Qin Zhaoye Publicly Declared Himself the Myriad Ages Historian

Qin Zhaoye stepped across the threshold of Perching Swan Academy's gate, and the formation on the long street outside immediately came into view.

He Zhili, the man in charge of the Spirit Hall Suotuo Branch Hall, sat upright on a tall horse, the pressure of a level fifty-five Soul King held in check. An arrest warrant bearing gold characters on a black background hung high before him.

Two level forty law enforcement elders stood with hands on their blades to either side of the horse. Behind them, dozens of the expedition squad's elites stood in gleaming armor, blocking the entire street tight.

But compared to the expedition squad's murderous solemnity, the rooftops, walls, and tavern windowsills on both sides of the street were livelier still.

Townspeople who had risen early to watch the spectacle, along with a few low-level Soul Masters, crowded the eaves along half the street, craning their necks to peer at the academy gates. Perching Swan Academy, which the Spirit Hall had surrounded as a suspected hideout, had become the center of the show for all Suotuo City overnight.

Behind the academy portico, Dean Feng Yanqiu's calves were cramping, but he still could not bear to retreat to the front courtyard. Clutching a plaque bearing the four large characters "Our Academy's Genius" against his chest, he hid beside the doorframe and poked half his head out.

When He Zhili saw the man himself appear, he placed a hand on his saber hilt and shouted in a deep voice:

"Qin Zhaoye! You stole the western outskirts' legacy and injured the branch hall's law enforcement team. The evidence of your crimes is conclusive! Why don't you tell us who your master is and where you come from, and surrender without a fight?!"

Qin Zhaoye stood in the middle of the stone steps at the academy gate. He glanced at the warrant hanging overhead and spoke in a ringing voice before the thousands of eyes on the street:

"Didn't you want to know where I came from, Chief He? Remember this: I never change my name, standing or sitting. Myriad Ages Historian, Qin Zhaoye!"

The words "Myriad Ages Historian" carried down the street. The expedition squad elites in the front ranks heard them and exchanged bewildered looks, while the spectators on the walls and eaves erupted on the spot.

"Myriad Ages Historian? What kind of title is that? Why does he sound even more arrogant than the city lord's residence?"

"Have you forgotten that monstrous newcomer who disarmed Young Master Cen of his spear in just a few moves at the Soul Fighting Arena the other day? It has to be him!"

"And when they searched the western outskirts' legacy and came up empty, Captain Li took men to Perching Swan Academy in the middle of the night and fled back after being beaten bloody. So all of that happened at this man's hands."

As the townspeople on the walls talked over one another, the old stories that had spread through Suotuo City like legends were all tied to the title "Myriad Ages Historian" in the blink of an eye, and the tale spread and swelled rapidly from mouth to mouth along the street.

He Zhili's face darkened at the clamor around him. He raised a hand and waved it. "Putting on a mystical act! Elders, strike together and take him down first!"

"Understood!"

The two level forty law enforcement elders at the front of the formation roared in unison. Four Soul Rings, two yellow and two purple, rose beneath each of them!

The elder on the left wielded a heavy blade and chopped straight down, while the elder on the right moved like lightning around the flank. The vast Soul Power of two level forty Soul Ancestors closed in from both sides, completely sealing Qin Zhaoye's path back through the academy gate in a single exchange!

Though he faced a joint attack from two opponents two levels above him, Qin Zhaoye stood his ground without taking a single step back. Three deep-purple Thousand-Year Soul Rings lit up beneath his feet at once!

Half a breath before the two elders struck, Qin Zhaoye's First Soul Ring flashed purple, and his first Soul Skill, Historical Brush Errata, activated on the spot!

On the pages of the half-open bronze scroll in his hand, dozens of fine golden lines rapidly traced out the diagonal angle of the left elder's descending blade, the point where the right elder's flanking thrust would land, and even the gaps between their bursts of strength as they exerted themselves and drew breath, rehearsing every detail without the slightest error.

The instant he saw their trajectories, Qin Zhaoye's second Soul Ring lit up, and his second Soul Skill, Folded Page, activated!

Just as the heavy blade came down upon him, his figure folded out of sight. In the blink of an eye, he shifted several zhang sideways, slipping precisely into the blind spot behind and to the side of their combined attack!

With a muffled boom, the left elder's heavy blade and the right elder's palm wind brushed past his afterimage and crashed into each other, cleaving a deep trench in the bluestone slabs before the gate. But they had not so much as touched the hem of Qin Zhaoye's clothes.

The right elder realized with a start that he had missed. His fourth, purple Soul Ring suddenly flared, and the moment a dazzling cold light gathered between his palms for his trump-card fourth Soul Skill, he prepared to blast it at Qin Zhaoye beside him!

