The stone bed was just as Lin Zhendong had described.
It was flat and huge, nearly four meters long and two meters wide, with a smoothed top surface.
And it was etched with crisscrossing lines.
Its material was exactly the same as the Shiboqiong.
Although hard, the force of water dripping on a stone could wear it down, and the principle of softness overcoming hardness meant these lines were likely formed that way.
To Li Chonglou, the giant stone at this moment seemed like an enormous magnet, pulling him slowly closer.
“Brother Li, you can only look, not touch,” Wu Tao’s reminder came just then, and Li Chonglou jolted awake.
He found himself already at the stone, his hand almost touching it.
And he hadn't realized it at all.
As if scalded by boiling water, Li Chonglou retracted his hand.
He looked at Lin Zhendong, his eyes filled with shock.
Was that an illusion just now?
He heard someone calling him, sounding remarkably like his father. Though he had never seen his father’s face or heard his voice, the genes etched into his very bones told him it was his father’s voice.
But he didn't even know how he’d ended up by the stone.
“Chonglou, what’s wrong?” Lin Zhendong sensed something was amiss and asked with a frown.
He had never seen Li Chonglou’s eyes like this, so lost and helpless.
“Master, can’t you feel the stone pulling you?” Li Chonglou glanced at Wu Tao, but eventually voiced his question.
Though master and disciple were connected, such matters couldn't be communicated solely through glances.
“No,” Lin Zhendong shook his head.
Li Chonglou’s gaze flickered to Xu Lie and Lin Ying. Both shook their heads simultaneously.
Even Wu Tao, looking puzzled, shook his head.
This stone was only affecting him. Could it be due to his bloodline?
In biology, the Y chromosome, inherited from father to child, is passed down perpetually, regardless of gender. As long as there are descendants, it will never vanish.
Could it be that this massive meteorite wasn't calling him, but the Y chromosome itself?
Li Chonglou was utterly bewildered.
He desperately wanted to touch the stone, even to drip a drop of his blood on it to see what would happen.
But Wu Tao was watching him closely, giving him no opportunity.
He could only stealthily signal his senior sister.
Lin Ying, always intelligent and quick-witted, immediately understood the subtle gestures of her junior brother.
The next moment, with a thud, she fell to the ground.
Crying out loudly, “Ouch… it hurts so much…”
Xu Lie quickly bent down to help her up, but Lin Ying glared at him and gently pushed his hand away, utterly perplexed.
Seeing this, Wu Tao’s attention was drawn. He walked over to Lin Ying and asked with concern, “Are you alright?”
“I’m bleeding…” Lin Ying extended her fair, jade-like hand. Indeed, her skin had been scraped, and a few drops of blood were welling up.
At this sight, Lin Zhendong covered his head and subtly shifted two steps, positioning himself between Li Chonglou and Wu Tao.
Since his daughter was helping Li Chonglou, he certainly couldn’t stand by idly.
Taking advantage of the distraction of Wu Tao and the screen provided by his master, Li Chonglou, without any further thought, quickly removed his glove.
He silently recited, “I apologize, Wu Tao. If I get out of this alright, I’ll repay you handsomely!”
A flicker of resolve flashed in his eyes. He directly bit his finger.
Crimson blood instantly surged out, and a drop gently fell onto the stone bed.
Whoosh!
In an instant, an intense red light blazed from where the blood droplet had landed, changing the color of the entire Shangyang Palace.
This sudden event startled Wu Tao, who was about to turn around.
Crack!
Lin Zhendong’s palm strike landed precisely on the vagus nerve on his neck.
Wu Tao’s eyes rolled back, his body went limp, and Xu Lie caught him, gently laying him down.
Lin Ying finally stood up, her delicate face full of shock.
She had witnessed Li Chonglou activating the Shiboqiong with his blood before, but compared to now, it was like night and day.
Even Xu Lie’s eyes were wide open, his mouth agape.
The red light rapidly spread along the carved patterns on the surface of the stone bed. Soon, a blood-red pattern, with a swastika base and a rotating wheel as its face, appeared before them.
A tremendous tearing force suddenly pulled Li Chonglou onto the stone bed.
Xu Lie tried to grab him, but it was too late.
“This is bad!” Lin Zhendong’s heart pounded.
He recalled the scene twenty years ago when Li Fu disappeared. The situation was the same: Li Fu suddenly leaped onto the stone bed and vanished.
He had always thought Li Fu jumped on his own. Only now did he realize there must have been an invisible force pulling Li Chonglou.
What if he repeated his father’s misfortune and disappeared too?
With no time to think, Lin Zhendong let out a furious roar and grabbed Li Chonglou’s foot.
He pulled with all his might.
It didn't budge.
With his strength, even Xu Lie couldn't resist him.
But Li Chonglou, without any true qi, was as solid as stone.
This was impossible…
A look of horror dawned on Lin Zhendong’s face, but he quickly regained his composure.
Li Chonglou hadn’t disappeared. He wasn’t like Li Fu; instead, he stood calmly in the center of the swastika wheel pattern, his eyes tightly shut.
No matter how hard Lin Zhendong pulled, he got no reaction.
While he didn't know what was happening, the outcome wasn't the absolute worst.
At this moment, Li Chonglou’s consciousness was being dragged into a space as red as fire.
Flames danced all around, yet they felt no heat, not even temperature. A giant, scaled egg was enveloped within the flames.
Li Chonglou didn't know what it was. Mustering his courage, he approached the egg, but it showed no reaction.
