My Dreams Connect to Ancient Times-Chapter 49 - 48: The Ancient Great Wall Surrounding the Entire Solar System
"Yes! Yes! I understand!" In the Sakata Heavy Industries Building, Sakata Kuma, the man in charge of East Sea City, was drenched in sweat.
After hanging up the phone, his lips were trembling.
"Sir," his secretary asked softly from the side. "What happened?"
Sakata Kuma looked terrified.
"The Fourth Seat of the Board of Directors... is dead!"
The secretary’s heart nearly stopped.
Every member of the Board of Directors was an Earth Immortal. The higher their seat, the stronger they were. The top ten seats were all held by top-tier Earth Immortals, each of whom had a chance of reaching for the realm of Heaven-Facing Palace!
’And now... one of them is dead?’
"He died right next to East Sea City!" Sakata Kuma paced back and forth. "And it seems the news about the Great Relic has been leaked. All the major powers are watching. This is going to be a huge mess!"
He paused, took a deep breath, and said,
"The higher-ups said that even those beings from beyond the Great Wall know about the Great Relic. We’re in peace talks with them right now, but I’m afraid some of them will come for it too!"
"Beings from beyond the Great Wall..." The secretary trembled.
’East Sea City is about to descend into chaos.’
......
’Is it him?’
’It has to be him, right?’
Wu Datong’s hands and feet went cold. He stared at the boy before him, his heart pounding in his chest!
The image of Lu the Kid and that of the terrifying Daoist Monarch flashed alternately in his mind, a heart-stopping realization!
He felt dazed, as if trapped in a waking dream, completely disoriented.
"Uncle Wu?"
Lu Xuan, holding a roasted sweet potato in his left hand and a bag of sugar-roasted chestnuts in his right, asked in confusion,
"What’s wrong?"
Wu Datong snapped out of his shock, forcing himself to calm down.
"It’s nothing... Feeling flush lately, Lu the Kid? Buying two bags of roasted chestnuts."
"They’re for a friend." Lu Xuan wanted to scratch his head, but his hands were full, so he gave up on the idea and just smiled cheerfully.
"She likes them."
"Good, good," Wu Datong said softly. "She must be a very good friend... By the way, I heard on my way back that the city-wide lockdown is about to be lifted. Lu the Kid, do you have any plans?"
"Plans?"
Lu Xuan thought for a moment before answering seriously,
"That’s great. Tomorrow is Monday, so I can go to school... I’ve never been to school before."
"School..."
Wu Datong seemed lost in thought for a moment, then he chuckled and clapped Lu Xuan heavily on the shoulder.
"Mind if I come over to your place for a bit?"
"Of course."
After saying goodbye to Old Chen, the chestnut vendor, Lu Xuan and Wu Datong walked back to the small, shabby, but clean wooden cabin.
"I don’t have much at home," Lu Xuan said sheepishly after they went inside. "I’m afraid I can’t be a very good host, Uncle Wu."
"Don’t worry about it. I don’t consider myself a guest."
An awkward silence fell after they sat down.
After a long moment, Lu Xuan couldn’t take it anymore and asked quietly,
"Uncle Wu, was there something you wanted to tell me?"
Wu Datong smiled and asked in return,
"Xiaoxuan, do you know about the current state of the world?"
Lu Xuan paused, scratching his head.
"Well... I don’t understand what you mean, Uncle Wu. What state?"
His heart skipped a beat. ’Could it be? Did Uncle Wu figure something out...?’
Wu Datong gave Lu Xuan a deep look and continued,
"I mean the true state of the world today. You don’t know anything about it?"
"I don’t know anything at all. Please, enlighten me, Uncle Wu." Lu Xuan couldn’t figure out what he was getting at, so he decided to just stop trying. His eyes shone with a thirst for knowledge.
"Since you’ve already started cultivating, you should know about these things."
Wu Datong’s expression was complicated.
"Blue Star, or as some call it, the Ancestor Star, is divided into the East and West Continents. Each continent has thirty-six Provinces, and each province contains a thousand cities. You know that much, right?"
Lu Xuan didn’t interrupt, listening intently.
"Nominally, the Federation governs everything, but more than half of the Federation is actually controlled by six Super Conglomerates. In the East Continent, you have Aotao Organism, Sakata Heavy Industries, and Longque Technology. In the West Continent, there’s Ancient Gene, Celestial God Pharmaceutical, and the Giant Bear Group. Each one is backed by a True Immortal."
