Human-Snake Ancient Jade

At first light, Xu Yan jolted awake from his bed, drenched in cold sweat.

Leaning against the bedframe, he panted softly, then twisted around to grab the cold tea from the table and drained it in one gulp. Only after a long while did he finally recover.

"On the third day of the third month, summon the soul and renew the spirit; hold orchid grass, sweep away misfortune."

Xu Yan stared blankly ahead, muttering beneath his breath. His right hand clenched tightly around the jade pendant hanging from his neck. It was an ancient jade piece with a human head and serpent body, formed like a yin-yang coil. No larger than a goose egg, it was lustrous and profound in color, yet icy cold.

Whenever his heart was troubled or his mind exhausted, all he needed to do was hold this pendant for several breaths, and his thoughts would settle. It was as though he had fallen into a boundless starry sky, where neither time nor space existed. In a single instant, seas turned to mulberry fields.

He vaguely remembered what had happened four years ago, at the Taihao Ancient Temple beyond the city.

It had been the day before the Double Ninth Festival. He had heard that a batch of ancient documents had been unearthed in Dongyang Commandery, dating back roughly fifty thousand years—already brushing against the threshold of the Near Antiquity.

Xu Yan had brought along a maidservant and hurried without rest toward Dongyang Commandery. On the way, they passed the ruined Taihao Ancient Temple. Thinking to rest there briefly, he had met with disaster because of it.

That Taihao Ancient Temple had been abandoned for many years. Quite a few peasant women had once hanged themselves from its beams, leaving it steeped in resentment. As the years piled upon years, evil things had gradually taken root there.

Fortunately, a wandering Rogue Cultivator daoist had happened to pass by. Descending from above the layered clouds, he had saved Xu Yan.

This jade pendant had originally been embedded within the divine attendant of Taihao Sovereign's statue. When the specters wreaked havoc and shattered the statue, it fell out and was picked up by him.

Xu Yan discovered that holding the ancient jade not only sharpened his mind and granted him a perfect memory, but if he immersed his consciousness completely within it, it was like his spirit wandering the great void. His divine sense would arrive beneath a boundless starry sky. This had greatly astonished Xu Yan.

There, the river of time itself seemed to have been severed!

Xu Yan had once roamed beneath that strange starry sky for an entire hour, only to regain his senses and find that but an instant had passed outside.

Afterward, in order to understand how time flowed beneath that starry sky, Xu Yan had specially purchased an exceptionally precise spirit sundial. He roamed beneath those stars for a full three hours, only to discover that the hexagram array on the spirit sundial had completed just one circuit—sixty breaths.

By that calculation, if his mind sank into that starry sky for a year, only a day would pass outside.

Such a strange and wondrous treasure was enough to leave one thunderstruck.

Thanks to the great blessing of this jade pendant, Xu Yan had devoured books ancient and modern alike. The prince's residence housed more than a hundred thousand volumes, and he had leafed through nearly half of them. Yet what interested him most was still "Primordial Script."

The Primordial Script of this world held profound meaning in every stroke and dot. Often, a single character contained ten thousand possible interpretations. Once one deeply understood this path, one would become utterly enchanted, unable to pull free.

Since last year, whenever Xu Yan studied scriptures and read books, he had read only the originals, never translated editions.

Take the Ancient Solar Record, for instance. Without consulting the annotations and commentaries of scholars from previous dynasties, Xu Yan could still interpret seventy or eighty percent of it himself.

As Xu Yan pondered, he summoned a maidservant and bathed and changed clothes in the side chamber. He put on a brand-new set of blue scholar's robes, looking quite handsome—a refined young gentleman indeed.

As the maidservant straightened Xu Yan's robes, she lowered her eyes and said softly, "Young Master Yan, at the hour of the Rabbit today, the Prince went to Cliff Sea. I heard the eldest young master went with him as well."

"Big Brother has returned?" Xu Yan asked in surprise.

