Nine Provinces in Turmoil

After revealing the secret he had kept buried for years, Pan Shou felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted. His whole body seemed lighter.

Pan Lei and Pan Long exchanged glances. After a moment, Pan Lei ventured, "Dad, did none of our ancestors ever think of handing over the Classic of Mountains and Seas Fragment and making peace with the Di Lineage?"

Pan Shou gave a cold laugh, but before he could answer, Pan Long shook his head.

"That wouldn't work! After so many years of hatred, how could we just decide to make peace? Even if we agreed, the Di Lineage wouldn't. Our ancestor drove Di Jiazi to his death!"

Pan Lei frowned. "The ancestors are dead. Their descendants still have to live their lives..."

Pan Shou gave a heavy snort. "What nonsense are you thinking? Make peace? What standing does the Pan Lineage have to 'make peace' with the Di Lineage? If our identity comes to light, our whole family dies. Not even a chicken or a dog will be left alive! Do you really imagine the Di Lineage would spare us after getting the Classic of Mountains and Seas Fragment back?"

Pan Lei hesitated, then sighed deeply. "You're right. Once we're exposed, our lives will be in someone else's hands. Whatever the Di Lineage says, we can't reveal who we are. We can't wager the lives of our entire family on someone else's mercy!"

Then he said gloomily, "I really don't understand what our ancestor was thinking. Even if Di Jiazi had succeeded back then, our family would at least have been among the seventy-two Earthly Baleful Stars. We might not have stood at the top, but we'd have been above plenty of others, with wealth and comfort for generations to come. What was so bad about that? Why did he ruin Di Jiazi's plan?"

Pan Long shook his head again and again. "Dad, you've got that wrong! Having an emperor isn't the problem. But if the Di Lineage rules for all eternity, with every minister reduced to a vassal and the common people treated like ants... that's another matter! The world belongs to everyone in it. If you have the ability, you should rule; if you don't, you should get out. If someone uses underhanded means to reign forever, free to turn everything upside down without fear of being overthrown, with no chance of a change of dynasty... sooner or later, the whole world will be ruined! Our ancestor was right. Not only must we never make peace with the Di Lineage, we must fulfill his dying wish, destroy the Nine Provinces Grand Array, and put an end to the danger forever!"

Pan Lei sighed at his words, but Pan Shou's gaze turned extraordinarily tender as he looked at his grandson. His bandit-like old face broke into a broad smile.

"You're right, Little Long!" He patted his grandson's shoulder and said happily, "So I'll leave it to you."

"What?!" Pan Long cried in shock. "Why?"

"Because in your hands, the Classic of Mountains and Seas Fragment has displayed miraculous powers that none of our ancestors could awaken." Pan Shou sounded both excited and gratified. "Clearly, like Di Jiazi before you, you can draw out this treasure's full power. Your birth into the Pan Lineage is heaven's way of telling us that the time has come to fulfill our ancestor's dying wish."

"Our family has waited all these years, hiding carefully and waiting for an opportunity. And you are the 'opportunity' we've been waiting for!"

"Isn't that a bit much..."

Pan Shou laughed heartily. "Little Long, let your grandfather speak from the heart. The power of the Classic of Mountains and Seas was crucial to Di Jiazi's conquest of the world and the founding of the Great Xia Dynasty. If you can wield its true power as he did, why can't you do what he did, too?"

Pan Lei grew excited as well, his eyes shining. "Exactly! The Great Xia Dynasty is showing signs of decline. This is the hour for heroes to rise and contend for the world. Someone is bound to found a dynasty. Why shouldn't it be our family?"

Pan Long froze. Countless thoughts churned through his mind like a volcano about to erupt, yet they remained trapped beneath a crushing weight. The mingled exhilaration and frustration left him almost unable to bear it.

"What's wrong?"

"Dad, what did you... just say?" Pan Long asked, his voice trembling.

Pan Lei paused and scratched his head. "Someone is bound to found a dynasty. Why shouldn't it be our family?"

Thunder seemed to crash through Pan Long's heart, and suddenly everything became clear.

A voice roared inside him with the force of a collapsing mountain and a surging sea.

Who said that coming to this world meant I could only be a wealthy man? Or a martial arts master? I can plunge into the tide of destiny too! I can fight for my place and ask, "Across this vast earth, who will decide its fate?"

