Si Yuan-Bai

006 Si Yuan-Bai

Most of the content that automatically appeared in the Life Book consisted of everyday information, which should have been records left behind from his previous life.

As for the extraordinary information, it was very likely the Life Book's revelations to him.

At night, when Ming Shu went to sleep, he would enter the Mysterious Space where the Life Book was located. While studying the Life Book, he also studied his own spirit body—or rather, his soul.

He still did not know whether his current self could be considered an extraordinary being, at least according to the terminology from his previous life.

Just now, after listening to Old Zhao converse with Chong Li and Ren Yuan, he had learned that a Martial Artist's combat power was actually only enough to bully ordinary people.

With the help of the sorcerers from the Sky-Toppling Observatory, Ren Yuan—only a third-tier Martial Artist at the Meridian Circulation and Qi Condensation Realm—could, after awakening the demon spirit within his body, possess enough combat power to crush fourth- and fifth-tier Martial Artists for a short time.

As for Chong Li, she was a third-tier sorcerer at the Star Condensation Realm, and her profession was Demon Hunter. Ming Shu still did not know the specific details, so he merely recorded this information for now.

Both sides needed to rest. After briefly verifying the agreed-upon password and inspecting each other's tokens to confirm their identities, they rested separately.

Ren Yuan in particular had only awakened the power of his demon spirit a day earlier and fought a bloody battle. After traveling all this time, he was utterly exhausted. He leaned against a large tree, sat down, and promptly fell into a deep sleep.

His snores were like thunder.

Old Zhao took the first watch, sitting cross-legged and circulating his inner cultivation. Little Zhao was also exhausted, but the snoring kept him from falling asleep.

Chong Li likewise relied on seated meditation to enter a state of concentration. Little Zhao envied her ability intensely.

Most infuriating of all was the seemingly carefree boy beside him. Ming Shu had fallen asleep—truly fallen asleep—lying right next to him, leaving Little Zhao green with envy.

In truth, Ming Shu had used the Life Book's special function to gather his spirit body inside it, shutting out disturbances from the outside world.

It blocked out most of the noise.

Early the next morning, the five of them formed a new team and continued eastward. They had already been traveling for seven or eight days, rushing east all the way after leaving the Great Jin Royal Capital. Until now, Ming Shu had pretended to sleep while lying down and had never looked at the scenery along the road.

Now he could get up normally and no longer needed to keep up the disguise. However, he did not want to act too mature for his age, just as he had in the Cold Palace.

He still needed to look dazed and innocent, still appear unconcerned about most things.

Although he wanted to ask Old Zhao to teach him other martial arts, traveling was not the right time. He also wanted to ask Chong Li about cultivation, but the two sides were not yet familiar with each other.

Ren Yuan, the big fellow, was much more straightforward. The Qingtian Gate had raised him, so he was willing to lay down his life for the Qingtian Gate.

When the Qingtian Gate told him to escort this team, he rushed over without stopping.

Without a second word.

His only flaw was his enormous appetite. The food he had brought himself was gone after just two meals.

The supplies Old Zhao had left also looked unlikely to last more than two days.

Little Zhao, Chong Li, and Ming Shu did not eat much. Old Zhao had originally thought their provisions could last until they reached the next sizable town or market.

Once they reached a populated place, they could buy plenty of supplies for the journey.

Now they had no choice but to start worrying about food for the day after tomorrow.

Chong Li did not speak much. Among the five of them, Little Zhao was unexpectedly the most socially adept.

He quickly became familiar with Ren Yuan.

The five of them had three horses. In a village along the way, they found a carpenter and had a new carriage compartment built, then switched to having two horses pull the carriage.

That would make them more efficient.

As a girl, Chong Li could also stay inside the carriage compartment.

In the village, Old Zhao traded with a wealthy household for some grain, ensuring they could last until the next town.

Ren Yuan rode one horse by himself. Scouting the road and hunting were left to him.

Old Zhao personally taught Little Zhao how to drive the carriage.

Chong Li and Ming Shu stayed inside the carriage compartment to rest.

Strictly speaking, Ming Shu was now nothing more than a cripple. He could not understand why Old Zhao and the others were going to such lengths to escort him east.

Of the princes banished to the frontier, fewer than half could reach their destinations safely. Those who could live through an entire year were probably fewer than half of that.

Of course, some had been banished because of certain incidents, while many others were merely going through the formal process of having their imperial status reduced to that of commoners.

Ming Shu now stood somewhere between the two. He had originally been banished, but the new Emperor had since granted a general amnesty. With his position neither here nor there, other powerful figures were also manipulating matters in secret, giving him considerable room to survive.

Among the imperial clan, aside from a handful of people at the top, the living conditions of everyone else were brutally harsh.

