The illustrations were exquisite, actually done in the meticulous gongbi style. This stirred another trace of doubt in Chen Qing's mind. Ever since arriving in this world, certain things had felt inexplicably out of place, as though some of the things he had originally planned to use to make his fortune already existed.
Printing, for example, or salt refining and sugar refining. As a science student, it was not as though he had never considered introducing a few of these standard ancient-world transmigration tricks to improve his family's circumstances. The problem was that all these things already existed.
The game world he had designed back then had naturally focused on fantasy, so the details of ordinary people's livelihoods had hardly been comprehensive. He could only credit the existence of these things to the ingenuity of this world's ancients.
He simply had not expected even gongbi painting to exist...
And the paintings were truly good!
Chen Qing leafed through the pages, feeling as though he had dreamed his way back to his previous life, reading illustrated storybooks as a child...
"What are these?" Wang Ye paused. "The Record of Strange Tales? No..." He studied several pages carefully, then shook his head. "The Record of Strange Tales isn't this clear. Master's illustrated book actually records these demons' and ghosts' habits and unusual abilities in such detail? When did he start working on this?"
Chen Qing was curious too. Many of the records inside were indeed extremely detailed. Even as the designer, he had to offer praise. Many of the man's deductions about ghosts and monsters were highly accurate. It seemed this Duke of Song had put considerable effort into observing demons and ghosts.
The ink on the latest page was relatively fresh, and it recorded information about Thousand-Faced Fox and Mountain Ghost. There was little about Mountain Ghost, since he had been slain shortly after appearing. Thousand-Faced Fox, however, had stood out so much this time that Liu Yu had recorded his details very clearly.
It was a fine thing, but it was no use to him. Besides, what did giving it to him signify?
As he pondered this, Chen Qing reached the end and found a letter addressed to him. After a brief pause, he did not dwell on it and simply picked up the envelope and opened it. Wang Ye, standing beside him, could hardly keep looking, so he moved farther away of his own accord.
"You really won't look?" Chen Qing regarded him with amusement. This fellow had become a wooden man, yet he still had quite firm principles.
"It wouldn't be proper for me to read the letter..." Wang Ye shook his head. "But I'm very interested in this illustrated record of ghosts and monsters that Master made. If you don't mind, could you let me look at it some more? Once I've memorized it, I plan to transcribe a copy when I get back."
"Take it..." Chen Qing smiled and handed him the illustrated book, then began reading the letter himself.
The letter's format was uncomplicated, and its wording was simple. It opened with a message in plain language.
My young friend Chen Qing, by the time you receive this letter, I should already be dead. That I never found an opportunity to sit down with you and truly get to know you is the greatest regret I, Liu Yu, still have.
However, His Majesty has already begun paying attention to you. If I met with you once more before my death, it would be detrimental to you. I can only leave you a few words in this fashion.
From the very first time I met you, you reminded me greatly of someone I once revered. I imagine you have heard his name as well: His Highness the King of Qin, whom everyone now dreads mentioning.
I mastered the power of the Evening Elephant at seven, and before I turned sixteen, I could travel across the lands of this world using spells. Once, I always believed I was the freest person in this world. But as I came to understand more and more of this world's secrets, that arrogant notion of mine was cast into the deepest abyss.
This world is larger than I imagined. I traveled its lands and collected many historical documents, yet the more I learned, the more I marveled at its terror. Many secrets truly drive one to despair merely upon seeing them. I even suspect that humanity's survival to this day has been deliberately arranged by someone, as though an unseen hand were toying with our fate...
I heard everything you said to Mr. Bai in the great hall. His Majesty did not know what "the previous generation" meant, but I happened to know. The King of Qin told me the secret of the Demon Race's reincarnation back then. I had thought no second person in this world would ever know this secret, yet I never expected to hear you mention it so casually.
Since you know this secret, you naturally understand how terribly unfair this world is to humanity!!
Demons and ghosts are born with incomparably terrifying gifts, while humans are born utterly fragile. No matter how careless or reckless demons and ghosts are, they have a chance to start again. Humans are different. Lose once, and there is no future.
And this is only one of this world's many despair-inducing truths. The more one knows, the more hopeless humanity's future seems...
But the King of Qin was different. Back then, he seemed truly intent on changing this world, and he seemed confident he could do so. Not one of those who followed him then failed to be won over.
You give me the same feeling as the King of Qin. Though you have not yet grown to that level, your essence is the same. No matter how humbly you conduct yourself before His Majesty, I can see it deep in your eyes: that gaze that looks down upon this world.
I truly wish to know what you will do in the future, and whether you, too, will conceive ideas as bold as the King of Qin's were back then.
If I could have, I truly wished to walk beside him to the very end. Unfortunately... His Highness the King of Qin could contend with many formidable demons, but he could not contend with the terrifying human heart.
On this point... you must learn from his mistake. If you harbor ambitions as grand as the King of Qin's, remember that you must be even more careful...
Finally... I hope you can help me look after my disciple. I know he is no longer my disciple, but he will believe that he is. In his own understanding, he is Wang Ye. He is the disciple of me... Liu Yu!
His existence fits very well with certain ideas the King of Qin had back then. What would happen if a demon or ghost were willing to regard himself as human?
I very much wish to know the answer, but I can only follow His Highness the King of Qin ahead of you. The King of Qin said that humans should also reincarnate. I am willing to believe this. If there truly is another life, I greatly look forward to seeing the world you have changed, and to seeing what my present disciple will become...
My letter is short, but my feelings run long. Please do not laugh at me, my young friend. Respectfully, Liu Yu!
