What on Earth Was This Guy Talking About?
-"E Xu."
Even to some transmigrators, it was a very unfamiliar term.
After all, as everyone knew, these days, far more science students transmigrated than humanities students.
Master math, physics, and chemistry, and you could travel the world without fear. But what was the use of mastering politics, history, and geography?
What a joke. You couldn't even find a job after graduation.
But Lü Yuan wasn't among them, because he had studied the humanities.
E Xu-
If he remembered correctly, wasn't that Empress Lü's childhood name?
For a moment, Lü Yuan could hardly believe it. After all, he had almost managed to convince himself that both the Seven Warring States and Liu Ji of Pei County were just coincidences.
But now, how could it possibly be such a coincidence?
Could this really be the late Warring States period in a xianxia setting? But without even the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the Spring and Autumn period, or the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, how had this world developed to this point?
Lü Yuan couldn't make sense of it at all.
What puzzled him even more was why the man before him had called out the name "E Xu" upon seeing his face.
Do I really look that much like her?
But I'm only eight right now. Could it be that in this setting, my big brother-
Liu Ji, that is-met Lü Zhi when she was eight?
And since he called her directly by her childhood name, are the two of them already husband and wife?
If she could be married to a Golden Core True Lord, just how much of a heavyweight is Lü Zhi in this setting?
But come to think of it, why would I look so much like Lü Zhi?
While Lü Yuan struggled to make sense of it, Liu Ji too thought of many things in that instant.
The resemblance is too close. They were practically carved from the same mold...
Even twins should have had distinguishing features, especially under a cultivator's Divine Sense.
Any difference in detail would be magnified infinitely.
It could be said that, in the eyes of cultivators, especially those at Foundation Establishment and above, it was impossible for two people to be purely identical in appearance.
But Lü Yuan, standing before him, had broken that rule.
Although the time for him to meet E Ju had not yet come in this life, even after seven hundred years, he would never, ever mistake a single detail.
Even so, he had still subconsciously murmured "E Xu"-
At that moment, Liu Ji finally understood why His Excellency had chosen Lü Yuan.
And why His Excellency had guided him here because of Lü Yuan.
There had to be some connection between Lü Yuan and him and E Xu.
First, he ruled out the two least likely possibilities: human intervention and coincidence.
After all, even His Excellency would not offend him that way, while the latter was even more absurd.
That left only two possibilities-
Either Lü Yuan was actually E Xu's reincarnation, but something had gone wrong.
But if that were the case, His Excellency's choice of him made no sense.
That left only the second possibility...
Liu Ji briefly recalled the events of seven hundred years ago.
He pondered the time when he and E Xu had sent that wisp of humanity from the "Second Sun" to reincarnate as the present King Zheng of Qin-
Had something gone wrong in that brief moment when they had blended their [Great Yin] Residual Position and [Sun] Residual Position together?
And had that mishap, unnoticed by anyone, reincarnated along with the wisp of humanity from the "Second Sun"...
To become the present Lü Yuan standing before him?
Though the possibility sounded utterly implausible, it was the only reasonable explanation.
What was more, when he had spoken the name "E Xu," Lü Yuan's emotions had fluctuated very noticeably.
He knows what it means?!
That's right. Earlier, when Liu Ji had given his name, he had thought Lü Yuan's astonishment and silence were because he had mistaken Lü Yuan for a True Lord.
But now, perhaps the greater reason for his silence had been Liu Ji himself?
At that thought, Liu Ji was almost certain he was right.
And with that, the causes and consequences of the whole matter made sense-
Why had His Excellency chosen Lü Yuan and sent Liu Ji to find him?
Why had the names of Liu Ji and E Ju both stirred him?
Because he was Liu Ji and E Xu's child, His Excellency had chosen him!!
Because he was Liu Ji and E Xu's child, he had been stirred by them!!
-As a child born from the convergence of two [Residual Positions], after Liu Ji and E Xu died mending the heavens in the future,
he could certainly wield both of the top-tier Residual Positions, [Great Yin] and [Sun], at the same time!
And if Liu Ji was the final victor in the "struggle for supremacy at the end of Qin," then after he died mending the heavens, this child...
Could very well take over seamlessly and ascend directly to the [Sun] Fruit Position!
It was precisely because he had been born with such great value that His Excellency had taken an interest in him-
It was precisely because of his parentage and origins that he had such an appearance-
Having worked all this out, Liu Ji had one last thing to confirm. Suddenly, without apparent reason, he spoke up, interrupting Lü Yuan's own thoughts.
He asked a question that left Lü Yuan baffled.
"Have you met your parents?" Liu Ji asked softly, gazing at Lü Yuan.
"No-" Lü Yuan thought his big brother had taken him for a relative of his wife, so he answered truthfully.
"Then where did your name come from?" he asked again.
There was really no way to answer that. He couldn't very well say it had been his name in his previous life-
As for lying, it would probably be too obvious in his true form.
Lü Yuan could only brace himself and give a vague answer. "I knew from birth that this was supposed to be my name."
He knew it from birth...
Lü came directly from E Ju's surname... As for Yuan, that's easy to understand too. Yuan is the blending of yin and yang, the Taiji.
He...
He's my and E Xu's child?!
As a former Golden Core True Lord, Liu Ji could always keep his emotions in check-
If he wanted, he too could be like the people of the [Purple T176] lineage, feeling neither joy nor sorrow no matter what he faced, like the immortals and gods in stories.
But he didn't want to-
Neither the lineage he came from nor his own wishes had ever inclined him to become like the "His Excellency" he knew.
Because he was destined to die mending the heavens, he ought to live the way he wanted while he was alive...
But as a result, under Lü Yuan's puzzled gaze, the look in the eyes of this "big brother" he had only recently acknowledged grew softer and softer.
Then he rested a hand on Lü Yuan's thin shoulder and said softly,
"Little Lü, before I answer your question, there's something more important I have to tell you. Please don't be frightened-"
Am I really of the same clan as Empress Lü?
With that question in mind, Lü Yuan nodded. "Go ahead, big brother. I've seen an immortal like His Excellency before, so I won't be frightened."
After considering his words for a moment, Liu Ji said quite directly, "Actually, you must have noticed how surprised I was by your appearance..."
Since he had put it that way, Lü Yuan didn't hide it either. He asked in return,
"So, big brother, do I look a lot like this 'E Xu' you mentioned?"
"Very much so. You could almost be her exact double-"
"And thinking about why I came here and why His Excellency chose you, I have an idea."
Lü Yuan didn't quite understand that last sentence and was about to ask another question, but Liu Ji unexpectedly spoke at the same time.
"Are you saying that E Xu and I might be blood relatives?"
"What I mean is, there's actually a very good chance that I'm your biological father, though we're neither kin nor related-"
Both sentences ended at the same time, and once each realized what the other had said, the air froze for a moment.
"Cough, cough-" Lü Yuan simply couldn't keep it together. If he could keep it together after that, he could keep a Jumpy Dumpty together.
He had no idea how Liu Ji had come to that conclusion.
Besides, how could the words "biological father" and "neither kin nor related" go together?
What on earth is this guy talking about?!