What man had no ambition? He had simply never imagined he might have the chance to test the weight of the cauldrons, or that he might be qualified to contend for the prize. Across his past and present lives, the highest he had risen was a small-time tycoon in a county town. That grand goal had seemed far, far away, utterly beyond his reach.

But now that he thought about it carefully, perhaps it was not so distant after all.

As his grandfather and father had said, Di Jiazi had used the power of the Classic of Mountains and Seas to sweep across the world and found the Great Xia Dynasty. Even if Pan Long could not match him, he was at least qualified to step into the "tide of history" and measure himself against the heroes of the world.

Only such a life would mean he had not walked this world in vain. Only then would he have lived up to the extraordinary chances he had been given.

And if heaven's mandate lies with me...

He laughed freely and declared, "That's right! Someone is bound to found a dynasty. Why can't it be me?"

At about the same time that three generations of the Pan family were deep in heated discussion in the underground chamber, another momentous event was unfolding.

In Central Province stood the Imperial Capital, the only city in the world named with the word "imperial."

The city stood nowhere on the land of the Nine Provinces. It floated several hundred yards in the air. When the Great Xia Dynasty was founded, almost every spellcaster in the Nine Provinces had gathered to cast spells together. They broke the Sacred Mountain where Di Jiazi had been born from its roots, turned it upside down, and set it floating in the sky. Then they leveled its base and built the dynasty's capital upon it.

Talismans covered the city. Even an ordinary stone on the ground had been reinforced by Spell. The city could fly freely through the air, though it usually rested above the Heaven-Praying Altar in the middle of the Central Province plain, facing the immense altar below, which rose more than a hundred yards from the ground.

No unauthorized person was allowed within a hundred li of the Heaven-Praying Altar; trespassers were killed without mercy. Outsiders seeking entry to the Imperial Capital first had to apply. After preliminary approval, they stayed in Sky-Piercing City for a time and underwent repeated checks before finally being permitted to board a flying vessel to the capital. The whole process often took more than a year.

Within the Imperial Capital, not only the servants of its households but even its street vendors and laborers had lived there for generations. All were loyal and dependable.

On clear days without a cloud for ten thousand li, the mountain floating in the sky could be seen from anywhere in Central Province. To ascend the Sacred Mountain and become a resident of the Imperial Capital was the dream of nearly everyone in the Nine Provinces.

The Central Province Cauldron, one of the Nine Provinces Treasure Cauldrons, was enshrined on the Heaven-Praying Altar beneath the Sacred Mountain.

Long ago, Di Jiazi had swept across the world and founded the Great Xia Dynasty. He divided its territory into the Nine Provinces: Qing Province in the east, Jing Province in the south, Yi Province in the west, Jizhou in the north, Yang Province in the southeast, Yun Province in the southwest, You Province in the northeast, and Yong Province in the northwest. The province at their center, known as Central Province, was officially called Xia Province. Commoners, however, had to avoid the name "Xia," so they called it Central Province instead.

Each of the Nine Provinces had a Heaven-Praying Altar, and each altar held one of the Nine Cauldrons. These treasure cauldrons were both symbols of Great Xia's rule and the most powerful magical artifacts in the world. Once their power was unleashed, moving mountains and overturning seas was no great feat. No matter how vicious or formidable a foe might be, even if he had made his lair a fortress of copper walls and iron ramparts, borrowing the slightest trace of the Nine Cauldrons' power could grind him and his stronghold to dust!

And everyone knew that even among the Nine Cauldrons, the Central Province Cauldron—or rather, the Xia Province Cauldron—was the strongest.

Yet now, the mightiest magical artifact among the Nine Cauldrons trembled faintly. The eternal flame rising from the great cauldron flickered unsteadily, and a sound like a tolling bell came from within it, traveling farther and farther.

Nor was that all. The cauldrons in the other provinces were also trembling faintly, their ringing spreading in every direction.

Messages flashed back and forth by Spell. Within half an hour, an order came from the Imperial Capital and spread throughout the Nine Provinces.

Everyone—officials, soldiers, and civilians alike—was to search for an old Bamboo Slip that looked damaged yet could not be harmed by blades or axes, water or fire. Whoever found this wondrous Bamboo Slip, covered in strange writing no one could recognize, and presented it to the court would be made a first-rank Duke of Peace and Comfort, a hereditary title that would never be revoked. They would also receive a Red-Inscribed Iron Certificate, which would pardon even a future descendant's crime of treason once.

