At that, Li Mu finally put on a severe countenance and repeated, “The same place?”
Yu Hualong did not keep Li Mu in suspense but came straight to the point. “It’s Earth.”
Li Mu fell in silence at once.
He was weighing how much truth Yu Hualong’s remark contained.
Guo Yuqing had told Li Mu that the Great Moon Empire was founded by the Extra-terrestrial Demons. It had deluged the Divine Land in endless foul wind and rain of blood. At last, unable to stand its reign of horror, the creatures on the land formed an ally and overthrew the evil empire through painstaking fights and struggles before they built up the current power structure.
From the perspective of the creatures on the Divine Land, Earth residents were extra-terrestrial creatures, so they did fit into the definition of Extra-terrestrial Demons.
“That’s true.”
“But, who are you kidding?”
“You’re telling me that 1,000 years ago, some people from Earth already came to this planet by space travel and established a powerful empire that later ruled the entire land… Come on, that kind of work is nothing like Columbus discovering the new continent, which only required him to build larges ships, purchase sufficient provisions, and sail to the distance following the wind. It’s space expedition we are talking about. That can’t be a picnic.”
…
…
Li Mu took his word with a pinch of salt.
“Wait. That’s not right.”
He suddenly thought of another issue.
“1,000 years ago. That only points to the time when the Great Moon Empire was destroyed.”
“History says the Great Moon Empire had dominated the land for about 1,000 years. That means it was established more than 2,000 years ago.”
“Based on what Yu Hualong just said, well, more than 2,000 years ago, some people on Earth already crossed the sea of stars and arrived on this planet. Then, they built up the Great Moon Empire… Em, what dynasty was China in about 2,000 years ago? I think it is…” Li Mu rubbed his temples, forcefully searching his brain. “It was around Han Dynasty, perhaps under the new administration of Wang Mang, who had usurped the throne. Cars haven’t been invented in that period. How could they have space shuttles to do space travel?”
Li Mu reckoned he had made no mistake in the historical facts and the calculation. His deduction must be correct.
Thus, he asked, “Well then, can you tell me who is the founder of the Great Moon Empire?”
Although the founder was from 2,000 years ago, he must have got a name.
Yu Hualong answered, “The founding fathers of that empire have long since left the planet. They’ve set off for outer space to seek the way of redemption. Plus, the Great Moon Empire was not established by one person but dozens of wise men. It was the result of their joint efforts.”
“Come off it!”
Li Mu almost blurted out that he would not be fooled by such a lame story, for he had graduated from junior school after all.
“If not one person, then, it’s a throng of people?”
“How could a rational like me buy your cock and bull story.”
Even so, out of respect for Yu Hualong, an ‘artist’ who was immersed in his story-telling, Li Mu let him go on with immense patience.
Quite emotionally, Yu Hualong continued, “When the wise forefathers came to this world more than 2,000 years ago, the people on this land were still living a savage life just like the primitives. There was no civilization at all. It was those forefathers who brought culture and knowledge to this underdeveloped world and kindled the flames of civilization. They cultivated them, invented written languages, developed agriculture, animal husbandry, and commerce, put arid lands under cultivation, and killed dangerous wild beasts and demons sticking around. That was how the central area of the Divine Land prospered and how the Great Moon Empire was founded later…” At that point, Yu Hualong heaved with a sigh, turned to face Li Mu, and quizzed, “Do you know why the empire named it Great Moon Empire?”
Li Mu was entranced in his story. At that sudden quiz, he instantly shook his head.
“In ancient China back on Earth, people regard the moon as their hometown. So, when they saw the moon, they were reminded of their sweet homes. When the wise founding fathers left Earth and began to drift in the universe, they only did that because they had to. No one liked roving in distant lands for such a long time. Yet, to protect Earth, they had to go to outer space to find a way of redemption. Every time they looked up and saw the moon in the sky, they could not help thinking of their home. For that reason, they named the empire they established as the Great Moon to show their homesickness,” Yu Hualong recounted dolefully.
Li Mu had to admit that the story was truly very touching.
Yu Hualong appeared to be a little gloomy. He raised his cup and drained it. Then, he dreamily hummed, “There is a bright moon high above my bed. Thought it was ground frost. Looking up I can see the bright moon. And looking down I think about my hometown… The moon in my hometown. It’s been a long time since I last admired it.”
Li Mu was amused.
“Hold a second!”
“The fox just gave away its tail!”
“That poem is not composed 2,000 years ago.” Li Mu pointed out.
The poet, Li Bai, was born in Tang Dynasty. That was around 1,200 years ago. But according to Yu Hualong’s narration, the founding fathers of the Great Moon Empire came to this planet more than two thousand years ago. Therefore, the so-called founding fathers could have no means to learn about the poem that would be composed eight centuries later after they left Earth. That was a logical contradiction.
Yu Hualong smiled at him and said, “Of course, that’s a masterpiece composed 1,200 years ago by Li Bai, the poem whiz of Tang Dynasty. Speaking of Li Bai, Lord Li also copied several of his poems. So, I’m very curious about the era Lord Li lived in before you left Earth.”
Li Mu was a little upset.
“There is no copy in literature, is there?”
“I’m simply spreading Li Bai’s poems.”
Certainly, he dared not get that shameless remark out.
So, instead of giving Yu Hualong a direct answer, Li Mu posed another question. “You haven’t told me how you got to know Li Bai’s poems.”