The letter also carried a spell. Each character Chen Qing read was erased by a distorting spatial spell. Chen Qing even suspected that if someone other than him were reading the letter, its contents would be erased outright.
Once he finished reading everything, the entire letter vanished without a trace from Chen Qing's hands, as though it had never existed in the first place.
This suddenly left Chen Qing feeling somewhat hollow inside.
He did not know how Liu Yu had seen through him. Perhaps he would have been deeply wary of the man while he lived, but the man had simply died like this, and after reading the letter, Chen Qing felt as though he had lost a kindred spirit.
After all, in this world... there might never again be someone who understood him as Liu Yu had.
At that thought, Chen Qing turned toward the duke's residence and bowed deeply once more.
"What is it?" Puzzled by Chen Qing's sudden action, Wang Ye asked curiously.
"Nothing..." Chen Qing smiled. "It's just that after reading the letter, I feel your master... truly was an extraordinary man..."
Pride appeared on Wang Ye's face. "Of course my master was extraordinary. There wasn't a more formidable spellcaster in this world. If his thinking hadn't been so hidebound, even the emperor couldn't have done anything to him!!"
Chen Qing stared at him blankly, then shook his head with an amused smile.
Wang Ye usually seemed so clever, yet sometimes he really did have a wooden head...
Liu Yu had no children. As the strongest spatial spellcaster, he was beyond the emperor's control in the first place. As for blind loyalty, outsiders might not know, but Chen Qing, as the designer, knew that inheritors of the Evening Elephant were the least likely to be bound by power and authority. So what leverage had the emperor had to make him die?
Looking at Wang Ye's rather foolish expression, Chen Qing shook his head slightly. Wasn't it all because of you... you fool.
"How is it?"
Inside the imperial palace, the emperor stared darkly at the distorted cracks on his hand as he questioned the black-robed spellcaster beside him, who was examining the spell for him.
The black-robed spellcaster studied the flickering runes on the emperor's body for a long time before finally shaking his head. "The spell Liu Yu laid is exceptionally intricate. Forcibly dismantling it might injure Your Majesty's imperial body!"
"Hmph!" Flames flickered in the emperor's eyes.
Had he not truly lacked confidence, he would never have allowed Liu Yu to name any conditions!
The power of Liu Yu's Evening Elephant was simply too difficult to pin down, and he was supremely intelligent besides. Almost the instant the emperor made his promise to Thousand-Faced Fox, Liu Yu had guessed that he would move to kill him.
Liu Yu's condition had been simple: the emperor had to bind himself to his spell with his Essence Blood and promise not to harm Wang Ye under any circumstances.
The death of a junior like Wang Ye was inconsequential, but as an emperor, how could he willingly accept such restraints?
"Is there no way at all?"
"When Your Majesty next undergoes blood cleansing and rebirth!" The spellcaster looked up with a smile. "Then there will be a chance to break free of the spell Liu Yu left behind."
Hearing this, the emperor nodded slightly, then asked, "What about Chen Qing? Has he departed?"
"Yes. After Liu Yu's funeral banquet ended, he set off through the night. Incidentally, Wang Ye accompanied him part of the way."
"Do you know what they said?"
"It was difficult to get close..." The spellcaster shook his head. "Your Majesty no longer has the manpower to spare to watch a junior like that."
The emperor immediately frowned at this. After Mr. Origami's betrayal, he indeed no longer had enough people to monitor all the officials.
Spellcasters were rare. His limited manpower had to be used to watch those few troublesome figures.
"So, Your Majesty..." the black-robed spellcaster said, "we cannot spare anyone for Chen Qing either. Though he is a mortal, if we send only two apprentices, I doubt they will be able to keep watch over him."
"Chen Qing..." The emperor grew conflicted, a rare occurrence.
The man was a mortal. Sending a great spellcaster to watch him was far too extravagant given the emperor's current shortage of personnel, but leaving this man unchecked always felt as though it would lead to serious trouble.
As for Thousand-Faced Fox, he was not worried. No one under heaven could undo the Golden Crow Blood Incantation that Mr. Five Poisons had refined using the emperor's own blood. The King of Qin himself... had already put that to the test back then!
"Send an imperial decree to Mu Hongqing, the education commissioner of Jiangnan!"
"You truly intend to use him?" The black-robed spellcaster paused. Mu Hongqing had changed his surname and defected from the Lu Household, but he was still of the Duke of Qin's bloodline. His Majesty had cultivated him for years, yet had never entrusted him with any important assignment.
"We have to try him sooner or later." The emperor smiled. "It's time to see whether he truly serves me sincerely!"
"Besides..." The emperor looked beyond the great hall, his eyes burning with golden flames as though they could pierce through the palace and see straight to the southern gate where Chen Qing now stood. In a quiet, lingering tone, he said, "I also want to see just what that little fellow named Chen Qing can accomplish once he's sent to Liuzhou!"
That concludes the first volume. The next chapter will begin the second volume, where the Divine Path system mentioned throughout the book will unfold. Since I need to set up a new volume, I'll have to post tonight's second chapter manually. I'll do my best to get it up on time, hehe.
The follow-reading numbers are pretty good. Thank you all so much for your support, and I hope you dear readers will keep supporting Mofang. This is only the second round of PK. To make it onto Sanjiang, I'll have to fight through at least five rounds of PK, and my batch happens to be packed with great authors. The road is perilous and long.
I hope Mofang can continue to receive everyone's support, so this little seedling can grow strong and become an entertaining novel that can keep you readers company for a good long time. Thank you once again for your support. Thank you!
Finally... please keep reading!!