Yan Shouyi was unaware of any other unique magical properties of the Ancestral Dragon Sword. However, merely observing it with the naked eye, the aura it exuded was already extraordinary.
He gripped the hilt, shifting from holding the sword with both hands to one. The blade gleamed, reflecting Yan Shouyi’s face.
To his surprise, the reflection showed surging malevolent energy behind him.
“As expected of one of the Qin Dynasty's legendary swords, it judges people by their swordplay,” Yan Shouyi mused.
The Ancestral Dragon Sword and the Zanpakuto were entirely different types of weapons.
This difference was not merely in the distinction between a sword and a blade.
The Zanpakuto was primarily for killing, brimming with malevolent energy.
The Ancestral Dragon Sword was for deterrence, surging with dragon aura. Da Feng Xin Wen Wang.
Lin Zitong, looking at Yan Shouyi holding the Ancestral Dragon Sword, suddenly thought of something, a hint of surprise flashing in her beautiful eyes.
One hand for killing, the other for deterrence.
Was this not the path to becoming the Martial Emperor?
Lin Zitong imagined Yan Shouyi’s future appearance: holding the Zanpakuto, representing killing, in one hand, and the Ancestral Dragon Sword, representing deterrence, in the other. From then on, under heaven, who would dare disobey?
“What kind of person is Dad grooming this big idiot to be…” Lin Zitong thought to herself.
She did not voice her thoughts aloud.
Yan Shouyi swung the Ancestral Dragon Sword a few times casually, finding it much heavier than the Zanpakuto.
After his brief enjoyment, Yan Shouyi was about to return the Ancestral Dragon Sword to its scabbard when he was surprised to find something else inside.
“What is this…”
Yan Shouyi set the Ancestral Dragon Sword aside and withdrew the golden silk used to protect it within the scabbard. From the silk, a brown leather letter fell out.
Ma Jinxuan reached out to pick it up, but as soon as she held the letter, her expression changed:
“This is human skin!”
“A human skin letter?” Yan Shouyi was also startled. “When you retrieved the Ancestral Dragon Sword and the scabbard earlier, didn’t you notice it?”
Ma Jinxuan shook her head. “The Ancestral Dragon Sword was already in the scabbard. It was just that when we found it, the scabbard was open.”
If that was the case, the human skin letter had been placed in the scabbard two thousand years ago?
And the person who wrote this letter was also from two thousand years ago?
Yan Shouyi hurriedly opened the letter.
The next second, he was terrified by its contents.
“What’s wrong?” Ma Jinxuan, seeing Yan Shouyi’s unprecedentedly grim expression, became nervous.
Lin Zitong was even more anxious, wishing she could fly to Yan Shouyi’s side immediately.
Yan Shouyi took a deep breath and turned the letter towards the camera, aiming it at Lin Zitong.
Lin Zitong and Ma Jinxuan looked closely and couldn’t help but gasp.
On the human skin letter were clearly written six large characters.
“Yan Shouyi, you’re here.”
Why would Yan Shouyi’s name appear in the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum from two thousand years ago, and be buried beneath this supreme treasure, the Ancestral Dragon Sword?!
Could it be that someone had infiltrated the imperial mausoleum in advance and hidden the human skin letter in the scabbard?
But the handwriting of these six characters was peculiar, written in regular script with traditional characters, unlike anything modern.
Yan Shouyi felt a chill run through his body, as if someone in the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum, thousands of miles away, had already begun to scheme against him.
“This is too incredible…” Ma Jinxuan said. “Could it be that two thousand years ago, there was also someone named Yan Shouyi?”
“If that were the case, it would be too coincidental,” Lin Zitong shook her head, disbelieving such a coincidence.
Yan Shouyi took a deep breath, placed the golden silk and the Ancestral Dragon Sword back into the scabbard, and holding the human skin letter, said:
“To find the answer, I’ll probably have to ask my dad.”
Lin Zitong nodded. “Hurry and ask him. I’ll wait for your reply.”
Ma Jinxuan, being sensible, walked outside. “I’ll be out here. Call me anytime.”
Yan Shouyi was left alone in the room. With a uneasy heart, he dialed Yan Chou’s number.
Perhaps due to the previous incident with Zou Xiazi, Yan Chou’s phone was never unreachable again. This call was answered instantly.
“Hello?” Yan Chou’s deep voice came from the other end of the phone.
Hearing Yan Chou’s voice, Yan Shouyi felt a bit steadier.
He said, “Ma Jinxuan sent the Ancestral Dragon Sword.”
“You’ve got it?” Yan Chou sounded slightly surprised. He chuckled, “Consider it an early birthday gift.”
Yan Shouyi: “…”
It was truly a birthday gift?
Dad, aren’t you being a bit too extravagant!
Yan Shouyi coughed dryly and said, “But there’s a problem.”
“What is it?”
Yan Shouyi told Yan Chou about the scabbard and the human skin letter. To his surprise, Yan Chou also appeared quite astonished.
This surprise didn’t seem faked, and Yan Chou attached great importance to it, even directly requesting a video call to see the human skin letter himself.
Upon opening the video, Yan Shouyi saw that the area behind Yan Chou was completely dark, making it impossible to tell where he was.
Yan Chou, however, focused all his attention on the human skin letter.
He examined it for a moment and asked, “Have you analyzed the age of this human skin letter?”
As a descendant of Lu Ban, Yan Shouyi had a certain skill in appraising cultural relics. After all, he had seen so many national treasures; deducing the age of the human skin letter was not a difficult task.
After a thorough examination, Yan Shouyi arrived at an even more astonishing conclusion.
“This human skin letter is from a thousand years ago.”
Yan Chou nodded and asked in a deep voice, “A thousand years ago, what dynasty was it?”
“The Tang and Song periods, and… the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.”
Mentioning the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Yan Shouyi couldn’t help but think of the Qing Jiang Kingdom and the Yu Shu Kingdom, and the Imperial Tutor who escaped after the fall of the Qing Jiang Kingdom.
After Yan Chou asked this, he didn’t press further. Yan Shouyi, however, seemed to have his thoughts stimulated, harboring a bold speculation.
During the Guaning Platform, Lian He had mentioned that the Imperial Tutor had gone to Mount Li to search for a place of great ill fortune.
The Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum was located on the northern foothills of Mount Li!
And the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum was precisely a place of great ill fortune!
This meant that the human skin letter Yan Shouyi was currently looking at was highly likely left by the Imperial Tutor.
If this speculation proved true, it implied that the Imperial Tutor from a thousand years ago had predicted that the reincarnation of General Qing Jiang a millennium later would be Yan Shouyi.
It even predicted that on this day, Yan Shouyi would obtain the Ancestral Dragon Sword.
What a terrifying matter this was!
Such ability only filled Yan Shouyi with dread.
Yan Chou said sternly, “Judging by your expression, you must have a guess. I never expected that by sheer coincidence, I would become someone’s chess piece, delivering this Ancestral Dragon Sword to you.”
Yan Shouyi snapped back to attention, but his expression remained grim.
Yan Chou added, “You’d better not go to Chang’an.”
Chang’an undoubtedly held dangers for Yan Shouyi. Yan Chou, for the first time, wanted to protect Yan Shouyi and prevent him from going to Chang’an.
However, Yan Shouyi shook his head. “I have a reason to go to Chang’an, and besides, Ma Xingping is still in the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum. I need to save him.”