Chapter 209 - 146: Young Master, What’s the Deal with Senior Sister?

Chapter 209: Chapter 146: Young Master, What’s the Deal with Senior Sister?

And it was true. In this seemingly cursed land, over a long span of two thousand years, dynasties had changed as frequently as the Four Seasons.

The family name of those who sat upon the dragon throne had changed countless times. Even the dynastic title, which bore the nation’s destiny, had been altered a full nine times.

The previous Dynasty, the Chu, had lasted for only five Monarchs. A hundred years ago, its reign was ended when the founding Emperor of the current Wei Clan led his army to conquer the Capital City.

The founding Emperor consulted dusty ancient texts and discovered that two thousand years ago, the nation had been called Great Wei. He immediately issued a proclamation, declaring that the very blood of the ancient Great Wei Royal Family’s surviving lineage flowed through his veins.

He then dropped the "Great," using only the simple, venerable "Wei" as the new Dynasty’s name. This was to declare that he was no usurper, but was instead restoring his ancestral birthright and continuing the true line of succession.

Whether this claim was true is impossible to verify after so much time, and some did whisper their dissent in private, but none of that truly mattered.

What mattered was that the succeeding generations of Wei Kingdom Monarchs had been diligent and benevolent rulers.

They kept taxes low and encouraged farming and weaving. As a result, while the people of the land could not be called wealthy, most were well-fed and clothed. Furthermore, the Wei Kingdom’s domain wasn’t too far from the Immortal Sect, Miao Yu Palace. Occasionally, an Immortal Master from Miao Yu Palace would arrive, riding a rainbow of light, to eliminate the fiends and Demons that sometimes appeared within the borders, thereby safeguarding the region’s peace.

Over time, the people grew content with the status quo and came to accept the rule of the Wei Clan’s Imperial Family.

As far as the Court was concerned, so long as the common people lived in peace and prosperity, there would always be great scholars to argue for the legitimacy of the Imperial Family’s bloodline.

"Faster!"

A carriage raced out of the Wei Kingdom’s Capital City. Its churning wheels kicked up clouds of dust, crushing the last traces of winter ice and trampling over the first buds of spring as it sped into the distance.

The carriage was plainly adorned, but a discerning eye would see that the four steeds pulling it were not living creatures, but wooden horses. The carriage body itself was crafted from ironwood, capable of withstanding swords and axes.

The driver was a middle-aged man with sharp features and a piercing gaze. His lips were pursed in a tight line as he continuously cracked his whip, urging the horses onward.

Inside the carriage sat an old man. He looked utterly unremarkable, dressed in a slightly faded, deep-purple official’s robe. A patch of silk as black as ink was tied tightly over his left eye.

He was the National Preceptor of the Wei Kingdom, a Third Realm Phecda Cultivator.

In his youth, this National Preceptor had been an Outer Disciple of the Immortal Sect, Lu Ban Palace. His talent was decent, but he could never break through to the Fourth Realm Celestial Power. In the end, he had no choice but to leave the Sect and come to this mortal Dynasty. Here, he found a position as a retainer of the Royal Family, hoping to use worldly resources to continue his path on the Dao, or at least live out his final years in peace.

He managed to endure for seventy years. The other Cultivators who had arrived with him had long since perished, either in conflict or from natural causes. Thanks to his sheer tenacity, he logically rose to become the Wei Kingdom’s most revered National Preceptor.

He was not an aloof man. Since becoming National Preceptor, he had performed many practical services for the Wei Kingdom. When mountain sprites and wild beasts caused trouble in the realm, he was usually the one to resolve the issue, earning him a considerable reputation among the people.

At this moment, his exposed right eye was riddled with broken blood vessels, his voice carrying an undisguised exhaustion and urgency. "Faster! We need to be faster! We must reach the gates of Miao Yu Palace within one month."

"Yes, National Preceptor!" the coachman answered, his voice grave. He knew how critical this journey was, and the whip in his hand cracked with even greater urgency.

Not even an incense stick’s worth of time after their carriage left the Capital City, the incredibly heavy main gate behind them came crashing down with a dull, grating roar of machinery!

Dust billowed into the air, completely cutting off all sight and passage between the city and the world outside.

The National Preceptor slowly closed his one eye, muttering to himself, ’His Majesty’s mind has been thoroughly bewitched by that Demon. The Capital City has become a deathtrap. I fear the hundred-year foundation of my Wei Kingdom is about to go up in flames.’

"National Preceptor, should we send someone to take a detour to the Glazed Dynasty and deliver a message explaining what’s happened?" the coachman suggested as he drove.

"It’s too late." The National Preceptor shook his head, the bitter expression on his face deepening. "By the time an army is at their border, the Emperor of the Glazed Dynasty won’t believe a word of it."

The carriage sped west along the main road, not daring to stop for a moment.

The sun began to set in the west. Just as the carriage entered a region of rising terrain and increasingly dense forest,

THUD!

With a muffled bang, the carriage jolted violently as if it had struck something invisible, forcing it to a stop.

The coachman yanked the reins, his voice tight with tension and alarm. "National Preceptor, people are blocking the road! There are a lot of them. Judging by their dress, they must be the palace’s Hidden Guards!"

A cold light glinted in the National Preceptor’s right eye. He took a deep breath and said in a low, heavy voice, "Ignore them. Charge through! We absolutely cannot be stopped here!"

He abruptly raised a hand and tore away the black cloth that had been covering his left eye.

What lay beneath the cloth was horrifying. It was not an eye of flesh and blood, but a cold, smooth orb that shimmered with a faint metallic light. The sphere was embedded perfectly in his eye socket, and where the pupil should have been was a complex structure as intricate as a honeycomb.

"Just keep driving! I’ll clear a path!"

The National Preceptor let out a low growl. With a sharp, piercing HISS, a beam of incandescent white light, no thicker than a thumb yet radiating a terrifying aura, shot out from the metallic pupil.

The air warped wherever the devastating beam passed. Grass and trees by the roadside were instantly scorched, turning to ash.

The black-clad Hidden Guards who had just appeared in the middle of the road were incinerated into dust before they could even utter a complete sentence.