Cohabitation with Sword Spirit-Chapter 267 - 6: You Dare Call Yourself a Shen Family Member?
January 12, 2018
After a long and arduous night, the group finally stood under the gates of Shen City at dawn on the 12th, beholding this ancient city with thousands of years of history.
In full view were the city walls over ten zhang tall, made entirely of white jade. The walls, built with new-style bricks, did not carry any historical weight. The pristine surface densely and elegantly was covered with various talismans and crystal stones. The walls were adorned with arrow towers and ballistae as dense as forests, making this mighty city of over a million people resemble a fierce beast baring its claws.
The only thing able to bear the thousand-year-old history was the plaque forged from Chaos Profound Gang above the city gate, with the scarlet words "Shen City" deeply engraved onto the jagged and uneven edges of the profound gang.
Chaos Profound Gang, a supreme forging material, condensed from the Supreme Essence Gang Qi, ranked among the top three in the world during the Jiuzhou Era — second only to the nameless white substance of the Celestial Divine Sword. Such a formidable forging material brought a processing difficulty akin to climbing the heavens. Even during the Jiuzhou Era, crafting a magical treasure from Chaos Profound Gang cost astronomical amounts. In the Xiangzhou Era when Immortal Dao civilization had greatly declined — especially two thousand years ago, the era just ending the dark times, where almost living primitively — it is unimaginable how the Shen Family carved those two words onto it.
Shen Qingming held a book on Shen City history, hurriedly reading: "According to Shen City's official saying, it's claimed that an ancestor of the Shen Family, before passing, used something like the Celestial Demon Disintegration cultivation technique, burning their life force to unleash unprecedented power in Xiangzhou, and condensed their life's efforts into those two words. The pioneering team that came with the Shen Family were all genuinely impressed, so this became the only city named after a family surname."
Li Wanqing concluded: "Simply put, it was a display of martial might, forcing others to comply. Quite the Shen Family style."
Wang Jiu stared at the plaque on the main gate for a while, then said: "Clearly, it was corroded using the acid blood curse; the stains are still visible. What does burning of life have to do with this?"
"Acid blood curse? What's that?"
Wang Jiu explained: "Before the Immovable Tyrant Body, the Shen Family had their own body refining divine techniques, one of which was blood refining, condensing blood to the extreme, which could be externally used as a Divine Weapon or internally stimulate various acupoints. The acid blood curse is one specialized application, by consuming large amounts of poison, refining the blood into a highly corrosive toxin. However, it has limited effects in battle and is merely used as a processing tool. I thought such trivial techniques had been phased out by the Shen Family; it's unexpected to see someone still using it."
Shen Qingming was stunned for a moment, then uninterestedly tossed aside the history book: "With what you just said, the charm is entirely gone."
Li Wanqing pondered: "Two thousand years ago, already knowing to use acid blood curse to disguise as Celestial Demon Disintegration, the Shen Family members aren't as foolish as they appear."
Shen Qingming raised an eyebrow: "Who are you calling foolish?!"
Wang Jiu said: "Obviously he means you, how can you not even understand when someone is insulting you?"
Li Wanqing quickly corrected: "I meant adorably foolish, I just misspoke; don't take it too seriously. Anyway, coming to Shen City this time, we should be prepared for the worst; the Shen Family members aren't easy to deal with."
——
The Shen Family members certainly aren't easy to deal with.
From Shen Yue'e severing father-daughter ties to complete the Wind and Cloud Divinity Transformation Technique with Li Fengyun, to Immortal Envoy Shen Ziyu turning against his father and joining the Saint Sect, the sibling duo of the older generation already fully demonstrated the exceptional nature of the Shen Family, so no one really sees the esteemed Shen Family as a run-of-the-mill household.
They were able to boldly stamp Shen City's name onto this frontier mighty city of hundreds of thousands of people and thousands of years of history, and could maintain a powerful army for two thousand years without allowing people's lives to wither, instead making Shen City prosper. Such means are actually far more advanced than how the Patriarch of the Li Family hands over important affairs to his wife.