Qin Zhaoye's gaze sharpened. His third Soul Ring blazed purple, and his third Soul Skill, Chapter Severing, descended head-on!

An invisible force of severance cut straight into the hub of the right elder's Soul Power circulation, forcibly snuffing out his signature Soul Skill when it was only halfway charged!

The right elder felt a tightness in his chest, and his entire arm went stiff and numb in an instant from the Soul Power backlash.

Qin Zhaoye gave him no chance to catch his breath. He snapped the bronze scroll shut like a mace and pressed in, advancing through the openings he had just rehearsed!

First, he slammed the heavy scroll squarely into the right elder's unguarded chest. Then he spun and shifted his footing, driving a precise kick into the opening beneath the left elder's ribs, where his old strength had run out and his new strength had yet to rise.

Two muffled thuds rang out. Like sandbags with their strings cut, the two level forty law enforcement elders fell out of the fight and crashed heavily onto the bluestone street several zhang away, one to the left and one to the right, their spears broken before the crowd.

How long had it taken a level thirty-eight, three-ring Soul Elder to face a pair of level forties head-on? Just one exchange.

The fight was lively here, and the Myriad Ages Douluo Group had not been idle either. The Group Hub's live transcription of the greatest source of deviation in the first epoch had remained on the public screen throughout, and several online group members watched without blinking.

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: Holy shit! Level thirty-eight against two level forty Soul Ancestors head-on, and he knocked them both flat right there?! Errata to read their moves, Folded Page to dodge the combined attack, Chapter Severing to snuff out the fourth Soul Skill-that combo! I've already recorded it and even pinned it in the ancestral combat manual!]

What Lan Xuanyu cared about was something else.

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Did you hear the title he gave at the academy gate just now? Myriad Ages Historian! Good grief, that monstrous newcomer in Suotuo City just slapped the Historian title out there in public!]

[The Bystander Sees Clearly: He didn't meet force with brute force. He dismantled their combined attack entirely through prediction, movement, and interruption. So from the moment those two level forty elders made their moves to the moment they hit the ground, neither managed to unleash a single complete Soul Skill.]

[Tang San: Predicting the trajectories of their moves, and even directly cutting off a Soul Skill someone else is casting... The coordination between those three Thousand-Year Soul Rings is watertight.]

As praise flooded the group chat, the long street before Perching Swan Academy erupted, after a brief dead silence, into an uproar loud enough to lift the rooftops!

The right elder, sprawled on the eastern side of the street, had no time to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth. He stared blankly at his empty palms, his Soul Skill forcibly snuffed out, and murmured to himself with trembling lips:

"My fourth Soul Skill... How did it go out on its own before I could even use it?"

On the western side, the left elder braced himself on his saber hilt and rose to one knee. Looking at Qin Zhaoye below the stone steps, he lost his composure and demanded again and again:

"How did you know I was going to change my move to the left? Just how did you see through this old man's move in advance?!"

Under the portico, Dean Feng Yanqiu, whose calves had still been trembling moments ago, suddenly straightened his back.

The fat on his face jiggled as he hoisted the "Our Academy's Genius" plaque from his arms high above his head and waved it vigorously at the townspeople on the walls to either side.

"See that?! Our academy's genius! This is the treasure that safeguards our Perching Swan Academy!"

The spectators on the walls and eaves went completely wild, their cheers rising in wave after wave.

"Three rings beat two four-ring elders! How is that a student? He should be called the Move-Breaking Historian!"

"What Move-Breaking Historian? He just gave his title. He's called the Myriad Ages Historian!"

"Myriad Ages Historian Qin Zhaoye! Getting up early for this show really paid off today!"

As the townspeople from across the city coined nicknames on the spot, the words "Myriad Ages Historian" spread farther and louder in every direction through Suotuo City amid the boiling clamor.

Behind the battle formation, the muscles in Branch Hall Chief He Zhili's face twitched, and his expression turned livid.

After all, the two level forty vanguards he had brought had not lasted a single exchange before they were lying on the ground in public. If he could not take this man down today, then he, the chief of the Suotuo Branch Hall, would surely become the laughingstock of the entire city.

He Zhili flung aside the reins, swung down from his horse, and stepped forward. The immense pressure of a level fifty-five Soul King bore down on Qin Zhaoye before the academy gate, held back no longer and almost solid.

The heavy Soul Power pressed down on the center of the street. The whole stretch of bluestone beneath their feet gave a piercing crack, and fissures burst outward along the seams between the slabs, reaching all the way to the tips of Qin Zhaoye's boots.

"You brat who still stinks of milk, what makes you worthy of bargaining with the Spirit Hall?"