Their lives were not much better than those of ordinary households. Most of the small Bai Clan households scattered across the realm had descended from the imperial clan. They were merely working for the imperial clan.

All one could say was that every living soul had its own suffering.

Chong Li spoke very little. She only occasionally exchanged a few riddling remarks with Old Zhao. The other three could not understand what they were talking about anyway.

For example, Old Zhao asked, "Are we really only able to take this one road?"

Chong Li replied, "A hundred years of fresh rain revive the grass and trees; ten thousand miles of roads and carriages pass through an old realm."

Later, Old Zhao asked her again, "Can we avoid this calamity?"

Chong Li pondered for a long time before saying, "When fortune arrives, wealth and honor all stem from fate; when luck departs, poverty too has its cause."

It seemed sorcerers could tell fortunes as well. Well, was that not precisely what the Sky-Toppling Observatory did—observe the stars and calculate the Emperor's fortunes?

The Sky-Toppling Observatory had inherited its legacy for more than a thousand years, so it should have been powerful enough. If even they were preparing a way out and unwilling to be buried alongside the imperial clan, then the catastrophe and chaotic age ahead would probably be extremely severe.

And where would he go from here?

After gaining two more bodyguards, leaving the Royal Capital and Imperial Capital Region behind, and seeing the previous group of assassins completely dealt with, Old Zhao gradually became certain that they had escaped danger.

The pursuers behind them definitely could not catch up. As for whether other dangers lay ahead, that was beyond what an old eunuch like him could calculate.

Even Chong Li, only a third-tier sorcerer, clearly could not calculate it. As an abandoned disciple of the Sky-Toppling Observatory, she must be playing a crucial role in the Supervisor's schemes.

From the resplendent imperial court to the distant martial world, the chess pieces of every faction were moving constantly.

Old Zhao had worked hard for years in the depths of the palace, yet all he had managed to become was a qualified chess piece.

That had already saved his own life and Little Zhao's. Besides, Ming Shu himself had possessed a hard fate and pulled through. He did not know whether the Supervisor had secretly used some means to arrange this entire game.

Only after gradually relaxing did Old Zhao have the energy to find time to urge Little Zhao to practice martial arts. Ming Shu secretly learned by watching from the side.

In the end, it was confirmed that his physical aptitude truly made it impossible for him to cultivate the Martial Dao. He had been weak from birth, and after enduring three or four years in the Cold Palace, even that Immortal Pill could not change things.

Little Zhao truly possessed excellent talent. Old Zhao had picked him from among dozens, perhaps hundreds, of young eunuchs, and he had endured all the way through the Cold Palace.

Taking talent, luck, comprehension, intelligence, resilience, and every other condition into account, he was an excellent seedling.

The boy also formally confirmed his new name with Old Zhao. He used his maternal uncle's surname, Zhang Clan, while keeping the given name Ming Shu.

This was the first time he had officially announced his new name to outsiders. In any case, his original name had already been forbidden by the Imperial Clan Court.

Perhaps the registers within the Imperial Clan Court had been refined using immortal methods and could remotely determine whether members of the imperial clan lived or died. But over a thousand years, the imperial population had grown increasingly vast.

This problem had already erupted once during the Grand Ancestor's lifetime. Only in his later years had he established the system for converting between the Si, Yuan, and Bai surnames. The Imperial Clan Court's registers would retain only those bearing the Si surname, along with the names of major officials in the court and realm who bore the Yuan or Bai surnames.

These were actually secrets of state. Old Zhao merely knew many secrets because of his extensive experience. If this rebellion had not been so immense—if it had not caused most of the palace's systems to collapse and exposed loopholes in many places—Old Zhao definitely could not have escaped.

Only the dead could keep secrets!

Chong Li also reassured him and Ming Shu that the Sky-Toppling Observatory would cover up many critical links. As long as nothing had gone wrong during the previous ambush, it was essentially impossible for anyone to trace the matter back to them later.

The records related to Ming Shu in the Imperial Clan Court would certainly contain a gap. The small fief in Donghai Prefecture was also far from the Emperor's reach; no one would come to disturb them for ten years.

It was hard to imagine where the thoughts and vision of someone like the Supervisor—who laid plans across the realm on a scale of centuries—actually extended.

After losing the old Emperor's restrictions, the new Emperor had no choice but to rely on the power of the Sky-Toppling Observatory. This gave the Supervisor even more room to maneuver.

Although Chong Li had said nothing, Old Zhao and Ming Shu both suddenly understood, capturing a crucial piece of information.

The imperial clan would not hold out for long. Perhaps the entire realm was about to descend into chaos.

Along the way, the villages they saw had all formed fortified settlements for self-protection. More or less, the signs were already there.