A sense of blur and weightlessness came over him, and countless lights and shadows rushed before Liu Ji's eyes.
He struggled to open his eyelids, felt the jolting underneath him, and hoarsely asked, "What is... going on here? No... where is this place?"
He was originally an online writer and vaguely remembered seeing a yellow gourd at a street stall yesterday, feeling intrigued, and bought it.
Then while at home typing away, somehow suddenly everything went black, and when he woke up, he was here.
The sky was dark, and the surrounding woods twisted like monstrous hands.
Underneath him was a layer of soft straw, continuously bumping.
It seemed he was... being transferred on a cart?
As Liu Ji was curious, a large black face came close to him, revealing a joyful smile: "The lord is awake! The lord is awake!"
Liu Ji was startled and asked aloud.
"My lord, I am Fan Kuai!" The burly man anxiously said, "The lord fell off his horse in a battle defeat and might have hurt his head, suffering from soul loss syndrome!"
"Fan Kuai? Well, I might as well be Liu Bang!"
Liu Ji quipped, suddenly feeling something was amiss, as another set of memories emerged in his mind.
Qin Empire, Fengpei, rebel army... Read full story at novel·fire·net
"I... weren't you calling me Liu Ji before, but now... Liu Ji? I... I am Liu Bang? I have traveled time?"
As an online novel writer, he was certainly no stranger to the concept of time travel.
Liu Ji calmed himself, looked at the other people around the cart, and asked, "What are your names then? Where am I?"
Two scholarly-looking men showed concern: "Lord, do you remember anything?"
"I am Zhou Bo, my lord, we previously raised troops in Fengpei but were badly defeated by the Qin army, our brothers died horribly..."
Another general sighed.
"I... seem to remember."
Liu Ji dodged lightly while secretly rejoicing: 'Hahaha, I've struck gold, I've become Liu Bang! With Xiao He, Cao Can, Fan Kuai as my sidekicks, this is fortune beyond measure!'
'Could I have traveled back to ancient times? Wait, I don't recall Liu Bang ever suffering a great defeat , perhaps it's not recorded in the history books?'
Liu Ji, now inhabiting Liu Ji's body, came from a humble background and hadn't read much of history books; otherwise, he would immediately notice the anomaly in this situation.
But now, he was filled with confidence, even having the mood to quip: 'Liu Bang is great except that his early years were too tragic, repeatedly defeated by Xiang Yu and often fleeing in disarray… what a miserable state!'
'If I were still a writer, this would be the best inspiration. Like "Traveling to Become Liu Bang, Starting with the Banquet at Hongmen," "I Am Liu Bang, Starting by Killing Xiang Yu"? It seems there's a greater thrill in reversing the situation, wait, wait, wait, now that I am Liu Bang, I need to set it straight... just need to eliminate Xiang Yu sooner, can't be so pathetic.'
'The Qin is nothing but a ruined tomb, like a rabbit's tail it won't last long, once Xiang Yu is defeated, I'll be the Emperor of the Great Han, then it'll be three palaces, six courtyards, seventy-two concubines, living in bliss…'
After indulging in fantasies, Liu Ji decided to focus on reality, first clarifying the current year and situation, then leveraging his historical knowledge to gain advantage: "Brothers, what year is it today?"
Xiao He replied: "My lord, it is now the Immortal Qin Calendar of year 528!"
"What the heck?" Liu Ji was startled: "Wasn't the Qin supposed to end after the Second Emperor? How has its reign lasted over five hundred years?"
"So the lord has also heard of the curse legend of Empress Zhou from back then?" Xiao He said, "Because the Black Emperor has always been in position, the Great Qin has never had a Second Emperor, but now the lifespan of the Black Emperor is nearing its end, and the world has suffered under Qin for long, hence the rise of the rebel army!"
"Not to mention, the biggest three forces in the world, in Han Zhong, we have Heavenly Master Zhang, leading the Five-Dou Rice Dao uprising, this Heavenly Master can control ghosts and draw divine talismans, is a Nascent Soul Cultivator, Immortal Qin has failed many times in its invasions."
"In Qing State, there is the Great Virtuous Master Zhang Jiao, it's said that this great cultivator received teachings from the Ascended Immortal—Mu Heavenly Emperor's impartation of the 'Peace Scripture' and 'Golden Heaven Great Method,' capable of summoning Yellow Turban Warriors, establishing thirty-six section leaders, shouting out 'Black Heaven is dead, Golden Heaven shall rule' slogan, rising against Qin, also winning repeatedly!"
"And the closest to us is the Western Chu rebel army led by the Overlord of Western Chu, Xiang Yu, and Yu Ji. This Xiang Tyrant is a descendant of the Chu royal clan with cultivation teachings passed down from his ancestors, he himself is extremely talented and both he and Yu Ji have ascended to Nascent Souls, stirring great momentum in the South!"
"Aside from these largest forces, there are hundreds of big and small rebel armies throughout the land, but only rising and falling quickly, we were just unfortunate to fail, that's why we're fleeing south, preparing to join Xiang Yu." Cao Can added.
Liu Ji showed no expression, but in truth, felt his face might split apart: 'This isn't the history of my world, I seem to have come to a magically altered historical version... with everyone cultivating immortality, Great Qin lasting five hundred years, plus Zhang Jiao and that Heavenly Master Zhang... shouldn't you stop messing with the timeline, isn't the time-space management bureau issuing you fines?'
Liu Ji lay there like a salted fish.
After a long while, he finally gathered his emotions, no longer treating his historical knowledge as his golden finger hack, began to earnestly discuss the rebel army's road ahead with Xiao He and others.
At the same time, he also subtly inquired about matters regarding immortal cultivation.
Although history had been altered, rendering his knowledge hack utterly useless, it wasn't without benefits.
After all, in true history, there's no such thing as immortal cultivation!
"To enlighten the lord, this concept of immortal cultivation originally began with Jiang Shang, Saint Jiang, reportedly a disciple of Kunlun, and atop Kunlun Mountain there are gods... now skipping that part since deities seldom interfere with the mortal realm, let's continue discussing the Immortal Dao... Jiang Shang took King Wu, Ji Fa as his disciple, marking the start of the Immortal Dao, thereafter Mu Heavenly Emperor traveled westwards, gaining the Golden Core Path from The Queen Mother of the West on Kunlun Mountain, spreading it among the feudal lords, thus the Immortal Dao flourished!"
"But alas, at the end of West Zhou, the Immortal Qin Black Emperor Zao Fu first broke into Nascent Soul, defeated the five major overlords' Golden Core of Jin, Qi, Chu, Wu, and Yue, unifying the world, confiscating all cultivation jade slips, and executing cultivators, thus obtaining a piece of cultivation heritage became exceedingly difficult!"
Xiao He said: "It's because we didn't have cultivators, that's why we were easily defeated by the Immortal Qin Army, now we are heading to join the Overlord of Western Chu, hoping to make merits and gain the cultivation technique!"
Xiao He truly deserves to be a great talent; through his explanation, Liu Ji had grasped the development threads of this world, simply put, a twisted ancient world due to immortal cultivation!
As Liu Ji was contemplating the future path, a glance caught Xiao He, Cao Can, and the others' worried expressions, which chilled his heart: 'Not good... my performance is too poor, my prospects are bleak, won't these civil and military officers run off immediately upon reaching Western Chu? Then wouldn't I be done for?'
At that moment, Liu Ji's mind moved, making contact with something in his sea of consciousness.
'Huh? Isn't this the gourd I bought for two coins and five yesterday?'