550 The Last Witch (1/2)

The Ancient Realm.

The feeling he got arriving at this place was very different from the last.

The world's defences were sturdy and had solidified into a tough wall that rejected all foreign visitors.

'The dream masters might be resourceful but they will find it extremely difficult to gain access to this world!'

Fang Yuan's willpower manifested into frost flowers that floated downwards in the air. His thoughts ran wild.

He had long been accepted by this world, which was akin to having a green card that allowed him to come and go without resistance.

'The Ancient One probably wouldn't be in the best state right now...of course, his gamble involved the abandonment of Da Qian in exchange for the Ancient Realm's acceptance.'

'The other dream masters could only hope to achieve this by paying a most painful price!'

'The last time I was here, there was a big war fought between the Xia Tribe and the Jiuli Tribe. Both sides suffered huge losses - the Xia capital sank while the Jiuli Tribe was vanquished...I wonder what the world is like today. Do the tribes of Fang Mountain still exist?'

The speed of cogitation was alarming.

In a blink, Fang Yuan's consciousness had fallen instinctively into another body.

”My head hurts!”

Fang Yuan flipped himself over and climbed out from a pile of corpses. He shook his head.

His last memory was that of numerous flags against the sky and blood and steel on the battlefield.

”Jie...is that the name of the body I've taken over?”

As the last bit of his consciousness adapted to this body, Fang Yuan stood up with a slightly heavy heart.

Bodies lay on the ground for as far as the eye could see and the ground ran red with blood. The setting sun cast shadows of a broken war chariot decorated by a half-burnt flag. The symbol on it was barely visible—a black swallow!

”Cuckoo! Cuckoo!”

Countless of crows circled overhead, delighted by the ghastly feast beneath them.

Dogs and jackals convened on the ground, their eyes darting about. They were uninvited guests.

”This war isn't over yet!”

Fang Yuan picked up a spear and looked at the bronze blade as he drew his own conclusions.

In this era, bronze was an essential resource in production and war. No matter how powerful the faction was, they would not be as wasteful as to leave their weapons lying around, not even the broken ones!

Unless...the war had not ended and this was only one of the battlefields!

”Bronze? Fine iron?”

Fang Yuan could see bronze swords and iron swords lying about. He shook his head.

”Seems like not much time had passed since the last time. At least iron hasn't made bronze obsolete yet!”

Regardless of whose body he had taken over, Fang Yuan had no intention of staying on. He took a cloak off one of the corpses and pulled it over himself. After Fang Yuan had retrieved a fine iron sword lying inside the chariot for himself, he quickly left the battlefield.

Fang Yuan's tall and muscular physique, coupled with the fact that he was armed, deterred the teeth-baring jackals from messing with him. Besides, there was more than enough food lying around.

”We have to find a place to settle down...also...although this body was only knocked unconscious, it has many little wounds that require medical attention!”

Fang Yuan rubbed his temples.

At this moment, pieces of memories, as well as some dregs of feelings, assailed his senses. He had no desire to fight on.

”The most important thing is to figure out the context of the war and which side this body belonged to. Otherwise, I might die without knowing anything…”

Fang Yuan walked away from the battlefield with a smile playing on his lips.

”Will intelligent species, no matter where and when, never be free from the shadows of war?”

...

This battlefield was located in the middle of a valley. As Fang Yuan walked deeper into the mountains, he felt much more at ease.

Although the area was teeming with venomous snakes and ferocious animals, there was no way a conventional army would be able to advance so deep in. His safety was largely assured.

As for small-scale forces, Fang Yuan would be able to dispatch them with no trouble.

”Splash!”

Fang Yuan had come across a gurgling stream and began to wipe the blood stains off himself. He was thinking more clearly now and worked to organise the memories of this body that he was in.

”Jie--a citizen of Shangyi, was part of a force tasked to invade Dongyi…”

Fang Yuan had accessed the most important information regarding his body's identity.

”Shang Dynasty? According to Jie's memories, Shangyi was a large city. Its founders were of godly blood. Later, Shang managed to defeat the last leader of Xia and claimed supremacy over all the tribes and cities in the land. Thus, it became the Shang Dynasty…”

Fang Yuan looked slightly confused.

”The Shang came after the Xia? Followed by a revolution led by King Wu? Wait a minute, among the 800 cities, there seemed to be one called Zhou…”

Fang Yuan could feel the weight of history bearing down on him.

”I wonder where the Ancient One ended up. He won't recover his powers so quickly and would be planning his next move while concealed in the shadows.”

Fang Yuan became solemn as he thought about his target.

”He has no idea that I'd be following so close behind. This is the best chance to catch him unaware!”

The Ancient One had abandoned his old physical form so as to keep his life. He had thrown himself completely into the Ancient Realm and would never return.

He had only done it because he was confident that Fang Yuan would not dare to match his bet.

After all, even if Fang Yuan had acquired the armillary sphere as well as the coordinates of the Ancient Realm, he had to inject the entirety of his true aura like the Ancient One into the realm in order to avoid facing rejection.

Any rational dream master would never do that!

Hence, the Ancient One thought that he had lots of time to scheme behind the scenes.