Chapter 377: Wang Mang Is a Transmigrator?

Lofty and aloof, standing at ease through the eternal ages of the Initial Realm, untouched by all the great mythological wars — the Babylonian Mythology. That was before the figure who gave the world a mysterious back entered.

Not long after.

The Babylonian Mythology changed.

A presence, so towering it defied description, beyond all words, stepped out from the heavens and earth of the Babylonian Mythology.

The moment it emerged, the vast heavens and earth of the Initial Realm blazed with countless strange omens.

As if everything under heaven bowed to welcome him — this was no existence that could be described as merely powerful; even heaven and earth could only lie beneath his feet.

This was unquestionably a being who had transcended life and death, transcended the very ages.

The very foundation that allowed the Babylonian Mythology to stand as one of the Four Great Mythologies.

It must be the chief god of the Babylonian Mythology — possibly a god who never descended to the mortal world but remained in the heavens, holding dominion over the fate of all universes: the God of the Firmament — Anu.

Even more!

It might well be the oldest god of the Babylonian Mythology, the Primordial Source of All Things — Abzu.

Just as the people were guessing, this foundation of the Babylonian Mythology emerged into the world.

He walked out of the heavens and earth of the Babylonian Mythology, walked out of the Initial Realm, walked out of… the River of Ages!

Sure enough, it was just as expected.

He was a being who had transcended the River of Ages.

The River of Ages appeared.

This foundation of the Babylonian Mythology stepped out in a single stride, emerging from within the River of Ages.

The long river, its surface shimmering with rippling light, its waves surging and roaring, beat against his body, trying to stop him from walking out of the River of Ages — yet could not harm him in the slightest.

His body untouched by the waters of the River of Ages, unstained by even the finest dust, he stood upon the River of Ages.

Seeing the River of Ages once more, the people of the world sighed and marveled, even though it was already the second time they had witnessed it.

The River of Ages encompasses past, present, and future, covering everything in the world; each time it appears, the senses are different, revealing ages that could not be seen before.

And this time.

The people watched in horror as, in a certain stretch of the River of Ages…

Half a body surfaced from that stretch of the River of Ages, straining with everything to scoop up a "fish" and toss it into the upstream of the River of Ages, intending to alter the past.

Calling it a "fish" — to be precise, it was a person.

That figure, with half its body exposed, scooped a person out from within a stretch of the River of Ages and hurled them into the upstream.

Vaguely seen, in that upstream stretch of the River of Ages, fires of war raged across the land, and the place where he fell was the Eastern Nation of the Initial Realm, governed by the Mythology of Hua.

The Eastern Nation of that era was vast and boundless.

The ancestors were each extraordinary, heroes emerging in succession; the Ancestral Dynasties they founded made even gods and demons give way.

"That clothing… it seems like…"

Professor Beishan, the historian well-versed in Hua's history, stared without blinking, catching the splash of the River of Ages stirred up as that "fish" plunged into the ages — and happened to glimpse the attire of the people of the Eastern Nation in that era.

In an instant.

His pupils contracted, and he cried out in shock.

"The Han Dynasty! That era was the Han Dynasty period of Hua!"

In this age where transcendent divine beings now emerged into the world, even those who were not people of Hua had some acquaintance with Hua's history.

With Professor Beishan's shout, those present immediately searched through what they knew of Hua's Han Dynasty history.

When the Han Dynasty was mentioned, what came to mind were the Western Han and the Eastern Han.

And now, a person had been thrown from the downstream of the River of Ages into the upstream — into the Eastern Han.

The next second.

Many people shuddered violently, all thinking of the same name at once:

"Wang Mang!!!"

In the present age, whether historians or other cultural circles, regarding the historical figure Wang Mang, people had bestowed upon him a title.

Wang Mang — a transmigrator!

This was a person who had transmigrated from the future into the past.

The reason was none other than that the things Wang Mang did in the late Western Han clearly belonged to modern society.

For instance, he promoted the nationalization of land, forbidding commoners from privately buying and selling it.

Another example was abolishing the slave system, decreeing that the entire nation could not buy or sell slaves, that idle people could not be kept, and mobilizing all the people of the nation into action.

He also implemented a planned economy, and moreover, levied income taxes.

Beyond pushing these systems, he also manufactured the caliper — an object of striking modernity.

And so on, and so forth.

Too many things could not be explained; it was truly impossible not to suspect that he was a transmigrator.

And now, a being who had transcended the ages had thrown him into the upstream of the ages — nine times out of ten the Han Dynasty — making it impossible not to suspect that the "fish" was Wang Mang.

Even without having seen that "fish's" face, many people were highly likely certain that it was Wang Mang.

Thinking it over carefully.

The downstream of the River of Ages from which the "fish" had been scooped was very close to their present era — it belonged to the modern age.

Thinking this way, it was nailed down.

Wang Mang really damn well was a transmigrator!

"Wait a moment — if Wang Mang is a transmigrator, then what about the Son of the Plane, Liu Xiu?"

Someone spoke up.

Right!

Wang Mang really was a transmigrator; could Liu Xiu, mockingly called the Son of the Realm, truly be the Son of the Realm—or put another way, could Liu Xiu have come into existence solely because of Wang Mang?

Because Wang Mang was a transmigrator from the future, those elder beings of time selected Liu Xiu to correct the historical trajectory disrupted by Wang Mang.

Perhaps…

This was fundamentally a game.

A wager among elders who transcended time, each choosing one champion to compete within a span of time, to see whose chosen one was stronger.

Thinking of this, the gods, demons, immortals, and devils trembled.

What manner of beings are those who transcend time? They alter the course of history effortlessly, all for the sake of a bet.

To them, human lives, time, and all things in the world were but fleeting clouds—barely worth mentioning.

"Come to think of it, have any of you felt that the being who pulled out Wang Mang looks somewhat familiar?"

A historian asked his companion, fearing he might be hallucinating or misseeing.

His companion scratched his head.

"Familiar? I don't see it—I'm face-blind."

Another companion chimed in:

"That figure is shrouded in light, his silhouette looks aged—he must be an old man. All old men look more or less the same; I can't tell if he's particularly familiar."

As they spoke, they turned to the first speaker.

"You say he's familiar—do you recognize who he is?"

The historian shook his head: "No, I just feel familiar with him, but I can't recall who he is right now—you know that feeling? You've seen him before, but you can't place him—it's agonizing, damn it."

As they spoke, the scene displayed on the altar at the center of ancient Babylonian mythology continued to shift.

The figure emerging from the depths of ancient Babylonian mythology glanced once at the river of time behind him.

The river flowed endlessly.

Its waves surged forward.

Each wave was a dynasty; each dynasty differed, each with its own glory and decline.

Yet without exception, all sought transcendence—transcendence over life and death, transcendence over time.

But few ever transcended life and death, let alone time; only one such being emerged across several eras.

One could see gods and demons striving for transcendence over life and death, only to fall nearly all before the wall of lifespan.

Those who had transcended life and death, seeking to escape time, exhausted every possible method—even, when nearing the brink of transcending time, attempting to alter the past to prove their path to transcendence over time.

All methods were tried, yet most failed, collapsing into the river of time.

…

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