National Seal, Word Spirit

Shen Tang steadied herself and met the youth's gaze with calm composure.

"Do you have a grudge against the Gong Clan, sir?"

To her surprise, the youth's answer was beyond all expectation.

The youth tucked both hands into his sleeves, leaned half against the tree trunk, and lowered his eyes slightly. "No grudge."

Shen Tang: "..."

Then what were you butting in for?

You ran into a male heir of the Gong Clan and wanted to kill him?

Perhaps Shen Tang's expression was too difficult to put into words, because the youth grew displeased under her gaze.

"What kind of look is that?"

The look one gave a psychiatric patient's medical file, obviously!

Shen Tang grumbled inwardly, but said aloud, "Since you bear no grudge, where does such hostility come from, sir?"

The youth scoffed. "Since you are a descendant of the Gong Clan, how could you not know?"

Shen Tang: "..."

I told you not to slap bizarre character settings onto me.

She drew in a long breath, slowly exhaled the stale air in her chest, and forced out a "kindly and approachable" smile.

"Sir, I shall remember your life-saving grace to the depths of my heart. However, there are a few matters I hope you understand."

"You said."

"First, I am not a descendant of the Gong Clan." After saying this, Shen Tang saw a flicker of surprise flash through the youth's eyes. Whether he believed her or not, she continued, "Second, I truly do not understand your hostility. Third, I am even less some male heir of the Gong Clan..."

She was clearly, genuinely female.

Though she was still young and her body had yet to develop, with no obvious secondary sex characteristics, anyone could tell her gender just by looking at that face!

The youth carefully examined Shen Tang's face, then looked into her eyes, seemingly weighing the truth of her words with caution.

Only after a long while did he nod. "I believe you, Young Master."

Shen Tang: "..."

Believe my ass!

(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

She had said she was not male. Why was this bastard so stubborn?

Did she have to take off her pants and pull something out before he would believe her?

The youth teased, "Your skills are passable, but you recklessly abuse your Literary Heart and strike about in utter disorder. You truly do not seem to have received a proper education."

No proper scholar would clash head-on with a martial person, either.

Considering that the prisoners exiled this time were not all descendants of the Gong Clan, he guessed this Young Master might be an outsider among them. Perhaps, thanks to male appearance, female features, she had been classified among the female dependents, and her Dantian had thus escaped disaster rather than being destroyed.

Shen Tang: "..."

For a moment, she did not know where to begin complaining. She only managed to seize upon one key point.

"You said... Literary Heart? I have a Literary Heart?"

This body possessed a Literary Heart?

She rubbed her hands together in anticipation!

At last, she had seen a little of the treatment a transmigrator ought to receive.

"You truly did not know?"

Seeing that her expression did not seem feigned, it was the youth's turn to be astonished.

Shen Tang shook her head sincerely.

She had been transmigrated into this world for less than twenty-four hours.

Not only did she lack the original owner's memories, her home had also been stolen out from under her. Where was she supposed to know any of this?

The youth pressed, "If you did not know you had a Literary Heart, then what was that Word Spirit just now?"

"Word Spirit... what is that?"

"It was that part—'Sword in a Loving Mother's Hand, Son's Body Split.' Your Literary Heart's Word Spirit."

As the youth spoke, his brows gradually furrowed, his expression exceedingly strange.

A loving mother who split her son with a sword did not sound like any proper Word Spirit, but the world was vast and full of wonders. Perhaps his experience was simply too limited.

Shen Tang answered honestly, "...I was thinking of a way to save my life, and it suddenly appeared in my mind."

The youth: "..."

That was absurd!

Shen Tang steered the subject back again.

"Sir, you still have not said why you dislike the Gong Clan so much."

A question left unanswered was like eating melon seeds without getting the follow-up—an itch that clawed at one's heart and lungs, unbearable to endure.

The youth glanced at Shen Tang and said expressionlessly, "Though there is no personal grudge, there is the hatred of a ruined country."

The moment Shen Tang heard that, her interest in gossip died at once.

This was no joking matter. If she carelessly angered him, he might fight her to the death. What she did not know was that the Hundred Kingdoms now stood side by side, their wars of conquest unceasing. The fall of nations and founding of nations were commonplace basic operations; anyone who lived long enough could, on average, change nationality more than twice.

The youth had feelings for his former country, but they were not so deep as all that.

"Then what about Word Spirits?"

Shen Tang did not stand on ceremony, directly treating the youth as a free "explanation NPC."

If she could get answers from him, why run all over the place asking around herself?

Who did not like getting something for free?

The youth: "..."

After confirming again and again that Shen Tang truly knew nothing, and that all her questions were basic, he decided there was no harm in answering one or two.

It was simply that her questions were so basic that one might suspect she was some savage who had crawled out of a remote mountain nook. The youth had no choice but to begin at the source.

His account was far more complete than the unfamiliar memories that had appeared in Shen Tang's mind.

That year, the fallen Calamity Star shattered into countless fragments and scattered across the Central Plains. The people of the world were busy cultivating letters and martial arts, absorbing Heaven and Earth Qi, refining themselves. Aside from merchants hoping to make rare goods into profitable commodities, no one paid it any heed. Not until a craftsman carved one piece of Calamity Star stone into a seal and presented it to a ruler.

The moment that ruler received the seal, purple light burst forth. Countless strange characters drifted from the seal, some of which fused with the Dantians of officials. Only then did they learn that certain characters within the seal, when combined with specific Literary Hearts and Martial Gall, could wield unimaginable power.

These characters were known as "Word Spirits."

For instance, the line the youth had mentioned earlier—"Teeth are hard and are lost first; the tongue is soft and remains last. Softness overcomes hardness, and weakness defeats strength"—could bless and restore one side in a confrontation. The same Word Spirit produced different effects in different hands.

From then on, Calamity Star fragments became standard equipment for every nation's national seal.

The Word Spirits contained within a national seal directly affected a country's strength. If a ruler activated the national seal, it could even transform into a great weapon of the nation, guarding the borders of its national fortune.

At this point, the youth paused. He secretly glanced at Shen Tang from his peripheral vision, then said blandly, "Chong Tai's Capital City was breached, and the national seal was lost. Rumors say the Gong Clan hid it away for themselves. Yet even after the Gong Clan was raided and destroyed, the national seal's whereabouts were never found..."

Shen Tang paid no attention to the national seal. Instead—

"Chong Tai?"

As soon as she spoke, the youth's expression became extraordinarily vivid and complicated.

"...It is the former Xin Country. Word on the street says it is to be renamed 'Chong Tai.'"

He thought Shen Tang had asked because news had been scarce on the road to exile and she did not know that Chong Tai was now Xin Country. He did not know she merely found the name rather strange.

"They even renamed them after destroying their country..."

What kind of move was that?

The youth said, "To humiliate them."

"Humiliate them?"

"Those servants who serve servants are commonly called Chong Tai. To the surviving people of Xin Country, it is naturally a great humiliation."

What did "servants who serve servants" mean?

Put plainly, it meant slaves of slaves—the lowest of the low.

And as one of the culprits behind the nation's fall, how could the Gong Clan not draw hatred?

As long as that national seal did not reappear, this storm would not cease.

These were merely interesting tales to hear and had little to do with Shen Tang. What she cared more about was what her own Literary Heart looked like.

The youth suggested, "Why not test it?"

There were nine grades of Literary Heart. Only by knowing her exact Literary Heart rank could she find Word Spirits suited to herself.

Shen Tang asked, "How do I test it?"

Yesterday, it was changed to contract status. Requesting Recommendation Tickets.