Chapter 164: 157 Ranking

A dragon in the sky?!

Not a real dragon, but a Cloud Dragon.

It is a patch of clouds on the horizon, shaped like a real dragon!

That resemblance is not something clung to by imagination, but a true dragon form. Dragon head, dragon horns, dragon whiskers—all are present. Except for its pure white color and light texture, it is, for all intents and purposes, a dragon in the clouds.

Moreover, this dragon only has half a body; the dragon head emerges from the clouds, the torso is hidden in the mist, and only one dragon claw is revealed, fulfilling the saying, "The divine dragon shows its head but not its tail."

"That is... the handiwork of Long Yuan, isn't it?"

Directly below the Cloud Dragon is the gathering place, White City. Above White City, maintaining such a lifelike cloud that covers the sky and blocks the sun, unafraid of wind or rain—what kind of means would that require?

Using the heavens and earth as a base and white clouds as an Art Tool is, in itself, a grand ambition. Usually, only the Sword Techniques and Sword Images of a Sword Guest have such a presence; now, a Talisman Sword Master can do it too.

Jiang Shenyi raised an eyebrow and said, "This can be considered an announcement to the world: the grand assembly belonging exclusively to Talisman Sword Masters has begun!"

It is a grand assembly belonging exclusively to Talisman Sword Masters, and also one hosted exclusively by Long Yuan. The dragon of Long Yuan is like the sun in the sky.

White City is in sight. With the ability to see the Cloud Dragon in the sky as a standard, the closer one gets to White City, the hotter the atmosphere becomes. Gradually, there are pedestrians on the road, mostly young people. Some are in pairs, some in larger groups, and occasionally there are those traveling alone.

The smallest Talisman Sword Master factions consist of two Disciples, while those with more people might be large factions. However, that is not necessarily the case; Tang Zhao and his group are four people traveling together, yet they are an alliance of two small factions. It is not as if only they know how to group up. As for those traveling alone, it is unknown what their background is; perhaps a small faction lacked enough Disciples and could only choose one to attend the assembly, or perhaps a large faction is proud and disdains winning through numbers, believing that sending just one Disciple is enough to make a name for themselves.

With more Talisman Sword Masters on the road, there is much more scenery to see. The attire of a Talisman Sword Master is always different from ordinary people; they will more or less wear some uniquely shaped Art Tools. The flashy ones are like Jiang Shenyi's wings, while the low-key ones are like Tang Zhao's Time Jar.

One can see people on the road with colorful crowns on their heads, people wearing strange costumes, people carrying a Lamp in the daytime, and people holding umbrellas on sunny days. The ways of traveling are not limited to riding horses or walking; there are bizarre-looking vehicles, all sorts of mounts, and even those traveling by Floating, dragging smoke and mist behind them.

If these people were walking on a road outside, it would inevitably draw side-glances, but everyone coming here is a young and energetic Talisman Sword Master. With the atmosphere built up, the road leading to White City has instead become a "runway," and everyone is seizing the time to bring out their most dazzling Art Tools to show off.

The group was infected by this, and could not help but be eager to try. Tang Zhao urged, "Senior Brother, aren't your wings coming out to make an appearance? With wind and thunder rolling, who here can be faster than you?"

Jiang Shenyi was somewhat moved, and immediately said, "What about you? I remember you also have a good vehicle; in terms of spectacle, it is no worse than my wings. Why not bring it out? If you bring it out, everyone will have to watch your performance."

Che Sha asked in surprise, "Does Big Brother have an eye-catching flying vehicle?"

Tang Zhao waved his hand and said, "It's not a flying vehicle, just a road vehicle. Other than looking a bit nice, it has no other merits." He had indeed built an Art Tool vehicle, modeling its shape after the transportation from Chen Zong's hometown, but that was something he had made in private for his own amusement when his "middle-school" heart was overflowing. Bringing it out under the gaze of everyone would still be a bit embarrassing.

