Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 531 Return to Hometown
When everyone gradually woke up, they found themselves on the island, no longer on the ship.

"Did we encounter a shipwreck?" Fa Xiu asked, rubbing the large bump on her head.

“It’s a million times more terrifying than a shipwreck. If I’m not mistaken, we just experienced time travel,” Ren Yuan said in a deep voice.

"Wang Zhi met the immortals?" Chen Qingzhi was the second to wake up after Ren Yuan. Although he had lost his divine power, his body was still that of a god.

He said to Ren Yuan, "Years ago, your grandfather told me a story about a woodcutter named Wang Zhi during the Jin Dynasty. While chopping wood on the mountain, he saw two boys playing chess on a large rock by a stream, so he watched. One of the boys gave him something that looked like a date pit, which he put in his mouth and stopped feeling hungry. When the game ended, the boy asked him why he hadn't left yet. Only then did Wang Zhi get up, only to find that the wooden handle of his axe had rotted away. When he returned to the village, he learned that several decades had passed, and all his contemporaries were gone. Later, people called that mountain Rotten Axe Handle Mountain."

“This matter is also recorded in the Zhilin.” Zu Chongzhi continued, “The chess game on Rotten Axe Mountain was actually a contest between two gods. The collision of their divine powers created a time vortex. The time vortex is like a torrent in the river of time. Once you stray into it, you will be stuck in the outside world for decades.”

"Is it really that incredible?" Chen Baxian exclaimed in astonishment, "The emperor actually has that kind of ability?"

"Huan Wen's son, Huan Xuan, was the reincarnation of Zhulong. After becoming a god, when he opened his eyes it was daytime, and when he closed them it was nighttime; his breath was winter, and his exhalation was summer; he could control the alternation of day and night and the changing of the four seasons." — Zu Chongzhi
"He was unaware of the existence of the Ancestral Dragon's Curse. After becoming a god, he actually declared himself emperor, only to be burned by fire and defeated by Liu Yu... Of course, Liu Yu was also unaware of the curse and was later also cursed."

"By the time of Yuanjia, Liu Yilong had learned the truth and dared not absorb the divine core left by Huan Xuan. He transformed it into the divine artifact, the Treasure Mirror of Tracing Light, to protect Taicheng."

"Yes." As Xiao Yan's former confidant, Chen Qingzhi naturally knew the secrets of the palace very well.

"Our dynasty still uses the Mirror of Time to protect the capital, but it requires enormous energy to enter the river of time," he said in a deep voice. "So it has never been used since the founding of the dynasty. I never expected that this time, His Majesty would actually use the energy of the Jinling Grand Array to activate the artifact."

"The question is, can we still go back?" Yang Zhong asked anxiously.

These guys are all carefree, but he still has Ku Tao in the past.

"I don't know." Chen Qingzhi shook his head apologetically. "I've never used it before, not even the Emperor knows."

"Sigh..." Yang Zhong immediately squatted down and started rubbing his hair.

"Don't panic, kid. He says he doesn't know, not that he can't do it," Zu Chongzhi said calmly. "No matter how difficult the problem is, you have to figure out the approach and try to solve it. Maybe you'll find a way."

“That’s right.” Ren Yuan pulled Yang Zhong up from the ground and said, “Let’s figure out what time it is first, and then try to find the Treasure Mirror of Time Reversal.”

"Okay." Yang Zhong nodded, then perked up and said, "Alright, let's go."

“You guys go ahead, we men will stay here.” Zu Chongzhi pointed to the wreckage of the Chinese Shenzhou that Ren Yuan had pulled ashore and said, “The most important thing is to fix this thing as soon as possible.”

“Yes, we’ll still need it to get back.” Everyone agreed, so they split into two groups. The Zu family, along with Xiao Heizi, stayed behind to repair the boat. Ayao and Faxiu were in charge of guarding the area. Chen Qingzhi, who had difficulty moving around, also stayed behind to avoid slowing everyone down.

Ren Yuan and the other two flew into the air, preparing to choose a direction to investigate. Yang Zhong looked at the vast expanse of water and murmured, "Where...are we?"

Chen Baxian gazed at the hazy outline of the islands in the distance, slapped his thigh and said, "This is Taihu Lake! I know it all too well! We were just on Xishan Island, next to which is Wu County, and across the lake is..." He pointed, "...my hometown, Changxing."

“Then let’s go to your hometown and see how long Xiao Yan has been sending us off,” Ren Yuan said in a deep voice.

"He must be bragging. How could he possibly send someone to the future?" Chen Baxian looked at the familiar scenery and shook his head, saying, "This place is exactly the same as when I left. I can't see any changes at all."

"We'll find out if we go into the city and ask," Ren Yuan said, then led the two across Taihu Lake and landed outside Changxing County.

This is also where he and Chen Baxian first met. From a distance, it seems unchanged, but Ren Yuan always feels that something is missing.

"It's so quiet." Chen Baxian also noticed something was wrong and quickly quickened his pace to the market outside the city gate.

The place remained bustling with people, yet almost devoid of noise. Pedestrians walked slowly along the streets, their wooden clogs making no sound as they trod across the cobblestones. Everyone wore plain linen clothes, the folds hanging naturally, neither gleaming nor torn. It was as if their clothes and bodies had become one, needing no attention, and no one else caring.

The market was overflowing with goods, and vegetables and fruits were piled up like mountains, their colors bright and vibrant, yet no one was buying them. The stall owners neither called out their wares nor seemed to be in a hurry; they simply cleared away the rotten and spoiled goods, then sat quietly in front of their stalls, waiting for someone destined to patronize them.

The porcelain shop was filled with a dazzling array of pieces, their delicate textures still gleaming in the room. These were pieces once reserved for royalty and nobility, but now they were available to ordinary people. Customers entered the shop, glanced at them calmly, neither praising nor ignoring them, and then left without a second thought.

Inside the blacksmith's shop, the furnace roared, and the hammer struck the felt at a uniform pace, each strike sending sparks flying in the exact same direction. The blacksmith's face was calm, neither focused nor slack, as if the act of forging iron was an eternal, frozen moment.

Children gathered at the street corner, holding pebbles in their hands, but neither playing with them nor discarding them; old people leaned against the door frame, gazing blankly into the distance, neither hoping nor reminiscing.

There is no hustle and bustle of trading here, no noisy voices, only the faint chanting of Buddhist hymns carried on the wind, emanating from the city's temples.

The common people are like straw dogs in the world, experiencing neither joy nor sorrow. All their actions are simply in accordance with the instincts of nature, like the growth of grass and trees, and the rolling and unfolding of clouds. They neither demand nor resist, existing quietly in this world.

~~
Chen Baxian saw many familiar faces, both men and women, but they looked much older than he remembered, and he was hesitant to recognize them.

He thought that since his appearance hadn't changed much, they would recognize him more easily, but no one spoke to him the whole way; all the pedestrians treated him like he wasn't there.

But the word "introverted" was not in Chen Baxian's dictionary. When no one paid attention to him, he took the initiative and led Ren Yuan and A Yao into a roadside restaurant, the same one where he had welcomed Ren Yuan and A Yao back then.

The atmosphere in the restaurant's main hall was also quite eerie. The diners at the tables held their bowls and chopsticks, picking up food and opening their mouths in unison, their movements perfectly synchronized. They were all expressionless and unhurried, neither swallowing hastily nor chewing slowly. It was as if they were completing a fixed routine, rather than enjoying the food or filling their stomachs.

(End of this chapter)