Chapter 14: Beyond The Shadowed Willows, Blossoms Glow

In Anchor Year 13, ancient texts such as the Book of Documents, Book of Songs, and Book of Rites resurfaced, fueling scholars’ growing fascination with that lost stretch of history.

By Anchor Year 15, the Emperor fell gravely ill. Desperate to prolong his life with similar pills, he dispatched over a hundred thousand soldiers to excavate ancient tombs across the land, searching for traces of immortal elixirs.

Though many court officials murmured dissent, none dared submit large-scale petitions in opposition.

Alas, immortal elixirs proved elusive. Despite unearthing hundreds of tombs, not a single trace of one was found.

By the year’s end, the Emperor passed away with regret, naming the Prince of Langya as his successor on his deathbed.

With that, Li Fan once again seized covert control of the empire.

Under his influence, the fervor for tomb-raiding and historical exploration surged across the land.

In Anchor Year 17, a mountain hunter won the Grand Preceptor’s favor after discovering an ancient tomb and was ennobled as a marquis. From then on, the people’s obsession with the ancient era grew even more frenzied. No matter how remote, bands of treasure-seekers could be seen scouring through the wilderness.

Time flowed onward, and Anchor Year 23 arrived.

Li Fan stood within the Grand Preceptor’s estate, reviewing the compiled clues gathered over years of official and civilian expeditions.

Before this era, only three thousand years of history had been recorded across twenty-three dynasties.

But as tomb after tomb was unearthed, the gaps in that lost history were slowly filled.

Before those twenty-three dynasties, sixteen more had existed, stretching back six or seven thousand years.

The earliest of these discovered dynasties was called Qi.

Six or seven thousand years... That roughly aligns with the era of the Great Migration.

Li Fan mused silently.

Immediately, he ordered his subordinates to focus on excavating tombs from the Qi dynasty.

He further issued a proclamation: anyone who discovered a tomb from the Qi dynasty would be granted a marquisate.

The news spread like wildfire, and people across the empire rushed to share it.

Countless young men banded together and set out on journeys to dig up the past.

No matter how deeply buried, no relic could withstand such fervent excavation by an entire empire.

By Anchor Year 25, the tomb of Yi Xing, the first emperor of the Qi dynasty, was finally found.

Upon hearing the news, Li Fan personally led his trusted men to the site and sealed off the surrounding area.

Over the past decade, the Great Xuan Dynasty’s tomb-raiding techniques had advanced rapidly, and they had developed an extremely efficient excavation method.

Even though this tomb, which belonged to the first emperor of this realm, was vast and riddled with traps, the excavation team breached a passage to the main burial chamber in just over a month.

Once all obstacles were cleared, Li Fan entered the tomb’s interior, surrounded by his retinue.

The main passage stretched for hundreds of meters, and its walls were adorned with vivid murals, still strikingly clear despite thousands of years of age.

Li Fan paced slowly, studying each mural in turn.

They were divided into several major sections.

The first depicted Yi Xing, the founding emperor of the Qi dynasty, seated atop a mountain peak. Above him, amid drifting clouds, were the faint silhouettes of immortals that seemed to be speaking to him.

The second showed a darkness representing calamity descending upon the land, while crimson hues symbolizing bloodshed drenched the earth. Under Yi Xing’s leadership, survivors boarded massive ship-like vessels, soaring through endless clouds and enduring countless perils before arriving at a vast plain. There, they settled and made their home.

The third section depicted Yi Xing proclaiming himself emperor and establishing the Qi dynasty with the people’s support.

The fourth chronicled the various affairs of Yi Xing’s reign.

At the end of the series of murals lay the main burial chamber.

The chamber soared forty to fifty meters high, stretching thousands of meters in length and width. Its ceiling mimicked a starry sky, inlaid with countless luminous pearls.

The interior was modeled after the layout of a mountain sect, with peaks rising one after another, submerged in a sea of clouds.

