times-journey-of-civilization-experience has come to be. If it were me, I’d know this too…” Sir System suddenly spoke up.
“You’ve heard of the story of the Egg of Columbus, right? Before he broke the bottom of the egg, there were very few people who had thought of doing that,” Fang Ning sneered.
“Uh, that’s true.” Sir System replied honestly.
“Oh yeah, how did you trick the great green insect?” Fang Ning casually asked, “Have our finances already deteriorated to such an extent?”
“Right now, there aren’t any external sources flowing in — it’s all internal circulation. Of course, I have to do my best to exploit any potentials.” Sir System said plausibly, “Daqing’s so hungry she’s gone into hibernation, of course, I have to take it away for recycling purposes.”
“So you stole it?” Fang Ning exclaimed in surprise.
“Look how bad you’re making it sound. I bought this over with the price of two meals, alright? I wouldn’t do such a thing. Although, after finishing the meal, she had still opted to go into hibernation, seeing as she’s lost all her assets.” Sir System resented.
“Oh, productivity remains low here. I can’t even afford a labor force like her. I’ll let her in once I’m done with the new law movement.” Fang Ning sighed and said.
“Whatever, but I’m not giving it back anyway,” Sir System asserted.
a Chinese idiom that is similar to the English idiom, ‘in every world dogs bite’, meaning that evil people were bad all over the world and all the same.
a Chinese idiom that describes a person, impatient for success, so acts as to destroy the very conditions upon which success depends.