This is why Wind and Cloud City has three equal powers, while Shen City stands alone as superior.
Facing such a dominant family, they certainly couldn't be negligent. Led by Wang Jiu, the group meticulously followed the prearranged process.
Firstly, the letter of introduction, which had been prepared by Lu Xin for the group. She led the document team to draft overnight, weighing every word and sentence with care, non-confrontational yet full of sincerity from the Li Family to resolve the longstanding grudges between the families. It was then hand-copied by Li Fengyun and finally sealed within a piece of Profound Ice Crystal Stone that wouldn't melt for millennia, to signify solemnity.
However, this solemn letter, when delivered by Wang Jiu to the steward at Shen Family's reception, received a polite, respectful, yet cold reply devoid of emotion.
"Hello, the letter has been received. According to the reception management regulations of the Shen Family, for correspondence from the Li Family, please deposit it in the empty box at Ding San's window yourself."
The Shen Family's reception area is quite a large place, a three-story brick-and-stone building resembling a fortress of flying swords. Each floor is as complex as a labyrinth. Fortunately, Wang Jiu has a good sense of direction and memory, quickly finding Ding San's window at the corner on the first floor using the index map at the entrance.
It turned out to be an unattended self-service reception window, with two empty boxes placed side by side at the window, each with a narrow slot for mail drop, and an explanatory note below.
On the left: Recyclable. On the right: Non-recyclable.
Wang Jiu thought for a moment, considering how today's technological capabilities make it difficult to recycle and reuse refined Profound Ice Crystal Stones, then deposited the envelope into the non-recyclable empty box...
Before the envelope could leave his hand, Shen Qingming angrily snatched it away.
"Wang Jiu, are you an idiot?! You actually took this public humiliation seriously?!"
"What else?" Wang Jiu countered, "Forcefully deliver the letter to other windows for random disposition? On the contrary, although this Ding San window mimics a garbage recycling station in design, there's no evidence that the Shen Family directly destroys the letters in it. So I believe that in an unfamiliar environment, rather than being presumptuous and making assumptions, respecting the existing order and rules is a more rational choice."
"..." Shen Qingming was speechless for a while, then faintly asked, "Why not try using the letter from Shen Ziyu?"
After the Cyan Cloud contest, Shen Ziyu had left a recommendation letter for Shen Qingming addressed to Shen City, which was the genuine key to the trip. However, the group represented the Li Family, relying on family letters from the Shen Family for reception would be too humiliating.
Now it seems, any sense of pride is useless, they must humbly take the second-best option.
"Oh, Shen Ziyu's family letter? You should have said so earlier." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
This time, the steward's expression was much kinder, and his tone was significantly more friendly.
"Since you are friends of Young Master Shen, according to management regulations, I'll place this in the C queue. Currently, there are 1443 letters awaiting processing ahead, so it should only take 10 days for your turn."
Shen Qingming was stunned: "Ten days?! Is Shen City's reception work so busy? Even the express channel takes this long?"
The steward smiled apologetically: "You misunderstood. If it's the express channel, it typically gets processed within 3 minutes, but the C queue takes longer."
"So the C queue is the lowest priority?! That's a letter from the City Lord's son!"
The steward helplessly explained: "Mr. Shen Ziyu had a falling out with Lord City Lord, so his status in the family has been lowered to that of outsiders, hence..."
"...The real pitfall!" Shen Qingming grumbled about Shen Ziyu's unreliability with clenched teeth, but at this moment, there was indeed no better alternative.
Anyway, it's just mid-January, and there's still over a month before Shen Ruoshi's birthday banquet. Ten days is tolerable for them.
Better than placing it in the non-recyclable box at Ding San's window?
"Oh, not at all, the Shen Family elders value the cleanliness of the reception area, so Ding San's boxes are dealt with daily."
