Chapter 79: The Story Begins with a Legend

In the tomb chamber.

Li Yan, using the faint light of the oil lamp, carefully studied the bottom-right corner of the letter. There, he saw the words “San He Stationery.”

“That’s strange,” Li Yan muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

“What do you mean?” Ren Ye was anxious. “You’re making me guess here—can you just speak plainly?”

Li Yan lifted the letter and softly said, “This paper is indeed mine. After negotiating with Mr. He’s people that day, I used this paper to print the contents. See, it has the ‘San He Stationery’ logo and marks I made with my pen. But the strange thing is, the content I originally printed… is not this.”

“Not this?” Ren Ye was stunned.

“Yeah,” Li Yan replied, “I made up a half-truth story. The paper originally printed about how the Old Prince Huai inserted a spy into the Court Faction, who carried a copy of ‘The Chronicles of the Thatched Cottage’ as proof.” Li Yan softly explained, “But now the content is about the Old Prince Huai receiving an imperial decree from Emperor Wu, secretly investigating the Princess’s tomb… This is completely different from the story I fabricated. The paper is the same, but the content has changed.”

Ren Ye pondered for a long time, and once again felt the terrifying nature of Li Yan. “So, the dead No. 4 took out ‘The Chronicles of the Thatched Cottage’ at the inn, was that your plan? The reason we won was because two Bell Society members were misled by this fake information and voted for No. 4?”

“Yes,” Li Yan replied calmly, without any sign of smugness. “First, create fake news to confuse the opponent, then find an opportunity to send out ‘The Chronicles of the Thatched Cottage.’ This way, whoever holds it will be targeted by Bell Society players, causing them to lose members, and I don’t have to expose myself. After the Sow Banquet, my performance earned the trust of the court players. No. 4 sent a messenger to find me, and I took the chance to send out ‘The Chronicles of the Thatched Cottage.’ No matter what challenges come next, this ‘hook’ will surely cause infighting. I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon—the first level… involves voting, and it also saved your life.”

Ren Ye blinked and gave him a thumbs-up. “Impressive, comrade!”

“A small trick, nothing too grand,” Li Yan waved his hand, acting like a worldly sage.

Ren Ye, who couldn’t stand pretentious people, furrowed his brow and asked, “Was there any accident along the way?”

“No plan is perfect,” Li Yan said as though preparing to lecture him. “We just need to ensure things develop according to our own line of thought…”

“I mean, was there any incident in the backyard of the Chief Historian’s residence?” Ren Ye stared at him. “Like, pulling someone’s pants or grabbing their thighs?”

Li Yan, upon hearing this, sneered coldly. “Ha, I’m a man. If I accidentally pulled someone’s pants, it’s no loss for me. I can only say I’m sorry…”

“Fair enough,” Ren Ye nodded slowly. “But I almost forgot to introduce our current teammate—the new Songstress. His real name is Tang Feng, he’s a man, and he has a mental illness. He described your actions that day to me… something about a ‘mighty dragon charging at a chicken.’ Sounded pretty wild.”

“?!”

Li Yan froze, his eyes wide, his face turning purple-red.

“Was that an accident?” Ren Ye asked.

“You… are your Vigil Keepers all idiots? Why would you find a male player to cross-dress when entering Star Gate?” Li Yan couldn’t believe it, his skin crawling. “I… I knew something was off! He kept pinching my… my nipples… damn it…!”

Ren Ye covered his mouth, chuckling, and teased, “You’d better treat him well from now on…”

“Enough chatting, I’m leaving.” As soon as Li Yan remembered the Songstress was a man, he felt a little unclean. “From now on, keep him away from me.”

“Wait a second.” Ren Ye tugged at his wrist. “You still haven’t explained the letter!”

Li Yan turned his head to glance at him, paused for a moment, and then replied, “From the results, it’s clear that Mr. He believed the information I gave him. Otherwise, during the voting, those two Bell Society players wouldn’t have been misled, and you wouldn’t have won. So, this letter is likely from Bell Society members who altered the content using supernatural means, intending to mislead the Vigil Keeper in return.”

“So you’re saying the content in this letter isn’t trustworthy?!” Ren Ye pressed.

“I’m just speculating. You can hold onto the letter for now, and later, when doing tasks, you can verify the authenticity of the information.” Li Yan thought for a moment, his expression becoming more serious. “You have to remember, in this tomb, you’re the leader of Prince Huai’s faction, and we’re just supporting players. So all decisions and judgments about information are up to you.”

Ren Ye looked up at him and slowly extended his hand. “Let me introduce myself. In the real world, I’m Ren Ye. I was a cop, but I ended up in prison because of some matters.”

Li Yan shook his hand. “The Star Gate world is far more complicated and exciting than you can imagine. If we manage to get out, I’ll introduce myself properly. For now… just call me Little Wolf Warrior, a pitiful person who’s been stuck in Qingliang Prefecture for many years.”

“Hello, pitiful person who locks up men.” Ren Ye nodded.

“…Tell that mental patient, if he keeps ranting about this matter, I’ll sew his mouth shut.” Li Yan warned.

“Sew it shut? How about blocking it?” Ren Ye teased.

“Get lost!” Li Yan snapped, then quickly left as if escaping.

…

After parting ways with Li Yan, Ren Ye continued to search for information and clues in the Princess’s tomb.

However, he found that the second floor of the entire Princess’s tomb had no relevant information regarding the mission. The space here was vast, and the tomb path had a certain incline, winding upwards.

There were many tomb chambers on this floor, dozens of them, large and small, but there were no extravagant burial items, nor were there the unique live burial pits typical of feudal society.

