Free Web Novel“So...”
After Dragon Tang adjusted his emotions and began to recount the past, Lu Yibei couldn't help but ask, “That night, did they all die in battle?”
“No.” Dragon Tang shook his head and said, “I originally thought that after that night, all my comrades would have died in battle in the South of the city...”.
“Upon hearing that my comrades had died in battle, I left the Lords Manor before my injuries had fully healed. On the very night I left the Lords Manor, something happened that made me realize there was still a small group of survivors.”
“What happened that night?” Lu Yibei asked curiously.
“That night, I went to patrol the border between the North and South as usual...” Dragon Tang recalled, “The first half of the night was calm, and I thought those evil spirits had been temporarily repelled and wouldn't attack again for a short time. It wasn't until the latter half of the night that over a hundred more evil spirits infiltrated the North of the city, divided into three routes.”
“At first, I only discovered one of the larger groups of evil spirits, and without much thought, I went to pursue them. After killing that group of evil spirits and returning to pursue another group, I found that they had already approached the Daimu Courtyard.”
“It was a coincidence that five women went into labor that day, one after another. It was the first time so many ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) newborns had been born since the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate was sealed. By night, the cries in the Daimu Courtyard were almost ceaseless...”
Hearing this, Lu Yibei nodded thoughtfully.
She had previously heard Dragon Tang mention that to prevent pregnant women from being affected by the Shaman King's power and giving birth to deformed babies, almost all pregnant women would be gathered at the Daimu Courtyard, which had been transformed by Xia Lianqing and equipped with many special Spells, to await childbirth.
Of course, this wasn't a big problem initially. The real problem was that five babies were born consecutively on the same day.
She had personally witnessed what it was like when several newborns gathered together.
When her eyesight had just recovered, and she was still under observation in the hospital, she liked to wander around the inpatient department. Once, she accidentally entered the obstetrics inpatient department and personally experienced what it meant to have “one cry lead to a hundred responses.”
It was no exaggeration to say that if one baby started crying, the other babies, upon hearing it, would immediately follow with loud wails, as if competing to see who could cry louder.
“The children’s cries provoked the ferocity of the evil spirits, causing them to launch an attack on the Daimu Courtyard. My injuries were not yet healed, and I couldn't eliminate them all at once. Just as they were about to break through the Spells set up outside the Daimu Courtyard, the sound of clashing weapons and a song came from afar...” Dragon Tang continued. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
“I followed the singing and saw several armored figures appearing at the end of the street on the other side. Although I couldn't see their faces clearly, judging by the style of their armor, they must have been comrades from the Long Xiang Army.”
“They attracted the attention of those evil spirits, successfully led away most of them, and bought me enough time to eliminate the remaining evil spirits, thus resolving that crisis...”.
“To be honest, if they hadn’t appeared, I would have been prepared to die with those evil spirits that night... No matter what, the children had to be saved; they are the hope of the Yumen Pass.” At this point, a warm smile appeared on Dragon Tang’s face.
It was then that Lu Yibei suddenly felt that he was like an ordinary Old man, smiling especially kindly when talking about his grandchildren.
————
“The imperial wind covers the four seas, the virtuous waters are clear for a thousand years;
No more military uniforms to wear, today success is declared,
Looking back, the Qin fortress is low like a horse, gradually seeing the Yellow River flowing straight North.
Heaven's might directly sweeps the Yumen Pass, all the barbarian people sing Han songs!
The imperial wind covers the four seas, the virtuous waters are clear for a thousand years;
...
We sang “Stepping on Yanran” and “Prince Qin Breaking the Enemy Formation Music” all the way, striking our weapons, leading those evil spirits out of the North of the city, and finally trapping and killing them in an abandoned residence in the South of the city.
However, even though we won this time, I am still worried.
We all contracted the red rash plague, and this disease has no cure. We fear our lives will not be long. This time we could still reinforce the North of the city, but next time, I'm afraid we will have to join those evil spirits.”
Chen Yungge’s second-to-last reading record flashed through Shen Baiwei’s mind, and she felt an indescribable bitterness welling up in her heart.
However, when she saw Chen Yungge's last reading record, left three years later, she breathed a sigh of relief, and then the bitterness quietly transformed into a mix of emotions.
“Recently, I can clearly feel that my end is near.
