Chapter 312.2: The Best Method to Protect a Princess
Han Xianyun blinked in confusion. "What's Blue Planet? What Dragon Group?"
Qi Yuan replied, "I'll tell you a secret, I'm actually an alien. You are all foreigners to me."
Princess Huansha took it as a joke. "But you are the foreigner! Well, okay, if I am in so much danger, how exactly are you going to protect me?"
"Simple. As long as we keep them from finding you, everything will be fine."
She appeared confused. "I'm sorry?"
Qi Yuan answered, "If the Shadow Corps can't find you, they can't kill you. So the best way to protect you is to turn you into a paramecium." [1]
Princess Huansha and Han Xianyun were baffled.
Qi Yuan pointed a finger. "Transformation."
In the next moment, the princess was nowhere to be found.
Han Xianyun's eyes went wide. "Where's Princess Huansha?!"
"She's right in front of you. I've transformed her into a paramecium. From now on, you should call her Princess Paramecium." Qi Yuan waved his hand near Han Xianyun. "See? She is right here."
No matter how long Han Xianyun stared, he saw absolutely nothing.
Qi Yuan appeared mildly exasperated. "Come on, are you near-sighted? She's such a huge paramecium. How can you not see her?"
To make sure she didn’t get killed, he had taken the extra step of wrapping her in a protective shield.
Han Xianyun shook his head. "I can't see her."
Qi Yuan gave a small wave. "Looks like you need microscope glasses."
The paramecium drifted into a crack between two bricks.
Qi Yuan yawned. "There. I've placed her in a safe location. Once we're done sightseeing, I'll bring her back. Now that the Shadow Corps can't see her, she's perfectly safe."
Beside him, Han Xianyun's mind was still completely blank. What kind of person protects a princess this way?
He was unable to keep up. Moreover, he'd begun to notice that spending time with Qi Yuan consistently left his brain in a fog.
Then, something struck him. "Mr. Qi, when we come back later, what if we can't find her?"
"Easy. Borrow a microscope."
Han Xianyun was genuinely worried. "But what if I accidentally step on her while we’re looking around?"
She was basically a microscopic organism now. He could probably drown her by spitting.
Qi Yuan shrugged and walked on into the depths of the pavilion. "Then I'm afraid, my friend, you'd be a killer. More specifically, a princess-killer."
Han Xianyun hesitated a moment before following, his heart beating wildly. All he could do was pray to whatever divine forces existed that the princess had extraordinary luck.
Soon, the two stopped thinking about the princess further. Hadn't they been asked to protect the princess? They had done exactly that, hadn’t they?
The two arrived before a thirteen-story wooden tower.
By this point, Han Xianyun had regained his senses somewhat. He explained with genuine admiration, "The Wuyun Pavilion was built 1300 years ago. What stands in front of us now is a reconstruction. The Wuyun Carving is the tower’s only original piece and the pavilion’s greatest treasure.
"It was crafted from specially treated Heavenly Thunder Wood. Sealed beneath mountains and rivers for a hundred years during its making, it would not rot for a thousand years. Across a millennium, over a thousand martial artists have left their marks upon it, for the reverence and study of those who come after."
Yet Qi Yuan's focus was, once again, not where Han Xianyun expected. "Why is it called the Wuyun Pavilion, and not the Wuyun Tower?"
Han Xianyun answered casually, "Maybe the person who built it just liked pavilions."
Then, they took the elevator to the topmost floor, where the Wuyun Carving stood.
Roughly ten square meters in size, the warm yellowed wood gave it an imposing, regal quality. Looking at it, one couldn't help but think it would make an excellent coffin. Its surface was covered in marks of every kind. Deeply-etched fingerprints, cuts left by swords and blades, and even what appeared to be a large footprint.
Han Xianyun said with quiet awe, "These predecessors sure are terrifying. Some even left marks using nothing but their fingertips. Not even I, who am at the martial peak, could do such a thing.
"These seniors likely can rival soldiers enhanced with high-grade gene serum. They were already this terrifying without breaking through the martial peak. Just what would they become after doing so?"
The Martial Dao had been growing weaker across time. According to records, two thousand years ago, Arch Star had been filled with martial artists. Those who broke through the martial peak were as common as fish in a river. In the thousand years since, aside from Luo Bufan, not a single person had managed to break through.
With casual interest, Qi Yuan studied the various marks on the carving, tilting his head. He could perceive the bloodlines of those who had left their marks. They were a mixed assortment of lesser creatures.
"Your people have quite the mixed bloodlines. Chicken, duck, gecko, bird, dung beetle... Looks like your ancestors were all disciples of Xu Xian." He gazed at Han Xianyun thoughtfully. "Your enthusiasm for an amazing wife probably isn't your own doing. It's a hereditary condition from your ancestors."
Though, as he said it, his own expression shifted slightly. The boomerang had come back and hit him. In her previous life, Ning Tao had been a canary on Nine Plate Mountain. If he married a canary and had children, wouldn't their offspring be somewhat similar to these?
Han Xianyun's expression remained one of blank incomprehension. "Mr. Qi, is this bloodline thing you speak about real?"
Qi Yuan answered directly, "Yes. I am absolutely certain you're descended from a transgenic mouse."
Han Xianyun chose to believe him. "What?! Then the evolution theory is wrong! Darwin is rolling in his grave!"
After all, immortal cultivators knew things ordinary people didn't.
Qi Yuan could say whatever he wanted. Especially when it came to unofficial history, he could twist it however he pleased. "History doesn't record where your people came from, so there's a real possibility you're descended from mice."
There was an age-old question: why didn’t Sima Zhao simply execute the court historians after killing the emperor? Had he done so, there would be no record of it and he'd avoid the infamy. Someone once answered by citing an obscure unofficial account: Sima Zhao held special feelings for the emperor. When those feelings were rejected, he killed the emperor in a rage.
Am I really descended from a mouse? Han Xianyun decided to stop thinking about it. Even if he was, he wasn't going to abandon his mansion and live in a burrow? What was he supposed to do? Stop taking medicine when he was sick and start eating rat poison instead?
Qi Yuan asked, "Which mark here was left by Luo Bufan?"
He had spotted no fewer than ten marks that carried power exceeding the martial peak. Which suggested that people had broken through the martial peak since ancient times. They had simply hidden their identities and never publicized it.
Han Xianyun pointed to a slender fingerprint. "This one."
Qi Yuan was mildly surprised. "He has six fingers?"
Han Xianyun was more baffled than ever. There's only one fingerprint there!
Qi Yuan studied the mark carefully, his expression thoughtful and calm. "It seems that breaking through the martial peak ultimately comes down to bloodline."
That single fingerprint had given him a great deal of useful information. Luo Bufan was someone remarkable. To break through the martial peak, he had gone to extraordinary lengths.
Nevertheless, Qi Yuan's identity in this game was that of an orphan, and he couldn't bring himself to do what Luo Bufan had done. Not everything was edible. His path to breakthrough lay in the ocean with the mutated sea monsters.
1. BIG LOL. A paramecium is a single celled organism that is invisible to the naked eye. If the Shadow Corps can't find her, they can't kill her. ☜
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