Chapter 153: Boundless Palace
Yan Chong was the seventh son of Emperor Ling Yan Xuan, the 28th emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. At the age of 27, he led his troops to defeat 21 tribes of the Northern Di, captured Yule Mountain with a single arrow, and was named King Ding.
He ascended the throne at the age of thirty, with the reign title of Tianxu. During his reign, he worked hard to govern the country and revived the Great Zhou Dynasty. In the sixty-sixth year of Tianxu, Yan Chong died at the age of ninety-seven and was posthumously named Zhaowu.
This paragraph is the opening introduction of the official information about Yan Zhong that Han Zhong found on the encyclopedia. It then gives a detailed introduction to his life, his youth, middle age, old age, his funeral after his death, his successor, and his co-author.
He read again and again the life of this emperor who was said to be both civil and military, wise and brave, and who saved the country from extinction, and was sure that the other party was the man who had died a thousand years ago as mentioned by Jiang Wu and Zhou Yannan. However, he did not find any trace of Jiang Wu in the history books.
There is only one palace named Wujiang, which was converted from the Kunde Palace of the Queen of the Great Zhou Dynasty. There used to be a building in the palace where people could observe the stars, just as Jiang Wu had described before.
"Who is the Yan Zhong you are talking about?"
"Emperor Zhaowu of the Great Zhou Dynasty."
"And you, who are you?"
"Jiang Wu."
In the study, Han Zhong looked at Jiang Wu who was sitting on the sofa opposite him. He was not surprised by the answer. The man in front of him was full of secrets, but he was frank unlike ordinary people. It seemed that he didn't care about what his past identity was. He was just himself.
Just like Zhou Yannan said, nothing could leave a mark in his heart.
"Why are you sure I'm Yan Zhong?"
"Mark."
Jiang Wu looked at his heart, "Before Yan Zhong died, I left a soul mark on him."
That's why I pushed him to the bed and stripped him off when we met for the second time in the room at Champs Elysées Villa. And also why I climbed on his bed in the middle of the night in the hospital. It was all to confirm whether he was Yan Zhong or not. That's why he misunderstood my intention and thought that I was asking for support, and later he thought that he liked me.
Even though he already knew that everything was just a misunderstanding and his own wishful thinking, Han Zhong still found it ridiculous. It was something that could be explained in just a few simple sentences, but he had to find out about it by accident at this point.
Does he really understand Jiang Wu? Maybe not that well.
"So what's your purpose in trying so hard to restore my memory?"
"An answer."
Han Zhong looked at him quietly, waiting for his answer, and the next moment he heard Jiang Wu say, "He promised me that as long as I helped him ascend to the throne, he would tell me how to ascend, but he never told me until he died."
“Maybe he doesn’t even know.”
"Impossible, he is the person I saw in my destiny."
"Luck?"
"You can also call it fate." Jiang Wu repeated, "In short, he is the person I am looking for."
Han Zhong looked at his determined gaze and asked, "Why do you want to ascend?"
Jiang Wu was stunned for a moment before replying, "All cultivators want to ascend."
Han Zhong had experienced his self-centered thinking mode and asked, "Are you sure about all of them?"
Jiang Wu was not sure. Zhou Gong Ming was not like that, nor were the elders and disciples of the Shenxiao Sect, nor were the people from the Xuanmen he had met. They were just busy with various things, either doing chivalrous deeds, making money to support their families, or cheating and deceiving others.
But he didn't need to earn money to support his family, and he had nothing to do. Before he was sixteen, he just studied everything in the "Sima Ming Baolu", wandered all over the mountains and fields, or stood in a certain place to watch the rising sun and the setting sun.
Until one day he stood before the sunset, pointed at a bird flying hurriedly in the distance and asked his master why it was always in such a hurry.
His master said that it was because the bird had to hurry back to bring food to its children, otherwise its children would starve to death.
Jiang Wu knew that bird babies were born from eggs. He had watched them hatch from their shells, grow up, lay new eggs, and new birds hatch from their shells, generation after generation, year after year, over and over again, as if they were cast under some kind of curse and could only tirelessly repeat the cycle from generation to generation.
But he was sure that the birds were not under any spell, so he didn't understand why the birds had to keep reincarnating, so he asked his master why they gave birth to children.
His master replied, because that was its birth mission.
So Jiang Wu asked, what is my mission?
He remembered that when he asked that question, his master, who seldom looked at him seriously, suddenly looked at him silently for a long time, and then said two words: Ascension.
That was the first time Jiang Wu heard of ascension. He didn’t even ask what ascension was, he just asked what it was used for.
His master did not answer him, but turned his head to look at the sunset in the distance and asked him if he liked it.
Jiang Wu said that he used to like it, but later he stopped liking it because he had seen it too many times.
“Love will wear away over time, and eventually one day you will look at this sunset and feel disgusted, but you are on this mountain and can only see this sunset, day after day, year after year, until you want to destroy this sunset, or destroy this mountain, or destroy yourself.”
“Why don’t you leave this mountain?”
"Do you want to leave this mountain?"
"Not yet."
"Remember, when you want to leave, there is only one way."
"What can we do?"
“Ascension.”
“…”
"The only way to leave this mountain forever is to ascend. This is your mission."
“…”
"When you no longer like this sunset, or hate this sunset, leave this mountain. Remember, Jiang Wu?"
“I’ll remember that.”
Later, he met Yan Chong. Before he got tired of that sunset, he left the mountain and went to the imperial city of Da Zhou, to the northern border, southern border, Dongluo River, Xihuan Mountain... He saw many different sunsets and liked them all.
Until Yan Zhong's death, he had watched those sunsets many times. He began to feel that the mountains and rivers of the Great Zhou were very similar to the mountain where he was born. He never wanted to watch those sunsets again, but he could not leave.
"It is I who want to ascend."
"So you just want an answer."
Jiang Wu hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded, "Yeah."
Han Zhong looked at him quietly, and then slowly leaned towards him. Jiang Wu opened his lips slightly, wanting to say something. The next moment, Han Zhong reached out across the tea table and lifted a strand of hair that was hanging behind his left ear.
It was just a strand of hair, but Jiang Wu felt the warmth of his fingertips and looked up at him in a daze.
"The hair is not combed up." Han Zhong said.
Jiang Wu came back to his senses and looked down at the strand of hair in his hand. It was obviously shorter than the surrounding hair. He had come in a hurry just now and just tied it casually, missing this strand.
Han Zhong looked at his lowered brows. The phoenix-shaped eyes stretched out graceful lines, half covering the half amber pupils, peaceful and quiet, giving people the illusion of softness and warmth.
"Do I look like him?"
“…”
Jiang Wuyi paused, then slowly met his dark eyes, "Yeah."
Han Zhong looked into his eyes quietly, "When?"
"That night when the fireworks were blooming and you were looking at me."
“…”
Han Zhong's fingertips trembled slightly and asked, "What was the last thing you said to him when he died?"
"I asked him...how can I ascend to heaven?"
“…”
The strand of hair slipped from his fingertips and fell back onto Jiang Wu's shoulder. Han Zhong looked at the amber eyes in front of him that were as clear and quiet as lake water, and his heart tightened with a dull pain.
He should have thought of it earlier. How could he not like her? If they were really the same person, how could he not like her?
If he didn't like her, why would he never have a queen in his life, build a boundless palace, and worship a star?