The Professional Rankings, in twelve volumes, each bearing the name of my lord.

Central Eurasia, on the southwestern border of the Chinese Empire.

Here stands a magnificent Buddhist temple, from which melodious Buddhist chants are recited daily.

Tourists passing by often see the Buddha's light flashing above the temple, and sometimes even the Buddha's image casting light and shadow on the sky.

In fact, these strange phenomena were all produced by the monks in Wanfo Temple during their cultivation.

The monks here, although they are also bald and wear scarred robes, only need to take refuge in the Three Jewels and do not need to observe the Five Precepts.

In other words, they are the kind of people who keep the Dharma in their hearts and don't need to show it outwardly.

Many people don't even shave their heads.

However, the more one understands the Buddhist teachings of the Wanfo Temple, the faster one can cultivate. As a result, many people who join the Wanfo Temple, regardless of whether they understand Buddhism or not, just want to look like monks first.

Naturally, the daily lives of the disciples of Wanfo Temple are not much different from those of ordinary citizens in modern society.

Multi-functional machines do exist.

"Abbot! Abbot! The bandits have returned!"

A chubby elder, carrying a yellow kasaya in one hand and holding a multi-purpose machine still in metaverse access mode in the other, excitedly rushed into the abbot's courtyard on a flying skateboard that spewed blue flames.

Yuan Kong, the former abbot of Wanfo Temple, fought fiercely against various powerful enemies on Songgua Island, and his whereabouts and fate remain unknown to this day.

Wanfo Temple is still searching for Yuan Kong's whereabouts.

The acting abbot during this period was named Yuanxin.

Yuanxin was reciting Buddhist prayers under the Bodhi tree in the courtyard when she heard the fat elder's words. Her hand, which was moving the prayer beads, slowly stopped, and she opened her eyes.

"Elder Yuan, what do you mean by this?"

"Has the abbot not logged into the metaverse lately? I only checked today after hearing the disciples talking about it, and the virtual world is in an uproar! Everyone's celebrating the bandit's return!"

"Oh? Did the Imperial authorities welcome them?"

"No, it's not that the authorities haven't taken any action. The bandits cleaned up the local gangs in Baiyun City and then disappeared again. Now many people are looking for them."

As they were talking, Yuanxin had already activated his own omnipotent machine and searched the metaverse.

Various images, sounds, and texts are projected from the universal machine in the form of virtual bubbles, allowing the center of the circle to quickly browse them.

"They really do look like bandits. Considering Abbot Yuankong's previous behavior, this time it might be for real."

Elder Yuancheng was very pleased.

"Excellent! With the Celestial Race facing a formidable enemy, the bandits have returned! That means Ancestor Song Gua has also returned! He must have come back to help us resist the powerful foe!"

The center of the circle has its hands clasped together.

"Amitabha... Our ancestor is gone, do not cling to appearances."

"You...don't believe this is a sign of the resurrection of the founding emperor?"

"We can't draw any conclusions without seeing him. We should find Abbot Yuankong first; he should know something."

"Although Abbot Yuankong's Life and Death Pearl hasn't shattered yet, so much time has passed, and despite the authorities deploying numerous search machines to investigate, it still hasn't been found. It's truly..."

"Don't give up, wait and see how things change."

……

The Yuwen family, an ancient clan with a history spanning thousands of years, has family companies all over the world.

In this new era, the Yuwen family's most advanced business is in the film and television industry, and they even set many of the industry's standards.

It is said that because our ancestors loved watching movies, they left behind ancestral instructions to vigorously develop this field.

As a multinational corporation, their business is not limited to just talent agencies. It covers the entire supply chain, from film and television production and artist management to marketing and promotion. They even have subsidiaries responsible for the production of related hardware and software.

In this era, the line between "family families" and "companies" is blurred.

Because of highly developed technology, economic strength is also related to the power of a nation.

With money, one can buy technological equipment. Even the least accomplished disciples in a family can be equipped with a set of mecha armor and spar with innate spiritual warriors.

As times have changed, the concept of "company" has gradually become similar to the ancient concept of "sect," with "employees" being "disciples" and "chairman" being "master."

The "family" refers to the powerful force behind the company's leaders.

A company may be run by many families, with the largest family holding the highest decision-making power.

The ancestral home of the Yuwen family has been relocated many times, and its current address is in Linyang, a large coastal city in the eastern part of the Huaxia Empire.

On this day, a group of guests came to the Yuwen family. Among them were the Wang clan, which was an ancient clan with comparable strength, as well as the Xu, Tong, Long, and Gou clans, which also had a long history but were not developing smoothly at present and had average strength.

The Wang family was highly respected among the ancient clans.

Over the past thousand years, the Wang clan has often offered assistance to families like the Xu and Tong clans, who were born in the same era, when they encountered insurmountable difficulties.

Sometimes they contribute money, sometimes they contribute their labor.

However, the Wang family did not provide assistance blindly.

Some ancient clans did things that angered both heaven and man when running their companies, which led to backlash and retribution. The Wang clan could only say "take care" to them.

Therefore, those ancient clans that have survived to this day, though now weak and powerless, are basically of one mind with the Wang clan.

Today, they all sent representatives, led by Wang Qingxuan, the current patriarch of the Wang clan, to the Yuwen family.

Wang Qingxuan is a middle-aged woman who still retains her charm.

The Wang clan is quite unique; their position as clan leader is passed down to women, not men.

The women of the clan chief's lineage never marry out of wedlock; they only accept husbands who marry into their wives' families.

Because the Wang family often produces people with exceptional talent in cultivation, even though their business operations are not outstanding on a global scale, their martial virtue is exceptionally outstanding.

There's no need to worry about a lack of quality men marrying into the family; there's a long queue.

"I disagree! I absolutely disagree!"

Inside the Yuwen family's main meeting hall, the clan's eldest elder slammed his fist on the table, puffing out his beard and glaring, clearly furious.

Just now, Wang Qingxuan revealed the purpose of their trip.

They hoped that the Yuwen family would return the hand of the Songgua stone statue they had seized on Songgua Island to the bandits.

Wang Qingxuan argued her case based on reason.

"Elder Yuwen, after so many days of studying these stone statue remains, have you uncovered any mysteries within them?"

Elder Yuwen said with a firm look in his eyes.

"That's for sure! Although it's an incomplete object, it contains the secrets to immortality! My Yuwen family may be able to achieve immortality for the entire clan with this item!"

The Yuwen clan chief, whose real name was Yuwen Ben, glanced at the Grand Elder, seemingly wanting to say something but then hesitated.

Yuwen Ben was clearly much younger than the other elders of the Yuwen family.

Not long after the meeting began, Wang Qingxuan noticed that Yuwen Ben was having some difficulty controlling the elders in the Yuwen family.

She knew that this was probably going to be difficult.