Chapter 70: Chapter 60: The Cruelty of Time, a Record in a Strange Script (Part 2)
But his life had been a fulfilling one.
He had gone from being oppressed by the powerful, forced to draw his sword and retreat to the mountains, to raising the flag of rebellion to vie for the throne. In the end, he swept across the land and established a new dynasty.
The man was a legend.
In the history of this world, Shang Yin was certain to leave an indelible mark!
But the grief over Shang Yin’s death did not linger for long throughout the realm.
As the Crown Prince took the throne and the new emperor began his reign, peace and prosperity returned to the Great Shang Dynasty.
On this day.
Xu Lei sat under a tree at Anchan Temple, watching the white clouds drift by.
He poured himself a drink from his flask, drinking alone.
"They died, one by one."
"I never thought... of all of them, I’d be the one to live the longest!"
Indeed, the people Xu Lei had grown close to in this life were nearly all dead.
Yu Fengying, Consort Li, Liang Fangying, Zhao Xiaocha, Zhang Xiaomai, Shang Rou, Wei Qingning, Aunt Hu, Shang Yin—they were all younger than Xu Lei, yet every single one had passed away before him!
Of course, Hui Ming and Wu Gui were still around.
"Amitabha Buddha."
Hui Ming spoke from behind Xu Lei. "Master, my condolences."
"Don’t worry."
Xu Lei said, "I’m fine."
Hui Ming also looked older than before.
He had become a middle-aged man.
But compared to an old Monk like Xu Lei, he was certainly much younger.
Hui Ming said nothing more and turned to leave.
Xu Lei continued to drink for a while longer.
After all, he would never be able to cultivate the Longevity Dao Fruit in this lifetime.
A little wine wouldn’t extinguish the Dao Seed within him, so it made no difference.
"Master Wu Tan!"
Just then, however, the current Host of Anchan Temple came up behind Xu Lei and said respectfully, "Mr. Xipo of the Wei Family has come seeking an audience. Will you see him?"
The Wei Family, after all, was one of the families that had helped the founding emperor ascend the throne.
After Wei Qingning’s death, a descendant of the Wei Family naturally inherited her title of Duke.
And other descendants of the Wei Family excelled in various fields.
With their family’s wealth, they had access to vast educational resources from a young age, so many of the children were quite outstanding.
This Mr. Xipo was a member of the Wei Family who had gained quite a reputation in the literary world in recent years.
"Amitabha Buddha."
Xu Lei said, "I’m idle anyway. There’s no harm in seeing him."
’He is my own descendant, after all!’
Mr. Xipo was a man of about thirty with a short beard.
Of course, he had no idea that Xu Lei was his biological father.
"This junior is Xipo."
Seeing Xu Lei emerge, he immediately said with reverence, "Greetings, Divine Monk Wu Tan!"
"Amitabha Buddha."
Xu Lei said, "Donor Xipo, for what reason have you come to see this old monk today?"
"I do have a matter to discuss."
Mr. Xipo said, "I’ve come to see you, Divine Monk, about a matter concerning an ancient text.
I have a friend who comes from a noble family of scholars specializing in ancient literature.
He was immersed in such studies from childhood.
But recently, someone approached him, asking for help deciphering some ancient writings.
He was completely baffled, with no clue where to start.
Even the elders in his family couldn’t help.
So he came to me for help.
I helped by asking every expert I could find, but to no avail.
I remembered my father, when he was alive, mentioning your many extraordinary qualities, Divine Monk.
So I thought I’d come try my luck and ask you about it."
"Ancient texts? You’re asking this old monk to decipher ancient texts?"
Xu Lei said, "Amitabha Buddha, Donor Xipo, you’ve probably come to..."
He was about to say, "the wrong person."
He didn’t know how to decipher any ancient texts.
Besides, he was old now, his eyesight was failing, and his mind wasn’t as sharp as it used to be.
But to his surprise, Mr. Xipo had already respectfully handed over the papers.
The moment his eyes landed on them, Xu Lei was struck speechless.
Because with his aging eyes, Xu Lei could vaguely make out some of the writing on the paper.
The script flowed like writhing insects.
A few of the words were ’my name is...’
It wasn’t Chinese characters, but English!
’How could English appear in this world?!!!’ Xu Lei’s pupils constricted, his mind reeling.
