Chapter One: Perplexity

  In the eighth year of Southern Song's Jiaqing, in the vast Mongolian grasslands, a generation of proud Genghis Khan led his brave warriors to unify the entire Mongolian grasslands and began to shift their gaze towards the more prosperous and vast territories in the south. A bloody storm swept across the north, and both the Jin Dynasty and Western Xia trembled under the iron hooves of the Mongol army.

  But the Southern Song Dynasty, which was biased towards the south, was even more unaware of itself. It was still a scene of music and dance, completely unresponsive to the sword of Damocles that had long been hanging over its head. In Shaoxing City, it was spring, and the gentle breeze made people feel warm and drowsy. In the afternoon, in the backyard of a large mansion in the city, a young maid was anxiously shouting softly at a big tree.

  "Third Master! Hurry up and come down! Otherwise, Old Master will scold you again!"

  A twelve or thirteen year old boy climbed up the tree, with a silly smile on his face. Although he was called Third Young Master by the little girl below, judging from his clothes, he looked more like a poor kid. His body was covered in grease and his clothes were tattered, which didn't match the grandeur of the mansion at all.

  If you look closely, you'll find that this so-called young master's facial expression is actually a bit stupid, to put it bluntly, he's an idiot, not very bright! At this moment, he's trying his best to climb the tree, and the reason is simple: there's a kite made of bamboo strips hanging from the branch. It turns out that his kite got stuck in the tree, and he's trying to get it down, no wonder the little girl below looks so anxious.

  The originally clear sky suddenly floated a patch of dark clouds, covering the entire Shaoxing city, and the wind began to pick up. The branches of the big trees started swaying in the air, but this young master was still clumsily crawling upwards, without paying any attention to the change in the weather.

  "It's windy, Third Master! Hurry down, don't fall!" The little maid became even more anxious and started calling out to him again from below.

  The third young master smiled foolishly at the little girl and replied in a low voice, "It's okay, I'm about to catch up with the kite!"

  At this time, the sky presented a strange phenomenon. The dark clouds suddenly turned red, revealing some gaps in between, and sunlight poured down from these cloud cracks, forming rays of light. The dark clouds also showed a blood-red color, with flashes of lightning faintly appearing in the cloud layer. Before long, thunder rumbled into people's ears.

  Such a strange sight was the first time for the people of Shaoxing City, so many people rushed out of the house, looking up at the sky, and that lazy young master on the tree also saw the strange color in the sky, looked up and clapped his hands foolishly: "Hehe! Fun, really fun!"

  The little girl was also attracted by the scene and forgot to remind the young master on the tree to be careful, while the strange colored cloud in the sky continued to emit lightning from time to time, and a burst of thunder kept coming, Shaoxing City became lively, people exclaimed one after another, but couldn't figure out what this phenomenon would bring to them!

  Just as people felt a little worried, a dazzling flash of lightning suddenly appeared in the red clouds in the sky and fell straight down, just falling into this mansion. The silly young master on the tree was facing upwards, looking at the sky, but suddenly found that the lightning was falling towards his head, and his face instantly showed a terrified expression.

  "Ah……" With a cry of pain, the foolish young master fell from the tree, luckily there were many branches that broke his fall, so he didn't land flat on the ground, but instead rolled into the flower bushes below after breaking several branches.

  The little girl was frightened by this sudden accident, covering her mouth and staring blankly for a while before remembering to call for help: "Quickly come! Young Master has been struck by lightning! Quickly come!……" She shouted as she rushed to the side of the third young master who lay motionless on the ground.

  And at this time, looking at that foolish young master again, his appearance can be said to be as strange as possible. His hair was standing on end, and his body emitted a smoky smell. His clothes were also partially burned, and when he fell down, they were torn by branches, making the whole garment tattered and worn out. Moreover, his face was covered with a layer of black soot, his mouth wide open, exhaling more than inhaling, looking like he was on the verge of death.

  Xiao Yatou saw his appearance and immediately burst into tears, while at this time someone in the garden had already heard Xiao Yatou's cry for help and started running towards the back garden.

  The first to arrive were a few servants, who, after seeing the miserable state of the young master struck by lightning, hastily carried him into the pavilion. The little maid was frightened out of her wits and knelt beside the foolish young master, crying and calling out to him not to scare herself, shaking his body non-stop, but this foolish young master had no reaction at all.

  After such a thing happened, it was natural that there were servants who ran to the front yard to inform the owner of this mansion. Before long, a middle-aged man wearing official clothes followed the servant and came to the pavilion in the back garden.

  The man in official uniform had a pale complexion, with a tuft of beard on his chin, and was neatly dressed. At first glance, he looked like a scholar, but at this moment, his expression didn't look good. In this era, when someone got struck by lightning, people would gossip about it, generally saying that only those who had done evil deeds would be punished by heaven and get struck by lightning. How could such an unfortunate event happen to him today?

  It's strange to say that after the lightning fell, the red cloud in the sky quickly dissipated, not a single drop of rain fell, and it seemed as if nothing had happened. People shook their heads and sighed in amazement. Then some busybodies began to fabricate rumors, saying that a divine sign had appeared over Shaoxing Prefecture, and that Shaoxing Prefecture would surely produce a sage.

  But whether a sage will appear in the future, no one knows at this time. However, within this grand mansion, a child who had been electrocuted appeared, seemingly on the verge of death.

  A middle-aged man with a dark face arrived at the pavilion, and when he lowered his head to see the miserable appearance of the child lying on the ground, he kicked the little girl who was crying beside him to the ground, angrily saying: "Cry! What are you crying about? What's going on here? You're supposed to be watching him, why didn't you watch him properly? How could something like this happen?"

