Ch 99: Zhong Ba, Think More About Whatever You Encounter

Inside the study.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying sat together, still somewhat lost, not even looking much at his own wife, his gaze uncontrollably drifting towards Chu Mo in the distance.

Li Shanchang was equally dazed, as if in a dream. In Li Shanchang’s eyes, Zhu Yuanzhang was good in every way: his ability, his courage, his learning ability, his willpower… all were top-notch! It could be said that Zhu Yuanzhang was born with everything needed to be a founder.

This was the hidden dragon he had recognized!

That was why he had volunteered himself at all costs.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang used to have a fatal flaw in his eyes, and that was his status… after all, he was a farmer’s son! It was a natural defect when it came to winning over those literati from aristocratic families…

But now you’re telling him that Zhu Yuanzhang is actually from a sage family?

That he is the biological son of a sage?!!

This was truly outrageous!

As the biological son of a sage, his status alone, even while the sage was alive, would be comparable to that of a prince! This was too terrifying and astonishing!

“Father, so, you back then…” Zhu Yuanzhang still couldn’t control himself, and to be honest, if Li Shanchang hadn’t shouted out the name of the sage, he would have suspected that someone was impersonating his father? However, a sage clearly had no reason to do such a thing.

“Back then, I didn’t die, I was buried by you! But you didn’t even burn me back then… well, although if you had burned me, I probably would have truly awakened a few years earlier.” Chu Mo raised his eyebrows, truly encountering a life-or-death crisis might have caused his memories to recover sooner.

He also sighed a bit, perhaps if that had happened, the current situation would be completely different.

“…So Father, are you the reincarnation of which sage in history?” Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a long time before finally managing to speak. This was the only reasonable explanation he could think of…

Li Shanchang’s pupils constricted. The Zhu surname, a sage… could it be that great Neo-Confucian scholar… Zhu Xi?!

“I can roughly guess what you’re thinking, but it’s definitely not what you think! We’ll talk more about it later.” Chu Mo said casually.

Zhu Yuanzhang’s heart fluttered, and he reacted, nodding, realizing that he too had lost his composure. He shouldn’t be discussing this kind of thing in front of Li Shanchang.

“Father, we also found your biological grandson and grandson-in-law here, one named Zhu Wenzheng, and the other surnamed Li.” Zhu Yuanzhang said in a low voice, “Wait a moment, shall I bring them to meet you?”

Chu Mo didn’t speak, he just looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with a strange expression, his brows suddenly furrowing. After pondering for a moment, he stood up and said, “If you have some free time, accompany me for a walk outside!”

“Okay.” Zhu Yuanzhang nodded sharply.

Li Shanchang’s eyes twitched, looking longingly at the backs of the two. He actually wanted to hear how a sage taught his son.

◈◈◈

On the corridor.

Zhu Yuanzhang carefully communicated with his father, his heart gradually calming down. Many things, even habitual movements, were only known to him. If there were no accidents, this person should really be his father. Although he had confirmed it many times…

In a daze, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly heard his father ask, “What’s the matter with the divine aura on your body?”

“Huh… ah?!” Zhu Yuanzhang’s expression stiffened, and then he realized that Chu Mo’s gaze was sharper than ever before, with a piercing divine light flashing within.

“You sensed it? I see!” Zhu Yuanzhang smiled wryly, organizing his words, his gaze becoming deep, “Let me first tell you about my past experiences… Back then, you died, my mother, my siblings also starved to death… I was forced to become a monk…”

“That is, after obtaining Guo Zixing’s permission, I left Haozhou with my brothers, but at that time, I was very confused.” Memories surfaced in Zhu Yuanzhang’s eyes, “Then, one night I dreamed of a God… He claimed to be the Red Emperor.”

Chu Mo listened silently, a few ripples stirring in his heart. The Red Emperor, one of the Five Emperors on par with the Black Emperor? As expected, it was as he had expected… He had thought before that now that the Dragon Veins of Heaven and Earth had not been severed, perhaps the Five Emperors could descend to the mortal realm and display their divine powers.

Come to think of it, Chu Mo mused, if he remembered correctly, the Ming Dynasty did indeed revere the virtue of fire?

