Beyond the alcoves of the lower intake station, Pei Jing came to an eight-sided chamber lined with brass. Three copper pipes went through the floor. The grating shook each time the liquid surged through the pipes.
Sixty feet below, golden drops fell into wide vats. A valve clicked about every forty seconds and let a little more through. It hissed when it reached the surface. The heat carried the smell of boiled marrow and burnt oil.
Pei Jing kept to the walkway. Near the eastern wall he saw a stone console with a book open on top of it. The pages were thin plates of sky bronze, joined by silver wire.
His knees shook as he pulled on his gloves. He held the console until they steadied, then turned the first plate.
Department of Longevity Supplies. Quota Ledger. Lower World Enclosure One Hundred and Nine.
The bronze pages carried entries covering eight thousand years. The left column gave the date by the Dominion’s internal register. It used a different count from the Great Yan calendar. Next came the number of cultivators the Dominion expected to find. The last column showed what it had taken.
- Cycle 7, year 1042. 2,840 Golden Cores, 94 Nascent Souls, and 14,000 gallons of purified leyline marrow. - Cycle 8, year 2042. 3,110 Golden Cores, 108 Nascent Souls, and 16,200 gallons of marrow. - Cycle 9, year 3042. 2,650 Golden Cores, 82 Nascent Souls, and 13,800 gallons. Below quota. Famine in Western Desolation.
