Durin's Diary

Chapter 947 Phoenix Tour

My grandfather once said that we should trust the high-ranking officials in the court, for they were all sons of sages and possessed great wisdom.

Indeed, in just one night, Prime Minister Lin came to resign, saying that he was old and his eyesight was failing, and he really could no longer be the prime minister, and that his only child was useless.

Ha, what a legendary background! What are you, a mixed-race person with pointed ears, pretending to be old and blind for? After scolding him and finding out the reason, that's why we invited Mr. Yan to a family dinner.

The Changtang Sword Alliance is famous for its sword immortals. These powerful individuals are almost all from the army. Fighting through three passes for a hundred years is standard practice. For example, Mr. Yan fought for more than five hundred years. When he was with the old man, he once killed so many Western Region aliens that they dared not send their strongmen to challenge him outside the pass.

Because one would die for every one that came, and two would die together, these two legendary dwarf demons used their swords to slay the alien species for five hundred years.

Upon learning the reason why the emperor had invited him, Mr. Yan looked helpless: "Your Majesty, if there are any more such matters in the future, you must tell me. Otherwise, if Lin Chaofeng had been stubborn yesterday, we would have been able to have a feast in a few days."

Mr. Yan has always been like this. Starting with his great-grandfather, their diaries contained the sentence: "Yan Zhenqing is straightforward and outspoken, loyal to the land of Changtang. His descendants can trust him completely."

Hearing his complaints, his wife laughed heartily, and the old emperor also nodded with a smile: "You're right, but these things won't happen again. To be honest, I'm thinking about whether we can change everyone's race names. They keep saying things like bird demon, dwarf demon, and pointy-eared demon. It doesn't sound nice."

"Your Majesty is right. Throughout the vast land of Changtang, all people are trustworthy. When the new era arrives, there will be even less distinction between humans and demons, or between insiders and outsiders." Yan Zhenqing paused for a moment after saying this.

It was the old lady herself who spoke up: "Mr. Zhenqing is usually very talkative, why is he not saying anything today?"

"Because for the first time in all my years, I have deeply felt the footsteps of a new era. This young man, Dulin, has accomplished what even we old folks could not. Wufuzi has confirmed that Lady Genor has been killed, and the puppets are already killing each other on the four islands. The former great enemy is now no longer a threat, and the pressure on the four seas has been halved. The young people who were originally prepared to sacrifice themselves are now in high spirits. They believe that we will soon be able to reclaim the four islands." At this point, Yan Zhenqing looked at the mistress of this land: "Your Majesty, in terms of merit, he has Princess Xiangshu, and there is nothing more to reward him. But I always feel that he has made such an unparalleled contribution, and he deserves some kind of reward."

"That's for sure. I believe His Majesty will reward the child handsomely once he succeeds," his wife said with a smile.

………………

After the family banquet, the old man stood outside the palace gate, watching the old sword immortal walk out of the Meridian Gate empty-handed.

He was quite carefree. The dwarf demon Zhulong was the longest-lived being in the world. Although he had lived for over seven hundred years, compared to him, his old bones would be cremated after living for ten years and then scattered ashes for two hundred years, while Zhulong would still be alive and kicking.

At that moment, it was snowing in the capital. Watching this legend finally disappear into the snowy night, the old man sighed and returned home.

The old lady stood there with a smile—the house wasn't big, but at least it wasn't her place to clear the dishes.

“I thought you would be angry,” he said.

"Why would I be angry?" she asked with a smile.

"You, Mr. Qi Yan, are asking for a reward right off the bat. The matter isn't even over yet, and you're already making outrageous demands." After he finished speaking, he shrugged his shoulders and brushed the snow off his hat.

“Du Lin has risked his life, and you won’t even give him this small reward? What will the world think of our royal family?” The old lady sighed. “I just feel sorry for Xiang Shu. She told me that if she’s going to marry, she wants to marry Du Lin, the greatest hero in the world. When I asked her if she understood everything he was going to face, she said… “The royal family always needs someone to marry him. Since she’s already standing by his side, there’s no need for anyone else to sacrifice anything.”

At this point, the old lady fell silent: "This young man has become a god. I don't know what his future holds. I only hope that Xiangshu will have a better life, unlike our daughter Fa, who spent her whole life guarding that broken home." "Aren't there so many women in Changtang like this? Men sacrifice themselves on the battlefield, but what about women? They can't stand idly by. Madam, have you forgotten what Grand Tutor Pang did six hundred years ago when he started the artificial breeding base? Wasn't it because the debate over human nature was too big? This land needs everyone's sacrifice to maintain itself. If someone refuses, then replace them. What Grand Tutor Pang said back then is clearly recorded in our ancestors' diaries."

At this point, the old man reached out and helped his wife up, saying, "You must be exhausted from preparing all this food today. Go back to your room and rest."

"You should get some rest too. Don't stay up too late discussing national affairs with those young people; they've lived much longer than you."

“I know, but didn’t Mr. Yan say that Chang Tang is undergoing an epochal change? We must prepare for the future before the change arrives.” After saying this, he smiled and hugged his wife, then walked towards the Golden Hall amidst her words of advice.

Those young people should have been waiting for him for a long time.

The guards outside the door held an umbrella for him, and the old man nodded before stepping into the snowstorm.

He still remembers the story written in that tattered diary. Some people refused to face sacrifice and only thought about getting something for nothing. They and others led to a transformation in the atmosphere of Changtang. In the end, Grand Tutor Pang stood up, banished those people, and then placed the genes of everyone who was still willing to fight for this land into the artificial womb cluster in the artificial breeding base.

During that century, the people of Changtang were almost wiped out. It was those who refused to give up who sacrificed themselves and their descendants to preserve the foundation of Changtang.

That's why the emperor's children and commoners' children squatted in trenches together, and everyone on this land had to face the reality of death equally.

Those who were exiled also regretted their actions, but those who remained would not forgive them. So these people were quickly swallowed up by the snowfields, and their bodies are still occasionally found in the northern permafrost.

Cruel?
It was cruel, but in the face of the inheritance of civilization and the rise and fall of the nation, everyone in that era made sacrifices and paid the price.

The saying "Chang Tang will not stop operating even if anyone is missing" was put forward in that era.

Every boy in every family must be allowed to go to the battlefield on an equal footing. Only children with congenital diseases that prevent them from going to the battlefield, or youngest children in families whose older brothers and sisters have all died in battle, can be exempted from military service.

As for girls, they must marry and have children, or they will be exiled to the North.

The people of Changtang have blood debts that they and they must pay.

No one is exempt; no one is immune.

Some might ask, what will happen to future generations of children if there aren't so many places on this land that require sacrifice after the new era begins?

Well... you really underestimate the baseness and ignorance of living beings.

It doesn't matter. Changtang will not stop operating even if anyone is missing. This was true a thousand years ago, and I believe it will be true a thousand years from now.

(End of this chapter)