Anyone who found the treasure and concealed it, obstructed someone else from presenting it to the court, fought over it, or damaged it would have nine generations of their family executed!

When the Pan family received the town deputy's magical message, the grandfather, father, and son were eating in the quiet room where Pan Lei was recovering. They watched the Talisman Bird finish speaking, flap its wings, and fly away, all three stunned.

After a moment, Pan Lei said, "I'll go and ask around."

"I'll go," Pan Shou said, stopping him. "Focus on recovering. Don't give anything away."

Half an hour later, he returned to the quiet room and told them what else he had learned.

"Not a single word from the Di Lineage can be trusted!" Pan Shou said coldly. "Present a fake, and you're guilty of deceiving the emperor—punishable by death! Present the real thing, and you're a traitor's descendant—even more reason to kill you! Every person who hands over a treasure, barring a few decoys they've arranged in advance, is walking straight to their death!"

Pan Long glanced at his father. Pan Lei nodded slightly, agreeing.

Pan Shou thought for a while longer, then said with a worried frown, "We can't let this go on! The Nine Cauldrons resonated when someone who could truly wield the Classic of Mountains and Seas Fragment awakened it. Heaven knows whether they have some way to use the cauldrons to track the fragment! Little Long can't stay in Dingfeng Town. He needs to leave as soon as possible!"

Pan Long started in alarm, but his father agreed. "That's right! He must leave naturally, though. We can't let anyone spot anything suspicious."

After a little thought, Pan Lei came up with a plan. "Leave with the merchant caravan. Say you've reached a bottleneck in our family's martial arts and want to travel the martial world to see whether you come across an opportunity."

"That will do. Leaving in too much haste would look like a guilty conscience to anyone watching closely," Pan Shou said, approving his son's plan. "Once you're gone, remember: don't say a single word about the Classic of Mountains and Seas Fragment to anyone. Not even to us!"

"And every time you enter it, do so from a different place, preferably somewhere far from the last," Pan Shou added. "No matter how powerful the Nine Cauldrons are, they can't lock onto a target that moves every time. Don't keep traveling in one direction. Change course after each stretch of road, or they might find you."

Pan Lei added, "And you must never go near any of the Nine Cauldrons! From now on, every provincial capital in the Nine Provinces is forbidden to you. Stay as far away as you can, and whatever you do, don't enter one. Remember that! Remember!"

Pan Long listened to his grandfather's and father's analysis and advice, nodding repeatedly.

He could not be sure they were right, but they were certainly thinking of him with all their hearts. As a novice in the martial world, he ought to take the advice of these two veterans and do as they said.

In that case, he would be leaving in two or three days at most.

"Where should I go?" he asked.

"The caravan won't head for the Golden City Defense Line. It'll travel south from Dingfeng Town toward Yongdu City," Pan Shou said. "Go with it for a while, then part ways at Lantian City and head Southlands toward Yi Province. If anyone asks, say you're visiting your mother at your grandfather's home."

Pan Long was startled. "Isn't Mother in seclusion for ten years to break through to the Innate Realm, without seeing any family? She's already been in seclusion for eight years. If I go now, won't her eight years of hard work be wasted?"

He was not as close to his mother, Ren Yue, as he was to his father. After all, he had been only eight when she returned to her family's home to enter seclusion, and he had not yet fully accepted his family ties in this life. Besides, practicing the Buddhist School's Heartless Sutra had left Ren Yue rather distant by nature. Their relationship was all right, but nowhere near as warm and close as his relationship with his father.

Even so, he did not want to interfere with his mother's cultivation.

His father had already reached the Innate Realm and could live to be a hundred and twenty or thirty. If his mother failed to reach the Innate Realm, wouldn't that leave his father a widower in middle age?

Pan Shou laughed and took out a piece of emerald-green jade. Faint patterns resembling mountains and rivers marked its surface.

"It's just an excuse. As for your 'real reason'... I got this piece of jade when I was roaming the martial world. The patterns on it look somewhat like Heaven's Wrath Gorge in Yi Province. Say you're going to hunt for treasure."

"...Is it really a treasure map?" Pan Long asked curiously.

"Just treat it as one." Pan Shou laughed. "I've had the thing for nearly thirty years and never found any treasure. If someone else can find it, good for him!"

"With that as your cover, no one will think the real treasure isn't in Heaven's Wrath Gorge at all. It's you."