Chapter 143: The Truth Hidden Behind the World

The girl came running.

As she ran, sunlight pierced through her light hair, shimmering in the air.

Her footsteps echoed on the corridor.

A rapid and excited reverberation.

“Sir! Sir!” The princess stopped in front of Xu Xi, excitedly waving the papers in her hand, some pulled from ancient texts, others freshly copied.

“Sir, everything you asked for is here.”

“I asked everything I could.”

“This is all there is!”

Wu Yingxue said, handing the thick stack of papers to Xu Xi.

Her red and white martial robe, with its delicate yet sturdy light armor, made her fiery liveliness even more pronounced.

“Thank you for your hard work, Yingxue.”

“Hehe, as long as I can help you, sir.”

Xu Xi walked deeper into the room, laying the papers flat on the table one by one, while the girl stood curiously by his side, watching him perform operations she couldn’t understand.

The room’s lighting was just right.

Not too bright to affect observation.

Nor too dim to cause blurriness.

As Xu Xi spread out the papers, what appeared were pages recording the history and mythological stories of the Great Qian Dynasty.

As per Xu Xi’s instructions.

They were all personally collected by Wu Yingxue.

Some were found from academies across the provinces, others copied from local folklore.

The content was chaotic, varied, and hard to find connections between.

Wu Yingxue couldn’t understand any of it, nor did she know the significance of Xu Xi’s actions.

But she felt.

Listening to sir couldn’t be wrong.

Sir had never lied to her.

So, whatever sir said, she would do.

“Sir, what exactly are you planning with these…?” Wu Yingxue asked curiously, leaning her head out, following Xu Xi’s fingers as they scanned the pages.

“I’m preparing to find the truth,” Xu Xi didn’t hide it.

The strangeness of the Great Qian, the emperor’s strangeness, and the mysterious Ten Thousand Mountains.

Made Xu Xi think of the last magical world.

The gods of the magical world, to harvest human faith, fabricated false histories, so, similarly, the Great Qian might be hiding something.

The fact hidden behind.

Could very well be the key to uncovering everything.

It might not sway the battle, but it could let Xu Xi know where the next step should go.

Xu Xi patiently explained, telling the young princess the significance of this, and about the strangeness of the Great Qian.

“Yingxue, have you seen the Great Qian Emperor?”

“Not much impression…”

Wu Yingxue smacked her lips, frowning in deep thought: “Since I was little, I’ve rarely seen that dog emperor, but my father often goes to the palace, as for the rest, I’m not too clear.”

The girl’s tone was very rude, gnashing her teeth.

Wishing she could lift her long spear.

And stab ten thousand holes into the Great Qian Emperor.

“Is that so,” Xu Xi pondered, continuing to flip through the pages.

Sunlight gently spilled through the window lattice, the halo slanting onto the walls, illuminating the fine dust in the air, amidst the dappled light and shadow, Xu Xi sat down.

He sat on a wooden chair, left hand holding paper, right hand holding a pen.

While looking at the content on the paper.

He used the pen to jot down key elements.

The history of the Great Qian was watered down, Xu Xi had known this for a long time, he also knew that the mythological stories passed down by the people mostly deviated from the facts.

But.

No matter how fake, no matter how far from reality, the core of the story wouldn’t change.

For example, the story known to everyone, of humans enduring long demon invasions, eventually founding the Great Qian, had a core element.

The demon invasions came first, then the founding of the Great Qian.

Removing the Great Qian’s self-praising embellishments.

What remained.

Was the truth Xu Xi needed.

“The history of demons is very long… Compared to the demons I’ve seen, the demons in the mythological stories are clearly more varied and stronger.”

“In comparison, the history of the Great Qian is obviously too short.”

“As a transcendent dynasty, as the first human dynasty in history, the founding of the Great Qian was less than a thousand years.”

Muttering to himself.

Quickly recording.

Thanks to his previous experience in handling administrative affairs, Xu Xi’s note-taking was fast, and in no time, he extracted a large number of key elements.

But these elements were mixed with truth and falsehood, requiring further confirmation.

“Yingxue, help me out.”

“Yes!”

…

[You begin to explore the truth of the martial arts world]

[The strange reaction of the Great Qian Emperor makes you start to doubt, doubt the nature of the Great Qian, doubt the nature of the Ten Thousand Mountains]

[You are ninety percent sure that the Great Qian Emperor is a traitor colluding with demons, or perhaps, the emperor himself is a demon, just ruling humans in human skin]

[In silence, you decide to seek the truth of the world]

[You have the girl collect historical records from various places, as well as the oral traditions of ancient myths from villagers]

[You want to use this as a breakthrough to find the true history of humanity, the Great Qian, less than a thousand years old, could not possibly have created the sophisticated Qi and Blood Martial Arts System]

[You persist in searching…]

[You persist in exploring…]

[You gain some understanding of history]

[You keenly notice that in the mythological stories passed down in various places, various kinds of information often appear, either vast heavens and earth, or god-like beings capable of moving mountains]

[In those mythological stories, humans are not the food of demons, but the protagonists of the world, demons are just one of humanity’s opponents]

[Compared to the cruel reality, compared to the reality of being surrounded by the Ten Thousand Mountains]

[These mythological stories are as beautiful as fiction, like the beautiful fantasies created by suffering people on the brink of death]

“These records… cannot be fully trusted.”

“They differ too much from reality, no corresponding points can be found.”

“Perhaps, they really are just fantasies, not factual traditions.”

[You do not trust the history fabricated by the Great Qian, but you dare not believe these outrageous myths, you fear being misled by wrong information]

[You continue to flip through the pages, constantly comparing and searching]

[In other mythological stories, you see familiar words, of an Azure Dragon sweeping the land and devouring people, swallowing ten thousand in one gulp]

[This is a mythological story from Jiangdao Province, recording that in ancient times, an Azure Dragon descended, cruelly and bloodthirstily devouring humans, feared by people]

[In surprise, you repeatedly examine the paper recording the Azure Dragon]

[You discover a key point, in this mythological story, there is no existence of the Great Qian Dynasty, nor any territory of the Great Qian Dynasty]

[Similar to other mythological stories seen before]

[This mythological story recording the Azure Dragon devouring people depicts a whole new world, far larger than the thirteen provinces]

[Previously, you considered this as fantasy, but this recorded Azure Dragon, you have indeed seen in the real world, though not its true form]