  "Master! It's all Liu'er's fault, young master was flying a kite in the garden just now, and the kite got stuck in the tree. Young master went to pick it up, but was struck by lightning! Waaahhh..."

  The master listened and looked down at the son lying on the ground, shook his head and sighed: "What a misfortune! It's really a misfortune! This is also his bad luck! You prepare to send him out of the city and bury him!" In his opinion, this child was beyond saving, and for this foolish boy, it might be a kind of relief. He didn't even bend down to check if the child on the ground still had breath, but gave the order, and he himself seemed to have a sense of relief, as if he had finally put an end to a heart-wrenching matter!

  Several servants nodded and were about to lift the young master who seemed to have stopped breathing, but a little maid named Liu'er rushed over and blocked them, crying out: "Don't! The young master isn't dead yet, he's still alive! I just saw him move earlier, sir! Don't! The young master hasn't died, please hurry up and invite the doctor to treat the young master! Please, sir!"

  After hearing Liu'er's cry, the middle-aged man showed a hint of compassion on his face. He bent down to examine the child on the ground. Upon closer inspection, it was indeed as the little girl had said - the child was not dead yet, at least he still had a breath left in him, and his chest was slightly heaving. The middle-aged man straightened up, shook his head, and instructed: "He really does have some life left in him! Gaofu, go invite a doctor to come back and treat the Third Young Master! Let's do what we can for him! Carry him back into the house!"

  After finishing speaking, he didn't stay any longer either. He kicked the willow branch with one foot and scolded: "It's all because of you, this maid, that trouble was stirred up! Wait and see how I'll deal with you when I get back!" Then, with a flick of his sleeve, he left the pavilion and returned to the mansion.

  Then several servants lifted the young master into a simple bedroom, threw him down and left the room one after another. The high-ranking official who was entrusted with this task swaggered out of the mansion to invite a doctor for him! Only the thin and weak Liu'er was left behind, busily fetching some water to wipe the foolish young master on the bed.

  Actually, after this foolish young master's face was wiped clean, he didn't look ugly at all, and could even be said to be quite handsome. After Liu'er finished wiping his face, she sat down in front of the bed again and started crying...

  Huang Chao suddenly felt a sharp pain in his body, and the information in his mind was chaotic. The first thing that flashed into his mind was Du Lao San's crazy expression when he was dying, followed by the loud noise, and then all sorts of strange things came flooding in, along with the cries of shock from his colleagues.

  Huang Chao lay on the bed, his whole body devoid of any strength, unable to even muster the energy to open his eyes. All he could do was lie there, enduring the constant pain coursing through his body. To distract himself from this bone-deep ache, he tried to think about other things, making an effort to organize the jumbled thoughts in his mind. After a while, he finally managed to clarify some things!

  At first, he could be certain that he had perished along with that damned Du Lao San, because when the explosion sounded, he felt a sense of his soul leaving his body, his thoughts separating from his physical form, slowly floating upwards, even able to gaze down at the chaotic flesh and blood in the ditch. His body, as well as Du Lao San's, had already been reduced to fragments in that deafening sound. Then, he saw his colleagues nearby, who were crying out and shouting as they scrambled up and rushed to the side of the ditch. This feeling was very strange, without pain, without sorrow, everything seemed so calm, although he could see those people, but those people couldn't see him. Only then did he believe that this person indeed had a soul.

  He floated in the air, watching everything that happened below, until a beam of light shone on his body, and he reluctantly rose into the sky. However, for some reason, he seemed to be enveloped in a mass of fog, and finally fell suddenly to the ground in a burst of misty light.

  What exactly happened, he didn't know, all he knew was that his mind now had some more very chaotic information. This information was like some unorganizable fragments, constantly appearing with images of people wearing strange clothes, seemingly ancient costumes, but he couldn't determine their identities or how they blended into his thoughts.

  This information was in disarray, Huang Chao couldn't piece them together and couldn't make sense of his current situation. All he knew was that he could feel himself being alive now, the pain that occasionally came from his body constantly reminding him that he had a physical form once again.

  His hearing gradually recovered, and a sobbing cry began to be transmitted in his ears. It was the cry of a girl, which sounded sad and heart-wrenching, making people feel very sympathetic. However, he still couldn't open his eyes and could only listen quietly like this. He didn't understand yet who was crying for him by his side. To say that he shouldn't have a girlfriend who would cry so sadly for him! It's strange!

  Someone outside yelled in a harsh tone: "Liu Er, Lang Zhong has arrived!"

  "Doctor, please come quickly and take a look at my young master! He was struck by lightning and hasn't woken up yet!" The crying woman, with a sobbing voice, got up and ran out, seemingly to the entrance, calling out to someone.

  Who is Liu Er? Lang Zhong? Who still uses this title? Why not call him a doctor? Huang Chao felt strange, and a string of question marks floated in his mind.

  A seemingly ancient voice hummed a sound, then someone walked up to him, grabbed his wrist and placed two fingers on top of it.

  "How strange! It's really strange! Logically speaking, being struck by lightning should have turned him to ashes, at least he should be charred. But your young master's pulse is very calm, as if nothing had happened! He just has some burns on his body, no big deal, it's really strange!"

  "He just fainted, he'll be fine in two days. Go to my place later and get some burn cream, apply it on him, and he'll recover quickly!" The person known as the doctor said slowly.

  Young master? How did he become a young master himself? Huang Tao racked his brains but couldn't figure it out.