Legend Management Bureau Chapter 71

[ … words ]

Time: End of the Shang Dynasty.

Location: Unknown.

Pawn, Zhang Zhen descends.

…

“Zhang Zhen, Zhang Zhen!”

Du Yu felt himself being shaken. He abruptly opened his eyes.

“Eh?”

Du Yu cleared his head and quickly surveyed his surroundings. He seemed to be sitting in a spectator stand. In the distance, there was an open space paved with jade, resembling a martial arts arena. A scattering of people stood around the stands. He did not know what this massive venue was for; it looked like a gathering, but whether the gathering had just begun or already ended was unclear given the sparse crowd.

Regaining his composure, Du Yu looked at the large-faced man in front of him. Since the man had just called him ‘Zhang Zhen’, Du Yu at least knew who he was now.

“The Investiture of the Gods is over. Shall we head back?” the man suggested.

“The Investiture of the Gods… is over?” Only then did Du Yu realize that the jade platform before him was the legendary Deification Altar. It was right here that Jiang Ziya had conferred titles upon the three hundred and fifty-six orthodox gods, and it was also here that the Jade Emperor had ascended to the throne.

“What’s wrong with you, Zhang Zhen?” The large-faced man waved a hand repeatedly in front of Du Yu’s face. “Are you sick? Why do you keep spacing out?”

“Oh, I’m fine.” Du Yu offered the man a faint smile. Based on his experience descending into legends multiple times, his current status was undoubtedly lowly, which meant anyone who knew him would not be a big shot either. This large-faced man was likely just that.

“Let’s head back then.” The large-faced man stood up. “This is great. Someone from our Zhang Family Village actually became a god, and the Lord of All Gods at that. Even though I can’t quite stand how that kid Zhang Youren acts, he at least won some glory for our village.”

‘Zhang Family Village…’ Du Yu pondered briefly. His current surname was also Zhang. Did that mean he was from the same hometown as Zhang Youren?

“Brother, what are your thoughts on Zhang Youren becoming the Lord of All Gods?” Du Yu inquired as he and the large-faced man wove through the crowd.

“Thoughts?” The man mused for a moment. “Naturally, I’m happy. But to be honest, our village chief, Zhang Jian, is far more capable than Zhang Youren, yet he didn’t even secure a divine position. Who doesn’t want to become a god? It goes without saying for someone like me, Zhang San, but the village chief’s abilities are obvious to everyone!”

‘Good heavens,’ Du Yu thought to himself. This Zhang San seemed to know quite a bit. As long as he chatted with him more, he was confident he would find some clues.

“Du Yu, is everything alright on your end?” Xiao Qi’s voice murmured low in Du Yu’s mind.

“Oh? Everything is fine. Why, do I not have a visual feed right now?”

“Exactly,” Xiao Qi replied. “The moment you entered the legend, the visual feed was blocked by fog. Not only can I not see anything, but I also can’t hear anyone else’s voice. You need to be extra careful with everything.”

“I understand.”

‘So this is the fog period?’ he thought. That meant any information gathered right now would be completely unknown to the Legend Administration Bureau.

“By the way, when Zhang Youren went up to the platform earlier, I actually mistook him for the village chief,” Zhang San added.

Du Yu considered this for a moment before responding, “That’s normal, isn’t it? Don’t they look very similar?”

“Similar?” Zhang San scratched his head. “Is that what you think? I used to feel they looked a tiny bit alike, but looking from afar today, those two seemed like they were carved from the exact same mold!”

“You’re too dense,” Du Yu chided. “Are you usually face-blind? Can’t you even tell when two people look alike?”

“What are you talking about!” Zhang San retorted in annoyance. “The four of us grew up together in the village, and no one has ever said they looked alike! At most, they’re about the same height and have a slight resemblance, that’s all.”

Du Yu blanked. Did Zhang Youren and Zhang Jian originally not look alike at all? Then how could Zhang Jian possibly have taken his place?

As they conversed, Du Yu and Zhang San left the spectator stands. The people nearby were also leaving in succession. The majority were ordinary-looking mortals, but there were also bizarrely shaped mountain spirits and demons. These were all participants in King Wu’s campaign against Zhou who had ultimately failed to be appointed as orthodox gods.

Amidst the flowing crowd, Du Yu suddenly spotted a somewhat familiar figure in black in the distance. He wore his hair in a high topknot, and his black robes billowed without any wind, making him look completely out of place among the people around him.

“Zhan… Zhan Qisheng?!” Du Yu blurted out uncontrollably. Unfortunately, the man was too far away to hear his shout.

“Hold on! Stop right there!”

Du Yu pushed through the crowd and sprinted forward. He chased the man all the way to a desolate, uninhabited corner of the mountain, only for the black-robed figure to vanish in a flash, like a phantom.

‘Strange… Did I see wrong?’

“Du Yu, did you just see Zhan Qisheng?” Xiao Qi, unable to see the visual feed, could only communicate via telepathy.

“I’m not sure, but I saw a black-robed man who looked a lot like him.” Du Yu lowered his head in deep thought, wondering if Zhan Qisheng had any connection to this particular legend.

“Zhang Zhen, why did you suddenly run off?” Zhang San caught up, panting heavily. “Did you run into an acquaintance?”

“No, I probably just saw things…” Du Yu shook his head and replied.

As the two spoke, two figures walked toward them from a hidden path nearby in the mountains. They had been deep in conversation, but the moment they spotted Du Yu and Zhang San, they instantly pretended not to know each other and split up.

One was clearly the Great Emperor of Mount Tai, whom Du Yu had met once before, while the other was a white-haired, extraordinarily dignified old man. The man resembling the Great Emperor of Mount Tai hesitated for a moment before walking over to Du Yu and Zhang San.

