Xiao Tianfang

A hazy beam of light filtered in from the left. It wasn't very bright, but it was enough for him to make out his surroundings.

He struggled toward the shore, and after a few splashes, finally set foot on solid ground.

After spitting out several mouthfuls of lake water mixed with weeds, he continued onward.

As he walked, the faint, indistinct light gradually grew brighter and clearer, and its source slowly came into view.

It turned out to be three enormous luminous pearls set into the stone wall.

Each pearl was about the size of a palm. These jewel-like gems gave off a soft, bright light.

Turning around, he saw a stone bed, a stone table, and a stone stove, all hewn by hand, in the center of the chamber.

A few household items sat on the stone table, including a bronze mirror, a stone cup, and a stone basin.

But by now, all these stone furnishings were covered in a thick layer of dust. Clearly, no one had used them for years.

The inside of the stone chamber was not as plain as it looked from the outside. Strange designs covered its walls: mountains and rivers, the sun, moon, and stars, and what seemed to be characters that were impossible to understand.

Meng Qingshan looked around and finally spotted a half-open stone door at the far end of the chamber.

The door was covered in intricate pictures and symbols as well. The symbols shimmered with a mysterious glow in the light.

His heart stirred, and he gently pushed the door open.

Beyond it, a flight of stone steps wound downward. He followed them for dozens of steps, and a faint glow gradually appeared ahead.

As he ventured farther down, Meng Qingshan finally reached the source of the light.

The space opened up before him, revealing a much larger cavern.

It was no longer a narrow stone chamber, but a vast cave.

Countless glowing crystals were embedded in the ceiling, radiating a soft, bright light that illuminated the entire cavern as if it were broad daylight.

In the brilliant light, Meng Qingshan immediately saw a towering stone stele standing at the center of the cave.

The stele was dozens of zhang tall. Ten characters were carved into it: "Tomb of Xiao Tianfang, husband; Qiu Shishui, wife."

Meng Qingshan slowly approached, his gaze settling on the space beneath the stele.

There sat a man, his features as chiseled as if carved by a knife and axe, his brows and eyes full of heroic spirit, his nose high-bridged. His deep-set eyes were fixed intently on a jade pendant of black and red, and a faint trace of regret showed in them.

The sight startled Meng Qingshan, and an astonishing thought rose in his mind:

Could it be that, at this point in time, the Great Hero of Shenzhou, Xiao Tianfang, was still alive?!

Meng Qingshan had visited this place in the game before, but that had been after Li Yufeng obtained the inheritance. He had never seen the legendary Great Hero of Shenzhou in person.

Meng Qingshan didn't dare approach rashly. He stopped and called out, "Senior? Senior..."

When the man showed no reaction, Meng Qingshan's courage gradually grew.

He approached slowly and cautiously waved a hand in front of the man's eyes. The man's pupils were dilated, and he didn't blink. Even the muscles in his face remained perfectly still.

Only then was Meng Qingshan certain that the man before him had long since passed away.

Though he was already sure, Meng Qingshan still reached out to check for breath before daring to come closer.

"Looks like I've been a bit like Lord Ye, who feared the very thing he professed to love!"

Looking at the man before him, Meng Qingshan couldn't help feeling moved.

Actually, even when he'd played the game, he'd been deeply interested in the story of this "Great Hero of Shenzhou."

After all, this peerless expert possessed the Ling Shu Atlas, one of the four great martial arts techniques of the Wulin.

Meng Qingshan had even looked up Xiao Tianfang's character biography on the official website.

As it happened, Xiao Tianfang's fate in Wulin Qixia Zhuan was truly heartrending.

That year, he was thirteen, and he was not yet called Xiao Tianfang.

The emperor of the time was incompetent and timid. To buy himself a moment's peace and eke out a wretched existence, he threw dozens of members of the war faction into prison and offered their heads to the powerful foreign enemy, bowing in submission to sue for peace.

His father was also a member of the war faction, and was implicated as a result.

From then on, he never saw his father again.

He understood that his father could never return to his side.

He had never imagined that the person who killed his father would be the very ruler his father had sworn to protect, even at the cost of abandoning his mother and forsaking his family: the Son of Heaven.

After that, his master took him wandering through the martial world.

Along the way, he asked his master why.

Why had his father—a man who never coveted fame or fortune, never profited from the nation's crisis, and only held to the righteous principles recorded in the history books—met such an end?

His master replied calmly, "There's no reason. The man who killed your father is the ruler of the world today—the Son of Heaven."

"The Son of Heaven?"

He repeated the words in shock.

His master explained, "The Son of Heaven is the supreme ruler of all the Divine Land. If the sovereign orders a subject to die, how could the subject dare refuse?"

"But why should someone like that be called the Son of Heaven? He was driven into a panicked retreat by foreign enemies, moved the capital after changing dynasties, and spent his days drowning in wine and women, neglecting the affairs of state. How could such an incompetent man deserve that title?"