Chapter 89: The Hundredth-Generation Descendant of the Imperial Dynasty |
“Good!” Li Shun agreed without the slightest hesitation.
“You’re not even going to ask who it is I want you to find?” Elder Mu clearly had not expected Li Shun to agree so readily.
Li Shun replied calmly, “I had assumed I would spend the rest of my life rotting away inside this imperial tomb’s sealed earth. If what you say is true, and I actually have a chance to leave alive, then that’s like being handed an extra life for free. Why would I refuse?”
“Besides, I’m only at the Mortal Physique realm right now. My strength is pitiful. I doubt I could accomplish any important task you entrust to me without some assistance from you.”
His tone was earnest, as though this were the most natural thing in the world.
Elder Mu chuckled softly.
“Pitiful strength…”
“In Great Qian, no matter how high your cultivation or how great your power, could you possibly surpass Mu Wujiu?”
“You still haven’t realized what the most precious thing about you truly is.”
After a moment of thought, he said, “You mean... the Mu family bloodline?”
“Let me first calculate the origins of your bloodline.”
Before the words had fully fallen, a single strand of withered hair from Elder Mu’s head shot forth like a needle, instantly piercing Li Shun’s left arm.
Bright red blood was forcibly drawn out along the strand.
Then the brittle hair snapped and fell to the ground.
The blood-soaked strand immediately took root where it landed.
In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a small crimson tree, continuously sprouting branches as it grew.
Every leaf and branch radiated a dim, blood-colored glow.
Elder Mu stared fixedly at the blood tree, examining it for a long while.
“So, you’re descended from that brat Mu Wuque.”
His voice carried unmistakable nostalgia.
Then he turned toward Li Shun.
“Mu Wuque was Mu Wujiu’s younger cousin. By that reckoning, you truly are part of Great Yu’s legitimate imperial bloodline.”
“A hundredth-generation descendant of the Qian Emperor.”
As he spoke those words, Elder Mu’s body suddenly trembled violently.
He coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Yet this blood was strange. It was not crimson, but a bizarre mixture of dark gold intertwined with greenish hues.
The blood landed precisely upon the flourishing crimson tree.
At once, the tree tore itself free from the earth.
It rapidly collapsed inward in midair, compressing into a dark red seal talisman that slowly drifted toward Li Shun.
“Take it. With this seal, your identity as a hundredth-generation imperial descendant will be beyond dispute. Even if Mu Wujiu himself were here, he could not deny it.”
Li Shun reached out and grasped the floating seal.
The instant his palm made contact, the dormant bloodline within his body erupted violently.
Countless illusory figures flashed before his eyes.
Though he could not clearly make out their appearances, Li Shun could distinctly sense the blood connection linking him to them across endless years.
“These... are all the ancestors of the puppet Li Shun.”
At the end of the rapidly flashing procession of figures, the vision froze.
A handsome young man appeared.
His expression carried a wild, unrestrained air of rebellious freedom.
Upon closer inspection, his facial features actually bore a faint resemblance to Li Shun, perhaps three parts alike.
“A bloodline passed down for a hundred generations, spanning several thousand years, and yet the resemblance still remains. That’s truly unbelievable.”
As Li Shun pondered this, the phantom figures suddenly vanished, as though they had all been absorbed into the seal in his hand.
At that instant, the seal seemed to undergo some indescribable transformation.
It was no longer merely a dead object woven from dried branches.
It had become undeniable proof of the Mu family bloodline.
Having completed all this, Elder Mu seemed utterly exhausted.
Even his voice sounded noticeably older.
“With the blood seal in hand, you may not gain much privilege. But at the very least, it may make certain crucial moments more convenient.”
Elder Mu deliberately left his words vague, speaking with cautious restraint.
Li Shun, however, hesitated.
“The Mu bloodline has been imprisoned in the Imperial Mausoleum for generations. Is this seal truly useful?”
