Chapter 553
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Chapter 553: Turbulent Times
Great Wei, Cloud Mountain
When Lin Jiang returned, he brought back some gold and silver, as well as a set of porcelain items. He thought it wouldn’t be moral to keep borrowing money all the time, as he didn’t want to become wealthy only to have others borrow money from him in the future. This is how the cycle of life works.
So, the next time he woke up, he would have money to use. Perhaps those porcelain items could even be sold as antiques for some extra cash.
"Sleeping for a thousand years is not a big deal. Let’s roll the dice – one point equals a hundred years. Let’s see how long this time’s slumber will be."
Lin Jiang took out five dice made of pure gold and casually rolled them. Even if he rolled a ‘leopard’ (a specific dice value), it would only be three thousand years of sleep.
"Eighteen points, eighteen hundred years. So, it will be eighteen hundred years this time."
Lin Jiang glanced at the dice and saw that he had rolled eighteen points, meaning he would sleep for eighteen hundred years this time. He would wake up in the year 3800 on the Xia calendar.
After getting ready, Lin Jiang fell asleep soundly, as if he was just having a normal sleep.
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"Time passes, things change."
In a certain place in the Yunzhong Mountain Range, Lin Jiang stood among ruins. Last time he woke up here, he traded with a hunter for new clothes. But this time, the village had been abandoned for so long that even the ruins were barely visible, let alone any living souls.
Eighteen hundred years have been enough to change the world.
Unfortunately, Lin Jiang still didn’t feel the recovery of spiritual energy, which greatly disappointed him.
Sometimes, Lin Jiang even doubted whether the heavens were still awake, or if they had died and the spiritual energy could never be revived.
Lin Jiang didn’t harm any wildlife anymore and headed down the mountain. Most of the villages in his memory were gone, and even the rivers had changed course.
After finally finding a village, Lin Jiang took two sets of clothes and left a piece of silver for the homeowners.
Lin Jiang found the main road but discovered it was very damaged, not repaired for a long time. There were very few travelers on the road. Lin Jiang noticed their pale faces, not as healthy as before. Most of them looked sick, some even had swollen faces.
Lin Jiang avoided the crowd and found a small city. After blending in, he went to a bookstore as usual and bought some history books to read.
Through the history books, Lin Jiang learned that the Great Wei Dynasty had fallen. The Emperor died suddenly without appointing a successor, leading to a power struggle. The new Emperor relied on the nobles to control the court, causing rebellion and chaos, eventually leading to the fall of the Wei Kingdom.
The new dynasty was called Yan, lasting for 680 years. In the later years of the Yan Dynasty, it split into more than thirty factions, leading to a long period of civil war. At the same time, the neighboring states of He and Bing unified, taking over some of Yan’s territories.
Under external pressure, the states unified again, forming the Chen Kingdom. However, years of warfare had decimated the population, leading to hard times. The sound of roosters crowing disappeared from the Chen Kingdom.
The powerful Liao Kingdom in the north began invading the weakened Chen Kingdom. Despite their struggles, Chen Kingdom could not withstand Liao Kingdom’s attacks.
Chen Kingdom sought help from the Immortal Kingdom, but they were refused. The Immortal Kingdom had faced changes over a thousand years, with different rulers and experiences of seeking help and rejection from other kingdoms.
Other southern kingdoms were weakened by internal conflicts or wars, unable to resist the threats from the rising Liao Kingdom. Facing the Demon Human threat, both Liao and Chen Kingdoms became allies.
Without outside help, Chen Kingdom had to submit to Liao Kingdom, giving up land and resources. Over a hundred years of subjugation, Chen Kingdom seized the opportunity during Liao Kingdom’s turmoil to reclaim their lost territories and force Liao Kingdom to submit to them.
The Chen Kingdom had been around for six hundred years. As it started to decline, people thought there would be a change of rulers. But unexpectedly, the Demon Humans invaded from the south again, breaking through the defenses of the Immortal Kingdom at Qing River, completely destroying it.
After the Immortal Kingdom’s defenses at Qing River were breached, they managed to hold on for three more years. During that time, they sought help from Chen Kingdom and the Zhou Dynasty in the east. However, the Zhou Dynasty had just undergone a change of rulers and was facing hardships, so they refused to help.
Although the Chen Kingdom wanted to help, it was already in decline. Before they could act, the Immortal Kingdom fell, leading to the downfall of Chen Kingdom as well.
