The fake prince was exposed at the beginning, and I took office as emperor on the spot

Chapter 248 Everywhere (Two-in-One)

With the entire Hai Kingdom under her control, Gu Fangchen has no rush to do anything she truly desires.

Moreover, he had just enjoyed a sumptuous feast before coming here, so he didn't have many thoughts at the moment. Furthermore, in front of Prajna Lotus Moon, he still wanted to maintain some semblance of dignity as a father.

—Although it almost completely collapsed not long ago, it's not to the point of giving up entirely.

He just wanted to tease the serious-looking Sunaga, to see that expression on her face...

The saintess who refuses to be humiliated, like the righteous heroine, the aloof fairy, the spoiled princess, the cult witch, and the wolf girl of the grasslands, is an indispensable part of the story...

I transmigrated here just to do this.jpg
Even though Gu Fangchen already understood that he had not transmigrated, it did not stop him from staying true to his original aspirations.

Upon hearing this, Sunaga's first reaction was disbelief. She looked at Gu Fangchen warily, suspecting that this Central Plains person might be trying to give her some hope, then toying with her feelings for his own amusement.

But Gu Fangchen really just left her there, looked around at the [conch shell] golden patterns, reached out and stroked them for a while, then glanced at her:
"What are you still standing there for? Don't you want your people anymore?"

Sunaga then came to her senses, bit her lower lip, and said in a daze:

"You...you really only want me to check the information about you in the [Snail Book]?"

Gu Fangchen raised an eyebrow and asked in return:
"Do you think there's anything else? You can tell me, and I wouldn't mind working on it together."

Seeing his expression, Sunaga knew that she had not misunderstood him.

Rather, this person deliberately pulled this unexpected turn of events; he really did want to tease him, but he had already finished teasing him.

This guy just wanted to admire his own expression from just now...

It was indeed terrible, but it wasn't quite what she had imagined.

Sunaga felt a sense of relief, though she didn't know how to describe the feeling.

As the holy maiden of the Merfolk, she possessed noble blood and was exceptionally beautiful, naturally attracting countless admirers. Everyone treated her with utmost respect and awe. Yet, these outsiders from the Central Plains, who could seemingly take anything from her, appeared to disregard her entirely.

He treated her like a toy, making her feel ashamed, angry, and with a hint of barely perceptible resentment.

"Nothing else... I'll look it up for you."

Sunaga pursed her lips and said coldly.

Then, she turned her head, raised her hands towards the [Snail Book], and closed her eyes.

The golden patterns on the conch shell scroll rapidly floated and moved, converging at the feet of the two people to form a large spiral array.

The massive causal threads wrapped around Gu Fangchen also emerged one by one, extending from his body into the boundless void.

To explore the information within the "Snail Book," you don't need a name or birth date; all you need is the causal line.

Now that Gu Fangchen herself is here, the cause-and-effect relationship is naturally there, and we can just follow it.

Gu Fangchen reached out and wrapped her arms around Su Najia's waist from behind. Her movements were gentle, but her hands were icy cold as she pressed them against Su Najia's back.

He said calmly:

"Don't try to do anything unnecessary, otherwise the 'Dragon Trapping Formation' won't show you the same mercy as I have."

He did say one thing that wasn't a lie: he has always preferred voluntary participation and would never force anyone.

But that doesn't mean he wouldn't do it.

Gu Fangchen's attitude depends on how the other party treats her.

Gu Lianxian, though not inherently bad, has been brainwashed by Gu Yuye for so many years with the intention of killing him, so he will not show any mercy.

They were determined to make Gu Lianxian suffer greatly, and then brainwash her until she trembled at the mere thought of him before they would stop.

Neither in the original game storyline nor now has Su Naga done anything to Gu Fangchen, or rather, she didn't have a chance to do anything before Gu Fangchen got her under her thumb.

Gu Fangchen naturally wouldn't do anything too outrageous to her.

But now that the two sides are on different sides, if she harbors resentment and harbors malicious intentions, then things might change...

Sunaga stiffened, took a deep breath, and could only whisper:
"I understand……"

Gu Fangchen waited quietly for a whole day and night.

Sunaga started out calm and composed, but gradually became serious and even looked unwell. Cold sweat broke out on her forehead and back, and her body began to sway.

