Chapter 279: Haoran Righteous Spirit

"What is your name?"

"In reply to Senior, this junior is named Haoran, Haoran as in the Haoran righteous spirit."

"Haoran righteous spirit..."

Cao Ci revealed a faint smile, not minding this subtle mockery, and instead continued to ask: "Among Meng Jingming's descendants, which generation are you?"

"Not counting the Former Emperor, I am the fifth generation; if the Former Emperor is considered the first generation, then this junior is the sixth."

"The current Emperor is your..."

"Great-grandfather."

"Quite prolific."

"In ordinary families, a generation is twenty or thirty years, but for us, a generation is already over forty or fifty years." Meng Haoran was neither humble nor arrogant, his tone steady. "The reason for this is not that we are so prolific, but that we live too long."

"It seems you are not afraid of death."

"In the Dayi Imperial Family, there is no one who fears death."

"Interesting."

"Senior, for what matter have you sought this junior?"

"You possess a fragment of origin within you, and I intend to take it." Cao Ci paused, his voice indifferent. "However, rest assured, I consider Meng Jingming an old acquaintance, and he is one of the few people in my life I could truly call a friend. It was only after he died that I dared to abduct you; if he were still alive, I might not have had the heart to lay a hand on you. Therefore, I will do my best to preserve your life and send you back alive; that shall be my account to Meng Jingming."

"A fragment of origin..."

Meng Haoran murmured these words in his mouth.

At this moment, he did not know where he was, only that it was the desolate wilderness, with nothing but barrenness as far as the eye could see. He simply sat on the ground and said to the person before him: "When the Imperial Ancestor was alive, I also once heard him speak of Senior."

"What did he say?"

"He spoke of the past, of things from his youth, of Yujing in his youth," Meng Haoran said. "When people grow old, they like to reminisce about the past."

Cao Ci narrowed his eyes.

In a trance, he seemed to have returned to the Yujing of the past.

How many years ago was that?

Three hundred years?

Still a little short, perhaps.

Yiguo was not the first to embrace the new era, but it did not lag too far behind, reaching the forefront. By the time of the era they lived in, Yiguo was already relying on its massive scale to climb back to being the world's number one. At that time, Yujing already had one foot stepped into the new era, while the other foot remained outside.

That society back then...

The haphazardly built, dilapidated, dirty, and chaotic buildings, people packed against people, the small, pitch-black convenience stores on the streets, the noodle shop that occupied half the street despite having only one storefront, its entire wall blackened by the smoke of its stove. That person from the Royal Court had rented a place outside, and downstairs was a restaurant; the cooking fumes were so heavy.

The world back then seemed to be fading everywhere, still dirty, with chaotic Spirit Power transmission lines everywhere.

People shouted when they spoke, laughed loudly, and there was no such word as "civility." Everyone squeezed together to eat, the table covered in a layer of grease that couldn't be wiped away, the restaurant filled with the smell of sweat.

Most of the common people were very poor, everyone was poor, so poor that they had to help each other to live a good life.

Yet for some reason, how nostalgic it is.

Cao Ci had not returned to Yujing for many years.

Human memory is just like this; when you leave a place, your memory of it stays at the final moment, but if you return, the new appearance you see will cover the original memory, making it difficult for you to recall how it was before.

Meng Haoran sat cross-legged on the ground, slightly lifting his head, and said softly: "The Imperial Ancestor often said that the Yujing of that time was full of the warmth of human life."

Cao Ci revealed a smile, still remaining silent.

In the distance, multiple streaks of light flew over and landed in front of them.

Meng Haoran's expression was serene.

He had often heard in the past that only those with abundant virtue could ascend to become gods, because the origin was held in the hands of the gods, and to obtain the origin, one must pass a test.

Gods, after all, bear heavy responsibilities.

The human heart is complex.