Even the sacrificial animals were replaced with stone sculptures.

Additionally, Ren Ye discovered many well-preserved prayer altars at the southern and southeastern corners of the second floor. These altars had inscriptions wishing for blessings for the people, favorable weather, and eternal stability for the mountains and rivers.

From these details, it seemed that the Eternal Peace Princess was a benevolent, broad-minded person, and in many of the tomb chambers, there were weapons and books, suggesting she was a well-rounded woman, both literary and martial.

Apart from these discoveries, Ren Ye also saw many murals in the tomb path, depicting the life story of the Eternal Peace Princess.

In these murals, one man was mentioned repeatedly—he was the same male lead the old woman at the inn had spoken about, Li Mu.

This white-robed swordsman occupied nearly half of the space in the murals.

Ren Ye felt that, in the first-level inn game, the “interesting events” between Li Mu and the Eternal Peace Princess provided a strong hint, so the information in these murals might be related to the later tasks. He silently noted down their story in his mind.

However, since the tomb chambers were too large and time was limited, he only remembered a few fragmented pieces and planned to meet up with other players later to exchange information.

…

As time passed, just as Ren Ye was about to return to the tomb entrance, he suddenly heard someone calling out, “It’s almost noon. Everyone, should we gather up and summarize the information?”

“Heh, time for the public chat?” Ren Ye thought of the script games he had played a long time ago, and a smile appeared on his lips as he turned back to head in.

A quarter of an hour later, everyone gathered again at the entrance of the second-floor tomb passage, and Ren Ye observed an interesting detail: everyone returned individually, without any groups forming.

Heh, these people are all Oscar-winning actors. During the earlier solo actions, they must have exchanged information privately, but now they all want to put on the act of being lone wolves.

Once the ten people had gathered, No. 6 spoke first: “I searched many places, but I didn’t find any task-related clues. This floor only records the Eternal Peace Princess’s life story.”

“Yes.” Li Yan nodded in agreement. “However, I believe her life story is likely strongly connected to the tasks ahead.”

“Agreed.” The Martial Artist nodded.

“Same here.” Imperial Inspector Liu raised his hand, looking foolish.

“We still have a little time left.” No. 11’s gaze automatically ignored Ren Ye as he sat cross-legged on the ground. “Since the murals are carved into the walls, anyone can view them. There’s no need to hide anything. Let’s all share what we’ve gathered. If there’s something missing, we can go back and view it together. How does that sound?”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

So, the ten people formed a small circle at the entrance of the tomb passage and, after a brief exchange, they gradually pieced together the story of the Eternal Peace Princess and Li Mu.

It was a tragic, regretful, and beautiful love story…

…

The story begins with a mythological legend.

There is a legend.

The last human emperor of the Divine Land, Emperor Xin, encountered a great disaster in his later years, with demons invading the human world, causing mountains and rivers to collapse, and the people to suffer.

Emperor Xin was enraged and declared, “I can be equal to heaven, I can live as long as all things.”

Since the heavens brought calamity upon his subjects, he would wage war against the heavens for their injustice.

Emperor Xin forged the Human Emperor Sword on the Deer Terrace Pavilion, and with the luck of the human world, he created the Human Emperor Seal.

With the sword and seal, the Human Emperor wielded the power of the divine court, leading his army to fight heaven and wage war against the gods.

After three years of battle, the divine court barely won. The demons dispersed, and peace returned to the human world.

However, Emperor Xin did not restore the old order of the mountains and rivers; he only left behind the Human Emperor Sword and the Human Emperor Seal, and with his remaining soldiers, ascended to the heavens.

It is said that beyond heaven, there is yet another heaven.

The Human Emperor left because the source of the demon disaster had not been resolved. He needed to lead his army to eradicate it and ensure eternal peace for the human world.

Countless years passed, with dynasties rising and falling, and the Divine Land had long since changed.

The time arrived in the final years of the Jing Dynasty.

The once-wise Emperor Jingling suddenly became delusional and feeble, making the corrupt Prime Minister Wang Bingquan the most powerful official, leading to rampant corruption and the tyranny of greedy officials.

In an effort to extend his life, the Emperor Jingling became obsessed with Daoism, hoping to become an immortal and live forever.

He scoured many ancient texts and hearsay and learned that the Human Emperor Seal could gather the world’s luck, granting longevity to the emperor. The Human Emperor Sword could stabilize the nation’s luck, ensuring the dynasty’s survival. Therefore, he secretly ordered Wang Bingquan to search for the sword and seal…

Five long years passed, and Wang Bingquan finally found a lead on the Human Emperor Seal.

That year, in the spring, with flowers blooming and the world filled with beauty, countless talented scholars, renowned figures, swordsmen, and martial artists gathered in the capital, all to witness the unveiling of “The Number One Sword Immortal.”

The swordsman from the southern border, Huang Zi, had been living in the capital for more than three months, boasting that he would duel Li Mu, known as the “Number One Sword of Sichuan.”

Though Li Mu had not yet arrived, his fame, as the “Number One Sword of Sichuan” and the “Number One Poet,” had already become a hot topic among the capital’s citizens.

That year, the Eternal Peace Princess turned eighteen. It had been three years since she and Li Mu had crossed paths in Qinglian Village.

The story continued, but Imperial Inspector Liu, with a confused look, commented: “Why is it always immortality at the end of power? Is it because the harem beauties lack skills, or is the national treasury empty?”

…

In Shanghai, the Old Father and Qing Ning, along with Yan Duoduo and Huang Wei, had already set off on their journey to the capital, enjoying the “free ride.”