Chapter 327: The Echo of History
The Dũng Giang had arrived.
Tần Mục surveyed his surroundings. When the village chief had brought him to search for Vô Ưu Hương, they had passed through this area before. The village where the underworld messenger received ghosts shouldn't be too far from here. At most, it was a journey of five or six days before they could return to Tàn Lão Thôn.
It was already the end of the eighth month now, and the sun was still scorching hot, blazing across the sky. Speaking of it, this had been quite a rugged journey. When Tần Mục had walked out of the capital with Crown Prince Linh Ngọc Thư, it had still been the spring season, and now it was already the end of summer. After one more season, it would be time to return to the village for the New Year.
The experiences and encounters along this journey could truly be called legendary.
They were traveling downstream along the river when suddenly a gust of watery vapor blew across the river, and then they saw thick white fog sealing off the great river. Nothing could be seen in any direction.
Tần Mục immediately stopped in his tracks, and the others hurriedly halted as well, standing motionless on the river's surface.
Hùng Tích Vũ's heart tightened, and she whispered, "Yêu quái?"
Tần Mục shook his head. "Doesn't seem like it. It should be some kind of anomaly of Đại Khư."
Just then, the Vô Ưu Sword in the wooden sword scabbard on his back began to ring with a tinkling sound. Tần Mục's heart stirred slightly. The Vô Ưu Sword rarely emitted a sword cry on its own. The last time it had made such a sound was when he encountered his father Tần Hán Trân's treasure ship.
The Vô Ưu Sword continued to vibrate, and from within the fog, the sound of people and horses clamoring gradually came forth, as if countless figures were passing through this place. Hùng Kỳ Nhi exclaimed softly, "Look beneath our feet—the water is gone!"
Tần Mục quickly looked down and saw that the Dũng Giang beneath their feet had suddenly disappeared without warning, replaced by dry, yellow earth.
The fog gradually dissipated, growing thinner and thinner, and faintly visible around them were many moving figures.
Tần Mục, Hùng Tích Vũ, and the others were stunned, their bodies stiffening. All around them was a Gobi desert, yellow sand filling the sky. Tens of thousands of cultivators dressed in very archaic styles were leading giant beasts as they constructed massive buildings of enormous scale.
These buildings didn't resemble houses for humans to live in. The towers were tall and majestic, pagodas piercing straight into the clouds, palaces resplendent and magnificent—like places where giants or heavenly gods would dwell.
And atop the tall divine altars stood golden, radiant heavenly gods. Some had bird heads on human bodies, some had beast heads on human bodies, all clad in golden armor, their divine eyes blazing with light.
These were living deities, and it seemed that wherever their bodies stood, there would be eternal daylight.
Tens of thousands of cultivators were under their supervision, constructing a palace for the gods, grand and spectacular in scale.
But wasn't their location supposed to be the Dũng Giang?
How could this be a desert?
Several flood dragons pulled a treasure carriage flying through the sky, and from afar, a voice shook heaven and earth: "By decree of the Thượng Hoàng: The Ministry of Works shall oversee the construction of the Western Palace, and open waterways and transportation!"
Tần Mục was slightly startled. "Thượng Hoàng? The third move of the sword diagram that the village chief taught me is Thượng Hoàng Kiếp Động! Is the Thượng Hoàng in Thượng Hoàng Kiếp Động connected to the Thượng Hoàng in this decree?"
A deity with a dragon head and human body standing on the divine altar bowed to receive the decree, then shook its body and transformed into a gray dragon, soaring through the sky to summon clouds and rain, stirring up wind and waves, drawing forth great waters to irrigate the desert.
At the same time, another deity gripped a bronze plow in hand, its body transforming into a giant, splitting mountains and digging canals, channeling the water for irrigation.
Another deity took out a precious vase and floated in midair, the vase pointing downward. A surge of green poured out, turning the desert into grassland, and dense forests grew wildly.
Yet another deity took out a great cauldron. As the cauldron landed, mountains rose from the ground, the terrain shifting dramatically, the great desert becoming green mountains.
Tần Mục and the others watched this scene in a daze. These gods of the Thượng Hoàng era used boundless power to reshape heaven and earth. What were the seas turning into mulberry fields compared to this?
"This great river should be the Dũng Giang, right?"
Tần Mục was bewildered, watching the deity holding the bronze plow carve out a main river channel. The river was very long, flowing eastward.
The form of this great river was somewhat similar to the Dũng Giang, but the course wasn't exactly the same. It resembled the Dũng Giang, yet the water's force wasn't as great.
Just then, the fog surged in again, drowning everything ahead of them. In a daze, they felt the earth tremble violently, and tremendous sounds like the heavens collapsing and the earth splitting apart. Within the fog was a scene of apocalypse—the sky spinning, the earth overturning, volcanoes, meteors, thick smoke, and thunder swallowing the once-glorious palaces, burying an entire civilization.
They heard a rumbling sound from behind them. Turning around, they saw a natural chasm slowly rising in the fog, cutting off the continent.
The fog gradually dispersed, as if the rust of time and space was slowly fading away. The natural chasm behind them gradually became clear, waterfalls rushing down to merge into the Dũng Giang.
The yellow sand beneath their feet turned back into flowing water, rushing eastward day and night.
Plop, plop.
The two white bats hanging upside down from Long Kỳ Lân's chin were stunned. Their claws failed to grip, and they fell into the water. The two white bats quickly flew up from the water, clinging to each other and shivering: "Đại Khư is too bizarre! Tần giáo chủ, quickly send us back to Minh Cốc!"
Tần Mục was caught between laughter and tears. "Bat brothers, you two are already part of Đại Khư's anomalies yourselves, so why say Đại Khư is too bizarre? You two brothers in Minh Cốc could scare to death who knows how many treasure hunters who break in there."