Che Sha intended to continue egging Tang Zhao on to bring out his hidden treasure, when they heard someone ahead say, "Alright, let's decide the winner in the way of a Talisman Sword Master!"

Tang Zhao immediately looked at Jiang Shenyi.

Jiang Shenyi retorted, "Why look at me? I'm not the one who shouted."

The people around stirred slightly, then gathered toward the front.

Clearly, there was some excitement, and everyone wanted to see it.

They saw that under a large rock, two youths were confronting each other, each holding a talisman brush, having set up the posture for writing a Talisman.

A young girl stood in the middle and said, "Good, I will be the witness. The rule is to increase by one Talisman each turn. I will set the topic—" She looked around, seemingly searching for Inspiration.

"The topic is—Fly! Left hand first!"

The youth on the left began to quickly write a Rune Formula on the large rock. It was the Primary Rune Formula "Drifting," composed of two Base Fu.

The youth on the right wrote below without hesitation; it was the Primary Rune Formula "Floating," composed of three Base Fu.

The one on the left continued to write.

Tang Zhao quickly understood. This competition was not much different from what Jiang Shenyi and the others played before; it was also setting a topic, and everyone wrote different Rune Formulas to see who was more learned. Their ritualistic sense was stronger; each time one wrote, one had to add a Base Fu, and the number could not be messed up. The longer the Rune Formula was written, the harder it surely became.

However, compared to the "Passing Thunder" game where one would explode if they couldn't write, this game was much more refined.

Tang Zhao watched from the sidelines, silently writing along in his heart. By the time they reached twelve Base Fu, one of them broke into a sweat, unable to write even after counting dozens of numbers, and was immediately judged to have lost.

At this time, not only was Tang Zhao still more than capable, but Wusun Tong and Che Sha also felt the other party was not as good as themselves, and could not help but feel smug.

The crowd made a commotion for a while, and after watching the excitement, they dispersed.

Jiang Shenyi commented, "It's just comparing the number of Rune Formulas and memory; this game is meaningless."

Tang Zhao nodded. This was similar to the "Flying Flower Order" of poetry—just collecting lines, not composing poetry. It was fine to play at a banquet, but when the Imperial Court holds imperial examinations, it is impossible to test these to select truly usable talent.

After walking two steps, they saw another group of people gathered ahead, seemingly another bit of excitement. The group squeezed in with interest.

They saw a few people sitting in a circle inside, currently... playing cards.

However, these were not ordinary leaf cards, but a kind of Rune Formula card. It seemed each card had one Base Fu on it, and there were hundreds of cards in the deck, with several of each Base Fu. After collecting a few sets, everyone would draw Base Fu to form Rune Formulas and play them to compete against each other.

As for how the Rune Formulas competed for victory, there seemed to be a set of rules similar to "Rock Paper Scissors," which was quite complex and could not be figured out for a moment.

Although everyone was just sitting calmly, the card game battle was very exciting. The game changed in an instant, and victory and defeat were reversed in a moment. There was no lack of restless people around offering advice and cheering, and when the winner was decided, there were even more shouts, cheers, sighs, and curses one after another.

After watching for a while, Che Sha said, "What is this card game called? It's quite interesting."

As soon as these words were spoken, several gazes shot over, mostly filled with surprise and disdain. The meaning seemed to be: "How can there be country bumpkins who haven't even seen Rune Cards?"

Tang Zhao also felt this silent contempt and suddenly felt it was meaningless. Having lost the desire to watch the excitement, he withdrew for the time being. He heard someone behind him say, "Are there still Talisman Sword Masters in the Nine Provinces who don't know how to play Rune Cards? Oh, looks like they are from the Outer Ten Provinces; then it's fine."

The Nine Provinces... that is the traditional Inner Nine Provinces.

Whether it is Yunzhou or Liangzhou, they can all be considered border lands, distinct from the traditional Inner Nine Provinces, belonging to the Outer Ten Provinces. Although they are full of martial spirit, they are ultimately not as deep in heritage as the Central Plains. Although Tang Zhao and the others were full of confidence, believing that their knowledge and skills were not inferior to others, they still held reverence for the Central Plains in their hearts.

