CHAPTER SEVENTY NINE
### The Sixty-Year Records
Shen Bo's back storage.
Three days in it.
Lin Mei worked with Shen Bo on the early records — the geography-indexed boxes from before the relay network's current standardization. He read the notation and she built the cross-reference framework against the seeding model parameters Bing Xi had established from the growing season section work.
The method was specific.
Every record that mentioned: unusual spiritual quality, land that felt different from adjacent land, sites where practitioners chose to build or practice without being able to explain why, travelers reporting that a specific location felt significant — all of these were flagged.
Then each flagged location was checked against the combination's outer range calculation and the first combination's range estimate.
The first combination's outer range estimate was approximate. Li Shan had calculated it from the historical atmospheric records and the known formation position. The uncertainty was fifteen percent in any direction.
That fifteen percent covered a significant amount of territory.
Shen Bo had been operating his network in this territory for sixty years.
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By the end of the first day they had found six additional potential sections.
By the end of the second day they had found eleven more.
Shen Bo stood at the workbench and looked at the seventeen positions marked on the regional map.
"Seventeen," he said.
"With the fifteen percent uncertainty," Jian Yu said. "Some may be outside the outer range. Li Shan will need to run the detailed cascade analysis to confirm which ones are actually seeded."
"He will need Bing Xi's frequency template to confirm," Shen Bo said.
"Yes," Jian Yu said.
"Which means field visits or domain range readings," Shen Bo said.
"Domain range for the ones within travel route proximity," Jian Yu said. "Field visits for the outliers."
Shen Bo looked at the map. At the seventeen positions distributed across the realm's southern and transition zone territories.
"All of these," he said. "All of these have been in my network's records for thirty to sixty years. People reporting that specific locations felt different. Practitioners building at sites they could not explain. Travelers noting spiritual quality variations." He paused. "I catalogued the information because the network catalogues information. I did not understand what I was cataloguing."
"You did not have the seeding model," Jian Yu said.
"No," Shen Bo said. "But I had the data." He looked at the records boxes. "Sixty years of data that was waiting for the question."
Jian Yu looked at the map.
Seventeen additional potential sections. If half were confirmed seeded that was eight to nine more sections receiving passive domain input as he traveled through range, eight to nine more sections where the growing season work could accelerate development.
He sent the positions to Li Shan.
Li Shan's response came back in four hours.
*Running preliminary cascade analysis against the positions. Fourteen of seventeen are within the outer range calculation with high confidence. Three are in the fifteen percent uncertainty zone. I will need field readings to confirm the three uncertain ones.*
*Of the fourteen high-confidence positions: nine show the seeding frequency signature in the cascade data at low amplitude — consistent with the developing stage. Five show stronger signature amplitude consistent with more developed sections.*
*The five stronger-amplitude sections: I am comparing their practice history records against the first combination's outer range estimate. All five show consistent long-term cultivation practice at their edges. One of them has continuous practice records going back one hundred and forty years.*
*One hundred and forty years.*
*The section has been maintained since one year after the first combination.*
Jian Yu read this message to the group.
The workshop was quiet.
"One hundred and forty years," Feng Luo said.
"Yes," Jian Yu said.
"Continuous," Feng Luo said.
"Yes," Jian Yu said.
"Where," Shen Bo said.
Jian Yu looked at Li Shan's position data.
"Twelve li northwest of this workshop," he said.
Everyone looked at Shen Bo.
Shen Bo looked at the map.
"Twelve li northwest," he said slowly.
"Yes," Jian Yu said.
Shen Bo went to a specific box in the back storage. Not searching — he went directly to it. He opened it and found a record and set it on the workbench.
He looked at it.
"My grandmother's grandmother's notes," he said. "From when she established the network's first connection in this region." He paused. "She noted a specific location twelve li northwest. She wrote: the practitioners here are old. They say their practice has been at this site for as long as anyone can remember. They cannot give an origin date. They say: it has always been here."
He set the record down.
"As long as anyone can remember," he said. "In notes written one hundred years ago."
"One hundred and forty years ago the first combination seeded that section," Jian Yu said. "One year later someone built a practice there. The practice has been continuous since."
"One hundred and forty years," Shen Bo said.
"Yes," Jian Yu said.
Shen Bo was quiet for a long time.
Then he said: "I need to go there."
"Yes," Jian Yu said. "We all do."
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