Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 27: The Previous Era

Zhao Changhe immediately understood what this all meant. This emperor was really a scumbag.

However, Zhao Changhe could not curse him for not doing anything at all.

An inheritance from the number one man under heaven was bound to be extremely powerful, no less than the Azure Dragon Seal... However, everyone under heaven would look upon this treasure with envious eyes. This made Zhao Changhe extremely worried. He wanted treasures, but not this kind of treasure.

Just moments ago, Zhao Changhe had decided that he would steer clear of this “fate” of the position card, but in the end, this fate had found its way back to him.

Just like how Luo Qi was unable to toss away the Azure Dragon Seal, Zhao Changhe could not throw away the jade pendant at this moment and stamped his feet angrily. “Is this supposed to be an Azure Dragon or a slug? Why does it just randomly stick to people!?”

“His inheritance does not necessarily have anything to do with the Azure Dragon. The main item related to the Azure Dragon is with me.” Luo Qi quickly calmed down and assessed the current situation with interest. “Logically, that pendant probably can’t compare to the Azure Dragon Seal. At the very least, it shouldn’t be able to purify your body. It would be too ridiculous if an item that could achieve such an effect could be made with just the slightest intention or effort. Wouldn’t that be akin to being able to produce good bodies for cultivation?”

Zhao Changhe was at a loss but agreed. The Azure Dragon Seal was probably an inheritance that took its maker their entire life to create. The jade pendant was clearly different. If Xia Longyuan could casually produce a jade pendant with the same effects as this ancient Azure Dragon Seal, then that would really be overly ridiculous.

“It’s more likely that the jade pendant is simply passing down a certain cultivation technique to allow his...child to have the means to protect himself and allow people in the future to recognise him as being related to the emperor. After all, even if the jade pendant is destroyed, or an imitation of it is made, the martial art it passes down is like no other.. This cultivation art must be unique.” Luo Qi looked at Zhao Changhe with an expression that said: “Don’t you want it? Don’t be so flustered. Just give it a try... If at this stage you really don’t want to learn it, then throw the pendant away.”

Zhao Changhe took a deep breath and calmly began his internal observation.

Luo Qi’s judgment was correct.

Indeed, there was no purification effect on his body. It also did not do anything to help with the fact that Zhao Changhe had started cultivating at too old an age, nor did it open up his eight extraordinary meridians[1] and make him feel like he had become a first-rate master.

Rather, it felt like there was a strange, foreign energy shuttling to-and-fro in his meridians, endlessly circulating through his body. It was basically like a guide for one to follow that showed how to direct their qi through the meridians—the jade pendant merely passed down this internal art to Zhao Changhe.

But with this energy acting as an introductory primer to internal arts, Zhao Changhe had hopped over the hurdle of learning how to circulate his qi and could immediately begin cultivating internal arts.

The remnant qi had not seeped out of the pendant at all over the course of seventeen years. In addition, it could even enter the holder’s body, act according to some set function, and determine whether or not it would pass down the internal art based on whether the holder was male or female. From these facts alone, one could understand that the jade pendant was the work of the number one person on the Ranking of Heaven. It was undoubtedly amazing.

Not only was the cultivation art unique and unmatched, so too was this qi. With Xia Longyuan’s qi acting as a guide in Zhao Changhe’s body, anyone who knew of this qi would be able to deduce that he was Xia Longyuan’s progeny.

Zhao Changhe was conflicted.

A first-rate internal art was of great importance to him.

Not only had he obtained a stronger art than the Blood God Art, he could now also practice both internal and external arts. More importantly, it was possible that he could remedy the side-effects of the Vicious Blood Art by using it. Luo Qi was able to use the sharp, aggressive, and powerful qi of the White Tiger Art to suppress Zhao Changhe’s qi and blood, after all. It went without question that this cultivation art, which the emperor intended to pass down to his child and was mightier and less aggressive, could do the same.

Even if it could not completely cure him, it could at least help him alleviate the pain and he would not need to rely on medicines anymore. There was nothing doubtful about this.

