Tian Yuan War Chronicles: The Path of Artifacts to Ascension – Chapter 23

Ch 23: Seven Years Later

“Arrived!”

Lin Lan, Lin Yu, and Hua Kong all became a little excited. Seven years! They finally returned!

“Alright! Do what you need to do! There are still ten days or so left in the journey!” Old Ancestor Lin Lian reminded them.

“Okay! Old Ancestor!” Although the three were excited, they still calmed down and went to do their own things.

After the Flying Boat flew high in the sky for about ten days, it gradually lowered its altitude, and the outline of a giant city appeared in sight.

“Divine Capital!” Lin Yu saw the giant city where he had lived for more than ten years while changing the tea for Old Ancestor Lin Lian.

At this time, the Flying Boat was cutting through the dawn of the morning, flying towards the Imperial City, and hovering in the air above Emperor Lin Yan of the Great Zhou’s Imperial Bedroom.

“Old Ancestor is here,” the alarmed Lin Yan ran out of the palace and shouted.

“What are you shouting about! What kind of decorum is this!” Lin Lian opened the hatch and snorted coldly.

“Xiao Yu! Xiao Lan!” Lin Yan saw the two people beside Old Ancestor Lin Lian. He put down his majesty as an emperor and shed tears.

“Father!” The two fell from mid-air and knelt before Lin Yan.

“Good! Good! You’re all back!” Lin Yan trembled as he helped the two up.

“Xiao Lan! I’ll go back first! I’ll come back to pick you up after the New Year!” Lin Lian broke the warm atmosphere of filial piety.

“Why doesn’t Old Ancestor stay with us!” Lin Yan tried to persuade her to stay.

“I have other things to do!” Old Ancestor Lin Lian replied indifferently.

“Then… okay!” Lin Yan was choked.

“I’m leaving! I’ll come to pick you up on the fifteenth day of the First Month next year!” After Old Ancestor Lin Lian finished speaking, she entered the cabin and manipulated the Flying Boat to disappear into the high sky.

The few people stared blankly as the Flying Boat went away, and they didn’t recover until it disappeared from sight.

“This little friend is Hua Kong?” Only then did Lin Yan notice Hua Kong behind the two of them. He looked a little familiar, but he couldn’t recognize him anymore.

“I am indeed Hua Kong,” Hua Kong replied. This time, he no longer had the urge to kneel down to Lin Yan.

“Why don’t you also live in the palace?” Lin Yan vaguely remembered that this person, like Lin Yu, was a servant of Lin Lan, but there was a difference between cultivators and mortals, so he could only treat him with courtesy.

“Father! No need! Let him go back!” Lin Lan interrupted.

“Okay!” Lin Yan was a little dazed.

“You go back! Remember to come back in time! I’ll give you this Flying Boat to use!” Lin Lan took out the sachet hanging on her waist, took out a Small Boat, and threw it to the side. The Small Boat immediately became about the size of a normal Small Boat.

It was the Flying Boat that Old Ancestor Lin Lian had made for her during the last trial at the Seven Sun Sect.

“Princess!?” Hua Kong was shocked, this was a treasure.

“The method of manipulation is in this Jade Slip! This is Spirit Stone!” Lin Lan handed over the Jade Slip Spirit Stone.

“Thank you, Princess!” Hua Kong took it and was a little excited.

“I’m going back first!” After a while, Hua Kong stood on the Flying Boat, cupped his hands to Lin Lan, Lin Yu, and Lin Yan, and manipulated the Flying Boat to rush towards the direction in his memory.

“Let’s go in!” Seeing Hua Kong disappear into the air, Lin Yan greeted.

Hua Kong flew at full speed in the high sky above the Main Road, facing the hunting wind. He only had a general direction and some vague memories, but he still arrived at the boundary of Ying Province in just one day.

For the rest of the journey, he only needed to follow the Main Road to reach Duanshan City. Hua Kong used only half a day at full speed to see the city head of Duanshan City.

Outside the city gate of Duanshan City, there were even the walls left behind by the army stationed there in the past.

Hua Kong was a little excited for a while, and after calming down, he manipulated the Flying Boat to rush towards his own small village.

Looking at the small village close at hand, Hua Kong slowly manipulated the Flying Boat to land. He could even hear the conversation in his own small courtyard.

“Da Lang, tidy up Erlang’s small house. I always feel that Erlang will be back soon.” It was Hua Kong’s Mother’s voice.

“Mother! You say this every once in a while! I’ll tidy it up when I come back at night! I’ll go to the field to take care of it first,” Hua Dalan complained.

“It’s different! I feel that Erlang is back! I can feel it!” Hua Kong’s Mother insisted.

“Oh! Mother! It’s not too late to tidy up after Little Uncle really comes back!” Sister-in-law said.

“Forget it! If you don’t tidy up, I’ll tidy it up myself!” Hua Kong’s Mother walked out of the room, holding a broom and walking towards Hua Kong’s former small house.

“Mother! Don’t tidy up! I’ll do it myself!” Hua Kong jumped off the Small Boat, put away the Small Boat, and jumped into the small courtyard.

“Mom! It’s a ghost!” Hua Kong jumped in from outside the courtyard gate unexpectedly, scaring Sister-in-law.

“Er… Erlang! Mother! It’s Erlang! Erlang is back!” Elder Brother was the first to react, and shouted with a crying voice.

“Oh! Erlang! It’s really Erlang! My Erlang is back! My Erlang is back! Erlang!

You’re finally back… Mother misses you so much! Erlang…” Hua Kong’s Mother was stunned, and after a while, she reacted and rushed over crying.

This movement alarmed Hua Laodie, who was chatting idly at the neighbor’s house, and rushed back in three steps.

“Is it Erlang? Erlang! Erlang is really back!” Hua Laodie cried with joy. The family just huddled together and cried.