The capital of Chen Kingdom was built near the former He State, not far from the borders, aiming to defend against the once powerful Liao Kingdom. The court at that time believed that the Immortal Kingdom was too large for the Demon Humans to conquer quickly. But to their surprise, the Demon Humans sent elite forces and directly destroyed the capital of Chen Kingdom, causing chaos and destruction.
The direct royal lineage of Chen Kingdom was no more, but many royal family members were scattered. These powerless princes were controlled by local warlords, each claiming to be the rightful heir of Chen Kingdom, creating further turmoil.
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"Is this a script of chaos like the Five Barbarians or one of the Southern Ming?"
After reading the historical records, Lin Jiang was stunned. He regretted why he had slept for eighteen hundred years. If he had woken up a hundred years earlier, maybe he could have prevented this from happening.
"It’s too late for regrets. The most important thing now is to understand the situation, then completely defeat the Demon Humans. Otherwise, with the current chaos among warlords, if the Demon Humans invade again from the south, they might wipe out the whole Huaxia Language."
Lin Jiang took a deep breath and without hesitation, he decided to head out again.
Half a month later, Lin Jiang arrived at the city of Zhong State. Zhong State used to be the capital of Wei Kingdom, the most prosperous region in the world. After the fall of Wei Kingdom, Zhong State was left in ruins, but it has since been rebuilt.
After Chen Kingdom was established, several idle princes were appointed in Zhong State. The highest-ranking prince, King Chu, inherited his title but had no real power. When the capital of Chen Kingdom fell, King Chu ascended the throne and proclaimed himself Emperor of Chen Kingdom. However, everyone in Zhong State knew that this Chen Kingdom Emperor was just a puppet, and all the power lay in the hands of the influential families led by Wang Lun.
Upon arriving at Zhong State, Lin Jiang didn’t act rashly but continued to gather information. To do so, he visited several wealthy households and borrowed a large sum of money.
After three months of investigation, Lin Jiang learned many new developments, one of which was that Immortal Kingdom had not been completely destroyed and there were still people resisting.
Initially, Demon Human broke through the defenses of Immortal Kingdom from Qing River and captured the capital. However, the Great Wall Legion in the western part of Immortal Kingdom was still resisting. They held their ground by the mountains and had not been defeated by Demon Human. Another group of soldiers and horses along the Qing River were not wiped out by Demon Human in time. They moved south along the Qing River and established themselves in the swamps near the former Bing State. They were supported by the current Zhou Dynasty and Demon Human failed to eradicate them.
Another piece of information was about Demon Human. Although Demon Human was once powerful, they had a fatal flaw – the risk of childbirth for female Demon Humans was extremely high, almost reaching a one-to-one ratio, meaning one female Demon Human would die for each birth.
Initially, Demon Human solved this problem by abducting human women to bear children for them, as they didn’t consider human women to be equals.
This method had worked well for Demon Human as they expanded from the far north of North State, until they were stopped by Qing State. This blockade lasted for thousands of years, during which Demon Human could not carry out large-scale abductions of human women, putting their own survival at risk.
However, the Demon Humans also have their own civilization. They keep evolving and learning. Through evolution, they eliminate those strange-looking Demon Humans, making them more and more similar to humans, retaining only their bloodline. This way, some Demon Human Tribes can pass down their heritage intact.
On the other hand, there are also some exceptional geniuses among the Demon Humans. After conquering human territories, they no longer indiscriminately kill. They preserve craftsmen, books, and other things to learn from humans, rapidly advancing their technology, especially in medicine, surpassing Chen and Zhou. In this way, the Demon Humans completely solve their population growth issue, and their numbers grow rapidly.
"Demon Humans originally have stronger bodies than humans, and now that they are good at learning, could it be that Demon Humans are the pride of the heavens?"
After reading this information, Lin Jiang felt worried. Compared to ordinary humans, the physical advantages of regular Demon Humans are too great. Now that Demon Humans are learning extensively from humans in technology, systems, and culture, humans’ advantages have disappeared. It seems like Demon Humans are the favored race by the heavens.
"In difficulties and hardships, one can achieve greatness without kneeling. Neither I nor anyone else shall kneel."
But soon, Lin Jiang decided to continue resisting to the end. Humans are the spirits of all living beings, what are Demon Humans? Lin Jiang is the first to refuse to accept defeat.
This time around, Lin Jiang’s mission is to tell the world: don’t kneel.
