As countless eyes inside and outside the great hall remained fixed on the sky screen, its golden light swirled once more, and new words slowly emerged.
[Yang Feng, the one emperor for the ages. Dates of birth and death unknown.] [Yet he was present at both the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the campaign against Dong Zhuo.] [At the time, Yang Feng was a slave, accompanying the sworn brothers Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei.] [Yet he was as insignificant as a speck of dust, utterly unremarkable.]
Beyond the sky screen, in the Yuzhou army camp, the expressions of Liu Bei and his two brothers grew increasingly strange.
Zhang Fei's great bronze-bell eyes widened even further. He could scarcely believe what he was seeing.
What the sky screen said actually matched their memories down to the smallest detail.
That lad named Yang Feng really had been just such an unremarkable figure.
Meanwhile, inside the imperial palace's great hall in Shouchun, Yang Feng's heart began pounding uncontrollably.
Here it came.
Here it came again.
This sky screen really was going to turn his past inside out.
He could feel the gazes coming from every direction growing more complicated: suspicion, scrutiny, and the pure enjoyment of spectators who never minded a bigger spectacle.
His mind raced as he considered countermeasures, but the speed at which the sky screen revealed its contents gave him no room to breathe.
Golden light flashed again, and the new contents instantly made the atmosphere throughout the hall turn strange.
[Later, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei joined Yuan Shao, and so sold him to Yuan Shu as a slave.] [Yuan Shu had a private predilection. Upon seeing his appearance, he kept him by his side.]
At this, the corner of Yang Feng's eye twitched violently.
Well, damn.
Just... damn.
Wait... a private predilection?
Yuan Shu had a private predilection?
What kind of private predilection?
Yang Feng shuddered instinctively, and some very unhealthy images flashed through his mind.
He secretly stole a sidelong glance at Yuan Shu on the dragon throne, whose expression was growing uglier by the moment, and a chill of revulsion swept through him.
Surely not?
Sure, I'm a little handsome, but not to that extent...
Yuan Shu was a regional lord, after all, and now he had even proclaimed himself emperor. How could he have that sort of passion of Longyang?
This sky screen was far too irresponsible with its words. Wasn't this slandering an innocent man out of thin air?
My innocence!
While Yang Feng inwardly ranted, the words on the sky screen continued scrolling down like a death summons.
[Yang Feng knew full well that Yuan Shu would never amount to much and had long intended to leave. He originally planned to flee once winter had passed.] [Unexpectedly, his plans were exposed. Yuan Shu captured him and subjected him to a savage beating.] [Yet his nimble tongue and eloquent arguments instead won him even greater favor with Yuan Shu.] [Thereafter, Yuan Shu kept him under strict watch, taking him along whenever he went in or out, for fear he might flee again.]
Inside the great hall, the few lingering whispers abruptly ceased.
Everyone's eyes instinctively swept back and forth between Yang Feng and Yuan Shu. The meaning in those looks could hardly have been richer.
So there was even a story like this?
He had been beaten, only to become even more favored?
This...
There was so much information packed into this that even these battle-hardened generals and scheming civil officials struggled to process it all for a moment.
The sky screen's revelations continued, as though it intended to expose Yang Feng's future as well.
[After Yuan Shu's defeat and death, he originally intended to retreat into the mountains and forests, taking no further interest in worldly affairs.] [Who could have known that some generals under Yuan Shu, who both disdained Cao Cao's character and found nowhere to turn despite looking in every direction, would actually choose to follow Yang Feng?] [This was the starting point of the one emperor for the ages Yang Feng's rise to supremacy.] [Thereafter, he would lead these men far away to Yizhou and open up a new heaven.]
It was over.
This time, Yang Feng was truly and utterly dumbfounded.
If he had previously harbored even one ten-thousandth of a doubt about the claim that he was "the one emperor for the ages," that doubt had now vanished like smoke and clouds.
This sky screen...
How could it know he was planning to run away once spring arrived?
This was a secret buried in the deepest reaches of his heart. Even his sleep-talking was about modern life. There was absolutely no way it could have leaked!
Yet the sky screen had openly announced it, just like that!
It even knew every detail of how he had been beaten and then watched more closely by Yuan Shu because he had a way with words!
It was telling the truth.
All of this was actually true!
So I really did get away in the end?
And took a bunch of Yuan Shu's former subordinates with me?
And went to Yizhou?
Yang Feng felt as though his brain had become a pot of boiling water, countless thoughts churning and colliding within it.
Hadn't my original life plan been to find a chance to run away, then find somewhere with beautiful mountains and clear waters, become a literary plagiarist, write some world-shaking poems, trade them for money, establish a household, then put an arm around three or five lovely wives and beautiful concubines and live a corrupt, decadent retired life? Wouldn't that have been good?
How had I somehow ended up having to take a bunch of grunts to Yizhou to build an empire?
This wasn't the right script!
And besides...
Yang Feng's thoughts drifted back to the earlier line that had made his hair stand on end.
What exactly did the sky screen mean by "private predilection"?
Could Yuan Shu, that fellow with his thick brows and big eyes, really harbor improper desires toward me?
Was that why, after I was caught trying to escape and brought back, he not only spared me but watched me even more closely?
Fuck!
At that thought, Yang Feng felt goose bumps rise all over his body.
A scorching gaze, as though it could burn someone to ashes, pinned him firmly in place.
He did not need to look to know that gaze came from Yuan Shu on the dragon throne.
By now, Yuan Shu's face had turned the color of pig liver. His chest heaved violently, and even the breath blasting from his nostrils seemed to carry searing waves of heat.
His eyes were bloodshot as he glared fixedly at Yang Feng, his gaze filled with the fury of betrayal by someone he trusted most, the shame and anger of having his sordid affairs exposed in public, and a killing intent that seemed almost solid.
"Bang!"
The tremendous crash came from Yuan Shu slamming his palm hard against the imperial desk. The sturdy wooden desk let out a pained groan.
The entire great hall trembled.
"Yang Feng, you wretch!"
Yuan Shu forced the words through clenched teeth, his voice hoarse and enraged, like the roar of a wounded beast.
"Oh, what a Yang Feng you are!"
The finger he pointed at Yang Feng shook violently with his extreme fury.
"We have treated you well, have We not?"
"We took you everywhere We went, fed and clothed you, and kept you safe!"
"Yet you... you were planning to betray Us from the very beginning!"