“I didn’t have any reason to refuse, so, it seems that there were some changes… From that day on, my cultivation breakthroughs were like divine assistance, and now I am already in the Transcendent First Realm.” Zhu Yuanzhang smiled wryly, not hiding it in front of his father, the aura of transcendence flashing for a moment.

“An investment from a God?” Chu Mo sighed softly, his gaze somewhat deep.

“Father, based on my guess, if there are no accidents, the others in this world who can contend for the throne… should also have the favor of the Gods from the Upper Realm.” Zhu Yuanzhang said with a serious expression.

Based on the existing information, and the information that the Red Emperor had injected into his mind in his dream, he boldly guessed that Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng, Liu Futong in the north, and perhaps even… the Yuan imperial court, might have encountered situations similar to his.

Chu Mo’s expression didn’t change, he wasn’t surprised, because he had already thought of it.

“What kind of world do you plan to build in the future? After overthrowing the Demonic Yuan, will it still be the same as before?” A faint purple mist suddenly enveloped Chu Mo, blocking external connections out of thin air.

At the same time, Chu Mo suddenly raised his hand and pointed it towards Zhu Yuanzhang’s chest, making him subconsciously want to counterattack, but then he remembered the identity of the person in front of him, and forcibly restrained the desire to act.

This finger made Zhu Yuanzhang’s eyes slowly widen, feeling the divinity of the Red Emperor that was originally active, at this moment, it seemed to gradually quiet down, until it finally disappeared.

Zhu Yuanzhang’s expression changed uncertainly, carefully looking at Chu Mo. Seeing him nod calmly, he reacted, his heart shaking. This… this was the method of a sage? Even the backup plans of the Gods could be suppressed…

In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang bit his lip, made up his mind, and spoke his true thoughts.

“Father, I am not convinced! Why, why should we humans be wantonly devoured by those Gods, by those Demons, and be treated as food? Are we so lowly? Why…”

As he spoke, Zhu Yuanzhang’s tone became agitated, his eyes filled with resentment.

◈◈◈

“Even if I have divinity, even if it is the divinity of one of the Five Emperors, I am still not convinced! I am indeed very grateful to the Red Emperor, but that is on the condition that he doesn’t want to ride on our heads and treat us humans as slaves and livestock…”

“Sooner or later, I will completely smash this world. The Demons must be killed, and these Gods must all be smashed, all of them must die! Let the Gods roll back to their own world!!”

After venting his emotions, Zhu Yuanzhang shuddered, touching his chest with some fear, feeling that the divinity still had no reaction, he breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled wryly, “It’s only to you… In fact, I only have this thought, I dare not say it to anyone else.”

“Li Shanchang, they all think that offering human children to the Gods is a very normal and very reasonable thing. I think that these literati and officials must be so generous because they are not sending their own children.”

As he spoke, Zhu Yuanzhang gritted his teeth again.

Chu Mo was silent, he remembered a thousand years later, when there were indeed no Gods in the world. Was severing the Dragon Veins of Heaven and Earth for this reason? Even if it meant cutting off the path for cultivators, even if it meant paying a heavy price, even if his own lifespan was drastically reduced…

If that was the case, you really did it.

Chu Mo smiled silently, and said softly, “Then I can tell you more things now, Zhong Ba.”

“You asked me before if I was the reincarnation of an ancient sage, I am not… To be precise, I should be a sage from the future.”

“Ah?!” Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded, his mind blank, even picking at his ears.

“I fell into a coma and woke up a thousand years later!” Chu Mo only mentioned a few things vaguely. He said this not to convince the current Zhu Yuanzhang. Because even if he didn’t say it, Zhu Yuanzhang would only be confused, and wouldn’t keep asking.

If his father didn’t want to say, how could he force him? Did he really think that his father’s stick couldn’t reach him?

Chu Mo said this on the one hand to give a plausible explanation to that Zhu Yuanzhang in the main world after he awakened his memories. Saying this, even if he really awakened as a Heroic Spirit again, Zhu Yuanzhang would think that awakening as the same person would be very reliable. He might even deliberately cover for Chu Mo…

Considering that Ming Taizu was involved, this would greatly reduce the pressure on Chu Mo…

On the other hand, he also wanted to see if involving future factors would add future attributes to his Heroic Spirit? For example, future vision, or special abilities to see a corner of the future!

