Chapter 2: The Suppressed Liu Xiu

[Skill Name: Unnamed]
[Skill Description: A derivative technique of the Innate Qiankun Art. It utilizes the unpredictable nature of the universe to twist the body and the boundless power of the universe to generate force, breaking through dilemmas such as entrapment or entanglement.]
[Skill Details: Level 1 derivative skill. Requires 10 Strength and 10 Constitution to learn. Can break through various magical artifacts and traps designed to imprison enemies. (The greater the Strength, the better the breaking effect; the higher the Constitution, the faster the breaking speed.)]
[Please name this skill!]

Looking at this unnamed skill, Wang Liang recalled the desperation he felt before conceiving this move, as well as the exhilarating sense of liberation upon escaping. He decisively said, "Let's call it 'Desperate Counterattack'."

After successfully naming the skill, Wang Liang finally had time to survey his surroundings. He noticed that the spot where he had been buried was the central avenue of a ruined city. This city was far smaller than Yanggu County, which he had previously visited. Standing there, Wang Liang could see half-collapsed city walls in the distance. Observing the overgrown weeds on the ramparts, he estimated at a glance that no one had been here for at least three hundred years.

Looking around further, centuries of wind and rain had submerged the entire city in yellow sand and weeds. Houses, their main beams long rotted away, were reduced to nothing but piles of broken bricks and rubble. From the remnants of the foundations, it was clear that this abandoned little city was the very same one he had seen from the sky when he first entered the game.

"Kunyang."

Unlike the previous two games that left him completely baffled, Wang Liang knew exactly where he was. Anyone who had read history books or military treatises was well aware of the prestige of Emperor Guangwu of Han's Battle of Kunyang. It was the battle that changed the relationship between the Xin and Han dynasties and sparked the rise of the Eastern Han. It was also a battle steeped in myth. It was precisely after reading this historical account that Wang Liang had come to believe that immortals truly existed in this world.

Yet, he had never imagined that his own arrival would alter the course of this battle: Liu Xiu was wiped out, Kunyang was destroyed, and everything here had turned to ruins.

Glancing at the environment once more, Wang Liang sighed deeply, summoned his bronze warhorse, and prepared to leave.

Just then, the ground nearby began to tremble, and several skeletons clad in tattered armor crawled effortlessly out from underground. Watching their movements, Wang Liang let out a heavy snort. What kind of nonsense was this? It had taken him an enormous effort to climb out, nearly costing him his life, yet these bone frames—devoid of even an ounce of flesh—could crawl out so easily. Was this a slight against the flesh on his own body?

Thinking this, Wang Liang drew his Life-Slaying Saber. Simultaneously, the Demon Tiger Sky-Swallowing Armor manifested on his body, and a tiger-shaped phantom appeared above his head, roaring at the skeletons. Mounting his horse, Wang Liang gripped the saber, the power of the Innate Qiankun Art gathering within it, causing lightning to flow across the blade like rolling pearls.

"Get out of my way!"

As Wang Liang spoke, the bronze warhorse began to run on its own. Once he built up speed, he could charge through the skeletons blocking his path and fight his way out of the city. Just as he prepared to strike, a voice resonated from beneath the ground.

"Sir, do not be alarmed. They are merely manifestations of the Yin energy and resentment released because you broke free. If you ignore them, they will dissipate on their own after a while. There is no need for you to take action."

Though the voice emanated from underground and sounded somewhat eerie, it possessed a comforting power. Wang Liang sheathed his Life-Slaying Saber but did not dismount, instead saying calmly, "Come out."

The voice let out an awkward laugh. "That, I truly cannot do, sir. I have been buried underground for three hundred years. If you had not broken free and opened a fissure in the Spirit-Suppressing Formation, I would not even be able to speak, let alone emerge from the ground to meet you."

Hearing this, Wang Liang’s mind raced. "Are you Liu Xiu?"

"..." The voice fell silent for a moment before replying, "It is I. I do not yet know who you are..."

"Wang Jilong, the multi-talented Wang Jilong."

Due to the game system's influence, Liu Xiu found nothing strange about the name. Instead, he replied politely, "So it is Master Duocai. My chance to escape is thanks to your upheaval. I thank you, sir."

Liu Xiu spoke pleasantly and held a certain status. Furthermore, Wang Liang knew that Liu Xiu was a decent man—at the very least, he had not committed the atrocities common to other emperors—so he dismounted and sat on the ground, asking, "You say I helped you, but how?"

"Master Duocai may not know this, but ever since I was crushed to death that night by a meteorite falling from the sky, Wang Mang, in order to suppress the dragon aura of the Han Dynasty, used me as a conduit and the falling meteorite as a foundation. He sacrificed the lives of over nine thousand people in this city to lay down the Spirit-Suppressing Formation. He pinned me underground with eighty-one meteorite nails. In fact, you were one of the meteorites that fell from the sky. Wang Mang declared that if I were ever to escape, the meteorite iron would have to weather away and the mountains and rivers would have to shift."

Hearing this, Wang Liang finally understood the situation. For three hundred years, he had been used as a meteorite nail to pin down the Earth and serve as a ritual instrument to suppress the Han Dynasty's dragon vein. What kind of situation was this?

Wang Liang shook his head. "So that's how it is. It seems we have both been trapped for three hundred years. I suppose we are fellow victims."

"Hahahaha!" Liu Xiu laughed from underground. "A fellow victim, indeed! If there were wine, we should drink a large toast."

After laughing, Liu Xiu said, "My fellow victim, it is good that you can leave now, but could you do me a favor and drag my bones out from underground? I haven't seen the sun in three hundred years."

Wang Liang did not answer; his attention was entirely focused on a notification popping up from the system.

[Would you like to accept the temporary quest: 'Show Your Face'?]
[Quest Requirements: Help the ghost of Liu Xiu find and extract the eighty meteorite soul-suppressing nails and release his spirit.]
[Quest Rewards: One random purple-grade item, one hundred years of Han Dynasty national merit, three liters of dragon vein essence.]

Perhaps because Wang Liang did not respond, Liu Xiu grew somewhat anxious.

"Fellow victim, when I was buried, I had almost nothing left on me. How about this: if you release me, I will teach you a method to refine these meteorite nails into your own life-bound artifact. I will also teach you the layout of this Spirit-Suppressing Formation so that you may use these nails to set up formations yourself. How does that sound?"

Hearing this, Wang Liang slowly shook his head. He remembered the Green Ox telling him before he entered to ignore everything and head straight West. How could he stay here? And so, Wang Liang decisively replied, "Agreed!"