NOVEL NEXT Ch. 1
Chapter 1: The Angler of the River of Fortune
Great Zhou, Dragon-Burial Mountain Range.
The convoy that symbolized the imperial bloodline of Great Zhou, adorned with the dragon steeds of the royal family, arrived outside Zhenlong Pass, which lay nestled at the mountain gap.
“Look, Zhenlong Pass is truly magnificent.”
Hearing the hushed whispers of the attendants outside the carriage, Jiang Zhaoming’s slender fingers lifted the brocade curtain embroidered with coiling dragon patterns.
A towering fortress stood before him, its city walls built entirely from black-iron rock, over three hundred zhang tall, gleaming with a cold metallic sheen under the sunset.
On the city walls, tens of thousands of soldiers in black armor stood densely packed like an army of ants, the cold gleam of their halberds flashing in the dusk.
Yet what was even more suffocating was the endless Dragon-Burial Mountain Range behind Zhenlong Pass.
The gray-black mountains coiled like a slumbering dragon, their steep cliffs piercing the clouds, like a heavenly chasm that had existed since time immemorial.
Within Zhenlong Pass lay the boundless rivers and mountains of Great Zhou.
Beyond the pass stretched nothing but an endless desert of death.
“Anxi Prefecture…”
Jiang Zhaoming unconsciously rubbed the jade pendant at his waist.
The icy touch brought back memories of the night that changed his destiny.
It was the night of his eighteenth birthday.
He awakened to the wisdom of his past life and dreamed a “dream” that lasted twenty-seven years, six months, and three days.
In that “past life,” he was also called Jiang Zhaoming, an ordinary man from Earth, who grew up in a country called Huaxia.
From the memory of stumbling as a baby, to sprinting across the schoolyard as a boy, to becoming an outstanding firefighter…
And finally, during a mission to extinguish a fire in an old urban village, the burning beams of a collapsing house struck him down, burying him forever in the flames.
Each memory from that dream was etched vividly, so vivid that Jiang Zhaoming could no longer tell which “himself” was real.
As the 312th prince of Great Zhou, from that day onward, he seemed like a completely different person.
He no longer lived frivolously. His character grew calm and steady, and he gradually shouldered responsibility…
But all of that, with the end of the once-in-a-decade Investiture Ceremony, would soon scatter like smoke in the wind.
Because, at the age of twenty-one, he was about to face a tremendous trial.
The ancestral law of Great Zhou stated: every prince, upon coming of age, would be granted a fief.
Some were granted vast fiefs, while others were given small ones.
The locations also differed.
The most fortunate could be enfeoffed with an entire prefecture, while the least fortunate might only hold a single county.
Whichever prince managed his fief the best would inherit the throne as the next Emperor of Great Zhou.
As for the others, at best their fiefs would be reclaimed.
At worst, they might be sent to the executioner’s block for one reason or another.
And during the Investiture Ceremony one month ago, Jiang Zhaoming awakened his golden cheat ability.
Guided mysteriously by it, he chose his fief.
That fief was none other than the largest, most remote, and most dangerous territory in Great Zhou—Anxi Prefecture.
Because Anxi Prefecture lay beyond the Dragon-Burial Mountain Range, and since Great Zhou’s primary attention was on its wars with the northern Great Jin,
Anxi Prefecture had fallen into chaos.
Already, two of his elder brothers had lost their lives in that endless desert.
Jiang Zhaoming thought of this as he drew from his waist a gilt token engraved with dragon patterns.
Channeling his blood and qi into it, the token shone with dazzling golden light.
As the light curtain flickered, lines of golden words appeared:
【Dragon Ranking of Great Zhou
1. Jiang Zhaoqian, Age: 297, Title: Prince of Yan Prefecture, Imperial Destiny Value: 7924 points (Last month 7865 points, for merits in defeating Great Jin’s army +59 points)
2. Jiang Zhaoding, Age: 369, Title: Prince of Huai River Prefecture, Imperial Destiny Value: 7764 points (Last month 7768 points, for mishandling Huai River flood control -4 points)
3. Jiang Zhaohua, Age: 401, Title: Prince of Xuanhai Prefecture, Imperial Destiny Value: 7762 points (Last month 7714 points, for slaying 50,000 pirates of Great Ying Sea +48 points)
……
210. Jiang Zhaohua, Age: 57, Title: Prince of Yulin County, Imperial Destiny Value: 1 point (Last month 1 point, no merit nor fault)
211. Jiang Zhaoming, Age: 21, Title: Prince of Anxi Prefecture, Imperial Destiny Value: 0 points
……
234. Jiang Zhaoxuan, Age: 74, Title: Prince of Pinghua Commandery, Imperial Destiny Value: -729 points (Last month -602 points, for losing 3 cities to Great Jin’s army -127 points)】
The jade tablet in Jiang Zhaoming’s hand, displaying the Dragon Ranking of Great Zhou, was possessed by every imperial prince.
