Bitter Realm: Have the Four Realms been united today?

Chapter 21, Second Meeting, Similar Text

Upon hearing this, Yue Tianji paused almost imperceptibly in mid-air.

He then smoothly completed the last stroke before slowly putting down the pen and looking up at Xuanming.

His gaze remained calm and profound, revealing no emotion.

"The Soul Emperor led his army north last night."

"What?" Xuanming looked up abruptly, his eyes filled with astonishment and confusion.

"The Soul Emperor's injuries haven't been healed yet, so why... is there such a rush?"

"The strategy for the Northern Expedition has already been decided." Yue Tianji's tone was calm and even, as if he were stating a perfectly natural fact.

"The Battle Hall and the Demon Cave have just suffered defeats, and the news has not yet spread. Now is the best time to launch a surprise attack and sweep across the Northern Territory. We cannot afford to miss this opportunity."

He paused briefly, his gaze sweeping over Xuanming's pale face, before continuing:

"As for the injuries, the Soul Emperor's physique is extraordinary, and he has temporarily suppressed them with his own power."

"As long as we don't encounter a powerful enemy and excessively deplete our true energy, we'll be fine for the time being."

These words, half true and half false, were like a meticulously crafted dagger wrapped in silk, precisely and gently piercing the deepest corner of Xuanming's heart, where he felt most guilty.

The boy's eyelashes trembled violently, and his lips moved as if he wanted to say something, apologize or ask a question.

But in the end, no sound came out; he simply lowered his head even further, as if an invisible weight was pressing down on his shoulders.

Silence filled the study.

After a long while, Xuanming seemed to have managed to suppress those surging emotions back into his heart and raise his head again.

His voice was slightly hoarse: "Then...Mr. Yue, did you summon me here for any other instructions?"

"Yesterday, Zhishu mentioned that you wanted to find some cultivation manuals?" Yue Tianji did not answer directly, but instead asked.

Seemingly not expecting the event to bring this up, Xuanming paused for a moment before nodding hesitantly, "...Yes."

Yue Tianji raised his hand and casually pointed to both sides.

"What is stored here are all the secret techniques and secrets of martial arts collected by Huan Chen Bu Wu. They may be useful to you. You may look through them at will."

Having said that, without waiting for Xuanming's reply, he continued to write and buried himself in his documents.

Xuanming stood there, his doubts still unresolved.

He felt that things were not so simple, but seeing that Yue Tianji was busy with official duties and had a slight look of fatigue between his brows, he did not want to disturb him.

He followed the instructions and walked toward the enormous bookshelves that reached the ceiling, his gaze immediately drawn to them.

The bookshelves lined up one after another from south to north and row after row from west to east, occupying two-thirds of the room's open space.

I don't know what material this bookshelf is made of. It feels warm and smooth to the touch, like jade, yet it exudes a calm, cool woody fragrance.

The items on the bookshelf are incredibly diverse.

There are heavy bamboo slips bound together with rope.

Some ancient books, with yellowed pages, are bound with thread.

It has a soft, glossy animal hide scroll.

There are even bone fragments and warm jade stones engraved with mysterious symbols.

Some others, like the bookshelf, were made of very peculiar materials, making it impossible to identify what they were.

Xuanming walked to the bookshelf in the northwest corner, reached down and took down the bamboo slips on the top shelf, opened them and glanced at them.

It is a cultivation technique.

They replaced the bamboo slips with a leather scroll underneath, and upon opening it, it still contained cultivation techniques.

He quickly and silently put them back in their original positions and walked south to another bookshelf.

Fire-based martial arts, metal-based martial arts, secret techniques, forbidden techniques, medical books, military books...

After an incense stick had burned, Xuanming stood in front of the last bookshelf, put the animal hide back in his hand, and looked very dejected.

Why are there no books recording history here?

"Not even travelogues or other miscellaneous books?"

Are these things too ordinary to be placed here?

There seemed to be a map on that bookshelf, but...

Xuanming looked at the bookshelves on the northeast side, his eyes filled with helplessness.

"Those bookshelves are filled with letters; they must be confidential documents from Huan Chenbuwu."

"This map, placed together with these other items, is likely a troop deployment map of Huan Chen Bu Wu."

"These are things I shouldn't be seeing."

Xuanming sighed inwardly and gave up the idea of ​​looking at the map.

"Forget it, since there are no history books, let's figure out about cultivation first."

"There were some parts of the book the policy advisor gave me yesterday that I didn't understand. Perhaps it contains more detailed information!"

Xuanming composed himself, walked to the middle of the second row of bookshelves, and began to carefully search for classics related to basic cultivation.

After a cup of tea, he took two books in his hands and walked to the table by the window on the west side.

As he passed a bookshelf, the words on the bamboo slips he had just randomly picked up from the shelf flashed through his mind.

He suddenly stopped, feeling as if he had seen those words somewhere before.

He took two steps back, took the slightly old bamboo scroll that he had initially put back from the bookshelf, and then walked to the desk.

The table was set with writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, clearly for people to study and copy.

Xuanming glanced at the wooden chair next to the table, and then very gently and slowly placed the book and bamboo slips in his hands on the table.

Then, he carefully grasped the back of the chair and, with an almost breathless slowness, silently moved the chair aside, creating a small gap.

He was afraid that making even the slightest sound would disturb the focused figure on the other side.

After sitting down, he opened the book, but his eyes kept glancing at the white figure out of the corner of his eye, clearly indicating that his mind was not on the open book.

"He kept me by his side because of my unknown origins, my extraordinary powers, and my knowledge of the Soul Emperor's hidden injuries..."

Xuanming pondered to himself and came up with a seemingly reasonable explanation.

"Yes, only by keeping it close at hand and personally overseeing it can I feel at ease."

"If it were me... I would probably do the same."

Thinking this way, he didn't feel sad about being suspected; instead, he felt a sense of "it should be this way."

He let out a soft breath, as if relieved of a doubt, and finally focused his attention on the book in his hands.

Xuanming flipped through two more pages, and looking at the words on the paper, the questions from yesterday resurfaced in his mind.

Why is the writing system in this world the same as the traditional Chinese characters used in the Dragon Kingdom?

After Mu Yunzhi left yesterday, Xuanming couldn't help but review every conversation he had with the soldiers and Mu Yunzhi in his mind, constantly verifying the feasibility of the plan to temporarily hide his strength.

Everything was going smoothly until, as he thought about it, he suddenly realized that he had overlooked an important issue.

This is a different world with gods and supernatural powers, and it has absolutely no connection to Earth.

Then the writing system in this world is probably not any of the writing systems he remembers.

In other words, he may not recognize the written language of this world and cannot understand the books in this world at all.

Upon realizing this enormous oversight, Xuanming began to feel anxious and uneasy until the soldiers brought him the books.

He opened the books as if facing certain death, but the result brought him a sense of relief.

The characters in those ancient books were the square characters of the Dragon Kingdom.