It was unknown how this sea of clouds was created. Somehow, the clouds remained fixed within the chamber without drifting away. And even after thousands of years, they had not dissipated.

Invisible pathways connected the peaks, and as the group made their way through, they marveled in astonishment.

This is truly the work of immortals.

Li Fan thought to himself.

At the summit of the highest peak stood a simple thatched hut, its once-fertile fields now overgrown and abandoned.

Only as they approached did they realize that the thatch of the hut was woven from countless fine golden threads.

Clearly, this humble dwelling was where Yi Xing’s coffin lay.

At Li Fan’s signal, the group opened the hut’s door.

To everyone’s surprise, there was no trace of Yi Xing’s remains inside.

Only a wooden memorial tablet stood quietly within.

Inscribed on the tablet were several golden words: “Tomb of Yi Xing, an outer disciple of the Taiyan Sect.”

No other objects remained.

It seems that this man had joined a sect called the Taiyan Sect, but he remained an outer disciple, not treading far on the path of immortality. In the end, he was exiled here by cultivators.

Even in death, he never forgot his sect, refusing to identify as an emperor and instead clinging to his status as an outer disciple of the Taiyan Sect.

Yet according to Kou Hong’s earlier account, all the sects of the world should have collapsed in the Great Reformation that took place before the Great Migration. Now, it seems there must be more to the story.

Li Fan pondered deeply.

Yi Xing must have been entrusted by the cultivators of the Taiyan Sect to oversee the migration of mortals to this world. The question is, can I still find the flying vessels used back then?

Finding no answers in the main burial chamber, Li Fan ordered members from the School of Historical Inquiry to dig around the area, hoping to uncover clues from the surrounding auxiliary tomb chambers.

Several days later, bad news arrived, filling Li Fan with fury and helplessness.

It turned out that among the burial records of one auxiliary tomb chamber, there was mention of a flying boat. Unfortunately, that very tomb chamber had been looted long ago.

Judging by the damage, the theft had occurred over a thousand years prior.

Again! Again! Every time I glimpse hope, it slips away like flowers in a mirror, or the moon reflected on water—utterly unattainable!

[1]

In a rare outburst of rage, Li Fan smashed several nearby objects.

Those around him fell deathly silent.

It took a long while before he calmed his turbulent emotions.

He ordered the School of Historical Inquiry to continue excavating ancient tombs and searching for traces of the immortal boat, but he himself returned to Xuanjing City, as if holding little hope.

Another ten years passed. Then, in Anchor 35, things took an unexpected turn.

On this day, Li Fan received an urgent report.

“The tomb of an immortal has been discovered?” Li Fan was stunned, then overjoyed, quickly pressing for details.

As it turned out, though Li Fan had grown somewhat disheartened over the years, the people’s enthusiasm for unearthing antiquities had never waned. Across the lands of Great Xuan, countless ancient tombs had been excavated.

As those large, prominent tombs were gradually emptied, people began turning their attention to the previously overlooked smaller burial sites.

Just days prior, a group of youths had been excavating an unremarkable grave when they were suddenly struck by an inexplicable force, suffering heavy casualties.

The survivors immediately reported the incident to the authorities.

It must be understood that over decades of Great Xuan’s tomb explorations, injuries and deaths had always been caused by mechanical traps. Never before had something so bizarre occurred before a tomb was opened.

The School of Historical Inquiry treated the matter with great importance, dispatching investigators overnight.

Yet, even with the combined efforts of numerous seasoned veterans and fully armed soldiers, they could not so much as make a dent in that small grave.

Astonished and exhilarated, the group hurriedly reported the matter to Li Fan.

Li Fan arrived and deployed Immortal-Mortal Miasma, finally shattering the force surrounding the tomb.

Inside the burial chamber, standing out prominently among the array of funerary objects, was a small wooden boat.

1. 镜花水月 (jìnghuā shuǐyuè), a Chinese idiom that means something is visible but unattainable, like trying to grasp reflections. ☜