The hand that Gu Fangchen had been keeping a close watch on from behind had changed from a threat to a support.

She was only able to barely withstand the enormous mental strain thanks to the spiritual power supplied by Gu Fangchen!
This [Snail Book] and the true dragon beneath the Dragon Soul Sea are both ancient relics. Before the appearance of the Witch Clan or Merfolk, this thing should belong to the Dragon Clan.

The [Snail Book] should also be a magical artifact that only a true dragon can use.

The dragon blood on the merfolk is enough for them to use, but not enough to master.

Sunaga was the oldest of the first generation of merfolk, with the highest concentration of dragon blood in her body, thus she was able to withstand the burden caused by reading the [Snail Book].

Therefore, she did not find it difficult to dig into the past of a person from the Central Plains.

Because a person's past must have an end.

Moreover, as soon as Gu Fangchen appeared, she sensed that Gu Fangchen's cultivation level was between the fourth and third ranks.

Such cultivation level would have been considered "weak" in the eyes of Sunaga in the past.

Although it's unclear how he managed to make a second-rank expert obey his orders and silently activate the "Dragon Trapping Formation," given his cultivation level, it's certain that his past shouldn't be too difficult to investigate.

When Sunaga first started searching for the causal link of the person beside her in the [Snail Book], it was indeed very easy.

Gu Fangchen, the fake heir of the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion, was involved in the switch plot nineteen years ago.

But what's strange is that the causal line should have stopped here, but Sunaga felt it was still extending.

Looking towards the past, and to certain points in time, the tides within the [Snail Book] have not ceased; they continue to rise and fall, carrying her to even more distant places.

The first thing Sunaga discovered was a cause and effect from five hundred years ago, through which she understood the relationship between Gu Fangchen and the second-rank woman behind him.

But it is different from the Prajna Lotus Moon.

Prajna Lotus Moon believed that Gu Fangchen was the former squad leader who had joined "Tan Yuan" and was reborn as Gu Fangchen.

But Sunaga could see that after the centurion died, he vanished like a bubble.

If Gu Fangchen is a reincarnation, his causal line should be continuous, stretching from five hundred years ago to the present.

But that's not actually the case. The cause and effect of those twenty years is not a line, but a point.

That point, just like that, stands alone in the long river of time.

From this point on, Sunaga truly realized that something was wrong.

She suddenly realized why Gu Fangchen had asked her to check her information... How could a person be completely unaware of their own origins?
But Gu Fangchen's past is very strange and fragmented.

Later, Sunaga discovered the connection between Qingman's Khan "Heavenly Punishment" Sule and Gu Fangchen, and thus she understood why Gu Fangchen had come on behalf of Qingman.

Even Sunaga began to have doubts. Given this strange situation, could Gu Fangchen really be the "god" descended from Qingman?
She continued to listen to the sound of the tides, searching for information about Gu Fangchen.

"Have it!"

Sunaga ventured deep into the ocean of tides and finally grasped another deeply hidden thread of cause and effect.

That was in Huangtian City, when Master Juehui bid farewell to Gu Fangchen. For some reason, to outsiders, the cause and effect of that moment seemed to have been erased, becoming blurred and indistinct.

But the Conch Book records everything; even though people cannot see it clearly, the tides on the Conch Book can record everything.

"...Sixteen years ago, I was entrusted by the Queen to suppress the 'Heart Poison' for the Crown Prince. At that time, I wanted to take a drop of the Crown Prince's heart blood and a wisp of his spirit."

"...The prince's heart's blood and soul suddenly vanished."

They've disappeared?
Who took it?

Sunaga kept her eyes tightly closed, beads of sweat dripping from her forehead, but she seemed oblivious to it, completely absorbed in the surging flow of information, unable to extricate herself.

The blood in one's heart is the essence, and the spirit in one's soul is the spirit.

Heart's blood is the first drop of blood produced when a person's body is born. In some secret arts, this drop of heart's blood can even be used to reshape the body.

That is, the supernatural power of rebirth through a drop of blood.

Taking away the seven souls and seven spirits is equivalent to taking away all of a person's emotions. The remaining three souls are nothing more than instinct and a little bit of acquired consciousness.

In terms of mental development, he is at most equivalent to a seven or eight-year-old child, almost no different from an animal. He will become whatever environment he grows up in.