It recorded each prince’s political achievements and inheritance ranking changes every month.
Among them, the Imperial Destiny Value was the most crucial factor determining succession.
Good governance of a fief, suppressing rebellions, expanding territories—these all increased Imperial Destiny Value.
Failures or misconduct would reduce it.
This meant that if the princes wanted to rise in ranking, they had to achieve real accomplishments.
But if one only governed a single county, especially one deep in Great Zhou’s heartland, decades—or even centuries—might pass without gaining even a few points.
Whereas holding a commandery or even a prefecture offered countless opportunities to gain Imperial Destiny Value—particularly in the border regions.
In a sense, Jiang Zhaoming’s grant of Anxi Prefecture was a stroke of fortune, for opportunities abounded there.
The premise, however, was that he needed the ability to seize them.
Otherwise, by next month, he might well sink to the bottom of the list.
He still remembered how the previous brother enfeoffed with Anxi Prefecture had, within three years, accumulated -6214 points of Imperial Destiny Value—and lost his life there.
While he was still deep in thought, his convoy passed through Zhenlong Pass and entered Anxi Prefecture.
Without the protection of the pass’s great formation, raging winds and sand surged like furious beasts, blotting out the sky and sun.
Gravel battered the carriage with dense crackling sounds, as if countless tiny arrows were striking the iron plates.
Only after the convoy activated its formation, enveloping them in a pale-blue light screen, did the suffocating howls gradually fade.
“Your Highness, we have entered Anxi Prefecture.” A deep voice came from outside.
Lifting the curtain, Jiang Zhaoming saw through the sandstorm a tall figure standing by the formation. His dark robe flapped fiercely in the wind, and on his back hung an ancient crescent-blade halberd.
“Uncle, we agreed—when it’s just us, call me A-Ming.” Jiang Zhaoming smiled helplessly.
Qin Wei’s taut expression eased slightly as he replied in a low voice, “A-Ming, your uncle will stay by your side in Anxi Prefecture. You need not worry.”
Warmth surged in Jiang Zhaoming’s heart.
In this unfamiliar world, to have even one close kin at his side was a great comfort.
“The sand is fierce outside. Uncle, why not come into the carriage?”
Qin Wei shook his head, his gaze sharp as a hawk’s as it swept across the surroundings.
“No. The rebels have infiltrated all corners of Anxi Prefecture. Even the passes are not absolutely safe. Formations can block the sand, but not necessarily the assassins lurking in the dark.”
Before his words had finished, his figure flickered and vanished into the sandstorm, leaving only: “Rest easy. I will patrol the perimeter.”
Jiang Zhaoming gazed at the direction where he vanished and sighed deeply.
Qin Wei was a cultivator of the Divine Ability Realm, capable of protecting him fully. But the predicament before him was far more than just assassination.
“To break the deadlock, I must…”
Jiang Zhaoming thought of his golden cheat ability.
After a moment of deep contemplation, he closed his eyes, sinking his consciousness into the depths of his mind.
……
When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in the carriage, but beneath a vast starry sky.
Beneath his feet stretched an endless river, its waters shimmering with countless lights, as though billions of stars flowed within.
Jiang Zhaoming stood upon an ancient wooden boat.
The vessel was steady as solid ground, though the surrounding emptiness was terrifyingly vast.
Though this was not his first time entering this mysterious space, each time he saw the starry heavens and boundless river, his heart trembled with awe.
Drawing in a deep breath, he walked to the side of the deck, where a fishing rod lay.
The rod was pitch-black, its shaft entwined with golden patterns. It felt icy to the touch, yet throbbed faintly like a heartbeat.
The moment he grasped it, a light screen spread open before him, with streams of information flowing like water:
【As Prince of Anxi, you obtained Purple Fate *1】
【With Qin Peng’s protection, you obtained Blue Fate *1】
……
【Remaining Fate: Purple *1, Blue *2, Green *9】
With a thought, Jiang Zhaoming summoned a strand of Green Fate.
It condensed in his palm, transforming into a crystal-clear green caterpillar.
He hooked it gently onto the fishhook, then walked to the boat’s edge, peering down into the river below.
The waters were clear yet bottomless.
Countless fish swam within, each radiating glimmers of different colors.
Tiny white shrimps, green carp, massive blue catfish—and even, at times, a glimpse of a colossal purple shadow gliding slowly in the deep.
Through his recent attempts, Jiang Zhaoming had come to understand the rules of this eerie river.
He could use strands of Fate as bait to fish for the creatures within.
Different fish required bait of corresponding colors.
With a flick of his wrist, the hook traced an elegant arc through the air and plunged into the waters.