A brat and a little girl suddenly emerged from behind the courtyard, looking at everything in the courtyard in confusion.

“What’s wrong, Mother?” The two children walked up to their Mother, a little puzzled.

“Da Lang! Your Little Uncle is back!” Sister-in-law wiped away her tears and explained.

“Little Uncle! Is it the Little Uncle who went to be a Eunuch for the Princess?” The little boy then asked.

“Don’t talk nonsense!” As soon as Sister-in-law heard this, she quickly pulled the two little brats into the house.

“What?” As soon as Hua Kong heard this, his emotions were forcibly interrupted, and he stopped crying.

“The villagers are just spreading rumors out of boredom. They don’t understand,” Elder Brother explained.

“…” Hua Kong really didn’t expect that he had become a Eunuch in front of his fellow villagers.

“Second Elder Sister got married!” Only then did Hua Kong notice that Second Elder Sister was not here.

“You got married a year after you left, and married Zhao Ning’s Elder Brother!” Elder Brother said.

“Zhao An?” Hua Kong vaguely remembered that Zhao Ning’s Elder Brother’s name was this.

“His name is Zhao An!” Hua Laodie replied.

“Your Second Elder Sister should be here soon after receiving the news!” Hua Kong’s Mother said.

Sure enough, not long after, Second Elder Sister ran over with a little boy.

“Erlang! You’re finally back! Mother and I miss you so much,” Second Elder Sister grabbed Hua Kong’s hand and cried as soon as she entered the door.

“Second Elder Sister!” Hua Kong didn’t say much, and let Second Elder Sister cry for a while.

After a while, not only the neighbors, but most of the people in the village came to see Hua Kong, the person who “became a Eunuch for the Princess.” The house was crowded inside and out, and the courtyard walls were covered with people.

When it was time for dinner, the family couldn’t cook at home, so Hua Kong had no choice but to take his family into Duanshan City and find a restaurant to have dinner.

The family drove back in a Donkey Cart. When they arrived in front of the house, the people who came to watch the excitement finally dispersed, and they breathed a sigh of relief before entering the courtyard gate.

“Erlang! I’ll tidy up your small house,” Elder Brother then remembered that the room had not been tidied up yet.

“No need! I can just clean it up myself. I went to serve tea and water for people. I didn’t go to be a Master for people,” Hua Kong said helplessly.

“In the end! You’re also a person who has seen the world,” Elder Brother sighed.

During dinner, the family asked what the Imperial Palace was like, and Hua Kong didn’t know how to answer his family.

He couldn’t say that he lived in a mountain nest as a Taoist Cultivator, so he added some details to some of the scenes he saw in the Story Book, which naturally made the family admire him.

What Hua Kong didn’t expect was that the commotion he caused when he came back was not small. Not only did people from nearby villages run to see him, the “Eunuch,”

Even the County Magistrate in Duanshan City came. When he learned that he was not a Eunuch, the villagers returned disappointed.

The County Magistrate chatted with him for a while, and after learning that he was indeed just a servant of the Princess, he chatted for a while and then went back.

After a few days, he changed from the “Eunuch” in the villagers’ mouths to the “cook” who cooked for the Princess. After Hua Kong learned about it, he felt that it was also appropriate, although the person who cooked was Lin Yu.

Hua Kong had nothing to do these days, and Sister-in-law didn’t nag him to help in the fields. He originally wanted to help, but his family didn’t let him.

He also went to a few of his childhood friends’ homes for a stroll. They were already married and had children, and they were a little estranged. After chatting for a while, there was really nothing to say, so Hua Kong said goodbye and came back.

Hua Kong wanted to cultivate for a while, but the Spiritual Energy in this place was thin, which was really a bit difficult, but it was better than being idle.

The next day, Hua Kong wanted to go to the forest to try his Bird Shooting Tube to see if he could hunt something for his family to improve their meals.

He didn’t want to disturb the peace of the small village, so he honestly walked to the forest in the Duanshan Mountain Range.

Not far away, he found a small wooden hut next to the small road he used to walk on. A Woman was sweeping and cleaning, and a half-grown boy was sitting in a wooden basin in front of the door.

“Sister-in-law, whose house is this?” Hua Kong asked in confusion.

“Little Brother, this is Tao Da’s house,” the Woman said with a foreign accent.

“Tao Da? Sister-in-law is not a local, right! There doesn’t seem to be anyone named Tao in the local villages!” Hua Kong thought for a while.

“Yes! My man and I both escaped from other places!” The Woman explained.

“Escaped?” Hua Kong was puzzled.

“My man escaped from his hometown after causing trouble. I escaped from my hometown after a disaster,” the Woman replied.

“Woman, who are you talking to?” At this time, a voice came from behind the house.

“A Little Brother is here!” The Woman responded.

“Little Brother?… Oh! It’s you! Did you really go to be a Eunuch for that Princess?” The man walked from behind the house and shouted when he saw Hua Kong.

“It’s you!” Hua Kong was stunned and remembered who this person was ━ the Old Beggar, but he looked quite young after cleaning up.

“It’s me! It’s me! Did you really become a Eunuch?” This guy was relentless.

“No! Just a cook!” Hua Kong said casually.

“Cook? What kind of dishes can you cook in this remote place?” This guy didn’t believe it.

“Believe it or not!” Hua Kong turned around to leave.

“Do you want to come in and sit down?” He tried to persuade him to stay.

“No! I’m going to hunt something to improve our meals!” Hua Kong said.

“That’s good! That’s good!” He wanted to ask something about the Divine Capital, but after thinking about it, Hua Kong must not be living among the common people, so he probably couldn’t ask anything.

“I’m leaving,” Hua Kong waved his hand and entered the forest along the small road.