Chapter 164: Another World: The Origins of Zhou Gaozu!

Having done all this, Baichuan descended directly into the ruins.

As he landed, large amounts of ice crystals began to form once more, transforming into towering ice pillars that completely sealed off every path leading into these ruins.

At this point, Baichuan began his days of reading these books alone, just him and his dragon.

Time began to flow once more, and Baichuan truly started his frenzied reading. Unlike before, when he could only rely on that youth Ergou's slow comprehension, Baichuan now read frantically through the Light Points that represented countless Small Selves.

From this moment on, massive amounts of books were flipped through by the Light Points without pause, and knowledge like a vast, boundless ocean poured madly into Baichuan's mind.

In an instant, the various knowledge accumulated by the entire Da Zhou Dynasty over a thousand years greatly broadened Baichuan's horizons. He was constantly encountering things he didn't understand, then suddenly having epiphanies, marveling at the ideas within and slapping the table in admiration.

At this moment, the thoughts of countless brilliant minds from across the millennium on this planet constantly collided with Baichuan's modern thinking, sparks of wisdom flashing without cease.

In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed.

Meanwhile, while Baichuan was still absorbing knowledge like a parched sponge, great changes had also begun in the outside world.

Across the lands of Da Qin, a new species had quietly begun to appear. At first, these creatures only showed up in the wilds—various forests and plains—and few people noticed.

Until a merchant who had come from overseas to trade in Qingzhou encountered one, tentatively captured it, and sent it to Qingzhou for trade.

This creature, with its delicious flesh and blood that greatly replenished martial artists' Qi and blood and could even delay the dissipation of a martial artist's strength, thus appeared before the eyes of Da Qin.

In an instant, the entire world learned of this species—large in size yet with little ability to resist—and began capturing them en masse, treating them as an inexpensive staple food.

What's more, some discovered that these creatures weren't slow at all, and began tentatively taming them as substitutes for oxen and horses, using them as transport power.

If not for this species' extremely fast reproduction rate, they might well have been hunted to extinction by these humans and the various animals that had begun treating them as prey.

But even so, this newly born species could only maintain a certain population within any given area, no longer growing wildly, and had clearly become a part of the natural food chain.

Of course, such peculiar creatures naturally caused various wild predators to grow larger and stronger—a natural phenomenon. Once creatures find themselves in an environment rich in resources, their bodies will naturally grow until they reach their limits.

In an instant, the entire Da Qin region began to undergo a quiet, beneficial transformation.

Of course, Baichuan, currently absorbed in his frenzied acquisition of knowledge, remained unaware of these changes. After nearly a year, he had finally finished reading all the books collected by Da Zhou.

Such speed was thanks to the massive number of Small Self Light Points. At this point, he could finally be considered a scholar of vast learning, if barely.

In this feast of knowledge, he not only absorbed Da Zhou's various research results but also generated many brilliant ideas of his own.

Perhaps he now knew how to initiate a global evolution frenzy—but there was no rush.

His current preparations were not yet complete; he still needed to leave some contingencies in place.

Now it was time to receive Da Zhou's greatest secret—the hidden book he had found earlier in the secret chamber.

Thinking of this, Baichuan slowly rose to his feet and stretched his dragon body, which had barely moved in nearly a year.

Then he walked toward the secret chamber—the most hidden place in the entire imperial palace, which was Zhou Tianzi's bedchamber.

With a wave of Baichuan's claw, the secret chamber that Zhou Tianzi had so carefully concealed was torn open entirely.

What met his eyes was a room similar to the hidden place in Yingu from before. The entire space was empty, with only a large pool and a somewhat empty bookshelf.

Baichuan didn't pause, settling comfortably into the pool, then carefully manipulating the Light Points to bring the books over, and began to examine them in detail.

As Baichuan began reading, his expression changed again and again. First, his leisurely swaying tail fin gradually stilled, his demeanor growing serious. Then it became thoughtful, occasionally nodding as his reading sped up. Later, surprise flashed across his face, as if he could hardly believe it.

Finally, after Baichuan finished the entire book, he slowly closed his eyes.

After a long while, he opened them, his eyes full of disbelief and gravity.

Because the amount of information he had just received was simply too great.

The entire book was the autobiography of Zhou Gaozu, the founder of the Da Zhou Dynasty.

It roughly described how, in the earliest period, this continent was still in its most primitive state—no different from the other continents he had previously encountered.

One day, three tribes suddenly appeared—three clans far more advanced than the primitives on this continent.

They were respectively the tribe of Zhou Gaozu, that is, "Zhou," hereafter referred to as the Zhou Tribe, and the Tang and Shi Tribes.

These three tribes were not originally humans of this world.

They came from a far more powerful world—a magnificent world filled with all manner of terrifying beasts and gods.

There, they were three small tribes in an endless mountain range, competing, cooperating, and slaughtering each other day and night for the survival of their clansmen.

But one day, in a mysterious and tremendous upheaval, they were torn away from their original world and arrived in an extremely primitive one devoid of any mysterious energy like magic or Spirit.

It was an unfortunate yet fortunate encounter.

Unfortunate, because they had left the world their ancestors had lived in for generations and come to a world without the supernatural, utterly primitive, where a human lifespan became a mere two hundred years at most, forever cut off from the supernatural.

Fortunate, because they had finally escaped that terrifying quagmire, no longer needing to worry about battles between powerful beings and giant dragons, or the descent of gods, or being obliterated in the crossfire of their conflicts.

Upon first arriving in this world, the three tribes, after their initial bewilderment, immediately chose to wage war on each other—for none was willing to yield this undeveloped new world; each wanted to claim it all for themselves.

The war between these three tribes ravaged the entire continent—here referred to as "Yuanshi Dalu"—and dragged in countless primitive humans living on it.

In an instant, the entire continent was filled with the smoke of war, and the death toll was beyond counting.

After this war had lasted a full fifty years—

In such circumstances, "Zhou," the founding emperor of the Da Zhou Dynasty, was born.

His birth was an accident—the result of the tribe's leader encountering a beautiful woman of Yuanshi Dalu during a hunt and, overcome by lust, forcibly taking her.

His case was not the first. For humans from another world who possessed powerful physical bodies, everything on Yuanshi Dalu was fragile and defenseless, to be plundered at will.

And what was one of the most important resources on this primitive Yuanshi Dalu?

That's right—beautiful women!

Under such circumstances, the humans from the other world naturally produced many children of mixed blood from both worlds.

However, many of these children were abandoned before they were even born. Even those not abandoned and kept within the tribe often died before reaching adulthood.

Even those fortunate enough to reach adulthood were the lowest of the low in the tribe, doing all kinds of menial labor, and during wartime serving as cannon fodder in tribal conflicts, charging at the very front lines.

But Zhou was somewhat special. Because his mother was favored by the tribe's leader, even if he wasn't well-liked, he was still the leader's child and treated differently from other mixed-blood children—at the very least, he didn't need to worry about food.

And the only thing he needed to worry about was...

(End of Chapter)