Turtle Luo Book

Yang City belonged to Bing Prefecture of the Great Xuan Dynasty. It could not be called the most prosperous, but it was modestly sizable. Even in the dead of night, several inns still had their lamps lit.

Zhou Sheng did not leave Yang City immediately. Instead, he first checked into an inn.

The room was small, but clean and tidy.

He set down the Opera Box and sat cross-legged on the bed. Only then did his taut nerves finally relax.

Rather than inspect the mysterious old man's gift, he could not wait to close his eyes and focus inward.

Within his mind, the ancient turtle shell inscribed with the words "Luo Book" gleamed with flowing light, utterly unlike its previous dimness.

This was Zhou Sheng's greatest secret.

In his previous life, he had been a university student in Earth China, living an ordinary life. The only unusual thing about him was his love of collecting old objects.

Once, at an antique street stall, he had taken a fancy to a turtle shell that looked exceptionally ancient.

Its surface was covered in mottled green patina, and its crisscrossing cracks possessed a strange beauty, as though it might shatter at any moment. The two words "Luo Book" in one corner had caught his attention at once.

The owner claimed it was the legendary "Turtle Luo Book." Legend said that when Da Yu controlled the floods, a divine turtle surfaced from the Luo River, mystical patterns growing upon its back and recording the mysteries of heaven, earth, and all creation. That was the Luo Book.

Only after Da Yu obtained the Luo Book could he fully comprehend the wonders of mountains, rivers, and geography, alter rivers and redirect streams, and reshape heaven and earth.

Seeing how much Zhou Sheng liked it, the owner opened with a price of one million.

Zhou Sheng asked if one hundred would do. The owner sold it.

He had thought he had overpaid...

But the facts proved that the turtle shell was indeed extraordinary. After a car accident, it had actually carried him across worlds to this place, a world remarkably similar to ancient China, where even much of the culture and history ran in the same vein.

For instance, this world also had the Han and Tang Dynasties. Yet Huang Chao's rebellion had succeeded here. He had stormed Chang'an, secured the realm, founded the Great Qi Dynasty, and extended its imperial fortune for one hundred and seventy-four years.

After that, the river of history had branched like a forked stream, flowing toward an utterly different course. Following many more changes of dynasty, it was now the realm of the Great Xuan Dynasty.

Throughout this process, many famous figures from Chinese history had not vanished. Most of them still left their names in the annals of history.

For example, Lord Bao had died several centuries ago, yet his reputation and influence among the common people had only grown greater, even surpassing what he had enjoyed in China.

Only, the era in which he had lived was no longer called the Song Dynasty, but the Great Gan Dynasty.

After the Great Gan Dynasty came the present Great Xuan Dynasty.

Yet more than three hundred years after its founding, the Great Xuan Dynasty now bore all the signs of a dynasty in its final days. A tyrant sat upon the throne, officials were corrupt, land was annexed, and natural and man-made disasters plagued every region. People often gathered in the mountains and forests, taking to the hills as bandits.

On his way to Yang City, Zhou Sheng had casually killed a group of mountain bandits committing robbery.

Thinking of this, his heart filled with gratitude toward the turtle shell. He remembered that when he had first crossed over, he had become a child who had just starved to death along the road of fleeing famine. When he woke, he saw people lighting a fire and boiling soup...

The terror of that moment remained unforgettable even now.

Just as those people swallowed hungrily at the sight of him, a Wolf Demon that had gained sentience by eating far too much human flesh attacked and bit them to death.

Zhou Sheng escaped amid the chaos. Guided by the turtle shell, he encountered someone in the depths of despair.

The Ghost Opera Performer, Yu Zhensheng.

He had personally witnessed how Yu Zhensheng effortlessly slew the Wolf Demon, which was swift as lightning and built like a calf.

The Spirit Officer spewed fire, the Divine General swung his blade!

That very night, he ate fragrant roasted wolf meat.

Afterward, he resolved to take Yu Zhensheng as his Master. At first, the man adamantly refused to accept him. Again relying on the turtle shell's guidance, Zhou Sheng followed him for three days and three nights.

Yu Zhensheng looked at the ragged, swaying child with his stubborn gaze and, in the end, his heart softened.

Thus, in the dead of night when no one was around, he would casually sing a few lines.

