Bestowed a Name, Li Hao

A headache, a violent, splitting pain!

Li Hao tried to open his eyes, but it felt unbearably difficult.

At last, a narrow crack slowly opened before him.

Dim light entered his eyes. An ancient hall towered majestically, solemn and austere. Before him lay a long, dark-gold carpet patterned with fierce dragon scales.

On the steps at the end of the carpet sat a majestic giant whose presence could swallow mountains and rivers. His gaze was like a torch, like candlefire in the black night, carrying a soul-seizing radiance.

This... where is this? Wasn't I playing a game?

Oh, my phone ran out of battery. I was just about to charge it...

Li Hao's mind was somewhat sluggish, dazed and muddled, as he stared blankly at everything around him.

Damn it, don't tell me I fell asleep holding my phone again?

But this did not seem to be a dream.

"Nineteen years old, valor crowned the three armies, he beheaded the royal court, exterminated great demons, and pacified a hundred years of disaster in my Cang Province. Such a hero is not only a grief to your Li Family, but also a grief to the countless common people of my Great Yu Dynasty!"

"Xingwu Marquis, step forward and receive the decree!"

A majestic voice spoke in the great hall, deafening as thunder.

Li Hao barely looked over and saw many figures in official robes standing with bowed heads on both sides of the long carpet. This is... the imperial palace? Great Yu Dynasty... there doesn't seem to have been such a dynasty in history, right? While Li Hao was bewildered, a burly giant beside him suddenly stepped out. His posture was straight and upright, and from just his back alone, one could almost smell a grim, bloody aura.

"Today, Li Family Ninth Son, Li Junye, is additionally enfeoffed as first-class Marquis Who Pacifies the Nation, promoted to great general. He may be buried in the imperial mausoleum, and is bestowed ten carts of ancient treasures, three Yu Dragon Tokens, and ten dou of gold!"

"From this day forth, the entire nation shall wear mourning for three days, meat shall be forbidden within the palace for seven days, to offer sacrifice to the heroic soul of the Marquis Who Pacifies the Nation!"

When such heaven-splashing rewards were announced, everyone in the great hall was shaken.

At only nineteen, he had actually been appointed general and granted enfeoffment as Marquis! Moreover, ordinary Hou-rank Nobles were usually Marquis Who Guards the North, Marquis of the Plains, and the like. To be enfeoffed with the two words "Pacifies the Nation" could truly be called merit and fame for all ages! There had been no one before him, and in the future, there would probably be few who could come after.

After all, being enfeoffed as a first-class marquis at nineteen was far too illustrious! "This subject receives the decree on behalf of Ninth Brother. Thank you, Yu Emperor, Your Majesty!"

That figure, upright like a mountain and a spear, knelt on one knee. Yet in his low voice there was not much joy or excitement; instead, there was only a faint grief, his voice hoarse.

"This is what your Li Family deserves. It is I who owe you!"

"Xingwu Marquis, that is your child, is it not? I wish to bestow a name upon him. Are you willing?"

"This subject has no merit and dares not accept Your Majesty's grace!"

"The sons of the Li Family are all heroes of my Great Yu! When the Marquis Who Pacifies the Nation died for the country beyond the borders, your son descended into the world. This, perhaps, is the cycle of the heavenly dao. Heaven took away my beloved general, and has granted my Great Yu another fine son."

"I today bestow upon him the name... Hao!"

"I hope he can inherit the will of the Marquis Who Pacifies the Nation, sweep clean all under heaven for my Great Yu, and unify Eastern Brilliance!"

"Your Majesty, this name is too noble. This subject fears the child may be unable to bear it..."

"No matter. A son of the Li Family can bear it!"

A single name, Hao? Li Hao was stunned, then immediately felt like laughing. What a coincidence, wasn't it? He actually had the same name as him?

Wait.

The child he was talking about couldn't be me, could it?

Li Hao lowered his head to look, and this one glance instantly left him dumbfounded. He was in swaddling clothes, with tiny hands and feet, tender and pink all over, being held in the arms of a beautiful woman dressed in military armor.

"Attendants, bring my Dragon Blood Jade to Hao'er."

Very quickly, Li Hao saw a eunuch whose complexion was far too pale walk over with a solemn expression and present a dark-red dragon-patterned jade pendant.

