Golden

Rustle, splash~

The currents swirled again. That eight-hundred-year river of time rapidly narrowed and thinned, then transformed back into a seed engraved with mysterious runes. The seed turned into a streak of light and darted into Huang Tian's brow.

Zhang Jiao, Zhuge Kongming, He Ting, Xie An, Wang Xizhi, Li Shimin, Li Jing, Wu Daozi, Zhao Kuangyin...

One person after another flashed through Huang Tian's mind, along with their deeds, cultivation experiences, techniques, and Taoist arts.

After a long while, he opened his eyes. A trace of divinity and world-weariness glimmered in his gaze.

Eight hundred years!

He had witnessed eight hundred years of change in the world. Countless heroes had risen, then streaked brilliantly across the sky like shooting stars. Techniques had grown wondrous, Taoist arts astonishing, technology had flourished, and the Dao Court had expanded...

"I never imagined the Yellow Heaven Mountain-Suppressing Spirit Scripture would be completed by later generations all the way to the Golden Core chapter. I'd been worrying about how to obtain what came after it..."

He smiled faintly. The divinity gradually faded, and his humanity returned to his eyes.

In truth, with his comprehension, he could have worked out the techniques for the next few cultivation realms of the Yellow Heaven Mountain-Suppressing Spirit Scripture on his own. But without other techniques to use as reference, it would have taken far too much time. How could that compare to gaining them all at once like this?

What was more, he had gained not just one Golden Core technique, but nine!

There were also three hundred Dao Foundation techniques and countless Qi Refining techniques!

Just these techniques and Taoist arts alone were enough to rival many immortal sects.

"The only pity is that there are no techniques for the Primordial Spirit realm. But that's only natural. In a mere eight hundred years, deriving Golden Core techniques is already a pleasant surprise. The Primordial Spirit realm is too remote; it's only natural that no one could derive it..."

He gathered his thoughts and glanced around the chamber, noticing a thick layer of fine dust on the floor.

"Looks like observing the river of time this time took quite a while..."

He switched on his superpower, and countless voices flooded his ears.

"Holy Venerable, please bless my family's fields with a good harvest this year..."

"The Dao Court has governed for nearly two years. The world is at peace, bandits are nowhere to be seen, and Guangzong, birthplace of the divine infant, grows wealthier by the day. People leave their doors unlocked at night and don't pick up what others drop. The people are simple and honest..."

"Wenruo, you're the finest talent in the clan, with the ability to govern a country. Though the Dao Court has divided up our Xun Clan's fields, don't hold it against them. Do your best to help the Immortal Gods and the Dao Court govern the region. One day, you may receive the immortal arts and transform our Xun Clan into an immortal clan of Yu Province, everlasting through the ages. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

"Ha ha ha! I never thought I, Yuan Benchu, would really survive the rebellion—cough, I mean, the Dao Court. But then again, I never broke the law, and when they attacked Luoyang, I even sent them word and pledged my allegiance. I've earned some credit for that.

"It's just that the clan's fields are gone. Well, so be it. Most of that land belonged to Yuan Ji and Yuan Shu anyway. What's that to me? I, Yuan Benchu, will join the Dao Court and become a capable minister who brings order to the world. I'll cultivate immortality and become a god of unfathomable might!"

"..."

Listening to the many voices for a while, Huang Tian not only saw the myriad faces of the people, but also realized that his retreat had lasted a full two months.

"Two months in the Late Han Dynasty World is two days on Blue Star. Teacher Feng should have finished revising the paper by now."

With a thought, he instantly returned to Blue Star.

In his apartment, he opened his email and, sure enough, found the revised paper from Feng Zechun. He opened it and skimmed through it, then submitted it to Inventiones Mathematicae.

With that task done, Huang Tian meant to reward himself with a mandarin, but his expression suddenly froze. A golden thread of light was crossing the endless void and connecting to his ear.

"Gold! A thread of light from another world!"

A flicker of delight passed through him. He immediately followed the golden thread, stretching on and on, and "looked" toward a world at some unknowable distance.

Splash~

A sound like rippling water rang out, and an utterly ordinary scene appeared before him:

In a simple but old-fashioned side room, a pale, ashen-faced boy lay on a wooden bed. His chest barely rose and fell, and his breathing was so faint it was almost inaudible.

"Please, Immortal Gods and Buddhas in all four directions, bless Silang and cure his illness. Let him recover soon..."

Kneeling beside the bed was a girl of twelve or thirteen. Her hair was tied into twin buns, and she wore a plain short jacket with a crossed collar and narrow sleeves, a long skirt cinched at the waist, and a sweat cloth embroidered with lotus flowers. Clean cloth shoes covered her feet. She had her hands clasped together, her eyes red-rimmed as she whispered her prayer.

"Ah, you silly girl. Young Master Huang Tian isn't going to make it. We should start thinking about another way out. Maybe I'll go beg Steward Fang. Once Fourth Young Master dies, the two of us can go serve another master. Otherwise, we'll have no one to rely on and the Huang Family will throw us out."

In the corner, a stout woman in coarse clothes watched her daughter weeping sorrowfully and couldn't help sighing as she rambled on.

"I thought being assigned to serve Fourth Young Master would be a good job. Who could've known those people were taking advantage of me being new to Huang Manor, not knowing the situation? Turns out Fourth Young Master was born to a lowly maid, and his mother died of illness a few years ago.

"Neither the master nor the mistress likes him. His father doesn't care for him, and his mother's gone. The Second and Third Young Masters bully him all the time. If the servants didn't hold back because he's their master, they wouldn't spare him a thing. They toss him a little food and cloth now and then, but otherwise, we couldn't get by. Truth be told, I think it might be for the best if Fourth Young Master dies. He won't have to suffer people's bullying anymore, and the two of us will be free of this life..."

"Mother!" The girl grew angry at these words, and tears streamed down her face as she sobbed.

"Ah, don't cry. I won't say any more." The stout woman looked a little embarrassed. "Truth be told, I hope Fourth Young Master gets better too. It's just that this illness came on so strangely. He got this sick in a day or two, and even the doctor could only shake his head..."

As she spoke, she realized what she had said and quickly slapped her mouth twice. "I won't say it again. I won't!"

In the apartment, Huang Tian frowned slightly. He wasn't interested in the boy's messy life story. But from what he could tell, none of the three people in the room showed any signs of cultivation—not even the boy who shared his name.

Still, judging from the stout woman's rambling, the Fourth Young Master was deeply unloved. Even if this world had a cultivation system, he might never have had the chance to encounter it.

Huang Tian shifted his gaze, and the scene changed to the courtyard outside the room.

The courtyard was small, but quiet. Gray-green square bricks paved the ground, with little tufts of vivid green grass poking through the cracks. A pomegranate tree grew in the corner, its thick foliage casting a cool patch of shade.

In the middle of the courtyard stood a stone table and two square stone stools. Beneath the eaves sat a half-worn blue-gray stone vat filled with clear water, a few tiny leaves floating quietly on its surface.

He tried to pull his viewpoint upward to see what lay beyond the courtyard, but the scene didn't budge, as if telling him that he could only see this much for now.

"There's still too little information. I don't know whether this world has supernatural powers..."