Of course, Chu Mo didn’t specifically mention the great achievements of his Imperial Ancestor Regent in that life. He only vaguely mentioned the future. Severing the Dragon Veins of Heaven and Earth, Zhu Biao’s death, Zhu Di’s Jingnan campaign, the seven voyages to the Western Seas… the Gate-Calling Emperor… Emperor Wanli… until the final Chongzhen.

There was dead silence.

Zhu Yuanzhang’s expression was so wonderful that it was indescribable. He cried for a while, laughed for a while, was dumbfounded for a while, angry for a while, and gritted his teeth for a while.

But in the end, Zhu Yuanzhang’s face only showed relief.

“No regrets?” Chu Mo asked with interest.

“Father, aren’t you the same?” Zhu Yuanzhang’s attitude changed a lot, he shrugged, “But to be honest, I actually never thought that I could really win… That’s too early! Now I haven’t even taken Yingtian yet, and all I hold in my hands is Chuzhou… Knowing that I can really conquer the world is already making me very happy…”

“As for the Gate-Calling Emperor you mentioned, it is indeed quite shameful, but it’s too far away from me… I want to beat him, but I can’t reach him now!”

“Zhu Di… Biao hasn’t even been born yet! Thinking too far ahead. But perhaps in the future when I establish an heir, I might consider this aspect!”

In general, Zhu Yuanzhang was too young now. Not to mention being an emperor, he hadn’t even truly revealed the potential to conquer the world… Suddenly telling him so many things about the future, he was more happy than angry. Even including those anger, those magical operations of his descendants, he didn’t really feel much…

“However, if it’s true that one less person in the future is eaten, then I can be considered to have made some decent contributions.”

Chu Mo looked at him for a long time, smiled silently, and suddenly stretched out a finger, a trace of divine light flashing. Zhu Yuanzhang’s body stiffened, and a look of astonishment appeared on his face. Three sets of techniques actually appeared in his mind out of thin air.

These three techniques were naturally the God-Seizing Method, the Luck Technique, and Zhu Yuanzhang’s own technique. The Luck Technique and Zhu Yuanzhang’s technique were directly or indirectly obtained from Zhu Yuanzhang or the Ming Dynasty… After all, the Luck Technique was also seized by the Qing Dynasty from the Ming Dynasty.

The God-Seizing Method could even allow Zhu Yuanzhang to completely devour and refine the divinity of the Red Emperor within his body. Chu Mo didn’t need to think to know that this divinity of the Red Emperor might be a great help for Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the world, but in the end, it would definitely bring him great trouble…

“Father, these, these, these… My family has so many good things?!” Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed, gesticulating wildly, and directly accepted them. How could he refuse what his father gave him? Did he not understand what it meant to be given something by an elder, and not dare to refuse!

“I remember that you and Ma Xiuying seem to have a habit of adopting orphans!” Chu Mo suddenly remembered something.

“…What’s wrong?” Zhu Yuanzhang was a little uneasy.

“Those orphans, also hand them over to me to teach!” Chu Mo’s gaze became somewhat deep, “Actually, I think that making the Gods in the human world no longer harm people doesn’t necessarily require such extreme measures…”

Zhu Yuanzhang thought of the God-Seizing Method, and his heart stirred. Did his father want to?

“It’s just a rudimentary idea for now! It still depends on the specifics.” But then Chu Mo shook his head again, he looked towards the sky, and sighed faintly, “If we don’t sever the Dragon Veins of Heaven and Earth, even if I can make it so that everyone in this world can devour Gods… What the Gods in the sky think of us is still a matter that needs a lot of consideration.”

“After separating from me, don’t rashly talk about the God-Seizing Method… Don’t even try to digest the divinity of the Red Emperor in your body for a while! You must wait, you must be calm…”

Chu Mo paused, glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang who was pursing his lips and silent, “No matter what happens… Zhong Ba, you must think more.”