A slender, fair hand beside his head gently accepted it. The beautiful woman holding him said in a low voice, "Thank you for Yu Emperor's deep favor."

What is going on...

Li Hao blinked. Was this a dream?

Suddenly, waves of dizziness swept over him. He could no longer hold on and fell into a deep sleep.

Qingzhou City, Divine General Residence, the Li Family.

The Great Yu Dynasty had five divine generals, and the Li Family was one of them.

One household, nine generals; a whole family of loyal martyrs. In the Great Yu Dynasty, they could be called nobles among nobles, with endless glory, wealth, and honor to enjoy.

But beneath this heaven-splashing wealth and honor lay the forging of blood kin and bone-deep flesh.

Of the Li Family's Nine Sons, six had already fallen!

The youngest, the Ninth Son, had entered the army for barely two years and had only just been promoted to commandant. Who would have expected that in the campaign of Cang Province, with the status of a mere commandant, he would lead tens of thousands of iron cavalry and kill his way all the way to the enemy nation's royal city.

He broke through fifteen cities in succession and beheaded a hundred demons one after another! He established merit that would last ten generations, becoming the sixth fierce general of the Li Family to die in service to the nation.

Now, a golden body had already been molded for him in the Martial Temple, and he received incense and songs from the people of the world.

At this time.

About three months had already passed since the reward of "Marquis Who Pacifies the Nation."

Over these months, the people of the Li Residence had slowly walked out from their grief, and the gloom on their faces had lessened somewhat.

And today, there was a joyous event in the residence, and it became bustling in a way rarely seen.

Powerful nobles from every province and ministers from court either came in person or sent people hurrying to Qingzhou. One luxurious, noble carriage after another stopped before the gates of the Li Family's Divine General Residence, attracting countless passersby to halt and look.

Today was the hundred-day banquet of Li Hao, the son of the Li Family's Seventh Son, Xingwu Marquis.

This heaven's favored son, born with a golden spoon in his mouth, had been bestowed a name by the Yu Emperor at birth, his name spreading throughout the world. He also came from a divine general clan. Without question, in the future, there would certainly be a place for him beneath the heavens.

As the saying went, if you were going to curry favor, you had to do it early.

Inside the Divine General Residence, in a room in the Mountains and Rivers Courtyard.

Li Hao lay in the embrace of his mother, Ji Qingqing, curiously sizing up all the prosperity and busyness outside the courtyard.

After several months, Li Hao had already understood. He was not dreaming, but had... transmigrated.

This was not a dynasty from history, but the Ephemeral Realm.

There were martial artists, great demons, as well as swordsmen and the imperial court.

Fortunately, the Great Yu Dynasty was powerful, and demons and fiends were forbidden from traveling freely. The demons and fiends who dared sneak into the borders were not many, so the lives of the common people were fairly prosperous, to say nothing of himself, who had been born into a top-tier noble house.

There was much to look forward to in life!

"Hao'er, actually, Mother does not wish you had been born into the Li Family. Do you know that?" Outside, it was lively and noisy, but inside the room, his mother Ji Qingqing wore a worried expression and suddenly murmured in a low, faint voice.

Li Hao looked up at his mother in surprise.

At this moment, his vocal cords had not yet fully developed, so he could not speak. But even if he could speak, he could not ask why, or he would scare this young lady to death.

However, though Ji Qingqing was a young lady in his eyes, after all, she only seemed to be in her early twenties.

The meticulous care and warmth over these past months had made him feel a bit of dependence toward this mother of his.

"Actually, Mother had long since thought of a name for you. You would be called Leping, Li Leping! Mother only hoped that you could grow up happy, peaceful, and healthy. Things like unifying the world are the dreams of the imperial family, not the dreams of the Li Family, and even less my dream..."

Ji Qingqing murmured to herself. The flattering faces of the powerful nobles outside the courtyard did not make her feel vain or happy; instead, she found them somewhat glaring.

"The Yu Emperor bestowed you a name because he saw that the Ninth Son had died, and hoped the Li Family could rouse itself. This name contains the expectations of Great Yu's imperial family, and it is also expectation and urging toward the Li Family..."

She did not continue.

This heavy expectation had descended upon her own child. It was not hard to imagine that however much favor he received today, he would carry just as much pressure in the future!

