Chapter 1046: The Grand Secretariat

In the Dragon’s Cave on the hill in Qi City.

Fang Ning spent the past two days dispirited. The bunch of tasks and errands that were accumulated for the past eight months made him feel fatigued.

After all, he had a lot of properties to look after. Furthermore, due to Sir System’s special case, he could not reveal this to anyone else and he could only handle certain matters personally, such as regular inspections and looking out for inside men…

“Sigh, no wonder there were so many incompetent emperors in the past. My dragon soul that has undergone cultivation and refinement can’t even handle so many errands. What about the bodies of regular folks and even emperors that aren’t as strong as regular folks?” He moaned.

“Who are you going to blame? I won’t help you anyway, not a single thread will be used.” Sir System quickly declined to help.

“No, I must form a Grand Secretariat and organize each task properly, which are the tasks that I’m supposed to handle personally, and which are the tasks that can be delegated to someone else. After all, I already understand what this Era of Mystery is all about. Just like in Xuanhuan novels, as long as the power is in our hands, we don’t have to worry about losing it.”

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Fang Ning made that decision after seeing the bunch of unresolved tasks in the Heavenly Book.

“Master, then let me be Senior Grand Secretary of this Grand Secretariat…” The Heavenly Book immediately nominated itself.

“Eh, dear, you are required to accompany me on my battles. The previous situation will still appear.” Fang Ning had to reject its offer.

“Bah, what difference does it make whether it accompanies us or not?” Sir System brushed him off. “Anyway, I can’t make use of it at all, it’s just a useless book. Earlier, it still had some use, but even if I use it to hit someone, I’ll complain that it won’t help much.”

“Don’t tell me I can’t bring my darling along whenever we go out?” Fang Ning could not accept Sir System’s remark and snapped back. “You’re the unhelpful one, Sir. Currently, we can only realize Ultra Spatio-temporal Communication in this universe, but we’re unable to communicate across different worlds… Or, I wouldn’t even have to worry about these matters.”

“…” Sir System’s eyes went wide. “We’ve talked for so long and you still pin the blame on me?”

“It’s the truth.” Fang Ning became more certain of the current situation and replied solemnly.

“Sorry, I can’t do it. If possible, go find a more powerful System.” Sir System remarked.

“Look at you, you’re so petty. I only made a few remarks and now you want to give everything up.” Fang Ning heard this and quickly pestered the System. “I just want to push you to work harder and improve yourself, I wasn’t trying to blame you. Forget it, I’ll set up a Grand Secretariat right now.”

“Hehe, fair enough.” Sir System rejoiced.

“In that case, baby, you stay at home and become the Senior Grand Secretary. However, if there’s any sign of danger, run away at once and don’t engage in a fight with the enemy.” Fang Ning made his decision.

Sir System might be sharp-tongued, but it was not wrong. At present, the Heavenly Book baby seldom had opportunities to venture outside to fight. The enemies that could threaten Sir System were on a much higher level these days. No longer were they useless crap that could be defeated effortlessly.

The best part about assigning the baby as Senior Grand Secretary was the zero need to worry. As something created from the System, the baby knew certain secrets about the System. It would be much more convenient for them to work together.

“Mm, if that is so, who else do you need to form the Grand Secretariat, baby? Tell your Master and I will get them for you.” Fang Ning said confidently.

“Thank you very much, Master. I hope to get Twelve Arms as Secondary Grand Secretary; As for Tertiary Grand Secretary, I’ll assign this role to Old Yellow. The Dragon Carp can also become a substitute.” The Heavenly Book flipped its pages and called out the names.

“Hey hey, what era is it now? What’s all this talk about Grand Secretariats and Senior Grand Secretaries? Are you trying to restore the dynasties of yore?” Sir System saw Fang Ning and the Heavenly Book discussing among themselves and scoffed. “It sounds rather embarrassing.”

“Then I’ll change the name. The baby is the Senior Guardian of the Dragon God, and in ascending order, there’ll be Guardian Two, Guardian Three…” Fang Ning said proudly.

“Can you come up with something more creative? It sounds so boring and embarrassing.” Sir System grumbled.

“How about you come up with some nice names?” Fang Ning got fed up.

“Use the Seven Lunar Mansions of the Azure Dragon to order and name them. Coincidentally, that Grand Secretariat of yours has around seven members.” Sir System replied smugly.

“Eh, you’re cultured, a real Hero System.” Fang Ning had to acknowledge this.

Suddenly, the Heavenly Book baby spoke. “Master, Mister Long San and Long Fan request to meet with the Dragon God. Qiao Zishan is with them, too.”

