Above Core-Border Station #1, one hundred thousand square, heavy Dry-Well Black-Iron Bricks floated in a neat rectangular formation around Pei Xuan.
Every brick was twelve inches long, six inches wide, and four inches thick, stamped on the side with the familiar characters: [MADE IN DRY-WELL VILLAGE — PUBLIC WORKS & ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT USE ONLY].
Ever since earlier back in the Red-Sand Wastes—when Pei Xuan had used his first fused black-iron brick to knock the arrogant Crimson Cloud Sect Envoy off his flying sword—the humble black brick had been Dry-Well’s most reliable diplomatic tool. No matter how high a cultivator’s realm climbed or how fancy their title sounded, one solid BONK on the forehead always brought them back down to earth.
Down on the train platform, Abacus Su held up his thickest master ledger—the [Galactic Core 108-Sect Tax Delinquency Register]—which contained the exact name, soul-signature, cultivation rank, and unpaid tax balance of every single Sect Master, Grand Elder, and Core Treasurer across all 108 sects. Total count: exactly 100,000 high-ranking tax evaders!
“Lord!” Abacus Su called out, his spectacles glinting beneath the golden glow of Pei Xuan’s Inner Galaxy. “Some of those cunning old foxes are already trying to sneak into secret teleportation tunnels or disguise themselves as outer-sect gardeners! Only twenty-seven elders from the Sword-Tomb faction fled earlier before the battle started; the other 100,000 coalition leaders are all still inside their sect territories!”