Li Hao looked at the sorrow between the young lady's brows. At this moment, she was no longer the revered Seventh Madam of the Divine General Residence, nor was she that iron-faced female general on the battlefield who made others go pale at the mere sound of her name, but a simple, pure mother.

He could not speak. He only buried his head tighter against her chest.

He tried to convey his comfort through his body warmth.

Feeling the movement in her arms, Ji Qingqing lowered her head. Looking at her child's long eyelashes and beautiful little face, her eyes instantly softened.

She held Li Hao and rocked slightly, her delicate hand soothing the infant, and yet she also seemed to be soothing her own heart. "No matter what, Mother will help you. Your father has already stepped into the Three Immortalities realm. There is a chance that you will inherit that power within your body."

"Even if your martial dao aptitude is mediocre in the future, with that power your father passed down to you, it will be enough to let you catch up to the footsteps of your father's generation when they were young. You will not fall behind others of the same age."

"No matter what happens in the future, Mother will stand before you and absolutely will not let anyone harm you..."

She murmured softly to herself.

"The hundred-day banquet is about to begin. Why are you here?"

At this moment, the burly Xingwu Marquis walked over. His palm gently wrapped around Ji Qingqing's waist, and he said in surprise, "What are you thinking about? Are you unhappy?"

"Of course not."

Ji Qingqing put away her emotions, raised her head, and smiled. She did not tell her husband the words in the depths of her heart. She knew the one-track-minded temperament of the Li Family's sons, who took glory in dying on the battlefield. Her own personal affections, in the end, could not match the thousand years of glory of the Divine General Residence.

"Have the sisters-in-law all arrived?"

"They've all come. They're just waiting for you and Hao'er."

Xingwu Marquis glanced at Li Hao and rubbed his little head, but that rough palm was like a blade, making Li Hao roll his eyes hard.

This old man with his pig-trotter hands, can't he be a little more careful?

Ji Qingqing carried Li Hao to another room filled entirely with the ladies and madams of the various courtyards. A torrent of chattering voices immediately surged over them.

"Aiya, Hao'er is so beautiful. He's even handsomer than Jing'er was as a child."

"That's right. Shuang'er, look at your little brother. How adorable."

"Yo, yo, his little eyes are staring right at me!"

Aside from the madams of the various courtyards, their children were also present. The youngest were only one or two years old, tugging at the adults' trouser legs, their dark, shiny eyes curiously looking at Li Hao in the swaddling clothes.

The other children, who were five or six years old, were like old souls in young bodies. They were not mischievous either, standing to one side with rather bored expressions, yet not daring to leave rashly. They had no real interest in this newly arrived little brother.

"Come, Hao'er, let Fifth Madam hold you."

A beautiful woman picked Li Hao up, her face full of affection, then suddenly said in surprise, "Ah, is Hao'er hungry?"

"He just ate this morning."

The beautiful woman had no doubts, only assuming that Li Hao was hungry. After hearing Ji Qingqing say he had eaten, she no longer worried, merely gently kneading Li Hao's little face and giggling.

The other madams also gathered around to tease Li Hao. When the time was about right, they successively presented gifts.

Ji Qingqing hurriedly declined, but they were still forcibly stuffed into her hands.

These were all treasures that could not be bought with a thousand gold. Today was Li Hao's hundred-day banquet, and the gifts he received alone had piled up half of the Mountains and Rivers Courtyard. They were all rare treasures, incomparably precious.

Among them, a jadeite-like bracelet was slipped onto Li Hao's tender little hand. It was given by the beautiful Fifth Madam holding him, who said it had the effect of nourishing the spirit.

Li Hao had originally been made somewhat sleepy by all the chattering voices, but after the bracelet was put on, he felt strands of something cool flowing into his body through his little hand, making him feel that his spirit had indeed improved greatly.

His sleepiness was swept away, and his thoughts also became a little sharper.

He narrowed his eyes, and before him, a cluster of blurry characters instantly leaped into view.

Compared to the murky blur when he had just transmigrated over, as he grew day by day over these several months and his brain continued to develop, these characters had also slowly become clearer.

And at this moment, it was as if a nearsighted person had put on glasses; they became completely clear.

After returning from six months of rest, the beginning might not be written too well. The early part is a slow burn, and it will become more and more exciting later~~