“Where the hell did this take me? Am I still in my own country? Who is this handsome guy? Why is his face so close… does he want to molest me?”
That was the only thought in Bai Zhao’s mind at the time.
Yes, Bai Zhao had transmigrated into an alternate world that did not belong to any historical dynasty, into the body of the newborn son of Bai Yuan, the Great Qian Prince of Zhenbei!
And his mother, Lu Xinrou, was the Princess Consort of the Prince of Zhenbei, as well as the only mistress of the Prince of Zhenbei’s estate.
Bai Muran was a modern man. Although he was an agent, he had also read novels, so he naturally knew what transmigration was. He just never expected that someone like him, a soul so stained with sin, would ever get such an opportunity.
Given a second life, he had both parents.
Bai Zhao naturally cherished the gift heaven had given him. It was just that his last life had been too exhausting; in this one, he wanted to lie flat.
So although Bai Zhao gained the motherly love and fatherly love he had never felt in his past life, he also gained the parental double beatings he had never experienced before.
Bai Yuan was fairly decent about it; he still had a bit of fatherly love for him, though not much… Lu Xinrou was the textbook strict mother.
As a mature soul, Bai Zhao could never truly pretend to be a child.
Naturally, that made people think: this kid is clever from a very young age!
Bai Yuan and his wife were both delighted and worried.
Delighted because their son seemed to be born knowing things, and his martial foundation was one in ten thousand… calling it dragon tendons and tiger bones would not be an exaggeration!
Worried because, for the Bai family, which already somewhat overshadowed the sovereign, this could be either blessing or disaster.
So after Bai Zhao showed his intelligence, his father and mother, in order to let him grow up safely, taught him to hide his talents when outside.
Bai Zhao naturally had no objection. After all, his goal in this life was simple: lie flat, lie flat, and still f*cking lie flat!!
“I fought wars my entire previous life… can’t I enjoy myself a little in this one? And who am I? I’m the man who’s going to be a prince in the future! I was born at the peak, okay!”
Then Bai Zhao’s parents gave him a huge surprise!
Slacking off? Lying flat? Not happening!
“Making you hide your talent is for the emperor, for the civil and military officials in the capital, and for the high-ranking nobility to see, not for the family! Hiding your talent does not mean becoming truly useless!”
So from the moment he could speak, Lu Xinrou personally taught Bai Zhao literature, etiquette, the qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
As the eldest young lady of the Jiangnan Lu family, Lu Xinrou studied under Tao Jingzhi, the Imperial Tutor and Grand Preceptor of the current dynasty. That was the emperor’s teacher.
Although Lu Xinrou had a bad temper, a bad temper did not mean she was weak!
And Bai Zhao’s father, Bai Yuan, somehow got his hands on the long-lost martial art known as the greatest mystic art throughout history, the “Tai Xuan Sutra,” and began teaching Bai Muran martial arts when Bai Yuan was four years old.
That was extremely painful.
To be honest, the qin, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and songs were fine. With the five thousand years of cultural depth from Dragon Country in his past life, Bai Zhao only had to show a little, and Lu Xinrou was stunned into awe.
For example, when Bai Zhao was five years old, he recited: “Goose, goose, goose, neck bent to the sky as it sings. White feathers float on green water, red paddles stir the clear waves.”
That directly shocked Lu Xinrou into slapping him on the head, while repeatedly saying, “My son is truly talented…”
But martial arts… hmm, how should this be put? Bai Zhao did not really believe in it.
Then when Bai Yuan unleashed his true qi and, right in front of Bai Zhao, sent out a sword aura from afar to cut down a tree thick enough for two men to wrap their arms around, Bai Zhao believed it.
“Is this reasonable? Ah!!? I thought I had transmigrated into ancient times, but it turns out I’ve transmigrated into a wuxia world, huh?
Fine, fine, I’ll learn martial arts! It’s easy enough!”
Bai Zhao immediately clung to his father’s thigh.
Of course, if you ignored the bamboo stick in Bai Yuan’s hand, Bai Zhao would probably still have tried to lie flat…
And so Bai Zhao began standing post training at maoshi hour (5:00 to 7:00 a.m.). After breakfast, he would follow Bai Yuan to learn moves and temper his body until wushi hour (11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.).
Then came his mother Lu Xinrou’s torment time. After a whole morning of martial training, Bai Zhao would spend the afternoon being mentally tortured by His Ladyship.
Then dinner, followed by the medicinal bath at xushi hour (7:00 to 9:00 p.m.). After all that, Bai Zhao would collapse into bed every single day, sleeping like a log.
This continued for two years. Although he often got beaten for trying to slack off and outsmarting his parents, and ran all over the capital, it still indirectly accomplished the goal of hiding his abilities.
When Bai Zhao was six, he was sent into the palace together with princes, princesses, and some ministers’ and generals’ direct descendants of the same generation, to begin basic education under the current Chancellor of the Directorate of Education, the great scholar Bai Songtao.
Lu Xinrou’s order at the time was:
“My son, although our Bai family is viewed with suspicion by the civil and military officials, we are not afraid of them. We only need to have a clear conscience before Great Qian and His Majesty.
If anyone provokes you, beat him. Be a wastrel. Be arrogant.
