Young Noble Be Monster Slaying

Chu Liang's promise to the former dynasty's chancellor was to be fulfilled at this place.

The elderly chancellor had known that he would not be able to retain his consciousness and that he had no hope of restoring the former dynasty's kingdom. However, the young emperor had been asleep for hundreds of years. It was still possible for him to restore the kingdom, but even then, it would be far in the indefinite future.

Consequently, the elderly chancellor had Chu Liang promise to find a good place for the young emperor to settle down.

Initially, Chu Liang was concerned it would be a difficult task. The young emperor was a young child, so it would not be hard to arrange a place for him to stay, but the problem was that he had a special identity. If he were to stir up trouble in the future when he was older, Chu Liang could very easily be implicated.

The elderly chancellor assured Chu Liang that staying in a frozen state for such an extended period would cause the young emperor to lose all his memories from before his slumber. As long as his true identity was kept a secret, he would just be an ordinary six-year-old child.

It was only after that explanation that Chu Liang finally agreed to do it.

After all, only the two of them knew about this. As long as the young emperor didn't pursue any grand plan of restoring the former dynasty's kingdom in the future, there wouldn't be a problem with taking in an orphan.

Thus, Chu Liang and the elderly chancellor made a promise.

The elderly chancellor had informed Chu Liang of this location in that conversation. It turned out that after fleeing to the Southern Bastion Mountain and sealing the young emperor in ice, the elderly chancellor had prepared this as an escape route. He had planned to use it to safely send the young emperor out one day. And just before the dream world shattered, the elderly chancellor finally used this escape route.

Of course, there was some risk involved for Chu Liang as well.

After all, it could be seen as minor or major matter. If it's a minor matter, then he would just be taking in and caring for an orphan. If it's a major matter, he would be harboring a survivor of the former dynasty. However, the elderly chancellor had resolutely refused to assist the demons and cut off his own escape route in the process. That was indeed an admirable act.

With that in mind, Chu Liang felt that he should help the elderly chancellor this once.

Thus, he came to this place.

The jade coffin glowed softly as Chu Liang formed a seal with his hands, following the method the elderly chancellor had taught him. He slowly pressed his hands onto the coffin lid.

Swoosh.

In an instant, the light intensified, and the coffin lid slowly slid open, revealing the small figure inside.

Having been frozen for hundreds of years, the child's appearance had not changed at all. He was a little boy who looked like he had been delicately carved from jade. His small form was dressed in the loose dragon robe of an emperor, looking unnaturally mature.

His breathing was even, truly resembling someone who was simply asleep. It was just that his sleep had lasted a very long time.

Chu Liang didn't rush to wake the boy. Instead, he gently lifted the boy out of the coffin and changed him into some regular clothes.

Then Chu Liang tossed the boy's old clothes into the jade coffin and used a blaze of Divine Dragon Fire to burn them completely. The jade coffin was made of precious material, so it took quite a while to burn.

It was quite valuable, and Chu Liang's ached at having to incinerate it. Nevertheless, many people had seen the jade coffin. If he tried to sell it, it would inevitably leave risks of leading danger to them.

Perhaps he could keep it for personal use… but he was not even twenty years old yet, so there was no rush for that.

After erasing their traces from that location, Chu Liang carried the boy out of the deep pool and flew out of the Southern Bastion Mountain. He then arrived at a remote valley in the southern borderlands and tossed the young emperor onto the ground.

Chu Liang kicked him lightly twice. Seeing that the boy still wasn't waking up, Chu Liang used a bit more strength and smacked the boy twice.

Without the seal on the jade coffin, the boy finally awoke from his long slumber and slowly opened his eyes. His gaze was clear but filled with confusion.

"You're awake," Chu Liang quickly said.

"Hmm?" the little boy murmured, groggily raising his head.

It was impossible that anyone who had slept for as long as he had would wake with a clear mind.

"A demonic beast chased you, and you ended up falling off a cliff. I was the one who saved you."

"Huh?"

The boy stood up and looked around, finally starting to make sense ofthe situation.

Chu Liang asked, "Where do you live? I'll take you home."

"I..." the boy began. He thought hard, but his mind seemed blank. He muttered, "I only remember a mountain... with a large palace on it..."

Chu Liang knew where that was. It was the palace in the first level of the dream world in the Deep Pool of Dreams. The young emperor had been in that great dream for hundreds of years. Now, in his confusion, he thought of it as his home.

"Then, do you remember your name?" Chu Liang asked.

