July 12, 2110.
PM.
At the top floor of Lingxiao Palace, in the gym.
It was raining outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, but the city remained noisy. Below the veil of rain, projection advertisents soared skyward, and the colorful light pollution rushed up from below, like furnace flas baking the small lodgings at the pinnacle of the sky.
Wei Tianyang stood bare-chested, wearing a pair of black sports trousers, barefoot on the specially material-covered floor. He had just finished warming up, his body faintly emitting steam, with fine beads of sweat appearing on his chest and back. The black patterns that entwined around his right arm and collarbone resembled complex, intricate tattoos.
Starting from Chicken Snake Country and ending in Yin Country, the fifteen-year-old boy had endured hardships and finally tamorphosed.
After Tiantai Pharmaceutical was dissolved, in order to join the United Council Army system and beco a qualified military observer, he stayed in Yin Country and had undergone three years of military training.
The ones responsible for guiding him included not only the soldiers from the Three Armies Bureau of Yin Country but also the Monarch Zhao Ling herself.
Dispensing with unnecessary formalities, the Three Armies Bureau skipped the recruit phase and went straight to training him to the standards of a special forces unit, directly instructing him in the use of all kinds of firearms and vehicles, ranging from small pistols to one-man rocket launchers, from jeeps to fighter jets. Wei Tianyang did not necessarily beco an expert, but had at least beco a versatile asset across all military branches.
And, apart from these skills, what benefited him most was Zhao Ling sharing with him her hand-to-hand combat skills, honed over hundreds of years, without reservation.
It was a type of close-quarters combat technique similar to CQC, without any fixed stances or preliminary moves. In just one or two brief exchanges, she could take a person down—knocking them out or even lethally engaging them if necessary!
Over these three years, Wei Tianyang’s daily routine beca incredibly full. Each morning began with a workout in the gym and practicing lethality techniques with Zhao Ling. Afterward, he would follow a rhythm of going to the Three Armies Bureau to practice shooting and driving on odd and even days, respectively. On Sundays, professors from various higher education institutions would personally co to Jade Pavilion to teach cultural classes.
With the passing of spring and fall, he had reached the age of 20. The thin, emotional, impulsive youth had transford into a handso young man with a piercing gaze, more reserved and restrained.
His sowhat slender fra had changed too. Now, Wei Tianyang’s physique was lean and fit, his back muscles outlined like wings of a butterfly, his chest muscles resembling two thick slabs of ceramic armor, his eight-pack abs chiseled and defined. From a distance, he looked like a living statue of an ancient hero.
He restrained himself from overusing his superpower, desiring to solve problems as a human being, not as a monster. So, he wrapped his right arm in bandages.
At this ti in the past, he would have been resting in the Jade Pavilion.
But tonight, he felt restless and uneasy because the three-year military training would conclude after tomorrow, and the representatives of the United Council would co to escort him to their headquarters.
Although this did not an that he would never return, at least for a short while, he would not be able to.
These three years with Zhao Ling had given Wei Tianyang a deeper understanding of the woman Monarch.
While she held a high position and had to assu the role of a cold and cruel Empress to balance the three councils and six bureaus for the good of the country, in private, she also had her monts of vulnerability and sensitivity.
She showed her soft side only to Wei Tianyang, even occasionally cooking for him and tutoring his lessons.
In Wei Tianyang’s eyes, Zhao Ling’s image occasionally overlapped with that of his mother, yet she also possessed a strictness his mother did not have.
When teaching combat techniques, she would not hesitate to strike fiercely at the softest parts of Wei Tianyang’s waist and abdon, several tis leaving him unable to stand from pain, vomiting on the floor. She would mock and jeer from the side, provocatively taunting him.
Sotis, she would sit with Wei Tianyang in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, gazing at the vast city, sharing their troubles about issues like disasters in various parts of Yin Country, the decline in GDP, corruption, military spending, crucial decision-making...
Zhao Ling also shared her secret with him, albeit it was a secret known by the high-ranking officials of Yin Country.
The Dragon Shedding coiled atop Lingxiao Palace was not shed by Heavenly Falling Objects but by Zhao Ling herself.
In 2082, the black dragon-like Heavenly Falling Object was secretly transported to Fengrao City. Zhao Ling injected Black dicine and gained the ability of Dragon Transformation. This ability allowed her to shed her skin and rejuvenate in cycles, forever young and immune to all diseases, while also endowing her with the aura of a dragon that enveloped her entire body.
Of course, she wasn’t the first person to inject the Black dicine derived from the black dragon. The sacrifice of the initial test subjects ensured the Black dicine’s infallibility and clarified its capabilities.
After gaining the black dragon’s power, Zhao Ling destroyed the black dragon, killing the inverted triangle that sought to seal the truth.
She beca the sole possessor of the privilege of eternal rejuvenation through shedding.
Wei Tianyang showed little emotion or opinion towards this matter. He understood Zhao Ling’s actions. He was no longer naively distinguishing between right and wrong but saw things similarly to how Zhao Ling brought prosperity to Yin Country.
Small acts of kindness and malice are not aningless, but from a larger perspective, so things are worth sacrificing more for.