The two white bats looked at each other. "We two brothers are also anomalies?"
Tần Mục was both exasperated and amused. These two brothers had no self-awareness whatsoever. The anomalies of Minh Cốc were terrifying—all kinds of bizarre creatures, and even celestial beings couldn't claim they could retreat unscathed. And these two brothers were the guardians of Minh Cốc, the anomalies among anomalies.
The fog around them still hadn't completely dispersed. Gazing into the distance at the natural chasm, everything was hazy.
Suddenly, wisps of fog walked toward them. When they arrived before them, they had already transformed into gray-white figures, passing straight through their bodies with a whoosh.
The crowd quickly turned around, only to see the fog condensing together again. A voice came from within the fog: "What happened in the Thượng Hoàng era? Why did this magnificent era vanish from heaven and earth? Was that just now an echo of history? Imprinting events that happened in history into time itself, and by coincidence, recreating that scene from history? This land is truly wondrous, and the ancient empire is also astonishing."
"Your Majesty, the Đạo Môn and Đại Lôi Âm Tự have some records that have been passed down. Your Majesty can issue a decree to have them send those records over."
"Good, have them send them over. I don't want to deal with those monks and Daoists. They always tell me not to reform. If we don't reform, how can we change the people's livelihood? I don't want to see them."
The leading wisp of fog walked toward the chasm, its voice coming from within the mist: "I don't want our Khai Hoàng kingdom to end up with the same fate. We must learn from the lessons of the previous dynasty. What a magnificent empire it was—gods governing the mortal world, working for the people. So powerful, yet why did it only leave behind these ruins..."
...
Tần Mục's heart surged with emotion, and he looked toward that wisp of fog. Khai Hoàng?
On the Tần family's genealogy, the first name listed was Khai Hoàng—the founding ancestor of the Tần clan!
He hurriedly chased after those human-shaped wisps of fog, but their speed was very fast. In just a few steps, they had left him far behind. Tần Mục activated the Thâu Thiên Thần Thối, moving like the wind, but those wisps of fog suddenly vanished without a trace.
Tần Mục stood there dejectedly, dazed.
Khai Hoàng.
The Khai Hoàng kingdom.
It should have been the kingdom before the great catastrophe of Đại Khư. But what was the relationship between the Khai Hoàng kingdom and Vô Ưu Hương?
Hùng Tích Vũ and the others caught up. Hùng Tích Vũ's eyes wandered as she looked around and said, "Tần giáo chủ, that scene just now?"
"An echo of history."
Tần Mục steadied himself and said, "There are many strange occurrences at the source of the Dũng Giang. This place might connect to several worlds, and when night falls, many strange things happen. I didn't expect strange things to happen even during the day. From the echo just now, this should have been a temporary palace of the Thượng Hoàng. Perhaps we can find relics of that era here."
"An echo of history?"
Hùng Tích Vũ and the others were all slightly taken aback, somewhat confused. How could something that had already happened reflect back?
But Tần Mục had seen an echo of history before. On the treasure ship, he had witnessed the scene of his father Tần Hán Trân being ambushed.
This kind of historical echo was generally a time imprint left behind by powerful beings. When the echo occurred, it was usually triggered by related people, objects, or events, with a strong element of chance.
The echo on the treasure ship had been triggered by Tần Mục and the Vô Ưu Sword. So what had triggered this echo?
"This time, there were two echoes!"
Tần Mục suddenly realized—or rather, it was an echo within an echo!
Khai Hoàng had come here, triggering the first echo, witnessing the gods under the Thượng Hoàng's command transforming the desert in ancient times. And the second echo was Khai Hoàng and his companions appearing on the Dũng Giang!
The first echo was part of the second echo, also recorded by time itself.
"So what triggered this echo? Could it be the Vô Ưu Sword again?"
Behind Tần Mục, the Vô Ưu Sword had quieted down, no longer emitting its sword cry. The echo of history had completely dispersed as well. There was not a trace of fog on the river surface—clear skies, blazing sunlight.
Where had that fog come from, and where had it gone!
"How strange. Why did these things happen here... Wait, the echo of history also occurred on my father's treasure ship. And that treasure ship was in the crack between U Minh and the real world, with the beehive seal blocking the entrance between U Minh and the real world. If the conditions are the same, then the echo of history happening here must also be because this is an entrance connected to other worlds!"
Tần Mục pondered. Perhaps echoes of history were reflected on the barriers between worlds, and once triggered, they would recreate history.
He and the village chief had also encountered the underworld messenger near this area, entering Phong Đô, the realm of the dead, from here. The second time they came here, they had also encountered the underworld messenger, and had also entered the realm of the dead from nearby to borrow the moon boat.
The realm of the dead was nearby, so U Minh should also be nearby.
"The source of the Dũng Giang is more like an important node connecting to other worlds. Maybe there are passages to other worlds here. There must be nodes connecting to other worlds here!"
Tần Mục's previously shaken heart calmed down. Layers of light spun in his pupils as he activated the Bích Tiêu Thiên Nhãn, looking around in all directions but finding nothing unusual.
He looked up at the sky, gazing for a long while, and suddenly noticed something strange.
The sky was the same azure blue sky, but he actually saw two clouds meet and then pass through each other!
And according to his knowledge, if two clouds met and collided, they would merge together. But these two clouds, though they passed through each other, seemed as if they had never touched!
This situation was more like the two clouds being in different spaces respectively—seemingly meeting, but in reality never touching!
In other words, above their heads, there were two skies, two overlapping skies!
"No, maybe three!"
Tần Mục leaped into the air, rapidly ascending to great heights. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, making him shiver several times. "Or maybe four overlapping skies, or five..."
—Second update in ten minutes!