62. The Former Baiyao Dynasty
So, a rich person could spend money in the most peculiar ways.
Their private room was on the third floor, but the entire building, including the first and second floors, had been booked out.
Gong Yiling didn’t understand this strange man’s actions. She just wanted to say, Please give the unnecessary money to those in need.
After entering the private room, she immediately saw the man with the butterfly mask sitting opposite her at a long table.
She had kicked his mask off that day, but unfortunately, before she could get a clear look, he had put it back on.
“Miss Gong…” Yue Huasheng instinctively started to say her surname, but then he saw the woman beside her and paused, correcting himself.
“Miss Su, and Miss Leng, good evening.” He said, “It is my honor to have dinner with you two.”
Leng Yuli, who had just sat down, was surprised. “You know me?”
“Miss Su’s words have caused quite a stir in the capital. She has become a celebrity. And Miss Leng, being a descendant of the Leng family and Miss Su’s companion, is it so surprising that I know your surname?”
Leng Yuli stuck out her tongue silently and didn’t say anything more.
Miss Gong, however, continued, “So, an invitation and a few words were enough to get me to come? If I hadn’t, wouldn’t all this effort have been wasted?”
“But I divined that Miss Su would come.” Yue Huasheng smiled. “I don’t believe in much in this life, only the results of my divination.”
“No matter what, the hexagrams don’t lie.”
Gong Yiling crossed her arms and snorted. “I don’t believe in such ethereal things.”
“And I think you’re a smart person. Since you divined that I would stay, you must also know what would make me stay?”
Yue Huasheng sighed. “Since you’ve said so, there’s no need for me to hide it.”
“I believe there’s something you’re very interested in.”
Hearing this, Gong Yiling raised an eyebrow. “And what is that?”
“Some old stories about the Baili family and the Baiyao Dynasty.”
She had to admit, she hadn’t had a good impression of this strange man.
She thought he had invited her for some transactional purpose, a trap waiting for her.
But his words… stunned her.
The old stories of the Baili family and the Baiyao Dynasty, wasn’t that exactly what she had been trying to find out?
Was he using this as bait? Did he know she would be interested?
Gong Yiling, although puzzled, didn’t show it.
“Old stories are interesting, and you’ve even treated me to this meal.” She said, “But I wonder, what do I have to pay for all this? Surely it’s not all for free?”
“For free?” Yue Huasheng shook his head. “Miss Su, not all transactions in this world are about tangible benefits. It’s about whether I think it’s worth it.”
“I’ve always believed that Miss Su doesn’t belong here, that you shouldn’t get involved in the affairs of this city. Therefore…”
“If these truths can help you stay away from this conflict, then it’s all worth it.”
So, after all this, he was still trying to persuade her to leave the Baiyao capital and stay out of the Eight Desolations Sword Alliance’s business?
Gong Yiling shrugged. “Let’s eat and talk.”
She wanted to see what secrets of the Baiyao capital could make her leave.
—
—
The food was excellent. Initially, Gong Yiling and Leng Yuli were enjoying their free dinner.
But soon, they lost their appetite.
It was all because of the story Yue Huasheng told them about the Baiyao Dynasty’s past.
Long ago, when the Four Kingdoms were a chaotic mess of warring families and sects, two families emerged in the Baiyao region: the Baili family and the Baiyao family.
In such a chaotic era, a single genius could be a decisive force in ending the conflict.
And coincidentally, both the Baili and Baiyao families had such a genius.
They both reached the Heavenly Soul realm in their early twenties, and with their unparalleled strength, they unified the region, creating a stalemate between the two families.
As the saying goes, one mountain cannot have two tigers, but the latter half of the saying, although a joke, was also true—unless one was male and the other female.
And coincidentally, the two geniuses from these two families were a man and a woman (Baili Shuò and Baiyao Qin). And even more coincidentally, they had fallen in love long before they became famous.
And the story didn’t end in tragedy like Romeo and Juliet.
The two had the power to influence their families, and their love was strong. So, the conflict ended with the union of the two families, and they decided the name of the new country with a game of rock-paper-scissors.
This sounded absurd, but the loser had the right to establish an organization called the Sword Alliance, which would act as an independent supervisory body, with a status almost equal to the royal family.
To balance this power, the two geniuses also created a titular royal position called the Sword Emperor for their second child’s descendants.
This position held no real power, but in case of a dispute between the Sword Alliance and the royal family, they could use the Kyushu – Eight Desolations Wind and Cloud Sword, jointly forged by Baili Shuò and Baiyao Qin, to make a final judgment.
And so, with the Baiyao family as the royal family and the Baili family in charge of the government, the foundation of the Baiyao Dynasty was laid, a foundation that would last for a thousand years.
However, this story was completely different from all the current records about the Baiyao Dynasty.
The question was…
Why was Yue Huasheng’s story so different from the established history?