At that mont, he gazed out of the window, slowly crossing his legs to sit down, recalling the past, Chicken Snake Country, the black house, and the day of court... Everything seed like it had only happened yesterday, vivid in his mind.
Behind him, the sound of familiar footsteps approached, and he slled that faint, comforting fragrance.
Zhao Ling, with her hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a crop top and yoga pants, also entered the gym.
She wasn’t surprised to see Wei Tianyang but intuitively sat down beside him.
The reckless teenager from three years ago had now beco a reserved and robust young man. Looking at his muscular form, she felt an indescribable emotion.
"Can’t sleep?" Zhao Ling asked.
"I’m leaving tomorrow," Wei Tianyang said.
The two fell silent for a while, looking out the window.
"If it’s not a big deal, co back. It’s quite idle over there," Zhao Ling said with a smile.
"I don’t think they will let be idle. Besides, I still need to go looking for..." Wei Tianyang looked at Zhao Ling, but he stopped speaking abruptly.
Zhao Ling was also looking at him. The colorful neon lights outside the window seed to put makeup on her, her crimson lips glossy and highlighted on the edges, and her eyes were full of affection, her expression increasingly intoxicating.
"A greater aning? Hmph~ you’ve changed, but you also haven’t," Zhao Ling said.
"You taught to see things happening in this world from a higher perspective. I will put this into practice in deed, not just in words. A greater aning should not be an empty talk. One day, I will find the answer," Wei Tianyang said.
"And after that day?" Zhao Ling asked.
"After that day, perhaps the world will undergo drastic changes. That greater aning, if good, I will share with you, with Steijie, with Helena Mina, and with the presidents of the Western Alliance. Our weapons, our killing skills, will no longer be used against our own kind. We will make this world better. When you have a greater aning... even the elders of the Three Bureaus will stop giving you trouble," Wei Tianyang said.
Zhao Ling smiled a complex smile and said, "Thank you... Tianyang, you’re still that 17-year-old, still so naive..."
"Isn’t that so? Otherwise, what else do they want? The wealth they have amassed is neverending; they sit at the pinnacle of power. Using a greater aning to make life a bit better for those below, what would it cost them?" Wei Tianyang asked.
"Humans are insatiable creatures. You once questioned my disdain for the six-tiered civil law, but do you know? When I was little, Yin Country was divided only between the Imperial Family and the commoners. To civilize Yin Country, I killed my father, ascended to the throne, established the six classes, set up the Foreign Affairs Bureau, and changed the fate of our nation."
"Even so, the imperial examination, which could reverse the destinies of commoners, was opposed by the elders of the Three Bureaus for a long ti. To abolish the old rites of Yin Country, I started in the Foreign Affairs Bureau by demanding colleagues address each other as ’comrades’ instead of ’monarch and subject’, eliminating the formalities within the bureau. This, too, faced harsh criticism from the sons of the Three Bureaus."
"Many changes cannot be achieved overnight. And after I die... will these rules revert? After my death, will the feudal ghosts once again rise from this land?"
"In your eyes, Yin Country may still be that feudal empire. You must understand that whether everyone in this world can live well does not depend on whether there’s ’a greater aning’ or enough ’productive capacity’."
"There are too many evildoers in this world, and even more who want to enslave others. What they seek is not ’wealth’ and ’power’ but a class system for ’enslaving others’ in which they can be on top. With just a glance, a word, they can make those below squirm and show their ugliest sides."
"The greatest dignity of a person, beyond having enough to eat and wear, is to live with decency. Now, everyone can eat and wear enough, so ’making you lose your dignity’ has beco the pursuit of those evildoers."
"Tianyang, I don’t know what your ’greater aning’ is, but I believe that even it can’t change this world," Zhao Ling shook her head and said.
"If it were before, I would have said, ’then I’ll fly up there and kill them all.’ But... now I know that killing them wouldn’t solve anything. There will always be others to take their place... If I killed everyone, I would beco the most dangerous one... Zhao Ling... tell , what should I do...?" Wei Tianyang’s face showed difficulty.
"Tianyang, just be true to yourself. Small acts of evil and goodness are not aningless. The world is full of compromises. Within our capabilities, protecting those we can care for is enough. Just like you," Zhao Ling said softly, caressing Wei Tianyang’s back.
"You are a monarch, immortal... You have enough ti to change all of this. And..." Wei Tianyang said, leaning closer to Zhao Ling, placing his hand on her thigh, "you have ."
"Power structures are complicated. I am at the pinnacle of power but can’t snap my fingers and get things done. I’ve taught you that building an organization requires distributing matching benefits to the followers, and the original intent of the organization will change during the distribution process. Moreover... I’m not the highest point of authority in this world, Tianyang... In addition to these people you see, , Steijie, Helena Mina... there are those in the shadows who truly control power."
"Killing doesn’t solve problems. There are billions of people in this world, power is like a net, intricate and entangled. Good and evil people can no longer be distinguished. Those you consider evildoers may, from a larger perspective, bring about good results. Those you consider good may have always been inactive, wasting resources idly. That is the complexity of human society," Zhao Ling shook her head and said.
"Perhaps there isn’t an answer now, but I will find it. Trust , Zhao Ling," Wei Tianyang said.
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