Zhao Changhe was conflicted for three seconds.

Why shouldn’t I learn this? Fate can fuck right off.

He stopped resisting, brazenly sat on the floor with his legs wide apart and let the qi inside his body circulate around.

Seeing that Zhao Changhe had gained something out of this after all, Luo Qi’s worry that she might have snatched a treasure from him had lessened considerably. Her eyes glowed gently as she looked at him quietly conducting his introspection. “Changhe...”

“Yeah?”

“What are you thinking about? Is this internal art difficult to practice? Do you need me to give you some advice?”

“Oh... It doesn’t look too difficult.” Zhao Changhe returned to his senses and asked, “I was just wondering.... This inheritance from your father doesn’t seem to be able to check one’s bloodline. If it fell into the hands of others, wouldn’t they basically receive it for free?”

“It’s always been very difficult to test one’s bloodline. Suppose that everyone used blood tests to determine who was related to them. It’s possible for one’s own child to fail the test while a random person on the street could pass it. I would think that my father set up something to test the blood, but it looks like yours passed the test?”

Zhao Changhe did not know if he should laugh or cry. Even though this was a fantasy world from his perspective, it was not fantastical to the point of absurdity. They’re only relying on blood tests and have no way of using DNA... Of course the results won’t be accurate.

Luo Qi replied with uncertainty, “It could also be that he thought my mother was strong and wasn’t injured or sick, just pregnant. It would not have made sense for her to be unable to guard it and fall into someone else’s hands. Though I also find this whole thing strange. I mean, he should have known that once my mother passed away, there was no guarantee that the jade pendant would be guarded.”

Zhao Changhe said, “Indeed. When your mother was still around, it was understandable why he didn’t come and meet you. But after she passed away, why didn’t he come and bring you back to the capital? Was it really because your birth was considered a scandal?”

Luo Qi shook her head, lost in thought. “Whatever the reason is, we’re not him, so we can only guess. Anyway, things have already gotten to this point. There’s no point in trying to figure out what he was thinking at the time...”

Luo Qi thought there was no point in doing so, but Zhao Changhe thought otherwise. Everything suspicious could be connected to the transmigration mystery of the position card and fate.

Of course, what Luo Qi said was also correct. They were not Xia Longyuan, so how could they possibly know what he was thinking? Continuing to make guesses was on the same level as bandits spreading rumors. It was merely playing with one’s imagination... They probably needed to ask the emperor in person to figure it all out.

While thinking about all of this, the gentle glow from the Azure Dragon Seal slowly faded away from Luo Qi. The radiance in Luo Qi’s eyes disappeared in a flash.

The fifth layer of the Profound Gate.

This was not the Azure Dragon Seal passing down some martial art. Instead, it was directly improving her body, expanding her meridians and reinforcing her acupoints. Not only did this allow her to break through her current bottleneck, it also paved a flat road for her future. It was very possible that she would never experience any bottlenecks.

At the same time, she should have also received some martial arts related to the Azure Dragon...

There were wondrous things in the world that could purify one’s body and pass down amazing powers. These were all very suitable for Zhao Changhe in his current position. Today, the White Tiger Art and Azure Dragon Qi intertwined with each other and shone forth brightly. There was now no limit to Luo Qi’s future achievements.

She heaved a sigh and said softly, “I still don’t think I really deserve all this.”

“You...” Zhao Changhe broke out in laughter. “You’re still bringing this up... Wait, we’ve been talking about your story with the emperor. Can you tell me more about the story behind you and the Azure Dragon Seal? You said you’ve wanted this since you were young. Did it have anything to do with your mother?”

Luo Qi nodded, “The ‘mang’ in ‘Beimang’ means ‘burial mound.’ In the previous era, this land was the burial place of an emperor. The Azure Dragon Seal is actually a ruler’s jade seal.”

Zhao Changhe was once again dumbstruck.