"In the Land of the Far North, there is the Death Tower. They act as law enforcers, monitoring all the Cultivators in the world. In the Land of the Far South, there is the Life Tower. They believe this era is sick and must be cured, so they call themselves physicians. Together with the Death Tower, they hold the power of life and death, and both Towers operate independently of the Federation."
"The highest-ranking agent of the Death Tower active in the world is called the Grand Judge, while the highest-ranking agent of the Life Tower is known as the Great Physician."
Hearing this, Lu Xuan’s heart skipped a beat. ’Great Physician?’
’Isn’t that what Uncle Wu used to be?’
Wu Datong continued,
"But Lu the Kid, do you know why a real civil war hasn’t broken out? In this era, the strong rule. The six great conglomerates control nearly half the Federation and are constantly at odds with one another."
Lu Xuan thought for a moment and said,
"Is it because of the balance maintained by the Life and Death Towers?"
"That’s part of it, but it’s not the whole reason."
"Then is it because of the ancient Daoist Lineages?"
"That’s also a factor, but still not the main reason."
"Then what is it?" Lu Xuan was genuinely stumped now.
Instead of answering, Wu Datong posed a question of his own.
"Do you know about the Great Wall?"
"The Great Wall?" Lu Xuan racked his brain for a moment before answering uncertainly, "Do you mean the Great Wall of China, built during the Pre-Qin Era? Wasn’t that destroyed sixty-eight hundred years ago during the Third World War?"
Wu Datong shook his head.
"Have you never wondered? Celestial Humans can walk through the vacuum of the cosmos. Earth Immortals can travel from one planet to another with ease. True Immortals can teleport at will, powerful enough to practically brush against the sun and moon. But even with all that power, humanity has still never set foot outside the Solar System!"
Lu Xuan’s expression shifted. ’That’s right. After all these years, we’ve only developed the Moon, Ying Huo, and Taibai Star. It’s as if no one has ever ventured beyond the Solar System... Why is that?’
He looked at Wu Datong, his eyes full of questions.
"The reason is very simple," Wu Datong said calmly. "The reason we can’t leave the Solar System, and the reason everyone restrains themselves internally instead of breaking out into open war, is one and the same: an external enemy."
"An enemy? Who are they?"
"They range from tigers, leopards, jackals, and wolves, to all manner of birds and beasts, all the way up to True Dragons and Divine Phoenixes."
Lu Xuan’s eyes widened. After a long moment, he whispered,
"Demons?"
"Precisely," Wu Datong said calmly.
"No one knows where these Demons came from. They are suspected to have existed since Ancient Times, breeding in the depths of the starry cosmos. The Great Wall wasn’t destroyed. Sixty-eight hundred years ago, when the world itself reawakened, the Wall rose into the heavens to encircle the entire Solar System, holding back all our enemies."
Lu Xuan was dumbfounded.
’This was all too much for him to process. A Great Wall encircling the entire solar system, Demons breeding in the depths of space...’
"Over the past few millennia, more than rivers of blood have been shed on the Great Wall," Wu Datong lamented. "But I’ve heard the Federation has started peace talks with those beyond the Wall. I suppose that’s for the best."
He paused, then looked at the dazed Lu Xuan and said, enunciating each word,
"That’s enough of that for now. You should probably go visit your friend... Lu Xuan, thank you."
"What for?" Lu Xuan blinked. "I should be the one thanking you, Uncle Wu, for telling me all this."
"Thank you for saving my life."
The boy’s pupils contracted slightly.
Wu Datong, however, rose calmly to his feet, faced Lu Xuan, and bowed deeply.
As he bowed, he said,
"I considered that it might have been one of your elders. But if you truly had an elder that powerful, how could you possibly not even know about the Great Wall?"
"Xiaoxuan, I won’t pry into your secrets. In a few days, I should be taking Xiaoxu to the Provincial Government... If you ever need anything in the future, I will risk my life to help you."
Lu Xuan’s lips moved, but although he didn’t know what conclusions Uncle Wu had jumped to, he offered no explanation. He simply accepted Wu Datong’s bow with composure.
It was a bow he deserved to receive.
