Bestowed a name: Li Hao

His head hurt-an excruciating pain!

Li Hao tried to open his eyes, but it took immense effort.

At last, a narrow slit slowly opened before him.

Dim light met his eyes. An ancient hall towered above him, solemn and imposing, and before him lay a long, dark-gold carpet patterned with fierce dragon scales.

On the steps at the far end of the carpet sat a majestic giant whose presence seemed to swallow mountains and rivers. His gaze blazed like a torch, like candlelight in the dark, with a brilliance that seized the soul.

Where... was 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 felt sluggish and muddled as he stared blankly at everything around him.

Damn, did I fall asleep holding my phone again?

But this did not seem like a dream.

"At nineteen, his valor surpassed all three armies. He cut down the royal court, slew great demons, and quelled the turmoil that had plagued our Cang Province for a hundred years. The loss of such a hero is not merely a sorrow for your Li Family, but for the countless people of our Great Yu Dynasty!"

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

A majestic voice spoke in the great hall, deafening in its force.

Li Hao managed to look over and saw numerous figures in official robes standing on either side of the carpet, their heads bowed. Was this... an imperial palace?

The Great Yu Dynasty... I don't think there was a dynasty by that name in history.

While Li Hao was puzzling over this, a burly giant suddenly stepped forward beside him. His bearing was straight and proud; merely looking at his back, Li Hao almost seemed to smell a bloody, murderous chill.

"I hereby confer upon the Li Family Ninth Son, Li Junye, the title of First-Rank Marquis Who Pacifies the Nation and promote him to general. He may be buried in the imperial mausoleum. I grant him ten cartloads of ancient treasures, three Yu Dragon Tokens, and ten bushels of gold!"

"Effective immediately, the entire nation shall observe three days of mourning. Meat shall be forbidden within the palace for seven days, in tribute to the heroic soul of the Marquis Who Pacifies the Nation!"

These rewards, vast enough to flood the heavens, shook everyone in the hall.

At merely nineteen, he had been made a general and enfeoffed as a marquis!

Ordinary marquises bore titles such as Marquis Who Pacifies the North or Marquis of the Plains. To be enfeoffed with the words "Pacifies the Nation" was an honor that would echo through the ages!

There had never been a precedent, and there would likely be few successors.

After all, becoming a first-rank marquis at nineteen was truly illustrious!

"On behalf of my Ninth Brother, I receive the decree. My thanks to Your Majesty, the Yu Emperor!"

The figure, upright as a mountain or a spear, went down on one knee. Yet his low voice held little joy or excitement, only a muted sorrow that left it hoarse.

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

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

"I have rendered no meritorious service and dare not accept Your Majesty's grace!"

"The sons of the Li Family are all heroes of our Great Yu! Your son was born just as the Marquis Who Pacifies the Nation gave his life for his country beyond our borders. Perhaps this is the turning wheel of heaven's will. Heaven took my beloved general, then bestowed another fine son upon our Great Yu."

"Today, I bestow upon him the name... Hao!"

"May he inherit the aspirations of the Marquis Who Pacifies the Nation, sweep the realm clean for our Great Yu, and unite Eastern Brilliance!"

"Your Majesty, this name is too exalted. I fear my son cannot bear it..."

"No matter. A son of the Li Family is worthy of it!"

The single given name Hao?

Li Hao froze, then almost laughed. What a coincidence-he had been given the same name!

Wait.

Was I the child he was talking about?

Li Hao looked down and was instantly dumbfounded. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, with tiny, rosy hands and feet, held in the arms of a beautiful woman wearing military armor.

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

Soon, Li Hao saw an excessively pale eunuch approach with a solemn expression, offering a dark-red jade pendant carved with a dragon.

A slender, fair hand beside his head gently accepted it. The beautiful woman holding him said softly, "Thank you for your generous affection, Yu Emperor."

What was going on...

Li Hao blinked. Was this a dream?

Suddenly, waves of dizziness washed over him. Unable to hold on any longer, he fell unconscious.

Qingzhou City, the Divine General Residence, the Li Family.

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

Nine generals from a single family, an entire household of loyal heroes-in the Great Yu Dynasty, they were nobility among nobility, enjoying inexhaustible glory and wealth.

Yet beneath that heaven-flooding wealth lay a foundation forged from the flesh and blood of their own kin.

Of the Li Family's nine sons, six had already fallen!

The youngest, the ninth son, had been in the army for only two years and had just been promoted to commandant. Who could have expected that, in a campaign in Cang Province, he would lead tens of thousands of armored cavalry as a mere commandant and carve his way straight to the enemy nation's royal city?

He broke through fifteen cities in succession and slew a hundred demons!

He amassed enough merit for ten lifetimes, becoming the sixth valiant general of the Li Family to die in service to his country.

Now, a gilded statue of him stood in the Martial Temple, where people offered incense and sang of his deeds.

By now.

Roughly three months had passed since the conferral of the title "Marquis Who Pacifies the Nation."

Over those months, the people of Li Manor had slowly begun to emerge from their grief, and some of the gloom had lifted from their faces.

Today, a joyous occasion had brought a rare bustle to the residence.

Powerful nobles from the various provinces and ministers of the court either came in person or sent representatives to Qingzhou. Lavish, prestigious carriages lined up outside the Li Family's Divine General Residence, drawing countless passersby to stop and stare.

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

This favored child of heaven had been born with a golden spoon in his mouth. The Yu Emperor had bestowed his name at birth, making him famous throughout the realm, and he belonged to a lineage of divine generals. Without question, a place in the world awaited him.