Thinking that my uncle's instruction to record the changes in the city on behalf of the Miracle Saintesses must not be lost in my hands, I secretly entered the North of the city at night to find my son, wishing for him to inherit his father's profession.
On the way, I accidentally heard that what we had done was widely spread in the city, and I immediately felt that this life had no regrets, hence this record.”
Yes, the story of the Longxiang Army Armored Soldiers who miraculously survived that night, despite contracting the red rash plague, and came to the aid of the Daimu Courtyard, spread by word of mouth within the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate, eventually becoming a urban legend legend.
Legend has it that the Longxiang Army Armored Soldiers who died fighting the evil spirits in the South of the city had their souls linger, becoming ghost immortals, constantly wandering in unseen places, protecting the children in the city from harm by evil spirits and ensuring they grew up healthy.
It sounds like something akin to a bedside grandmother or a mother-child Jizo. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
And in the subsequent records of Chen Yungge's son, there were many accounts of children witnessing Longxiang Army Armored Soldiers.
Either a child accidentally fell into a well and was rescued by a big man in black armor.
Or a child, while playing, accidentally wandered into the ruins of the South of the city, got lost, and was led home by a big man in black armor.
There were even cases where parents died early, and the children were secretly raised to adulthood by big men in black armor.
It seems that due to the existence of these rumors, one or more urban legend formed by the spirits of the Long Xiang Army truly emerged in the South of the city, protecting everyone.
Over time, the legends about those deceased Long Xiang Army became the most widely circulated legends in the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate, besides the “two first-generation Miracle Saintesses.”
At first, Shen Baiwei was curious about how the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate had continued for a thousand years.
In her opinion, even if Dragon Tang advanced to a Calamity, it would not be enough to govern the Yumen Pass for a thousand years.
If it relied solely on Dragon Tang, his fate would likely be similar to those Calamity level strange stories that became twisted and corrupted as their beliefs degenerated.
But after she read these reading records, she had a sudden realization.
What sustained the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate for a thousand years was not only the power of Dragon Tang, who possessed Calamity level power, and the miracle flower, but also the Long Xiang Army who transformed into urban legend and guarded it in secret.
Thus, under the influence of these three factors, the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate experienced a long period of stability and peace.
However, the greatest crisis of the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate—resource depletion—had just begun.
The Divine Kingdom Jade Gate appeared vast in space, but it fundamentally could not sustain tens of thousands of people for long-term survival.
About three hundred years after Shen Baiwei and Lu Yibei left, the Spiritual Energy obtained from those tribal warriors was already exhausted, followed by water depletion, crop reduction, and livestock deaths...
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The Divine Kingdom Jade Gate, which had barely survived the red rash plague crisis, was like a patient who had just recovered from an acute illness but then contracted a severe chronic one.
Unfortunately, this time the “chronic illness” was incurable...
And compared to the previous detailed, almost trivial reading records, only very brief reading records of this period of the past remained.
“Within the city, food and water are exhausted, and over a hundred people die daily.”
And after this reading record appeared, the reading records concerning the changes in the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate noticeably decreased, with a new reading record appearing only every few years, or even more than ten years.
“After more than ten years of famine, only one in ten survivors remain.”
“The Lord advanced to Calamity, sending five sons out of the Yumen Pass to seek a glimmer of hope.”
...
From those brief and heavy reading records, Shen Baiwei fully and deeply understood the meaning of “the fewer the words, the greater the matter.”
The five youths who went to seek a glimmer of hope for the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate never returned. In the following seven or eight hundred years, the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate seemed to fall into a vicious cycle.
Approximately every 330 years, as the number of external urban legend surged, the Spiritual Energy of the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate would be replenished, ushering in a “good period” lasting twenty to thirty years, after which it would gradually decline until the next 330-year cycle arrived, repeating endlessly.
By now, the third 330-year cycle had just passed, and the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate had only enjoyed about five years of “good days” before two major events occurred—the Shaman King's escape and the return of the two original Miracle Saintesses.
So, not long before Shen Baiwei received that small booklet, Soldier Chen Long's descendant, many generations removed, wrote the final reading record.
“miracles return, salvation has arrived.”
For a long time.