’But on second thought... before I transmigrated, the natives of the Great Shang Dynasty already spoke the same language as Hua Country on Earth. So it stood to reason that this world might also have people who spoke English, just like the foreigners on Earth.’
Xu Lei truly didn’t understand any other ancient languages.
But English... he had studied that diligently back on Earth!
’After all, back in my school days in Hua Country on Earth, learning English was mandatory.’
’Without a good grasp of English, getting into a decent university was nearly impossible!’
’Even if you hated it, you had to grit your teeth and study!’
Fortunately, his English teacher back then had been quite good.
’She was beautiful, gentle, and an excellent teacher, so my English had always been decent.’
And so, he immediately took all the papers from Mr. Xipo’s hands.
"Hm?"
Mr. Xipo’s expression changed, his demeanor growing even more reverent. He exclaimed in delighted surprise, "Divine Monk, you can actually read this strange ancient text? You truly are worthy of being called a Divine Monk!
My friend searched far and wide, consulting every expert, but not a single one could recognize it!
I never imagined that you, Divine Monk..."
He trailed off, not daring to say more.
He could see that Xu Lei was examining the ancient documents with intense focus.
Because of his failing eyesight, Xu Lei had to hold the paper farther away to read it.
But Xu Lei was in no mood to answer Mr. Xipo, because the moment he started reading, he was stunned.
The words on these pages had been left behind by a Westerner who practiced Cultivation!
According to the text, his name was Robert Keating.
As a youth, his family was poor. He ran away from home and became a sailor.
On one voyage, his fleet encountered a tsunami and lost its bearings.
Afterward, he drifted at sea for who knows how long.
All his companions died.
He alone survived, washing ashore on this Eastern Continent.
Luckily, though he had blond hair and blue eyes, he was merely seen as someone with an illness.
Not as some kind of monster.
He managed to earn a small fortune here using the cooking skills he had learned in his homeland.
And he made a life for himself.
Then, he came into contact with the mystical!
Through a stroke of luck, he embarked on the path of Cultivation!
However, the path of Cultivation had changed. It was no longer the glorious Immortal Dao of ancient times. The current practice was a more limited path.
But he had witnessed an Eastern Cultivator pass a Thunder Tribulation and achieve Ascension in the Daylight.
He had even seen a Bodhisattva from the Buddhist Sect enter Nirvana.
And so, he too entered the Buddhist Sect and trained arduously for many years.
He became a Hidden Cultivator on the Eastern Continent and remained there.
But Cultivation was too slow, too difficult.
To this end, he began to use any means necessary!
He killed many Cultivators!
And seized many resources!
Later, he found an auspicious location!
He built a Spirit Gathering Array to gather Spiritual Qi and increase his Cultivation speed!
But alas, after pouring his heart and soul into it for years, he was mortally wounded before he could even enjoy its fruits!
He fled back to the cave residence he had painstakingly established.
Unfortunately, he was gravely injured and beyond saving.
On the verge of death, he laid down layer upon layer of Restrictions. He used the innate Spirit Gathering power of the Spirit Gathering Array itself to nourish the still-incomplete formation.
At the core of the Array, he placed his most powerful Restriction.
The key to breaking the Restriction was hidden within these very notes.
Because he didn’t want to leave his life’s work to the natives of the Eastern Country.
He wrote it in his mother tongue.
Hoping that one day, one of his own people would cross the sea.
That they would discover the cave residence he left behind and inherit the Spirit Gathering Array he had so painstakingly nurtured, along with his Cultivation manuals and other treasures.
Of course, in the end, he admitted he didn’t know if anyone would ever arrive.
After all, his arrival on this mysterious Eastern Continent had been a complete accident.
Reading this, Xu Lei’s heart pounded in his chest.
He had been peacefully waiting for death!
To think that in his old age, he would encounter such an opportunity!
’Is he a Transmigrator too, or is there a West across the ocean in this world?’ Xu Lei couldn’t help but wonder.
Although Robert Keating believed he had crossed the sea, that might not have been the case.
It was possible he had actually transmigrated while at sea, and only thought he had crossed the ocean.
There was no way to be sure for now.
He would have to wait until he became truly strong in the future.
Strong enough to cross the sea and see for himself what lay on the other side.
Casting these thoughts aside.
"Where did you get this!"
Xu Lei immediately turned to Mr. Xipo and demanded, "Who asked for this to be deciphered?"
