The World Goes on the Books

When Long Junshi woke, he was clutching a book of hopelessly tangled accounts.

He had no System, no heaven-defying cultivation technique. All he had were eyes that could see "patterns" and a mind capable of bringing order to messy ledgers.

Others cultivated through insight. He broke techniques down into mantras, teaching even the inept to cast intermediate spells. Others fought over treasures. He combined the grain and mineral ledgers of two cities into one volume. The day the accounts balanced would be the day his power took shape.

The old accounts of Heishui Town, Yun Zhao's grain registers, Wangxi's sea dikes, the lake grids of the Northern Frontier... The great tide that came once every 420 years was drawing near. The scattered ledgers across the land had to be brought together into one grand ledger of the world.

The tide has its monuments, and people have their place in the order of things.

In this life, he sought no defiance of heaven. He only wanted the accounts to balance.