Chapter 135

The memorial tomb and shrine should originally have been outside Jinzhou City, but after the reform and opening-up in the 1980s spurred economic growth, Jinzhou's urban area kept expanding, and now this scenic spot has long been incorporated into the city limits. Transportation within Jinzhou is also fairly convenient; you can take a taxi straight from the high-speed rail station to Bai Temple — indeed, the travel guide says locals call it Bai Temple.

Outside Bai Temple there are some ancient trees, "Originally they were real ancient trees, but now they're gone and replaced by trees only twenty-odd years old. Only one tree remains, and that one is over a hundred years old, so it counts as an ancient tree." Bai Lang flipped through the introduction. The temple isn't large, but its footprint looks like it used to be substantial—according to the old historical photos in the booklet, the surroundings were once a barren tract. Now, however, the area is all houses, and the temple has long been enclosed within a park.

The front hall, rear hall, and the side wings constitute the entirety of the Bai Shao Bao Temple, plus there's a rear courtyard containing a garden and Bai Shao Bao's memorial tomb. The front hall houses Bai Lang's weapons and armor, along with other items, "Basically they're all fakes." Bai Lang muttered upon entering, "Even this water‑ground Purple Gold Halberd is a damn fake…" This is also noted in the pamphlet; the genuine article is in the Liaoning Museum.

Bai Lang examined these replica "genuine" items; aside from the water‑ground Purple Gold Halberd, which was made according to his original weapon, the other objects he had never even seen—including the official robes. The robes restored according to Ming dynasty dress codes are completely unlike anything Bai Lang ever wore, because they mistakenly took the posthumously awarded title and honors granted after his death as if they were his rank before he disappeared.

Stepping into the rear hall brings one to Bai Lang's statue, which is likewise a newly remolded figure, made in the early twenty‑first century; the original statue was discarded. This stone seated figure is still quite modern in style, far superior to the low‑quality plastic images Bai Lang remembers from temples all over the south and north. "The statue was also carved by the Central Academy of Fine Arts; the work is indeed good, the problem is it doesn't look like me." After walking around the stone statue of Bai Lang, Marquis Wuan of Bai, Bai Lang stroked his chin, examined the statue's face, and reached this conclusion.

The couplets on both sides and the stone steles covered with glass, inscribed with text, are literary works left by famous visitors of the past; they are essentially endless praises. "Looking at them makes me feel embarrassed—do I really deserve that much praise?" Bai Lang looked over them again and again, delighted.

He walked proudly to the rear garden, where a pair of stone guardian figures remain—the original ones. The memorial tomb is a mound encircled by bricks, and the gravestone bears the words "Grave of Bai Clan, Marquis Wuan, Junior Protector of the Heir Apparent of the Ming Dynasty".

In the garden beside it stands a pavilion, inside and out are stone steles, undoubtedly additions made over the ages—nothing but praises of merit and virtue; of course the largest one bears the full biography of Bai Lang as recorded in the Ming History. This is a national first‑class cultural relic, because the calligraphy is by a famous Ming‑late calligrapher whom Bai Lang has never heard of—probably just a minor historical twist—and the engraver was likely an imperial palace artisan, achieving perfection in both engraving and calligraphy. The text is exceptionally clear and well preserved, "which is why it's a relic."

One of the side halls sells souvenirs, the other introduces the life of the temple's lord Bai Lang and later commentators' critiques. Bai Lang approached it with great interest: "Even before I'm dead, I can already see my own grave and the posthumous judgments of later generations—what good fortune!"

This temple underwent a renovation a few years ago; first they recorded this event, then they gave Bai Lang's biography. "Unknown year and month of birth...... that's at least factual, far better than the baseless auspicious omens fabricated in the Ming History. I'm not Li Cunxiao—when as a youth did I ever chase tigers across ravines? And frankly, this isn't just a copy‑paste of the biographies of those historical warriors, shuffled and transcribed."

Bai Lang enjoyed reading the modern textual criticism; the circumstances of his birth have been disproved, but his movements after appearing in Yan Zhou have been recorded and considered reliable history—this record of his military exploits likewise uses the Spring‑and‑Autumn annalistic style, suggesting that the scholars lean toward a modern conclusion: Bai Lang may be incomparably brave, yet a single person could not have slain that many heads, and he certainly wasn't wielding a modern machine gun rattatat.

Nevertheless, it's undeniable that modern historical research cannot erase Bai Lang's martial prowess, for the sects have been transmitted to this day, and their predecessors' notes are now vital historical research material—especially the headmaster Qin Lao of the Hua Shan sect, whose martial skill was nearly peerless under heaven; he was a contemporary of Bai Lang and lived over twenty years longer, and his notes are the most important source for verifying Bai Lang's origins and martial ability, of course many of which have been incorporated into the main narrative.

The notes indeed make clear that this Grand Protector's martial arts reached the pinnacle, especially his hard‑style cultivation, which is number one under heaven, enabling him to break armies and slay generals with unstoppable force. However, this person merely witnessed Bai Lang leading a thousand cavalry in a charge; he did not record the details of that assault—at the time he was probably in the commander's tent, merely hearing the messengers report merit. Bai Lang beheaded so‑and‑so in battle, Bai Lang broke the formation where—he also frankly admitted that his own martial skill might not match that of this Bai Protector.

"Leopard head, ringed eyes……so this is how Master Qin sees me, leopard your head, ring your eyes! Damn it, I clearly have thick brows and phoenix eyes, a heroic visage, right? And yet leopard head, ringed eyes—pah!" Bai Lang realized why the statue bears no resemblance to him. After a while he figured the problem lay in Master Qin's notes—who let this Master Qin be a historically verifiable real person, even leaving behind a precious sword and handwritten notes and secret manuals….

Bai Lang continued reading, and Master Qin's notes are misleading—no wonder others think Bai Lang didn't fight with twin halberds, since this old man never saw him wielding them—who let Bai Lang lose his gear? What he observed were Bai Lang using a pu dao and an iron spear to charge into battle. Likewise, Gonggong Cao's notes, discovered earlier, also state that Bai Protector's hard‑style cultivation is unrivaled under heaven, and that his bare‑handed fist, palm, and claw techniques are extraordinarily fierce, his divine strength worthy of being called peerless.

But the whole introduction isn't long, for Bai Lang merely flashed across history like a brilliant meteor; in a very short time he achieved fame and rank, and now, to the disbelief of everyone, he has returned to heaven as the White Tiger Star. Governor Deng left no notes, or perhaps his notes have simply not been found…otherwise Bai Lang's legend could probably have been expanded by a few more entries.

In short, this place is basically the mausoleum and shrine of an unparalleled mighty general; thanks to recent years of web fiction, there are actually quite a few young visitors—"I actually feel this place is full of malice!" Bai Lang thinks so because of the influence of IP web dramas and TV dramas...... Indeed, there are many time-travel web dramas and female Mary Sue web dramas; whenever they involve the late Ming, they invariably mention Junior Protector Bai—because he died young, was highly skilled in martial arts, and had great fame, and most importantly, he had no wife and historical records clearly describe his handsome appearance......

Even the formal historical dramas that have aired on TV are the same——the historical dramas on TV are still okay, Bai Lang also dug up some posts. The actors who play Bai Lang on TV are passable at best, especially the earlier ones, whose classical aesthetics can be described as dignified in appearance; the recent actors, and those in the web dramas, can only be fresh meat——fortunately they're not sissy pretty boys, after all, being a fresh meat nowadays still involves some martial arts......