Most people, when possessing the power to destroy the world, would likely find it difficult to maintain their original intent. To be able to use half for good deeds and only half to satisfy oneself would already be enough to call someone a normal person. It is very difficult to let someone who could have acted wantonly in the world and enjoyed the treatment of a true god endure endless loneliness, and in that loneliness, diminish their lifespan until they die.

Cao Ci was clearly not a person of abundant virtue.

What kind of person was he?

Meng Haoran could not make a judgment either.

The human heart is complex.

No person can be described by a word, a string of words, or a paragraph. Even an entire article is not enough.

Meng Haoran had read many files on "tigers."

What is very interesting is that these major corrupt officials who shocked the nation were often not bad people at the beginning. Those who aimed for corruption and bribery from the start were not qualified to sit in such high positions. On the contrary, looking through the resumes of these major corrupt officials, one could often find many highlights.

Upright and unyielding, speaking out for justice.

Leading from the front, charging into the first line of danger.

They were slowly corroded.

Even for Cao Ci, Meng Haoran had once seen his deeds in history books.

Back when the flames of war were everywhere and Yuanzhou had fallen, he, having just entered the Eighth Stage and with his realm not yet stabilized, entered Yuanzhou alone. After fourteen days of bloody battle, he finally recaptured it, and his Indestructible True Body had also nearly been annihilated there.

The human heart is complex and fickle.

It cannot be explained in a sentence or two.

Looking at it just from this moment—

Cao Ci was not a saint; he wanted to become a god, he happened to have the ability to do so, and now he had found the method to become a god; no one could persuade him not to do it.

Meng Haoran sighed long in his heart.

Lingzhou, Yuding Mountain.

Chen Shu woke up in the courtyard; the air was cool and moist, unknown mountain birds were calling outside, and a white cat lay beside his pillow.

He changed his clothes and did a simple wash.

The Ultrasonic Teeth Cleaning Technique had performed a great service.

When he walked out of the bathroom, the white cat was already awake, squatting on the bed and yawning, then it meowed at him.

"Woof-meow~~"

"What's wrong?"

"Woof~~"

The white cat turned its head to look out the window.

"Want to go home?"

Chen Shu shook his head: "No, no, you have to stay here with me until school starts. Well, actually, you don't have to wait until school starts; once the rapeseed flowers at the foot of the mountain bloom, I'll hire a flying car driver to go pick them up. Before that, you just stay here properly and keep me company to relieve my boredom."

"Awoo!?"

"What do you mean? Is it not good that I brought you to the Spirit Sect?" Chen Shu lay back on the bed, staring eye-to-eye with it. "This is the Spirit Sect, one of the places in the world with the most abundant natural Qi. It's a huge help to you spirit cats. Those monsters that undergo natural Transformation all do so in places like this. You can come to a place like this without spending a cent, you should just be happy about it."

"Awoooo!"

"Stop whining. You're a pet, born to relieve my boredom; just accept this reality."

"Woof woof!"

"Stay put. If you undergo Transformation into a little cat-girl sooner, you can get rid of your pet status." Chen Shu said, picking it up. "Come, let me let you experience the joy of a human Cultivator: the Ultrasonic Teeth Cleaning Technique."

"Woof-meow..."

The white cat's face was written all over with resistance.

About five minutes later.

Chen Shu pushed the door open and walked out of the courtyard, with the white cat following behind him with a strange expression. In the early morning, the man and the cat walked toward the dining hall.

Breakfast at Yuding Mountain was quite rich, with basically all common types of breakfast available, though it was different every day. Chen Shu held Taozi and chose for a while, taking a steamer of small steamed buns and two eggs, picking up a little shredded chicken with cold dressing and broccoli, and adding a cup of soy milk.

The man and the cat sat opposite each other.

Chen Shu took out Taozi's special disposable small plate and began to divide the food.

He gave it one small steamed bun.

He shared a bit of shredded chicken with it and gave it one piece of broccoli.

He poured a symbolic tiny bit of soy milk for it.