So, he reached out and touched it.
Boom!
Instantly, a resonating tremor echoed in his mind, shaking his consciousness.
Then, a scene unfolded before his eyes.
A monk with white hair and eyebrows knelt before Wu Zetian’s white jade sarcophagus, his expression sincere, his voice filled with sorrow:
“Your Majesty, this humble monk has poured all his efforts into finding this phoenix divine egg to complete the Rebirth Array. Your soul is stored within.”
“It will not perish, and only awaits a destined person to open the array, so your soul can reincarnate using their body.”
“However, this technique reverses the laws of heaven, and unpredictable events will occur.”
“May Your Majesty reign eternally and never fall into the cycle of reincarnation!”
As his voice faded, a wisp of crimson smoke rose from the sarcophagus, traversed the main hall, entered the Shangyang Palace,
And finally, it merged into this massive stone.
The scene followed this crimson smoke. After an unknown period,
Two men broke through the darkness and appeared before the giant stone.
One of them had a profile identical to his master’s, but much younger. The other’s features were strikingly similar to his own.
A jolt ran through Li Chonglou’s entire body, and goosebumps erupted.
He instantly recognized these two as his master and father, Li Fu, from twenty years ago.
The scene shifted again. While his master observed their surroundings, Li Fu accidentally stumbled onto the stone bed, scraping his palm.
Then, the stone bed erupted in red light, and Li Fu seemed to jump onto the bed himself.
And then he vanished without a trace.
But the image continued to change. Li Fu appeared in this space, facing the same egg.
That wisp of crimson smoke spewed out from the egg and entered Li Fu’s body.
A majestic and domineering female voice resounded through heaven and earth: “After more than a thousand years, I finally have the chance to be reborn and see the light of day again.”
“Shenxiu, with his invincible divine powers, found this descendant of the Li family’s body for me. This time, I will legitimately ascend the throne as emperor once more!”
With that, Li Fu’s eyes suddenly opened, a faint red glow flickering within them.
The space faded, and Li Fu reappeared on the stone bed. The young Lin Zhendong was nowhere to be seen.
Li Fu stepped off the stone bed and disappeared into the darkness.
Swish!
Watching his father’s receding back, Li Chonglou felt as if he were falling from the top of a hundred-story building.
An immense sense of weightlessness enveloped him, and he couldn't help but cry out.
“Ah…”
His consciousness snapped back into his body. His eyes snapped open, his skin covered in goosebumps, and his hair stood on end.
He was drenched in cold sweat.
Looking at the three concerned faces before him, Li Chonglou gasped for air, his body collapsing onto the giant stone.
Everyone’s attention was focused on him.
No one noticed that a faint, imperceptible crimson aura had indeed slipped into the base within Lin Zhendong’s pocket.
Following that, Li Chonglou was carried down by Xu Lie.
“Chonglou, what happened?” Lin Zhendong asked with a solemn expression.
Li Chonglou had been pulled onto the giant stone for nearly half an hour, motionless.
Just as they were at a loss and had called Wu Tao to get help from outside, Li Chonglou suddenly awoke.
Wu Tao was also stunned, unsure whether to leave or stay.
“You can come back,” Lin Ying beckoned him, seeing the situation.
“Master, I know what happened. Let’s talk outside,” Li Chonglou’s breathing stabilized slightly. He looked at his master’s concerned gaze, his own eyes complex.
After speaking, he looked at Xu Lie and said, “Brother Xu, help me down. I can walk myself.”
Xu Lie’s worried gaze gradually subsided at this.
The five of them left Kunling and returned to the hotel. Afterward, Li Chonglou left his number with Wu Tao.
He told him to call him if anything happened in the future.
Consider it compensation for knocking him out.
Wu Tao himself had no idea what had transpired. After waking up and seeing Li Chonglou’s strange behavior, he recalled the rumors about the stone bed being haunted and thought he had been possessed by a ghost, losing consciousness.
The only lingering effect was a swollen and aching neck.
But Li Chonglou was a member of the Xiong Ying team, his idol, so he naturally wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to connect with his idol.
After seeing Wu Tao off, the four immediately returned to their room.
“Master, my dad isn’t dead, nor did he time travel. He’s still alive!”
Li Chonglou closed the door, his words causing a massive stir. He delivered a bombshell, “However, he is no longer himself. The current him is Wu Zetian!”
Lin Zhendong and the other two were stunned, exchanging shocked glances.
Before the three could ask further questions, Li Chonglou continued, “That meteorite bed, the array etched on it is called the Rebirth Array.”
“The meteorite’s function is to allow souls to travel through time, but with the enhancement of Monk Shenxiu’s Rebirth Array, it can reverse its function, allowing souls from the past to be reborn in new bodies.”
“Wu Tianze, in order to continue being emperor, deliberately set conditions using the meteorite, making it only activatable by those with the Li surname bloodline.”
“And she, the usurper, took over my father’s body for rebirth.”
“However, she miscalculated one thing. After more than a thousand years, the Tang Dynasty no longer exists, and the Li surname is no longer royalty. Her dream of being emperor has been shattered.”
“But I can be sure that he is still alive, somewhere in this world, secretly planning to restore her dynasty!”
That scaled phoenix egg was the source of the call, not just to him, but to anyone with the Y chromosome of the Tang Dynasty's Li clan.
Finally, the mystery was solved, and the truth revealed.
But Father, where are you?