This explanation lined up with how people usually understood the name of Mt. Mang back in the real world.

Right, from a certain angle, one could somewhat consider Luo Qi’s situation as “The emperor seems not like the emperor; the king seems not like a king; and the officials and generals ride to Beimang[2].”

This world has some strange connections to the real world...

“What’s this ‘previous era’?”

“I’m not very sure. I was very young when I heard about it from my mother and she also didn’t say a lot about it. She said that the world was not like this in the past. It became like this after experiencing some calamity. A lot of knowledge we possess now is from records that have survived from that era. We’ve never seen the things written down in them. For example, the emperors Yao and Jie you asked about before.”

Zhao Changhe was stupefied.

For fuck’s sake.... Don’t tell me Earth is an online game and this world just reopened an old server. Wait...no, there was never any Azure Dragon Seal belonging to any strong person buried at Beimang on Earth. The three sovereigns and five emperors were buried there.

“This emperor’s burial mound should have been the inheritance of the Azure Dragon passed down from the previous era. Dragons always had a connection to emperors. Originally, the mound must have had a lot of restrictions in place, but not here. Rather, it was at the underground altar we saw. A few years ago, the Four Idols Cult must have broken inside it and cleared it out. On some random tomb, it was written that there was still some place containing an Azure Dragon Seal—the inheritance of that emperor intended for the one fated to receive it. This inheritance was not supposed to be hard to find, nor was it dangerous to obtain. One simply needed to be lucky enough to find it.”

“I see... Since they broke into the mound years ago, why are they only beginning to search now?”

“Because the one responsible for the search at the time was my mother. It can be said that she was misled after believing what the emperor said. And with the disappearance of the person in charge of all this, the Four Idols Cult must have hit a dead end. I would think that it was only a few years later that someone discovered new clues and restarted the search... To be honest, I myself wasn’t sure of the exact location of this place, let alone that it would only appear in the presence of vicious blood qi.” Luo Qi said in a low voice, “So the actual person fated to receive all this should be you.”

Thus, she had been guilt-ridden over having snatched something Zhao Changhe was destined to find. However, he felt the exact opposite. More and more, he believed that this thing was originally meant for Luo Qi. If he took it for himself, that would be taking away Luo Qi’s future.

Whatever they thought, both were concerned for the other.

“How charming those green hills are to me, surely they must view me similarly[3].”

Looking at Luo Qi’s remorseful appearance, Zhao Changhe gulped and said in a low voice, “This is clearly a good thing. Both of us gained something. Our suffering here for more than a month wasn’t for nothing. Why are you still putting on a long face?”

“Your... Your future path is uncertain. Xia Longyuan’s martial art clearly cannot compare in the slightest to the Azure Dragon Seal.” Luo Qi was conflicted. “Moreover, you’ve found your way into the Imperial Clan's internal struggle. I feel that none of this is what you wanted, I...”

Zhao Changhe suddenly stood up and took a step toward her.

Luo Qi retreated a step.

In such a small space, she quickly found her back against the wall. There was no more room to move back.

Zhao Changhe lowered his head and looked at Luo Qi’s nervous eyes. He said in a low voice, “Senior martial brother, if you feel so sorry... Then can you crossdress for my pleasure?”

1. Special meridians in traditional chinese medicine that act as a store for qi. ☜

2.骑走北邙”This is a line from Romance of The Three Kingdoms and refers to the story of how after He Jin was executed by the corrupt eunuchs, Yuan Shao fought his way into the imperial palace. Afterwards, the eunuchs took the emperor and began fleeing to Beimang with King Chenliu. Along the way, they were confronted by the tyrant Dong Zhuo. King Chenliu went to do battle and his display of strength was more like an emperor than the emperor himself. This is the meaning of “The emperor seems not like the emperor; the king seems not like a king.” The following line “...and generals ride to Beimang” refers to how all the court officials and generals rode to Beimang to search for the emperor. ☜

3. This is from a Song Dynasty poem written by Xin Qiji. ☜