“Surely many nobles in Great Qian know the true identity of the tomb guardians. Yet look at how miserably we’ve lived all these years. We’ve even been hauled off like livestock to serve as forced labor.”
Bitterness filled his voice.
Elder Mu snorted coldly.
“That is the power of legitimacy and proper naming.”
“Without this blood seal, you are nothing more than a lowly tomb slave, to be manipulated however others please.”
“But with this blood seal…”
“You are the Qian Emperor’s hundredth-generation descendant.”
“As for how those outside now regard such an identity, that is beyond my knowledge.”
“Whether it becomes fortune or disaster depends entirely on how you wield it.”
“I may have given you a protective talisman, but that same talisman may also invite your death.”
Though Elder Mu had remained sealed within the imperial tomb all this time, he clearly was not entirely ignorant of the outside world.
After delivering that warning, he extended a branch-like strand of hair and gently tapped Li Shun’s forehead.
The final objective was branded directly into his mind.
“Dai Nation.”
“Marquis Changxin.”
“If you can find her, present the blood seal, and she will understand your purpose.”
“If she is already dead…”
“Then pretend today never happened. With your identity as the Qian Emperor’s hundredth-generation descendant, you should at least be able to live out the rest of your life in peace.”
Elder Mu’s voice echoed within Li Shun’s mind.
After digesting the information, Li Shun respectfully bowed in acceptance.
From that day onward, Elder Mu never spoke another word.
It was as though that single conversation had exhausted all the strength he had accumulated over countless years.
Like an immortal statue, he remained kneeling beneath the sealed earthen wall.
Li Shun said nothing more either.
He simply sat beside him in silent companionship, waiting for the “opportunity for the tomb’s collapse” Elder Mu had spoken of.
“Dai Nation. Marquis Changxin.”
“There doesn’t seem to be any such marquis in Great Qian’s current official ranks.”
“So it must be the Marquis Changxin of the old Dai Nation, before the world was unified.”
“Dai…”
The eight nations were long gone, buried beneath history.
Only fragmented remnants remained, preserved through the accounts of those who had personally lived through that era, or glimpsed through strange creations like this imperial tomb.
Finding someone from a nation that had vanished centuries ago would be no easy task for Li Shun.
“Perhaps, just as Elder Mu said, she may already be dead.”
Within the sealed earth of the imperial tomb, time seemed to lose all meaning.
In the blink of an eye, another ten years passed.
It had now been twenty-five full years since Li Shun entered the sealed earth.
That day, Li Shun was lying flat upon the dirt, staring blankly at the eternally unchanging gray sky overhead.
Suddenly, he sat bolt upright.
“This feeling…”
He sharply sensed that the surging youthfulness and endless vitality within his body were undergoing a subtle transformation.
It was like an infant falling from the pure womb into the mortal world.
Though still brimming with life and vigorous growth, it had nonetheless become tainted by worldly dust.
Compared to the previous state of pure inward refinement, the aura of this physical body had become fundamentally different.
Li Shun instantly understood the source of the transformation.
“The Twelvefold Stages of Longevity.”
“Without realizing it, I have already passed beyond Longevity and stepped into Descending into Mortal World.”
“In the so-called state where man exists within qi, and qi exists within man, the Longevity stage relied entirely on the life force within the body, developing in isolation behind closed doors.”
“But once one enters this stage, it means true interaction with the heavens, earth, and mortal world beyond, becoming intertwined and stained by them.”
The entire transformation lasted no longer than the time it took to drink a cup of tea before coming to an end.
Li Shun carefully examined the changes in his body.
“During Longevity, body and consciousness felt clear and immaculate, making cultivation almost completely unobstructed.”
“But now…”
He frowned slightly.
“It truly is somewhat inferior.”
Fragments of past experiences began surfacing uncontrollably in his mind.
Stray thoughts lingered, impossible to fully dispel.
“Descending into Mortal World...”
“What an utterly fitting name.”