Volume One Chapter 1 It Is Merely a Touch of Wind and Frost
“Do you have the princess’s Jade Nectar Turbidity?”
“Yes!”
“Hurry! Take me to see it!”
...
Within the territory of Liyang, a long caravan creaked slowly along a muddy road, the wheels splashing through the muck.
Inside one of the central carriages, Gu Changfeng’s trembling hand lifted the curtain as he gazed at the desolate, ruined land beyond. His heart was heavy with sorrow.
Eighteen years a slave to a conquered nation, and at twenty-three, his hair was already white.
He remembered his father diagnosing illnesses by examining urine, and his mother dying to preserve her honor.
His heart was a storm of emotion.
Eighteen years ago, Gu Changfeng had transmigrated into the body of a five-year-old prince of Liyang. What he thought was a perfect beginning, the start of boundless glory, lasted only seven days.
Seven days later, the iron cavalry of the Great Qian Dynasty shattered the imperial city. To ensure the nation’s safety, some members of the royal family were sent to serve as slaves in the enemy court.
Seven days of splendor, then the end of all things.
In the eighteen years since, his father and royal brothers had all died. If he hadn’t understood the meaning of enduring humiliation and hardship, he would long since have perished as well.
The only thing that kept him going was the appearance, at age fifteen, of a system that granted rewards for reaching certain places.
Once a prince of the realm, he had been reduced to leading horses and shoveling dung just to survive, even serving as a beast of burden for the foolish son of the Qian emperor.
He’d even had to act as a human stepping stool whenever the emperor mounted his horse. Eighteen years of such humiliation had finally come to an end.
Han Xin’s one moment of shame beneath a man’s crotch had earned him the title “Divine General.” For Gu Changfeng, eighteen years of such humiliation had earned him an invincible system.
Wasn’t that fair enough?
“System, tell me again—where is the sign-in location?”
[Sign-in location: Within Liyang, Blackstone City! Sign-in reward: Grandmaster realm!]
Just then, a man in prison garb approached. This was Zhao Yi, known as the Thunder-Breaking General—once the foremost of Liyang’s four great commanders.
He had reached the ninth rank, his spear unrivaled in the world, but he had still been defeated, his meridians destroyed and his inner strength lost.
“Your Highness, please take care of your health—you’re still injured.”
“It’s nothing. I just want to see my homeland—look how broken it has become!”
“What a Qian emperor! What a Glazed Empress!”
Now the world was split into five, with the Glazed Empire reigning supreme. Smaller nations had been trampled and absorbed, Liyang among them.
Wang Xianzhi guarded the capital of the Glazed Empire alone, his presence aweing the world.
But the true mastermind was the Glazed Empress herself. With Wang Xianzhi’s support, she recruited the best warriors and built an army to rule the heavens.
Dozens of ninth-rank commanders led troops on ten fronts, dividing the world among the four great powers, leaving the realm split five ways.
If not for this empress, Liyang would not have fallen overnight to Great Qian, becoming the Liyang Prefecture under their rule.
The Great Qian emperor had two great passions: other men’s wives, and humiliating foreign kings.
During Gu Changfeng’s captivity, the Qian emperor’s eye fell upon his mother, seeking to force her into submission through violence.
In the end, his mother hanged herself, and his father endured, hoping for release and a return to his homeland.
But the court was a nest of intrigue. The imperial preceptor, a master of strategy, saw that his father was biding his time for the sake of restoration, enduring every humiliation.
So, in secret, he plotted and poisoned his father.
That was not enough—the crown prince and every royal son were all eliminated.
When the time came for Gu Changfeng, the Qian emperor could bear it no longer and quarreled with his preceptor, sparing Gu Changfeng’s life for the time being.
The Qian emperor was notoriously vain and cared deeply for his reputation. When the agreement was signed, he had already promised not to kill the royal captives.
Now, with only Gu Changfeng left alive, any further killing would be seen as tyranny and betrayal of trust, giving his enemies cause to condemn him.
But he still feared the preceptor’s machinations and that Gu Changfeng might yet die in Qian’s capital.
So, after three more years of observation, Gu Changfeng finally passed the test.
After eighteen years of humiliation and endurance, he was pardoned by the emperor, granted the title Lord of Liyang Prefecture—Liyang King.
All this was due to Gu Changfeng’s skill at acting and his forbearance, which convinced the Qian emperor he had truly submitted.
How difficult the journey had been.
“Your Highness, please go inside—the wind is strong outside.”
Zhao Yi kept close to the carriage, deeply worried that the Qian preceptor might still scheme against them.
Assassins were hard to guard against, and human hearts even harder. The Qian emperor had only allowed them to return for fear the preceptor would arrange Gu Changfeng’s death in the capital.
Now that they were back in Liyang, assassins could strike at any time.
Moreover, Gu Changfeng’s health was as fragile as a frail child’s. If he caught a chill, not even immortals could save him.
“It’s nothing. The stronger the wind, the better the catch! General Zhao, let’s go even faster!”
Leaning against the window, Gu Changfeng wished he could sprout a third leg and dash to Blackstone City at a hundred miles an hour.
His mood was beyond words, but he dared not show too much excitement.
In his previous life, he’d won a small lottery prize, got so excited that he hadn’t paid attention when collecting his winnings, and ended up in a disaster.
Strictly speaking, that was death by excitement.
No mistake about that!
“Your Highness, we’re already going as fast as possible—any faster and the wheels won’t hold.”
“But why are we heading to Blackstone City? Shouldn’t we return to Liyang City as soon as possible?” Zhao Yi asked, puzzled. “If we’re just avoiding assassins, we don’t need to take such a detour. Besides, our forces have already split into two.”
Gu Changfeng understood his doubts—he was worried the horses or carriages would give out first.
After all, the road to Blackrock City had been neglected for years and was in terrible shape.
“General Zhao, I can’t explain everything right now. You’ll understand in time.”
“At this moment, everyone in Liyang City thinks I have fully submitted, and that I am returning to be a puppet lord.”
“If we follow the expected route, I fear we’ll fall victim to some radical plot.”
“I see—Your Highness is truly thorough!” Zhao Yi’s eyes filled with respect.
“Let us continue on,” Gu Changfeng said, letting the curtain fall as he sat back in the carriage.
He was certain that old fox, the Qian preceptor, had sent killers after him.
In the slave camps, he had suffered every dirty trick imaginable.
If not for his wits and careful planning, he would have died long ago.
Creak! Creak! Creak!
The rutted road made the carriage lurch and groan, the sound unnerving, as if it might fall apart at any moment.
“General Zhao, how much further?”
“Your Highness, about fifty li to go. At our current pace, we should arrive in about two hours.”
Two hours—four hours!
Every minute and every second of those four hours felt like an eternity to Gu Changfeng.
He kept thinking—soon he would step into the realm of Grandmaster, above all others.
Years of humiliation would be swept away in an instant.
The five Grandmasters of the world each belonged to one of five powers: the Glazed Empire, Mount Qingcheng, Ao Lai Kingdom, Snow Moon City, and Peerless City.
One mountain and two cities—their territories were small, but they were independent, their people drawn from any of the five kingdoms.
These three great sects never meddled in imperial struggles. No matter how the dynasties warred, they remained aloof.
They could do so because a single Grandmaster could stand against an army of a million.