The Empress’s Gigolo

Seeing these two words, Ren Baqian felt a sense of misery pervading his heart.

The material of the clothes covering the bleached bones of the figure in front of them wasn’t identifiable. The figure’s hair was scattered. The dried up skin adhered to the bones of the individual who was in a sitting posture.

Although the identity of this skeleton was unknown, from this tomb in the passageway made of white jade and the winged snake guard, it could be deduced that his rank wasn’t low.

In the war against the Wan Tribe, the human race was defeated. The remaining 100,000 people ended up being driven to this desolate land.

The owner of this skeleton was one of them. After crossing the Sixty Thousand Mountains, he perished here and left these two words “Go Home” before he died.

In an instant, more than three million words, which was enough for a long novel, flowed into his brain.

This person might have been a leader or an outstanding warrior who was seriously injured in the war against the Wan Tribe and had dragged himself to lead the human race across the Sixty Thousand Mountains. He couldn’t hold on here and left this tomb and those two words to signify his intense desire to go home.

Such a tragic tale might be made into a blockbuster movie.

Subconsciously, Ren Baqian would label this place a tomb.

Leaving such a structure deep underground and with two skeletons here, it could only be considered a tomb.

“Senior, excuse me!” Ren Baqian cupped his hands toward the skeleton. “If there’s an opportunity, we will definitely return to that place and send Senior home.”

It was rare to see Ren Baqian behaving so respectfully.

The empress and Tong Zhenye also felt the same and cupped their hands to pay their respects.

Ren Baqian carefully tried to retrieve the jade scroll from under the skeleton. Although he was extremely careful, he touched a finger and like the winged snake, the bones fell to the ground as scattered dust.

Until now, nobody knew when the human race had been exiled here.

However, Ren Baqian felt that he should be able to get some information from this tomb.

He wiped the dust off of the jade scroll and proceeded to read it.

It was written from right to left, but Ren Baqian was used to reading from left to right. As a result, he read it this way until he reached the second to last sentence.

“The clothes aren’t packed, I have just remembered that…”

This change was too drastic and almost caused Ren Baqian to choke.

Originally full of grief, it was all in vain.

The last two sentences were joined as: “I have just remembered that the clothes aren’t packed. Go home…”

Ren Baqian felt like a bloody husky.

This unknown top level expert was too down-to-earth!

What was this? He was still thinking about going home to pack.

Ren Baqian rubbed his head and read the scroll from beginning to end.

“It’s lamentable that our people have been decimated, driven like livestock thousands of miles away, shedding blood and tears… My comrades are all buried elsewhere. Although I do not have long to live, I’m sad and hope my descendants will return to my homeland… Sitting and reminiscing vividly, I have just remembered that I haven’t packed my clothes…”

There were about 300 words and the contents were about the same as what Ren Baqian had speculated. The human race was driven here. This person was seriously injured and died soon after. He left a tomb behind and hoped his descendants would return to his homeland one day.

In the end, he sat here waiting for his death, reminiscing and thinking about packing his clothes while wanting to go home… Ren Baqian guessed that there should be some more words that followed.

“Go home… but unable to.”

This was the full script.

It didn’t provide many useful facts. It talked about their arduous journey and didn’t mention anything about the Wan Tribe. The expert’s feelings were poured into this roughly 300 word text.

When Ren Baqian scanned the surrounding area, there seemed to be something behind the skeleton. Unexpectedly, there were some books made of animal hide as well as another jade scroll.

“Your Majesty, there are some more things here.” Ren Baqian picked up the books and the jade scroll.

There were four books that were fragile, but they didn’t turn into dust after all these years and could still be salvaged.

Upon opening the jade scroll, the empress found that it didn’t mention the Wan Tribe or the land that everyone wanted to know about. It basically recorded some personal narratives.

This person was named Teng Jinzhi and was a member of the Qingyang Sect. There were some entries about his deeds written in the jade scroll, and it sounded more like a biography.

From these sources, the circumstances of that era could be established.

For example, it was documented that there were five emperors who coexisted at that time. He had met three of them and fought under the command of two of them.

At that time, the human race occupied ten regions, seven of which he had traveled to.

It was reported that there were 3,000 clans at that time.

Generally speaking, this jade scroll was a biography left as a chronicle of his life in this world.

Although it wasn’t clearly stated, it could be inferred that he was somebody significant.

At the end of the records, it said, “There were 3,000 sects in the past, but now, not even one remains. I leave behind [Qingyang Execution]. Although I’m dead, the Qingyang Sect is eternal.”

It seemed that the four books were manuals for the so-called [Qingyang Execution]. His sect was either called the Qingyang Sect or the Qingyang Clan.

After storing the two jade scrolls and four books, the three of them looked at the platform, but didn’t see anything valuable. All that remained were the bones. There might be something on the skeleton, but they didn’t want to damage the bones.

After being sealed up for so long and then being subjected to ventilation, it was already a miracle that the skeleton hadn’t completely disintegrated. If it was touched, it might instantly turn to dust.

As he was about to leave, Ren Baqian coincidentally raised his head and suddenly stopped while crying out in surprise.

“What is it?” The empress turned to look at him and followed his gaze to the ceiling. The light from the torch illuminated some carvings above them.

“This looks like a map,” Ren Baqian said after careful examination. “Your Majesty, could this be the map of that land?”

If the map outside was that of the Sixty Thousand Mountains, then the possibility of the map inside being that of their homeland was high.

“We will get people to copy it later!” the empress said softly.

After seeing the two jade scrolls, the empress was feeling somber and wanted to leave.

After they went out, Tong Zhenye asked, “Your Majesty do you want to inform the rest of the officials?”

“Xin Zhe, notify the two elders, the six ministers, and the General-in-Chief Who Supports the Nation to come here.” The empress then added, “They need to be informed.”

The two jade scrolls from the secret chamber which described the yearning to return to their homeland must be shown to the top officials. This was to let them know about the past and about what would happen in the future.

In particular, the tragic war from that past era needed to be clearly understood by them.

Sooner or later, the human race would return home!