It was just that this reverence had lessened quite a bit after seeing various miserable sights along the way. Places like Yan Prefecture and Yongzhou had all kinds of Natural Disasters and man-made calamities, and the people were suffering. Calling it the Central Plains, it was not necessarily better than the borderlands.

At this moment, the group all thought: You are all living in misery, so what's so great about knowing how to play cards?

Although they were very unhappy, it was not convenient to join the game. They probably wouldn't be able to beat the old players. Those people had been immersed in it for many years, and all kinds of combinations and strategies were already well-known to them. Even if they learned on the spot, no matter how high their comprehension was, they would have to learn for a while, which would be a waste of time. Competing for supremacy was not about playing cards.

Moving forward, they saw that there were quite a few such small gatherings on the road, all simple small competitions, mainly in the form of games: card fighting, talisman fighting, wit fighting, and strength fighting. It can be seen that the Talisman Sword Masters of the Nine Provinces have quite a few small games that combine education with entertainment; this is also a kind of heritage. The Talisman Assembly had not yet opened, but the outside had become quite like a garden fair.

But a game is a game. Perhaps it was born from real blades and guns, but after playing for many years, it already has its own set of rules, which is far from real fighting.

Just as he was thinking this, White City was right before his eyes.

White City was built on a hillside, with a large Lotus Pond next to it. The dragon of white clouds coiled around the mountain peak, as if it had merged with the mountain, the city, and the pond.

This mountain was originally covered in snow all year round. Decades ago, Jianzhou passed through here and changed the environment. From that time on, it became increasingly hot, and the waist of the peak turned into a large pond. The pond water was warm, as if it were a hot spring. Lotus flowers bloomed in the pond—white lotuses, red lotuses, yellow lotuses—blooming brilliantly with a clear and fragrant scent.

A good pond, good water, and good lotus flowers.

Tang Zhao saw this clear water and suddenly felt a stir in his heart:

This... the elements are so complete! I really want to summon the Fairy Sister here!

It's a pity, there are people watching here. Otherwise, the few top-grade materials he obtained on the road should really be used to exchange for even better ones.

The Lotus Pond was quiet, completely different from the noise at the foot of the mountain. Only a few young people were sitting on the Blue Stone by the shore, fishing with focused attention, as if they were going to fish until the end of time.

By the side of the pool water stands a city, its walls snow-white, almost merging into the distant Snow Mountain; this is White City.

White City is a small city, its walls no more than several zhang high, with a population of no more than ten thousand; it is usually very quiet, but at this moment, it has a touch of liveliness. One could see a tall pole erected at the city gate, connected to several ropes, with colorful flags fluttering on the ropes.

Looking closely, those colorful flags were actually inscribed with the names of various factions. A rough count revealed there were over a hundred, truly a riot of color.

Tang Zhao hurried over, wanting to see the name of his own Zhuoyu Villa; after searching for a long time, he finally found a Black Flag in an inconspicuous spot.

He heard someone explaining: "The Five-Colored Flag, gold, silver, copper, and iron decrease in order. The Black Flag is the lowest, the Green Flag is slightly higher, and the White Flag is higher still. The Gold Flag is the highest. The seven-colored flags above are the Seven Great Factions; those are things others shouldn't even think about."

Although Tang Zhao knew Zhuoyu Villa was a small faction, being ranked at the very bottom made him feel quite uncomfortable. Yet, if he were to say his own faction was stronger than others, he seemed to have no evidence.

Beneath the five-colored flags hung two wooden plaques; one was the "New Rune Ranking," which was for ranking young Talisman Sword Masters, and it only had a few names.

The other was a seating chart. It was for the seating at the grand banquet of this Rune Gathering seven days later.

Tang Zhao and Jiang Shenyi crowded over to take a look, and both couldn't help but say: "This... what is this based on?"