"Mhm." The maidservant nodded. "At the beginning of the year, the eldest young master caught the eye of the Celestial Master of Dragon-Tiger Dao Academy and was accepted as his personal disciple. This is his last Shangsi at Cliff Sea. After this, I fear it will be hard to see him again."

The world was filled with lineages of the Dao. Within Great Yin's borders alone, there were more than a thousand with names worth mentioning. As for the royal inheritance, only descendants of the founding emperor's line could cultivate it. Not to mention the children of Xu Fei, an outsider king. Even other princes and princesses could only send their descendants into those renowned Dao academies and immortal lineages.

After washing up, Xu Yan left his small courtyard and headed for the stables of the prince's residence. He casually led out a blood-sweating dragon steed. Such a treasured horse could travel a hundred thousand li in a day without tiring. There were only a dozen or so in the entire residence, all bestowed by Emperor Jiaguang when Xu Fei had been granted his title.

"Hyah!"

A thousand li northeast of Huanglong City.

The sound of waves striking the shore rose and fell without end. The azure ancient sea stretched as far as the eye could see, seeming to meet the heavens.

Jagged cliffs rose steeply, and atop one of the more perilous heights stood a simple pavilion. It rose with the morning sun, solemn and dignified beneath the glow of dawn.

At that moment, two men sat playing a game of chess within the pavilion. The middle-aged man wore a black python robe and focused intently on the board. In Huanglong City and its eighteen commanderies, besides the outsider king Xu Fei, who else would dare wear a python robe?

This famed outsider king was plain in appearance, looking like no more than an ordinary middle-aged farmer. Yet his bearing was immensely imposing, and killing intent blazed in his eyes. He seemed as if he had walked out from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, filling any who saw him with fear.

The other was a man who had just reached adulthood. Dressed in white robes, he radiated upright righteousness, forming a stark contrast with Xu Fei.

Clack!

Xu Fei placed a piece, a smile curling across his lips as he looked up at the man in white. The latter gave a bitter smile, shook his head, and sighed. "Foster Father, I lost."

"Hahaha." Xu Fei laughed heartily a few times. Then he rose and walked to the cliff's edge. Looking down at the boundless sea, his expression gradually turned solemn. "When you go to Dragon-Tiger Dao Academy, you must cultivate diligently under the old Celestial Master. If you do not leave the mountain, so be it—but an age of contention is about to rise. In the future, a powerhouse at the pinnacle of the human path may emerge."

Hearing this, Xu Wei Dao was startled, his eyes trembling slightly. "The realm has been peaceful for more than a century. The courts and Dao lineages across the four seas all place harmony first. What kind of great tide could stir slaughter and war?"

Xu Fei shook his head and said gravely, "Who can speak clearly of the great tides of the world? But I suspect it is most likely related to several Daoist books from the Primordial Age."

Just as he spoke, the howl of a dragon steed racing upon the wind came from behind them.

"Father!"

Xu Fei and the other man immediately turned. The solemnity vanished from their faces, replaced by smiles as warm as the spring breeze.

Having not seen her father for months, Xu Ling Sha immediately swung down from her horse. With light, skipping steps, she ran forward and threw herself into her father's arms.

As her voice fell, Xu Yan, clad in blue robes, also arrived from afar atop his dragon steed.

"Greetings, Foster Father. Greetings, Big Brother." Xu Yan's expression remained calm as he solemnly cupped his hands in salute. He paid great attention to propriety. After all, he was merely an adopted son taken in by Xu Fei, and Xu Yan clearly knew his place.

The rites that should be observed had to be observed thoroughly; anything that would make others dislike him, he would never do.

"You're here?" Xu Fei examined Xu Yan, then smiled and nodded.

"Younger Brother Yan, after asking the Dao, you must come visit me. There are a few Daoist scriptures your elder brother cannot quite make sense of. I would like to ask worthy younger brother for some guidance." Xu Wei Dao teased.

"Big Brother, please do not mock me. You are the Third-Ranked Scholar in both civil and martial examinations of the present dynasty. How could the little ink in this foolish younger brother's belly possibly compare with Big Brother's?" Xu Yan said, shaking his head.