On the tenth morning since Hong Ling first dumped her sack of crumbling gray stone dust onto Pei Xuan’s office floor, the grand central square of World 22 (Jade-Abacus Planet) was decked out in thousands of red-and-gold festive banners.
Above the square, twenty-two giant glowing projection screens linked all twenty-two worlds of the Dry-Well Kingdom in real time.
Down on the glowing blue Self-Lighting Spirit-Pavement of the square stood five thousand elected representatives from every dockyard, weaving mill, mining guild, cultivation sect, and noble family across Worlds 19, 20, 21, and 22—including Big Hammer Zhao, Lin Da, Auntie Wang, Senior Brother Feng of the Iron-Cloud Sword Sect, Daoist Bitter-Gourd, and even a much humbler Patriarch Qian.
In the center of the high wooden stage stood a massive bronze furnace belonging to Old Guo’s kitchen brigade. In front of the furnace sat a long cedar table where Pei Xuan, Hong Ling, and Abacus Su presided over the First Interplanetary Currency Union Assembly.
At the side of the stage, three bound messengers from Planet 30 (Black-Crag Throne World)—tax envoys sent by the First Star-Lord, Crag-Devourer, who had arrived just an hour ago demanding the monthly Spirit-Stone tribute from Worlds 19 to 22—were tied to three wooden posts wearing yellow Debtor vests, staring in disbelief at the cheering crowd.
