Chapter 202: Witnessing History

August.

One morning.

A violent explosion occurred in the spell laboratory at the bottom of the Ancient Cultivation Building, and the resulting vibration even penetrated the Defense Array, causing the entire building to shake slightly.

The senior brother Zhang Yunyan waiting outside the laboratory and the senior brothers and sisters in the laboratory on the first floor were all given a great fright; even through layers of reinforced Defense Arrays, they had sensed that intense and massive Spirit Power reaction.

Even Chen Shu himself inside the laboratory was left feeling terribly uncomfortable, coughing incessantly, feeling as if his lungs had been shaken.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

"Yue, cough, cough, cough..."

This was his first time successfully casting the Small Blazing Sun Art.

Having obtained this spell in May, relying on his super-high level of understanding of spell rune principles, Chen Shu had spent three months barely managing to comprehend it. But because this thing's structure was too complex and peculiar, it wasn't something one could master just by comprehending it; Chen Shu had come to the spell laboratory to tinker with it for a few days after school started, and only then did he succeed.

Perhaps this success also contained an element of luck; he might not necessarily succeed next time.

Only after he had mastered it proficiently could Chen Shu write it into the Thousand Machine Art.

"Yue, cough, cough..."

This thing was truly powerful.

Chen Shu squatted and coughed for a long while.

Because the structure and principles of the Small Blazing Sun Art were too unique, normal Spell Simulators were ineffective for this spell. Even for Chen Shu, before obtaining this spell, he could not have imagined its structure and principles, let alone crack it. After comprehending it, he had roughly calculated its power and, when attempting to use it, controlled the Spirit Power output to just a little bit over the minimum threshold required by this spell. In his calculations, the power was barely controllable, but the power that finally erupted was much greater than the calculated result.

A moment of carelessness, and an accident occurred.

But there was no way to lower the power any further.

According to the design structure and principles of this spell, at least this much Spirit Power was needed to activate it successfully, and the Spirit Power Quality also had to meet the standard; if it were insufficient, the conflict reaction between the Runes could not be correctly executed, and it would turn into a dud.

With Chen Shu's current Spirit Sea level, he could only use this spell a few times in total, and each time required a brewing process to gather Spirit Power.

Afterwards, the Spirit Power in his Spirit Sea would fall into exhaustion.

A major energy consumer...

When integrating it into the Thousand Machine Art in the future, he would likely have to specifically adjust the structure of the Thousand Machine Art for it and arrange more Spirit Power transmission channels for it; otherwise, the Spirit Power input speed of the Thousand Machine Art would not keep up—in same-level combat, it is all about speed, and being one second slow could lead to defeat.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

This time, Chen Shu retreated to a corner and set up several more layers of Defense Barriers, intending to try a few more times.

Until he squeezed himself dry.

The sooner he mastered it and integrated it into the Thousand Machine Art, the more confidence he would have when facing Zhang Suannai's provocations; even if he couldn't burn her to death, he could at least burn all her clothes off.

The Spirit Power within his body surged and gathered once more...

Just at this moment, a knock came at the door.

"Knock, knock!"

"Cough, cough!"

Chen Shu's focus was broken in a second, and he bent over to cough violently again.

He then walked over and opened the door.

Teacher Shi Qian was standing at the door.

Chen Shu asked while coughing, "Teacher Shi Qian, what are you here for? Cough, cough, I was just saying I'd go find you this afternoon."

Shi Qian waved his hand to fan away the dust, then poked his head in to look at the ground inside that was still scorched red, and asked with a frown, "What are you doing in here? I felt the commotion even while teaching upstairs."

"Ah?"

"Are you learning the Small Blazing Sun Art?"

"Yes..."

"You learned it so quickly?"

"The Vice Sect Master gave me this spell last time." Chen Shu was a bit dazed, "You felt it even upstairs? Isn't there a Formation?"

"The capacity of a Formation is also limited." Shi Qian looked at him, "Your Small Blazing Sun Art is already approaching its defense limit."

"Then where should I go? I'd be arrested by the police if I went outside, right?"

"Behind Yuan'an Temple and Xinzheng Temple, there is a patch of land in the forest where nothing grows. Go there; that is the spell testing ground for their disciples. We teachers also go there when we want to test high-power spells. Moreover, the terrain there is open enough for you to do whatever you want; it can reflect the spell's effects more intuitively than this kind of enclosed, specially-made airtight space." Shi Qian paused, "There is also a testing ground in the school that we teachers usually use, but the effects cannot be reflected as intuitively there; the power not only looks smaller, but it actually becomes smaller too. It is only suitable for learning new spells, not for conducting research and observation."