Zhou Sheng then began painstakingly practicing those few opera verses. He had talent to begin with, and with his willingness to endure hardship and diligence, he finally moved Yu Zhensheng.

Even now, he remembered the day he finished singing The Case of Executing Mei for the twenty-sixth time, his throat nearly singing blood, when a hand covered his mouth.

"If you want to learn Yin Opera, you must protect your voice. Otherwise, once you reach Molting Season, not even immortals can save you."

Yu Zhensheng picked him up. His movements were gentle, but his voice was cold.

"Remember, you were the one who insisted on learning Yin Opera. If you die in the streets or leave your corpse exposed in the wilderness someday... do not blame your Master."

The past rose vividly before his eyes, and Zhou Sheng could not help but smile.

Learning Yin Opera had been bitter, exhausting, and dangerous, but it had given him the means to settle down and survive in chaotic times. It had also allowed him to touch another bizarre and dazzling world.

Cultivation, immortality, ghosts and gods!

With the turtle shell in hand, he was confident that he could carve out a great road to heaven that belonged to him alone in this mysterious and dangerous world!

"Luo Book, who exactly was that old man just now?"

Zhou Sheng silently recited the question in his heart, asking the turtle shell.

The next moment, the turtle shell blossomed with radiance. Wisps of pale golden flame appeared beneath it, baking its surface.

Zhou Sheng vaguely heard an ancient song, like the ritual music of shamans from primordial times, carrying a majestic, towering, and mysterious air.

It was said that shamans of the Shang Dynasty often used turtle shells for divination, called Turtle Shell Divination. They used flames to bake cracks into the shells, then had the high priest interpret heaven's will.

Thus, the Records of the Grand Historian: Treatise on Turtle Divination recorded that shamans recited incantations during Turtle Shell Divination, calling the turtle "Jade Spirit Master" and saying, "You travel above in heaven and below in the abyss; among all spirits, numbers, and stratagems, none are more trustworthy than you."

With a faint crack, a mysterious fissure appeared upon the turtle shell in Zhou Sheng's mind.

The next moment, a stream of information flooded into his mind.

"Lu Bingyuan, courtesy name Shoujiang, was a man of the Mingjing era of the Great Gan Dynasty. He once served as prefect of Pingyang Prefecture and Bing Prefecture. In the thirty-seventh year of Mingjing, rebel forces besieged the city. To cover the people's retreat into the Lüliang Mountains fortress, Lu Bingyuan led soldiers in street battles, bathing in blood as he held off the enemy, fighting to the death without retreating."

"Later, the people gathered his bones and pieced together his broken remains. They honored him as Duke Lu, built a temple to worship him, and kept the incense offerings unbroken. He now serves as the City God of Yang City."

Zhou Sheng opened his eyes, a gleam flashing through them. Just as expected, he truly was the local City God!

The City God was an Underworld Official responsible for all major and minor affairs of the underworld within a region. Under him were the Six Departments of Underworld Generals, Ghost Messengers, and Ghost Soldiers. He was a genuine Orthodox God.

A Fierce Ghost like Shen Jinhua might seem formidable, but before the City God, she was not worth mentioning at all. He could casually dispatch an Underworld messenger or general to capture her with ease.

But the problem was that the City God's attitude toward this matter was exceedingly ambiguous.

Judging from his experiences in life, Lu Bingyuan should have been an upright man. Yet now, despite knowing full well that Shen Jinhua had died with injustice in her heart, he did nothing.

Perhaps it was not that he would not act, but that even a City God of one region had the will but lacked the strength?

At this thought, a chill welled up in Zhou Sheng's heart. After hesitating, he ultimately did not ask the Luo Book who the true culprit behind the scenes was.

Because every Turtle Shell Divination performed by the Luo Book consumed a certain kind of energy.

That energy accumulated automatically with the rising and setting of the sun and moon, but very slowly. Only when he slew demons and exterminated evil did it surge dramatically.

That was why the turtle shell had blossomed with radiance when he killed Shen Jinhua.

Moreover, the more consequential the question and the more heavenly secrets it involved, the greater the energy consumed during Turtle Shell Divination. Therefore, Zhou Sheng would not waste it carelessly.

After thinking for a moment, he took the small Golden Silk Nanmu box from his robes.

A gift from the City God—let him see what kind of treasure it truly was.