“Oh, that little brother of mine is still alive, it ain’t easy.” Fang Ning finally recalled the Stygian Snake after a while as he had not met it for a long time. “Alright, they happen to be from the Dragon Species as well and they can be put to good use immediately. Set a time for them to come over.”

“Yes, Master, I’ll let them visit tomorrow.” The Heavenly Book baby confirmed this appointment.

The Heavenly Book relied on China Nets Above Snares Below to facilitate real-time communication with the people in the Land of Heritage. Thus, the Truth Department naturally had the relevant terminal to receive news.

…

The next day, Fang Ning met Long Fan and its companions.

Of course, he still used the body double of the fire dragon, since Sir System said that his previous human form was already dead…

What a shame, but it was also the choice of the era.

He said wryly to the three individuals. “May I know your purpose for visiting me?”

Long Fan felt uneasy. Last time, the big brother White Dragon was easy to talk to. However, the current Supreme Venerable One looked like a formidable figure.

Of course, it was unaware of the fact that too many people came to seek monetary gains from Fang Ning. An introverted fellow like Fang Ning found this too much to handle and he had to resort to this method.

Long Fang responded. “There’s a shift in the Heavenly Oracle and Mister Long San mentioned that our Dragon Clan will soon play a more important role. Hence, I have come to you to see whether there’s anything I can help you with.”

“Oh.” Fang Ning’s tone softened. He could not push these people who offered to help away. “Since you’re so thoughtful, there’s one major thing that requires your help.”

He was not curious about how Mister Long San knew this insider info. If the Guardian Dragons could inform him about it, they could inform the True Dragon Clan as well.

He was also certain that Mister Long San knew about this earlier. However, the latter was just a pioneer now and as a result, it received the news later than him.

“I’m willing to work for you, big brother.” Long Fan noticed the shift in Fang Ning’s tone and became emboldened.

“I, Long San, am also willing to assist my elder.” Mister Long San was very enthusiastic right now. There was not a hint of its slothful attitude towards Qiao Zijiang.

Qiao Zishan, who was standing behind the dragon and the snake, exhaled a pent-up breath. His sister’s Zodiac Reincarnation Technique probably could not be cultivated to the highest state.

“It’s really wonderful of both of you. As for you, Zishan, what brings you here?” Fang Ning nodded and asked the third individual.

“Venerable One, I’ve been sent here by Oldman Ren. We wish that you’ll use your Eyes of Wisdom to help us screen through all of our internal members and determine which ones are good and which ones are evil.” Qiao Zishan said.

“I’m busy. I’ve just returned from the Dragon World and I’m about to achieve a breakthrough with the “Dragonization Ability”. I ain’t got time for their crap!” Sir System telepathized to Fang Ning.

“Don’t be so quick with your rejection.” Fang Ning consoled the System. “They won’t let you work for free.”

“No deal either.” Sir System was still reluctant to do it.

“Sigh, look at you, it’s not like I’ll make you do the work. Get those people here and I’ll use your Map and Field of View to have a look. You are now a Near-God-level System and I believe there won’t be anyone on Earth right now who can hide his true nature in front of you.” Fang Ning was ultimately a soft-hearted, kind man who valued past relations, unlike Sir System who was cold and did not care about the feelings of others.

“Fair enough, as you wish.” Sir System finally gave in.

Thus, Fang Ning responded. “Mm, looks like you’ve suffered many losses. In this case, I can’t be heartless. From tomorrow onwards, order those suspicious people into teams and let them meet me one-by-one. I will identify them and give you the result.”

“Thank you very much, Venerable One.” Qiao Zishan expressed his gratitude and took out a ring. “Inside this ring, there’s an orchid which we obtained from our most recent mission. It’s a rather wondrous object, I hope you won’t mind, Venerable One.”

“Mm, it’s thoughtful of you all.” Fang Ning accepted the gift.

Long Fan was full of envy when it witnessed this scene.

See? A person’s power and position could make a whole lot of difference. The Qiao siblings almost gave their lives to acquire this magical orchid. In the end, someone else only had to make a promise and the orchid was handed over to him on a silver platter…

Naturally, Long San did not care about the orchid that could improve one’s endowment, since its own endowment was greater than that of a regular deity.

On the contrary, Long Fan longed for that flower. It was merely formed from a third-rate snake demon and it still had a long way to go to attain an endowment as high as a deity’s.

At that very moment, it decided to itself that it would do a great job and grasp a chance in the coming days to allow big brother to give it some rewards.