"Where is it? Under the Project Laboratory building?"

"No, under Martial Cultivation Hall No. 1."

"I thought so..."

"I'll give you a pass another day; go play there. It's too disruptive to others' studies here."

"Oh..."

"Remember to come to the Project Laboratory this afternoon."

"Okay."

Chen Shu scratched his head, looked back one more time, and then followed him out of the laboratory.

Senior brother Zhang Yunyan was waiting for him outside, his lingering fear not yet gone, and he twitched the corner of his mouth, saying, "Senior brother, what were you testing again? The commotion was so big that even Teacher Shi Qian, who was teaching upstairs, was alarmed by you."

"A type of industrial spell."

"Understood." Zhang Yunyan did not pursue the matter, but asked eagerly, "Then this problem with my Tracer Technique..."

"The problem with yours is in the Spirit-supplying component; the Spirit Power transmission speed is too slow, causing the spell to not run smoothly." Chen Shu said after looking at it, "You can refer to the Rune structure of the old version of the Tracer Technique to modify this problem."

"Okay, okay, I'll try."

"Have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet."

"It's about time, let's go eat first, and we can discuss it while we eat."

"Okay, okay."

Chen Shu went to the canteen to have a meal with Senior Brother Zhang, took the opportunity to provide him with a very old version of the Tracer Technique for free, sat in the Commercial Street after the meal to drink a cup of green tangerine lemon tea, and then went to the Project Laboratory.

It was already night when he returned to the Dormitory.

Brother Meng and Brother Jiang were both sitting in the living room, the light from the television flickering as it played the news.

The two of them were uncharacteristically not using the news as background music, but were instead intently staring at the images on the screen.

The Emperor's symptoms of Spirit Decay were obvious; such news had been circulating online for the past two days. The authorities had neither confirmed nor denied it, letting the rumors fly everywhere. Yesterday, a media outlet reported prematurely that the Emperor had already drafted an edict of abdication, only to be debunked that same night. That media outlet was sternly criticized by other official media and also bombarded by netizens, and then today, this news was confirmed by the Imperial Family.

A series of twists and turns, quite amusing.

Once the edict of abdication was issued, the new Emperor was determined; it only remained to choose a day to hold the enthronement ceremony and announce it to the heavens, the earth, and all living beings, and the throne of Yiguo would be changed.

There would be trouble to deal with when the time came.

The leaders of the top sects and well-known major sects within Yiguo would all have to come to express their allegiance to the new Emperor; this was a procedure that had continued for hundreds of years, the lingering prestige from when the Grand Ancestor Emperor had beaten all the sects into submission.

In addition, the leaders of countries large and small would also have to be present, especially Yiguo's vassal states, who had to express their congratulations and even swear allegiance to the new Emperor.

However, this had little to do with people like Chen Shu; there was not a single part of the process that required his participation.

At most, Yujing would be under martial law at that time, which might have a tiny chance of affecting his going to the back of Yuan'an Temple outside the city to test the Small Blazing Sun Art; the commotion and light effects caused by the Small Blazing Sun Art were indeed a tiny bit large.

After Chen Shu finished watching the news, he sat down to play on his Mobile Phone; the internet was also full of discussions about this, and for a moment he couldn't help but feel a bit of emotion—

He could also be considered to have lived through one dynasty.

With the long lifespan of a Cultivator, he might experience many more dynasties in the future, witnessing with his own eyes history that many descendants would only be able to see in books... Thinking about it this way, the feeling was quite marvelous.

He would probably get used to it slowly in the future.

"Ha~~"

Chen Shu yawned and asked the people beside him: "Brother Meng, Brother Jiang, do you know what programs there are for the Mid-Autumn Gala?"

"Don't know," Jiang Lai said.

"It's all the same stuff," Meng Chunqiu said, "Some people singing, some people dancing, some people performing crosstalk or skits. At most, because it's a gala co-organized by the whole university, it will be a bit better than a gala for a single college; after all, the Art College is participating."

"Is it good?"

"Average," Meng Chunqiu said, "National Comprehensive University's would be better; there will be celebrities attending."

"Is that so?"

"Do you want to go?" Meng Chunqiu glanced at him, "I can get you a ticket."