If you take a liking to some girl, tell your mother. Even if she’s a princess, just kiss her directly. Our family should claim our stake first.”
Bai Zhao was speechless, his face covered in black lines as he stared at his mother, who had just said such ferocious things.
Of course, he understood that his mother meant for him to act like an ignorant wastrel from a rich family, a bit lecherous and frivolous. But as a child… this… he really had not fallen so low as to be a beast.
Besides, he himself was still just a child! Even if he wanted to be lecherous, what the hell use would that be?!
So another two years passed, and everyone in Chang’an City knew that the heir of the Prince of Zhenbei was an ignorant, lawless wastrel who bullied men and abused women.
Rumors spread of him flirting with a princess in front of the great scholar Bai Songtao, beating up the grandson of Duke Dingguo right before the emperor, and being impossible to teach, to the point that Bai Songtao angrily shouted, “Rotten wood cannot be carved!”
Later, even more absurd stories spread… harassing respectable women on the street, allowing his underlings to prey on the common people, and so on, getting more and more outrageous…
“Actually, how could I, an eight-year-old child, even flirt with women? These people are making up nonsense too wildly.”
Bai Zhao grumbled inwardly.
As for who invented it and who spread it, it was nothing more than those noble families, and maybe even that bastard father Bai Yuan adding fuel to the fire.
Bai Zhao complained to himself.
Although his life was chaotic, it was fairly peaceful until the year Bai Zhao turned eight.
Bai Yuan’s father, Bai Zhao’s grandfather, the old Prince of Zhenbei Bai Zhancang, fell critically ill at the Northern Border, and the Great Qian Emperor urgently summoned Bai Yuan to the Northern Border to defend the frontier.
At that crucial moment, someone made a move on Bai Zhao, and he was struck by the strange poison known as “Red Lotus Burning Heart.”
This poison was refined from the spiritual herb Red Lotus. It caused the heart inside the body to feel as if it were being roasted by flames, eventually burning dry the blood and qi and killing the victim in agony.
“Red Lotus Burning Heart” had no cure. Only those who had cultivated true qi could barely use it to protect the heart vessels. Once the true qi dispersed, the poison would strike immediately.
And because it fused with true qi, once the true qi scattered, the toxin would instantly spread through every limb and bone.
Unless one became a Grandmaster, a relapse would mean certain death.
As for why someone would attack a wastrel waste famous in Chang’an with such a precious and vicious poison from heaven and earth?
Because some unknown source had spread the word that Bai Zhao had astonishing martial arts talent, with dragon tendons and tiger bones, and natural divine strength!
Although Bai Zhao’s character and learning were lacking, with such high martial arts talent, even if he could not become a commander in the future, he would still be an unmatched fierce general!
So someone wanted to kill him and eliminate future trouble!
In a fit of rage, Bai Yuan almost bloodbathed the capital. He stood directly in the Hall of Supreme Harmony and raised the great blade in his hand at the entire assembly of officials!
In the end, Emperor Qian stepped in, calmed Bai Yuan down, and had Bai Zhao take a ten-thousand-year supreme snow lotus from the royal treasury.
Although it suppressed the poison, it could only save Bai Zhao’s life. He still needed a Grandmaster to regularly use true qi to protect Bai Muran’s heart vessels!
After this incident, Bai Yuan seized the chance to ask His Majesty to allow him to take Bai Zhao back to the Northern Border for treatment.
Emperor Qian had no choice but to agree.
Bai Zhao also reflected inwardly that the warmth of family had numbed him, and he became more alert.
In truth, the identity of the heir of the Prince of Zhenbei was no less dangerous than in his previous life!
Great frontier generals and vassal kings usually had their children and families in the capital, Chang’an… in other words, as hostages.
After all, the emperor was afraid of rebellion too.
But Bai Zhao, at eight years old, had turned disaster into blessing and went with his parents to the Northern Border frontier.
In fact, if he had not already cultivated true qi to protect his heart, an eight-year-old child would have had no chance of surviving under “Red Lotus Burning Heart.”
He would not even have lived long enough for the emperor to grant the snow lotus.
The public explanation was that Bai Yuan had used true qi in time to protect Bai Muran’s heart vessels, in order to hide Bai Zhao’s true strength!
And Bai Zhao had kept using true qi to resist the poison of Red Lotus Burning Heart ever since, right up to the present.
And so he stayed in the Northern Border for another six years. Two years ago, Lu Xinrou returned to the capital, while Bai Yuan had Bai Zhao travel under an alias in the martial world to broaden his horizons.
Bai Zhao had long wanted to go out and see the world, so he naturally agreed without hesitation.
After all, he had spent six years at the frontier and was nearly sick of it!
Besides, Bai Yuan had promised him that two years later, when he turned sixteen, he could go to the imperial capital. Then he would be free. That was how this journey back to the capital came about.
Although Bai Zhao had always resisted in his heart, always wanted to lie flat, and always fought wits with his parents, he seemed to have fallen in love with this kind of life… one that was a little tiring, but allowed him to enjoy his parents’ care.
It made up for the regrets of his previous life.
This kind of parental love slowly healed his cold and numb heart. It quietly nourished this lonely soul from another world, allowing him to gradually blend in.