As the crown prince of the Great Moon Empire was a descendant of those founding fathers. His knowledge about Earth was supposed to be limited to the files left by those founding fathers who came there from Earth 2,000 years ago. In that case, Yu Hualong could not have known Li Bai’s works. The time sequence did not allow it. That was a logical flaw he could not get around.
Yu Hualong, still, gave him a smile and said, “That’s easy to explain, for I am from the same era Li Bai was.”
Li Mu was shocked.
“What does that mean?”
“Same era?”
“So you are from Tang Dynasty?”
Li Mu was kind of puzzled.
Yu Hualong laughed gleefully. “You can’t have assumed the founding fathers from 2,000 years ago were the only group of people that foresaw the crisis Earth would undergo, can you?” “Throughout history, there was never a short of wise and powerful people. Men of virtue turned up one batch after another. Before the Spiritual Qi on Earth is completely depleted, the real powerful people can follow the path blazed by those founding fathers more than 2,000 years ago and travel beyond the Star Graveyard. By the time Tang Dynasty came to the stage, the Spiritual Qi had not been fully consumed, so people at that time were still able to get out.”
Li Mu’s mouth fell open.
He caught the gist of what Yu Hualong said.
“You are born in Tang Dynasty? And you left Earth and traveled here in that era?” Li Mu stared at the crown prince and said incredulously, “With all due respect, bro, all that you just said sounds like bullshit… Are you saying you are already more than 1,300 years old?”
Normally, the life span of a Semi-Sage would not exceed 1,000 years.
Only a real Sage could live longer than 1,000 years.
Given Yu Hualong’s strength, if he was born in Tang Dynasty, by no means could he live to that day.
Yu Hualong said, “I am truly a person from Tang Dynasty. But this year, I’m just 30.”
Li Mu gazed at him with a look that said ‘I will kick your ass if you keep giving me such rubbish’. What particularly annoyed him was his train of thoughts was truly directed awry by Yu Hualong. “He will be famous if he ever tried writing novels. His mind is too erratic!”
“Back then, I’m just an ordinary person. By sheer fluke, I met my master and set my foot on the path of being an immortal. When I left Earth, I was barely 20, and my cultivation was rather shallow. After I came to the Great Moon Empire, one day a powerful enemy attacked us. At the most critical moment, my master used secret magic to seal me in the Moon Altar and went off to fight the enemy all by himself. When I woke up again, the world had changed. The Great Moon Empire was forgotten in dusty history, and my master was nowhere to be found. In the past decade, I kept collecting information and searching for clues and finally obtained some enlightenment. With the resources the founding fathers and the masters left behind, I worked hard in closed-door training. Now, I’ve completed my training and become a Semi-Sage.” Yu Hualong said, “Ever since I was sealed in the Moon Altar, my vigor of life was frozen, as if time had stopped running for me. Thus, though I came to the Great Moon Empire from Tang Dynasty, I am just 30 this year.”
After hearing him out, Li Mu was surprised that he could not find any flaw in that story.
“He did make it sound plausible.”
But…
Another problem popped into Li Mu’s head. He eagerly asked, “If you’re telling the truth, then, you should not have known about Jinzha, Muzha, and Nezha. Those are figures in The Legend of Deification, a novel written by Xu Zhonglin in the middle and later periods of Ming Dynasty.”
“The Legend of Deification? Xu Zhonglin? Ming Dynasty?” Yu Hualong was stunned at that question. Then, he said, “Is it the dynasty that came after Tang Dynasty?” “And if that’s the case, it means the great Tang Dynasty eventually ended… Are you from Ming Dynasty?”
Li Mu examined Yu Hualong’s face. It was unlikely that he was faking his astonishment.
The crown prince did know nothing about Ming Dynasty or The Legend of Deification, but how come he had heard of Li Jing, Jinzha, Muzha, and Nezha?
Then, Yu Hualong added, “In the later ages, someone has written a biography of the demons in ancient times?”
At his question, Li Mu thought of the place highly resembling the Taoist field of Master Puti he discovered in the Everlasting Heaven. Suddenly, inspiration flashed through his mind.
It dawned on him that the stories later deemed as fictional novels about ancient myths, such as in Journey to the West and The Legend of Deification, might be real.
If that was the case, then, Li Jing and his family, and all the figures in The Legend of Deification were real, weren’t they? Perhaps due to the lapse of time and fuzzy memories, adding the decrease of Spiritual Qi, the later generations lost the ability to learn those wonderful arts and passed on the power. Gradually, those real facts were told as legends and myths that never really happened. Therefore, a man in Tang Dynasty, such as Yu Hualong, did not need novels like The Legend of Deification to learn about the events at the end of Shang Dynasty and the beginning of Zhou Dynasty. If those people had truly existed, it was quite reasonable that the crown prince knew about their stories, wasn’t it?
Li Mu felt his head was in a whirl.
He had to comb through his thoughts first.
He finally let his train of thoughts be manipulated by Yu Hualong.
Anyway, all that Li Mu heard that day totally overturned Li Mu’s outlook. Although when he was transported to that planet from Earth by the old faker, his outlook already crumpled once. But compared to the ‘truth’ Yu Hualong told him, the shock he had experienced the last time was more daunting as the fire of ordinary weapons. Yet, at the moment, Li Mu’s entire knowledge structure was undergoing a destructive nuclear bombarding.