The fake heir of the Prince of Zhenbei's mansion was therefore willful and reckless, even earning him the reputation of being so wicked as to be rotten to the core.

But where did these two things go?
From where will they return?

With boundless doubts in her heart, Sunaga sank into the crashing tides.

Lines of ethereal yet solidified red cause and effect intertwined and weaved among the waves surrounding her…

She searched through them almost obliviously, her brows furrowed, veins bulging on her forehead, and the golden scales reappeared.

Following that faint line, the tide guided her to see a pair of hands holding that thread of cause and effect.

Those hands were holding a baby in their arms.

Ahead, the rain was pouring down. A magnificent carriage was parked by the roadside, almost falling apart. Several cultivators were still fighting a huge evil spirit in the distance.

Inside the carriage, the cries of a baby rang out. The coachman, who emerged from the bushes carrying a baby in his own hands, looked at the midwife's back, gritted his teeth, and made up his mind.

"Crack!"

Just as they were about to step forward, a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky.

The light illuminated the tall figure standing silently by the roadside, startling the coachman. His pupils constricted, and he fell to the ground, accidentally dropping and killing the child in his arms.

The child's head hit the ground, blood flowed everywhere, and he fell silent in an instant.

The coachman froze, his mind blank, before he was horrified to see the figure getting closer and closer, almost losing control of his facial expression.

"The Way...the Way..."

"Go ahead and complete your mission."

Those hands handed the baby to the disheveled coachman.

Behind him, the midwife had silently collapsed, the baby in her arms crying loudly.

The coachman swallowed hard, took the baby, walked over, and dazedly switched the two babies.

By the time he came to his senses, the cultivators who had been dealing with the evil spirits had returned, and the figure had vanished.

The heavy rain poured down, engulfing everything between heaven and earth.

Those hands then rested on young Gu Fangchen's shoulders.

Gu Fangchen looked up and asked curiously:
"Who are you? Why are you in the Prince's mansion?"

"Ah……"

The man smiled, a hint of nostalgia in his eyes:
"My name is Shigu."

"I'm afraid Gu Yuye will spoil you, so I'll take you to a good place."

The child blinked immediately, and asked in confusion:
"What a good place?"

Shigu looked towards the distant sky and slowly said:
"That place has no fixed shape; whatever you want it to be, that's what it will be."

"It could be the past, or it could be the future."

"Through thousands of years, generations, and endless evolution, there will be a world completely different from this one, a world that belongs only to you."

"At that time, you will be able to decide for yourself whether what you see is an illusion or reality."

"And you will come to me again, and I will see in your eyes what that world has become."

"Therefore...we will decide the winner of this debate."

After he finished speaking, he reached out and tapped Gu Fangchen's forehead. Two dots, one red and one white, floated out and were collected in his palm.

Then, Shi Gu raised his head, a half-smile on his face:

"Once you've seen enough, tell him all of this."

……

Sunaga suddenly opened her eyes, coughed up a mouthful of blood, and gasped for breath.

Her legs went weak and she almost knelt on the ground, but fortunately Gu Fangchen was behind her and immediately lifted her up.

Gu Fangchen's expression turned serious, and she immediately said:
"What's wrong? What did you see?"

Upon hearing this, Sunaga snapped out of her daze and looked at Gu Fangchen with a fearful expression.

She said with difficulty:

“I saw someone who took away your childhood blood and spirit… saying he would take you to a good place.”

She described everything she had seen.

After listening, Gu Fangchen remained silent for a long time, took a deep breath, and then exhaled slowly.

Therefore, he must indeed be a descendant of the "Master of Hengchang Dao"...

The exchange back then was also orchestrated by "Master Hengchang".

Gu Fangchen reached out to help Su Najia up, but the latter suddenly trembled and looked at him in horror.

Gu Fangchen suddenly realized that her fear seemed to be not only about the scenes she saw in the [Snail Book], but also about... herself?
He was startled.

I'm probably not that scary, am I?

But then Sunaga murmured in a daze:
"I saw it... within the tides, the causal threads concerning you are not undetectable, but rather—"

“Everywhere!”

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

P.S.: This is a first post, later revisions. This volume is almost finished. After I finish writing it, I'll start posting some short bonus chapters in the group as a treat~
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