Chen Shu did not eat egg yolks.

He gave the egg yolk to it as well.

This little thing had a very strange personality; it didn't have anything it loved to eat, nor anything it didn't like, but it had to eat the same as humans. If you gave it special treatment, it would feel like you were abusing it or ostracizing it. Even if you were eating snail rice noodles, if you shared a little with it, it would force itself to eat it despite the disgust.

While eating, Chen Shu played with his Mobile Phone for a while.

He opened the short video app.

The first item was news—

On the evening of the seventh day of the first lunar month, local time, our military assisted the Puluo military in wiping out the Yolv Zong. It is reported that the Yolv Zong was the largest sect in that country...

Chen Shu grinned; the group leader's military merit increased by one.

He swiped to the next one—

The Most Beautiful Sword Immortal on the Expressway: On the last day of the Spring Festival holiday, the return peak caused a major traffic jam on the Jing-Sword Expressway. Multiple drivers filmed a beautiful woman riding a motorcycle without protective gear facing the congestion. In the next step, she actually stored the motorcycle into a Space Artifact and then departed via Sword Flight...

Isn't this Zhang Suannai?

Chen Shu stared at the screen.

It seemed to be filmed by a Mobile Phone.

Perhaps some lecher wanted to film a motorcycle beauty, or perhaps some fellow biker wanted to secretly film it and post it online to criticize this kind of illegal riding behavior, but they accidentally filmed Zhang Suannai's high-definition "showing off" footage, and it hit the trending list.

The likes on this post alone had already reached over a million.

"Tsk tsk."

Looking at it this way, Zhang Suannai's appearance was truly impressive.

Tall and hot figure, wearing little fabric, long legs, a small waist, braided hair, abdominal muscles, Sword Flight...

No wonder it was so popular.

Chen Shu looked at the comments.

Everyone was basically exclaiming over the beauty and strength of the woman in the video, and also expressing envy for this kind of behavior. At the same time, only one night had passed, and someone had already found Zhang Suannai's real identity and short video account, leaving a portal below.

Upon learning that Zhang Suannai was still in college, the comment section became even livelier.

This person's short video ID was also Zhang Yu Xiaowanzi.

"Cough! Pfft!"

Chen Shu couldn't help but click in.

Having known Zhang Suannai for over two years, this was actually the first time he had clicked into her short video account.

Good heavens, she probably gained over a million followers in one night.

Looking at the videos below—

About twenty or so.

To summarize: a collection of a brain-dead girl's campus life, a collection of a narcissist's middle-school-syndrome selfies, and scenes of a "ghost fire" girl's illegal driving.

Chen Shu twitched the corner of his mouth and backed out again.

Ning Zhichen: @Yujing Traffic Police @Jianzhou Traffic Police

The next one—

Late last night, residents in many parts of Jianzhou filmed white Sword Light cutting through the night sky, appearing to start from Jianbei and flying in a straight line toward Yujing. Some members of the public in Jianbei stated in interviews that they indeed saw shocking Sword Light rising into the sky from outside the city that night, crossing Jianbei and flying toward the distance. What can be confirmed for now is that Jianbei has not lifted its no-fly policy, and local military and police have not yet responded to this.

Jianbei is the seat of the Imperial Family...

Chen Shu pondered, not feeling much Surprise, just habitually glancing at the comment section to see what everyone was discussing, before scrolling to the next post.

This time, his expression froze instantly.

This was another news item—

At 18:59 on the seventh day of the first lunar month, local time, our military had just finished the battle to exterminate Yolv Zong when it was attacked by an unknown Ninth Stage Cultivator. Aside from one of our officers who had just finished the battle and was resting going missing, this attack caused no other casualties. The possibility that this attacker came from Yolv Zong has now been ruled out.

There were some blurry images of the process.

At the end, the missing officer's photo, name, and other personal information were attached, but it did not state that they were a member of the Imperial Family.