Chapter 2569

"Ai, ai, my tally-seal should have been renewed yesterday, but I was handling business in Ju County and couldn't make it back in time, so it expired," Steward Liu said with a wry smile. "I should have gone straight to Lotus Valley to exchange the seal, but as soon as I returned to Misty Xia Bay I heard something happened at Ji Mountain, so I rushed back to Million Mountains first. Now I have to go to Lotus Valley to report in, and by the way ask Chief Supervisor Wang to renew my seal for me. But—

But I can't get into Lotus Valley anymore. As for the other stewards at Ji Mountain, it's not appropriate for me to ask them for help."

He was a subordinate of Deng Yanlong, but Old Deng had already gone out to sea, and Chief Supervisor Wang was on rotation at the Glazed Sea and hadn't returned to Lotus Valley yet. But He Lingchuan naturally wouldn't tell Steward Liu this; he just sized him up from head to toe: "Your tally-seal expired yesterday? Then how did you get into Million Mountains?"

"That was still————" Steward Liu hemmed and hawed, "the old method."

Steward Hu across from him raised one eyebrow, his expression cold, clearly not wanting to let him muddle through.

"What old method?"

Steward Liu was his subordinate; he didn't dare offend him, so he could only lower his voice: "It's just, just stamping an entry seal for Million Mountains on my wrist before the tally-seal loses effect. Because I had to come here first to deliver goods. It's all, all for official business."

Steward Hu curled his lip, speaking in a yin-yang tone: "Is that so? What you handled in Ju County had better really be official business!"

"Really, really!" Steward Liu bowed repeatedly, "I finalized the price for a new batch of tea oil in Ju County, tomorrow, tomorrow I'll report it up to you."

Having said that, he squeezed his eyes at his superior.

Only then did Steward Hu say impatiently: "Hold out your hand."

Steward Liu held out his hand and received a seal for entry and exit to Lotus Valley, then left with profuse thanks.

This surnamed Hu was still as greedy for petty advantages as ever, tsk.

He Lingchuan watched his departing figure, then said to everyone in the Doukou Garden: "There's even this thing about stamping in advance? Get me the full details."

Ask whom? Naturally, Hu Xin.

Every single rule of the Lingyun Palace is important; the more He Lingchuan understands, the more it will help his subsequent actions.

After all, the time he had infiltrated the Lingyun Palace was too short; many details were unclear to him.

Since He Lingchuan asked, Hu Xin in the Doukou Garden had no choice but to explain:

"The tally-seals in the stewards' hands have a validity period of only twenty days; before expiry they must go to Lotus Valley for 'spirit infusion' — that is, have a superior find Helu Tian to refresh it — only then can they continue using it for another twenty days.

This process is commonly called exchanging the seal.

The tally-seal in Steward Hu's hand has a slightly longer validity, forty days before needing to exchange once.

Ordinary Yao-puppet Masters are also forty days.

As for Masters Duan and Xiao, and how long the two Chief Supervisors' tally-seals are valid, Hu Xin doesn't know. At his rank, there's no need for him to know.

But Hu Xin does know one more thing: As the owner and administrator of the Cloud Platform, Helu Tian can cause the tally-seal in anyone's hand to lose effect at any time!

He Lingchuan understood at once: "When it comes down to it, the tally-seals in everyone's hands are all equivalent to a delegation and extension of Helu Tian's power. Helu Tian can grant it, so he can also take it back."

The Lingyun Palace established this kind of rule, of course, for security management. But stewards often travel far and wide, and sometimes they truly can't make it back to the Lingyun Palace before their tally-seal expires.

By rights, once the tally-seal loses effect they can't enter the palace or pass the Cloud Platform. Reapplying for a tally-seal involves a very troublesome procedure, and they'd also be punished by the palace interior.

So what to do? Over many years of practice, some stewards discovered a tiny loophole:

Even if the tally-seal loses effect, the seal already stamped on the wrist remains valid.

Therefore, when they can't make it in time, they will stamp their wrists in advance to ensure that after returning to Misty Xia Bay they can still enter Million Mountains or the Lotus Valley minor world, so as not to delay subsequent work.

But what they stamp is a 'round-trip seal,' which only allows entry and exit from the minor world once, so stewards usually prioritize choosing Lotus Valley. Steward Liu had bad luck; he happened to run into the Great Sea Star escape incident at Ji Mountain on his return, and had to rush back to Million Mountains to handle it first.

Otherwise, He Lingchuan wouldn't have had the chance to catch this detail.

Of course, this is the stewards' tacit little secret; no one would speak of it openly on Lingyun Island.

What organization doesn't have this kind of little secret?

He Lingchuan thought for a moment and asked again: "If stamped in advance, how long can this seal last?"

Hu Xin hadn't deliberately tested the limit, but based on practical combat experience he was certain two days was no problem; he had also heard of another steward's seal glowing for a full five days until he rushed back to the Lingyun Palace.

"In other words, a pre-stamped seal can maintain two to five days at minimum?"

While pondering, He Lingchuan returned to Eagle Beak Town, and from the livestock pens behind the town personally selected a little gray rabbit with a well-proportioned appearance and a gentle temperament.

Behind Eagle Beak Town there are warehouses and a livestock farm, which provide experimental equipment for the Yao-puppet Masters, including commonly used experimental animals.

Carrying this rabbit, he went back to the garden in Lotus Valley to find A-Lian.

The guards at the garden's edge hadn't changed shift yet; they had also heard the earlier conversation between Duan He-yun and Steward Hu, and seeing him come over holding a rabbit, they weren't surprised at all.

"Hu Xin" greeted them first.

He also found this barrier interesting; it basically only forbade A-Lian from going out, everything else had no taboos.

A-Lian was looking in a mirror.

As He Lingchuan approached, A-Lian turned around, her gaze fixed straight on the rabbit. He Lingchuan noticed her eyes were red, her eyelids a bit swollen: "What happened to your eyes?"

"So itchy." A-Lian rubbed her eyes again, "Just now, Father put something in my ears. I don't like it."

Why would Duan He-yun put something in her ears, yet her eyes were the ones itching? She didn't explain, and He Lingchuan didn't ask further.

A casual question is human nature; pressing further with a couple more questions would be having ulterior motives. There are Heavenly Eyes here, he can't reveal his tracks.

He set the rabbit on the ground and gently pushed it into the garden.

A-Lian immediately scooped up the rabbit and pinched its long ears.

The rabbit struggled in pain.

"Gently, otherwise you'll pinch it to death." A-Lian's strength came from the divine body of True Lord Ruiyin; even if only a fragment, it could effortlessly crush this little rabbit. "This little thing is very fragile; you almost pinched its internal organs to burst."

A-Lian hurriedly relaxed her grip and let the rabbit run a couple of circles on the ground.

"Pinch once and it dies, how can it survive?" She had grasped the knack; her movements petting the rabbit were already very gentle.

"Perhaps, it's precisely because everyone else finds it cute." He Lingchuan looked at her, meaningfully, "Cuteness is also a kind of weapon."

He suddenly noticed A-Lian's pupil move.

Or rather, it seemed something moved inside her pupil, and a faint light flashed.

Thanks to A-Lian's pupils being larger than an ordinary person's, and her pupil color being lighter, otherwise it wouldn't have been easy to discover.

A-Lian pursed her lips, then suddenly twisted with one hand and wrung the rabbit's head off!

*Squelch*, rabbit blood splattered all over the ground.

"Then I don't like it.

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