"Forget it, I haven't decided yet," Chen Shu said, "Brother Meng, you've been busy enough lately, I don't want to trouble you any further."

"Trouble is trouble, but it's not that troublesome," Meng Chunqiu said, "I'm many generations removed from the Imperial Ancestor, and Dayi was founded on martial arts, so these procedures are much simpler than those of previous dynasties, and even simpler in modern times. There's no need to waste money and manpower, and it might give people an excuse to attack."

"That's true."

"If you want to, just tell me. National Comprehensive University is run by our family; don't be polite with me," Meng Chunqiu said heroically.

"We'll see, we'll see..."

Chen Shu went to take a shower and then returned to his room.

His Mobile Phone kept buzzing incessantly.

Chen Shu opened the group chat. These people had been discussing the news of the Yi Emperor's Spirit Decay for the past two days. He sometimes joined in to chat for a while. Today, the official confirmation from the Imperial Family had stirred up their enthusiasm again.

Grandma Always Says: My master is coming to Yujing.

Gate of All Wonders: Normal. I heard that the Heavenly Palace, far on the other side of Earth, has already started flying back.

Gate of All Wonders: Will the Sword King definitely come to Yujing then? Will the Sword King and the Sword Master fight if they meet?

Chen Shu couldn't help but post a message—

Qingcai Keke: The Sword King wouldn't be that impulsive, right?

Just Call Me Luo Huaian: 1

Grandma Always Says: Exactly.

Grandma Always Says:??

Grandma Always Says: What do you mean? My Sword Master is impulsive?

Qingcai Keke: /An awkward but polite smile

Qingcai Keke: Just saying it casually.

Grandma Always Says: /Kitchen knife/Kitchen knife/Kitchen knife

Qingcai Keke: Does the group owner know the approximate time of the enthronement ceremony? How much longer until it happens?

Haoran: Not long now.

Haoran: There isn't much to prepare anyway.

Gate of All Wonders: His Majesty's Posthumous Title will probably be decided soon, right?

Haoran: Mm.

Qingcai Keke: Have you guys noticed an interesting point?

Gate of All Wonders: What?

Grandma Always Says: What?

Qingcai Keke: In other dynasties, the emperor only gets a Posthumous Title after dying, but in this dynasty, once the emperor abdicates, the Posthumous Title is decided very quickly.

Gate of All Wonders: Now that you mention it, that's true.

Gate of All Wonders: This is where we should @Haoran.

Grandma Always Says: What is a Posthumous Title?

Grandma Always Says: How do you read this character?

Gate of All Wonders: Are you using handwriting input?

Grandma Always Says: Copied it from you guys.

Gate of All Wonders:...

Haoran: It involves too much, it is inconvenient to disclose.

Gate of All Wonders: /complex expression

Grandma Always Says: You...

Grandma Always Says: If you can't say it, you could appropriately tell a little lie and say you don't know either, instead of hooking our curiosity like this.

Grandma Always Says: /spit

Green Lamp Ancient Buddha: Amitabha, Benefactor Grandma speaks with reason.

Haoran: Sigh, everyone, cultivate well.

Grandma Always Says: Why are you especially serious today /dazed

Gate of All Wonders: That's right, you didn't even eat melon seeds.

Haoran: /eating melon seeds

Chen Shu witnessed this and also fell into deep thought.

During the Great Xia era, when Shengzu first established these rules, the usage of a Posthumous Title was basically the same as in his previous life, except Shengzu stipulated that a Posthumous Title could only be one character, the purpose of which should have been to prevent Posthumous Titles from gradually becoming long and stinky. Later, as descendants modified and evolved it over thousands of years, the Posthumous Title gradually merged with the Temple Name, and it also changed from something that any big shot could use to something only an Emperor could use, but what remained unchanged was that one had to be dead to have one.

The Dayi Emperor seemed to be quite taboo about death; once he abdicated, he would obtain a Posthumous Title, and after that, there would be no news of him in the world, nor would his death be announced.

In Chen Shu's impression, not A Book had ever recorded the exact date of a Dayi Emperor's death.

In fact, it wasn't just Dayi; the previous dynasty had already started doing this.

Dayi followed the customs of the previous dynasty.

Previously, Chen Shu thought that the previous dynasty had once again magically modified the Posthumous Title system, changing it so that an Emperor could obtain a Posthumous Title upon abdication, which wasn't such a strange thing anyway, since the world was theirs and they had the final say... but now hearing the group owner say this, it seems that is not the case.