Chapter 59: Wende Hall

In Wende Hall, Chen Xiyi flipped through an ancient text. Thanks to the language pack from his Home Game, he could still understand the various books within the hall.

But there was this one small problem: punctuation.

He wasn’t classically trained. He recognized the written characters themselves, but punctuation was tough. He could read individual characters just fine. Yet when strung together, reading became a struggle.

If the sentence breaks weren’t right, the meaning could turn strange.

The diary written by that Shanhe Sect True Disciple he’d read earlier was different. The writer kept it in diary style, leaning toward vernacular Chinese, and the writing was casual.

In the Great Li Kingdom, however, vernacular Chinese couldn’t enter official halls. The ancient texts of former sages all used this convoluted literary Chinese.

It wasn’t that Chen Xiyi idly chose to read imperial archives for fun. He mainly thought, since the royal collection was incredibly extensive, it wouldn’t hurt to peruse it.

For example, what he was reading right now was an ancient travel journal. It was somewhat readable, just this constant stream of grand principles gave him a headache.

What he needed weren’t grand principles. He wasn’t ignorant of them.

Chen Xiyi wanted records related to those sects existing before the Dharma-Ending Age, not lessons on statecraft and personal conduct. Those principles were useless to him.

The principles were good in themselves, but it was like chicken soup; you needed the right crowd for it.

It was like asking Chen Xiyi to reason with red-named NPCs or red-named monsters. It took immense self-control just to not instantly send those red-names on their way with his Alloy Firearm. Going up to preach to them? No way.

He skimmed through the travelogue in his hand. Out of ten pages, nine and a half were scenery-evoked emotion. Only half a page actually described the scenery and local features.

He picked up several more books, flipped through them, and discovered they all basically followed the same pattern. Chen Xiyi found it somewhat frustrating.

Wasn’t there a straightforward travel journal?

Oh, right. A straightforward travel journal probably couldn’t even get in here.

Journals like that, even if not written in vernacular, would be dismissed as miscellaneous trivia due to their nature.

The Great Li Kingdom had a distinct atmosphere where all pursuits were considered inferior except scholarly study. While it hadn’t reached the point of emphasizing scholars while suppressing martial powers, there was already a hint that scholars were born naturally superior.

“If travel journals are like this, then those serious academic works…” Chen Xiyi thought it was unbelievable they could fill an entire hall.

Then again, he wasn’t a scholar, so naturally, he had little interest in those grand principles.

If someone told him governing a large country was like cooking a small fish, he’d fall asleep. But if someone told him palace gossip or a comedian’s routine, he wouldn’t only listen with relish, he’d even get out some melon seeds and tea.

After spending most of the day spot-checking large quantities of texts in Wende Hall, he found they were overwhelmingly the same type: preaching grand principles.

“Are there any other texts here? Things like medical books, travelogues, discussions on Yin and Yang, or Feng Shui and geography?” Chen Xiyi, somewhat resigned, placed a book back on a shelf and asked.

A Eunuch Official waiting nearby hurried over. “Reporting to the Great Immortal, all such books are stored in the side hall.”

“Lead the way.” Chen Xiyi immediately spoke.

Honestly, he preferred reading medical texts over these unwieldy principles. One, he didn’t need them. Two, empty talk was useless. What could he do after learning them? Brainwash others?

“Great Immortal, this way please.” The eunuch clapped his hands. The other waiting eunuchs also moved into action, heading forward to make arrangements.

This level of convenience felt pretty good. At least Chen Xiyi escaped tedious chores.

‘Lü Xian smoothly becoming Empress was quite the maneuver. But with someone like her skilled in strategy, Wang Li will have things much easier too. Collecting the things I need should go smoother, right?’

As Chen Xiyi walked, he kept turning this over in his mind.

He couldn’t rely solely on himself, searching slowly. The Great Li Dynasty existed; naturally, he should put it to work.

This way, efficiency would skyrocket.

It wasn’t a single entity operating, but multiple departments coordinating. Things moved incredibly fast.

Especially since the entire court wanted to curry favor with Chen Xiyi, the revered Great Immortal Fuyao. Merely catching his eye might mean receiving some Immortal Arts, an incalculable boon.

Thus, despite deep-seated discord, the court managed rare harmony on this one issue. Sure, subtle battles continued, but at least all efforts pointed in the same direction.

Chen Xiyi followed the eunuch into Wende Hall’s side annex.

Although the side hall was also clean and tidy, it paled in comparison to the Main Hall housing those grand sages’ writings.

The books weren’t neatly arranged on shelves; instead, they were piled in boxes, roughly sorted. To find a specific book, you had to hunt for it yourself.

Completely unlike the Main Hall, with its detailed classification system and every shelf labeled with the book’s title, year, author, and more.

“How many books does the side hall hold?” Chen Xiyi asked.

“One thousand three hundred and seventy-two volumes,” the eunuch hastily answered.

Chen Xiyi frowned. “That few?”

For context, the Main Hall held roughly a hundred thousand volumes. To have only thirteen hundred here? The disparity bordered on absurd. Volume numbers sounded large, but the total word count wasn’t high. A shorter volume might be just over a thousand words – easily a short story counted as one volume.

“Great Immortal, such miscellaneous texts aren’t deemed worthy of Wende Hall proper. They underwent extensive cuts. Additionally, miscellaneous texts are inherently scarce. That’s why only thirteen hundred seventy-two remain,” the eunuch explained cautiously.

Listening to this, it sounded like the thirteen hundred seventy-two volumes owed their existence entirely to this side hall. Without it, they likely would have been discarded entirely.

“Hmm, understood.” Following this simple response, Chen Xiyi picked up a book and started reading.

Well, it was significantly more interesting than the principles next door.

Witnessing this, the surrounding eunuchs didn’t dare say a word. They simply stood by, waiting attentively.

…

Wang Li sat bent over stacks of memorial reports, editing and reviewing them. He occasionally paused to listen to briefings from his close attendant. Abruptly, he laid down his brush, rubbed his temples, and thought privately, This emperor job was truly tough.

He then asked aloud, “Has there been any progress on the materials the Great Immortal needs?”

“The Hanlin Academy is compiling them. They should have it ready soon, compiled into volumes,” the attendant beside him promptly replied.

“And the collection effort among the common people?”

“The imperial proclamation demanding collection went out to all regions alongside the announcement praising the immortal deed. But it will take time before we receive word.”

Through this brief exchange, the situation’s outline became clear.

“Speed it up. Also, those supplies of earth, stone, gold, and silver – command the Six Ministries to expedite coordination and dispatch,” Wang Li instructed, massaging his forehead.

He consumed those Spiritual/Magical Items daily as dietary supplements, plus constant rewards for others. Existing stocks weren’t large. Without care, they could easily be depleted.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The attendant could only commit to pressuring the officials of the Six Ministries. That was the limit of his power.