As the saying went, start currying favor early.

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

Nestled in the arms of his mother, Ji Qingqing, Li Hao curiously surveyed the bustling splendor outside.

Over these months, Li Hao had come to understand that he was not dreaming. He had... transmigrated.

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

There were martial artists, great demons, swordsmen, and imperial courts.

Fortunately, the Great Yu Dynasty was powerful, and demons were forbidden to roam its lands. Few dared sneak across its borders, so the common people lived fairly comfortable lives-let alone someone like him, born into a family at the very pinnacle of wealth and power.

Life held plenty to look forward to!

"Hao'er, truthfully, I never wanted you to be born into the Li Family. Did you know that?" Outside, the festivities were loud and lively, but inside the room, his mother Ji Qingqing wore a worried expression as she suddenly murmured those words.

Surprised, Li Hao looked up at his mother.

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

After all, Ji Qingqing looked like a young woman to him, barely in her early twenties.

Yet the meticulous care and warmth she had given him over these months had made him feel somewhat dependent on this mother of his.

"I had already thought of a name for you: Leping, Li Leping! I only wanted you to be happy and safe, to grow up healthy. Uniting the world and all that-that's the imperial family's dream, not the Li Family's, and certainly not mine..."

Ji Qingqing murmured to herself. The fawning faces of the powerful nobles outside the courtyard brought her neither vanity nor joy. Instead, they felt rather jarring.

"The Yu Emperor bestowed a name upon you because the ninth son had died, and he hoped the Li Family would rally again. This name carries the hopes of Great Yu's imperial family, as well as their expectations for the Li Family and the lash that drives us onward..."

She did not continue.

These heavy expectations had fallen upon her child. It was easy to imagine that however much favor he received today, he would have to bear just as much pressure in the future!

Li Hao gazed at the sorrow between the young woman's brows. At this moment, she was no longer the revered Seventh Madam of the Divine General Residence, nor the iron-faced female general whose name alone struck terror across the battlefield. She was simply a mother.

Unable to speak, he merely pressed his head more tightly against her chest.

He tried to convey reassurance through his warmth.

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

She gently rocked Li Hao in her arms, soothing him with her slender hand, as though comforting her own heart as well:

"No matter what, I will help you. Your father has already entered the Three Immortalities realm, and there is a chance you will inherit that power."

"Even if your martial aptitude is mediocre in the future, the power passed down by your father will be enough for you to follow in the footsteps of his generation in their youth. You won't fall behind others your age."

"Whatever the future brings, I will stand in front of you. I will never let anyone hurt you..."

She murmured softly to herself.

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

Just then, the burly Marquis Xingwu walked over and gently slipped a hand around Ji Qingqing's waist. Surprised, he asked, "What are you thinking about? Are you unhappy?"

"Of course not."

Ji Qingqing tucked her emotions away and looked up with a smile. She did not share what lay in her heart with her husband. She knew the single-minded nature of the Li Family's men, who considered dying on the battlefield an honor. In the end, her personal affections could never outweigh the Divine General Residence's thousand years of glory.

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

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

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

Couldn't this oaf of a dad be a little more careful?

Ji Qingqing carried Li Hao into another room filled with the ladies and madams from the various courtyards, and a chorus of chatter immediately surged around them.

"Oh my, Hao'er is so beautiful! He's even more handsome than Jing'er was as a baby."

"Yes, Shuang'er, look at your little brother. Isn't he adorable?"

"Oh, oh, his little eyes are staring at me!"

Besides the madams from the various courtyards, their children were there too. The youngest were only one or two, tugging at the adults' trouser legs and staring curiously at the swaddled Li Hao with glossy black eyes.

Several other children, five or six years old, acted mature beyond their years. Rather than misbehaving, they stood to one side looking quite bored, though they dared not leave without permission. They had little interest in this new little brother.

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

A beautiful woman picked Li Hao up, her face full of affection. Suddenly, she exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, is Hao'er hungry?"

"He just ate this morning."

The beautiful woman suspected nothing else and merely assumed Li Hao was hungry. After hearing Ji Qingqing say he had eaten, she gave it no further thought and simply pinched his little cheeks gently, giggling all the while.

The other madams also gathered around to amuse Li Hao. When the time seemed right, they presented their gifts one after another.

Ji Qingqing hurriedly tried to decline, but the gifts were still pressed firmly into her hands.

These were treasures that even a thousand pieces of gold could hardly buy. The gifts received at Li Hao's hundred-day banquet alone filled half the Mountains and Rivers Courtyard, all rare and precious wonders of immense value.

One emerald-green bracelet was slipped onto Li Hao's rosy little wrist. It was a gift from Fifth Madam, the beautiful woman holding him, and was said to nourish the mind.

All the chatter had been making Li Hao rather drowsy, but after he put on the bracelet, he felt threads of coolness flowing into his body through his little hand. His mind truly felt much more refreshed.

His drowsiness vanished completely, and even his thoughts became a little sharper.

He narrowed his eyes, and a cluster of blurry text suddenly sprang into view before him.

Compared with the murky blur he had seen just after transmigrating, the text had gradually become clearer as he grew day by day over these months and his brain continued to develop.

Now, as though a nearsighted person had put on glasses, it became perfectly clear.

I'm back after a six-month break. The opening might not be written very well, and things start slowly, but it will get more and more exciting as it goes on~~

(End of chapter)