The boy spent a while trying to recall what it was, but he ultimately shook his head.

Seeing that the boy truly seemed to have no memory of his identity, Chu Liang finally relaxed.

If the boy had retained even the slightest memory of his life before his extended slumber, Chu Liang wouldn't dare to take him back to Mount Shu.

"This place is desolate and uninhabited for a hundred li; you were probably brought here by the demonic beast that was chasing you. But since you don't remember your name or where you live, how can I help you find your parents?" Chu Liang said slowly. "You seem to have good potential. Why don't you come back with me and become an immortality cultivator?"

The little boy looked at Chu Liang, hesitated for a moment, and then slowly nodded. "Okay."

Chu Liang patted the boy's head with satisfaction.

This way, Chu Liang was the only one who would know the boy's background, and there would be no trouble.

However...

Chu Liang suddenly felt a sense of familiarity with the series of actions he had just completed.

When the Discipline Master adopted my teacher back in the day, what did she say about my teacher's background? And when my teacher took me up the mountain, her excuse was pretty similar to the one I made up… Now, it's my turn to take the young emperor to Mount Shu.

It all seemed like a cycle of reincarnation.

The fact is that they all have complicated backstories. So, what about me?

Nevertheless, on second thought, it might have been a bit too difficult for his teacher to come up with an elaborate lie to fool Chu Liang's childhood self.

…

"This little thing..." Di Nufeng looked at the little boy in front of her and then cast a suspicious glance at Chu Liang. "Where did he come from?"

"He was chased by a demonic beast and fell off a cliff. He's lost all of his memories," Chu Liang said. "I found him pitiful, so I decided to bring him back to the mountain to stay for a while. If he has talent, we can keep him as a disciple. If not, we can send him down the mountain and have him settle down elsewhere."

Di Nufeng nodded. "I see."

The little boy sat on the chair, his posture perfectly straight like a pen. He gazed up timidly at this big sister.

Seeing the little boy's fair face and bright eyes, Di Nufeng couldn't help but pinch his cheeks.

She smiled and remarked, "This little thing is quite cute. Does he not have a name yet?"

"He doesn't remember his name," Chu Liang replied.

Di Nufeng laughed. "Hehe, I'm the best at coming up with names."

Chu Liang immediately smelled trouble.

"Let's call him Chu Yi[1]," Di Nufeng declared with a wave of her hand.

"Eh?"

Chu Liang considered the name for a moment and thought it was surprisingly good.

So, he asked, "Why did you choose this name, Esteemed Teacher?"

Di Nufeng gave a mysterious smile. "When I saved you back then, you were hiding from a demonic beast, lying motionlessly on the ceiling beam [2] of a house. So, I thought I'd just call you Chu Liang.

"He's currently sitting motionlessly on a chair, but calling him Chu Yi[3] doesn't sound good..."

Well, then. After more than a decade, I finally find out how my name came about.

Chu Liang tilted his head downward and asked the little boy, "Do you like this name?"

The little boy's expression turned serious, and he solemnly cupped his hands. "Thank you very much for giving me a name, Big Sis."

"You can't call her Big Sis," Chu Liang quickly advised. "You should call her Peak Master for now. If you become a disciple of Silver Sword Peak later, you should call her Esteemed Teacher."

"Hey." Di Nufeng waved her hand and rubbed the boy's cheeks. "What's the harm? Just let him call me that from now on; I like it."

Chu Liang could only sigh in silence.

Is my seniority going to drop every time someone joins Silver Sword Peak?

"Also, you came back just in time… The peaks are about to submit next month's expenses. Since you've just broken through, we'll need to make some changes... " Di Nufeng turned around, took out a bill, and began reading it aloud. "The pill allowance for fourth-realm disciples is five hundred sword coins each... For the fifth realm, it increases to eight hundred, and the talisman allowance goes from two hundred to three hundred sword coins per person... Altogether, there are eight items. Calculate how much more we can claim."

By the time Di Nufeng was done speaking, Chu Liang had already completed the mental calculation.

He was about to speak when a small voice answered from beside him first. "It's one thousand two hundred and sixty."

1. This “Yi” is 亦. It means “also, too, likewise” etc. ☜

2. The character for this is the same character that's used for Chu Liang's given name, Liang. ☜

3. This “Yi” is 椅. It's from 椅子, which means chair. In Chinese, it's pronounced differently from the name she decided on. ☜

GLTD Alternate Universe's Thoughts

Translator: LD