“Ah Zhen, Ah San, let’s head down the mountain,” he instructed.

“Village Chief, so you actually know Senior Jiang Ziya?” Zhang San asked. “I saw you two talking just now.”

“So that person just now was Senior Jiang Ziya? I didn’t know him before; he was merely asking me for directions.”

Du Yu realized then that the extraordinary-looking old man was the grandmaster of this deification ceremony, Jiang Ziya. And this ‘Village Chief’ before them was naturally the head of the Zhang Family Village, Zhang Jian. Du Yu’s eyesight was sharp; he had definitely seen the two of them engaged in a solemn conversation, yet they were clearly trying to hide it.

‘Could it be related to Zhang Youren’s ascension?’

Typically, such concealed matters were often the closest to the truth.

However, Du Yu had absolutely no idea how to breach this layer of secrecy, so he had no choice but to follow the two of them down the mountain.

“Village Chief, I never expected that brat Zhang Youren to play a clever little trick and suddenly transform into the Lord of All Gods,” Zhang San commented as they walked.

Du Yu discreetly observed Zhang Jian, noticing that the expression on his face remained completely placid.

“Youren merely possessed abundant fortune; there is nothing inappropriate about it,” Zhang Jian replied quietly.

“Abundant fortune? If you ask me, the Lord of All Gods should clearly be you, Village Chief,” Zhang San declared, shaking his large head and gesturing wildly.

Du Yu did not say much, simply following silently behind the two men.

The trio walked for nearly an hour, yet they still had not reached the foot of the mountain. Inevitably feeling a bit tired, they found a massive tree and sat down to rest in its shade.

“Village Chief, are you hungry?” Zhang San asked.

“A little,” Zhang Jian admitted.

“Alright, then Zhang Zhen and I will go rustle up some food.” Zhang San nudged Du Yu with his elbow. “Let’s go.”

“Do not take any lives,” Zhang Jian added.

“You got it.”

Du Yu blanked. What did Zhang Jian just say? Had he misheard?

Before he could ask for clarification, Zhang San was already striding forward with large steps. Seeing this, Du Yu hurried to keep up; being completely unfamiliar with this place, getting lost would be disastrous.

He watched as Zhang San wandered in circles through the mountain forest. He neither picked fruit from the trees nor looked for wild game; shockingly, he just kept pacing around the mountain paths.

“Zhang San, what kind of food are we looking for here?” Du Yu finally could not help but ask.

“What kind of food? Fat sheep, of course,” Zhang San replied. “What, did attending a deification ceremony make you forget your old profession?”

“O-old profession?”

As they were speaking, two young women approached from a distance. They wore light armor and were likely also participants in King Wu’s campaign against Zhou. Zhang San marched straight toward them.

“Eh?!” Du Yu had a very bad feeling about this. “Zhang San, what are you doing? Hold on a second!”

Failing to grab hold of him, Zhang San had already charged forward, drawing the bronze sword strapped to his waist.

“Halt!” Zhang San barked coldly.

“Huh?” The two girls paused in surprise.

“If you want to live, leave all your rations behind!” Zhang San waved his bronze sword, looking as if he was about to stab the two girls.

“Zhang San!” Du Yu wanted to rush up and stop him, but he lost his footing while running, tripping over his own feet and crashing heavily into one of the girls.

How could a frail girl withstand such a collision from Du Yu? She stumbled back several steps and plopped hard onto the ground.

Zhang San was clearly taken aback, a trace of confusion flashing across his face. “Zhang Zhen, are you… alright?”

Du Yu rubbed his shoulder, completely bewildered by the current situation. Just a moment ago, he had been pretending to commit a robbery at the Legend Administration Bureau, and now he was actually going to be a bandit?

‘Could it be that ‘Zhang Family Village’… is a bandit stronghold?’

“Who are you two scoundrels?” The girl standing in front, wearing white clothes, looked quite young. She drew a short dagger from her waist and demanded, “Do you have any idea where you are? How dare you commit highway robbery here?!”

As she spoke, she helped up the girl in red, who was sitting on the ground, her face flushed red with anger.

“It’s a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!” Du Yu hurriedly scrambled to his feet and waved his hands. “Put your weapons away! It would be such a pity if we failed to become gods only to end up slaughtering each other on this mountain!”

“You’re acting a bit strange today, Zhang Zhen!” Zhang San shoved Du Yu aside. “If you’re not going to help catch the fat sheep, then don’t get in the way!”

Du Yu had not expected Zhang San, despite his short stature, to possess such astonishing strength. Du Yu was shoved quite a distance away. By the time he turned back around, the two girls and Zhang San had already started fighting.

He had assumed it would be a brawl between ordinary people, but when Du Yu took a closer look, he was dumbfounded.

The two girls were forming hand seals and chanting incantations. With a wave of the white-clad girl’s hand, the leaves on the ground swept up into the air without any wind, carrying sand and dirt as they flew toward Zhang San. On the other side, the red-clad girl slapped her mouth and spat out a fireball that also flew into the wind. In an instant, the two created a massive, fiery tornado.

Du Yu turned his head to look at Zhang San, only to discover that the man was no pushover either. He stabbed his bronze sword into the ground, and a towering stone wall abruptly rose from the clearing. The fiery tornado crashed into the high wall and dissipated instantly. With another wave of his hand, Zhang San shattered the stone wall into flying rocks that hurled forward, and gripping his bronze sword, he charged into the fray alongside the barrage of stones.

Du Yu could not help but gulp. Were these really just normal bandits and passersby?