Shen Baiwei, finally waking up from her “frozen” state, felt the surging Spiritual Energy fluctuations within her, almost breaking through the critical point and advancing further. Only one thought flashed through her mind—damn the Shaman King!
If not for the disaster unleashed by the Shaman King, how could the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate and its residents have suffered for over a thousand years?
Immediately after, looking down at the small booklet in her hand, which had turned completely blank, she frowned as if something else had occurred to her.
From the reading records on it, the last time the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate received Spiritual Energy replenishment was five years ago, which roughly matches the time when the night became longer...
It also said that before this, a similar situation would occur approximately every 330 years... This certainly isn't a coincidence.
Could it be that the prolonged night is not the first time this has happened?
But why hasn't it been heard of before? Shen Baiwei wondered, puzzled.
Not only had she never heard of it, but she hadn't even seen any related reading records in the Eclipse Society's archives.
She had a vague feeling that someone, for some undisclosed reason, had deliberately concealed this bizarre cycle.
In fact, over a period of more than three hundred years, it is very easy to erase the traces of something that has happened.
If we use the change in a urban legend's authority as an example, it's easy to understand. After all, if someone deliberately promoted it, a mere hundred or eighty years would be enough to completely change most beings' perception of a urban legend.
Wait!
Shen Baiwei suddenly frowned.
Could it be that this cycle, occurring every three hundred years or so, involves a urban legend that cannot be spoken of, or even merely thought about without inviting danger, which is why its traces were deliberately erased?
If that's the case...
Just as Shen Baiwei was deep in thought, the voices of Lu Yibei and Dragon Tang came, interrupting her musings.
“Lilim Miss, are you returning this time to take everyone away?” Dragon Tang asked.
“...” Lu Yibei was silent for a long time, finally giving the somewhat cruel answer, “No, it’s not time yet.”
Although the truth was very cruel to Dragon Tang, as Chatterbox Girl had said, allowing the remaining residents of the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate to leave now would be tantamount to personally pushing them towards extinction.
“We...” Halfway through her sentence, she paused, glancing at Shen Baiwei out of the corner of her eye, then corrected herself, “I don’t have enough power to take everyone away yet.”
She said “we,” then changed it to exclude me? Hearing this, Shen Baiwei frowned.
“But rest assured, in a few years, ten years at most, I will return, and then I can take everyone away.” Lu Yibei continued.
She couldn't guarantee when she would gain enough power to complete the God Kingdom Prototype; ten years was already quite an exaggeration.
For most Psychic and urban legend, creating a complete God Kingdom that can sustain living beings for a long time is likely something that cannot be achieved in a lifetime.
“A few years, or even decades...” A flicker of dimness briefly crossed Dragon Tang’s eyes, but then a smile appeared on his aged face, and he spoke surprisingly.
“Actually, Lilim Miss and Miss Shen, you are both people from a thousand years later, aren't you?”
Dragon Tang’s seemingly disjointed words instantly made Lu Yibei and Shen Baiwei both widen their eyes.
“I only guessed it just now when I saw you...” Seeing their reaction, Dragon Tang explained, “After all, now, whether in terms of strength or appearance, you are exactly the same as when you left, as if only a cup of tea’s worth of time has passed...”
It really has only been a cup of tea's worth of time... Lu Yibei thought, re-examining Dragon Tang, her brows slightly furrowed.
She suddenly realized that although the Dragon Tang before her still looked like the Dragon Tang of yesteryear, that was only true for her and Shen Baiwei.
From another perspective, the current Dragon Tang was also a genuine, thousand-year-old Calamity level Old man, whose insight and understanding of Spiritual Energy were probably no worse than Old man Zhang Huainan's, perhaps even more formidable.
It wasn't surprising that he could guess their identities and origins.
“You are still the same as you were back then, but I have grown old.” Dragon Tang continued, “Very, very old. I’m only hanging on by a thread with the power of the miracle flower; otherwise, I should have died hundreds of years ago...”
The more Lu Yibei listened, the more she felt that Dragon Tang's tone was off, and she couldn't help but interrupt, “What are you trying to say?”
“What I want to say is, now that the Shaman King has broken free from his suppression, the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate has lost its most important source of Spiritual Energy and probably won't last much longer. Let me bear it and walk the last few to ten-odd years of its time, shall I?”
Lu Yibei, “!!!”
