After Three Lifetimes of Tragedy, I Finally Got a Happy Ending with His Majesty - Chapter 2

People like them [the Gu clan members] possess at most a lifespan of one or two hundred years a longevity ordinary people could never hope to attain. If Gu Yun remained trapped in the Imperial Mausoleum without a way out, he would surely starve to death!

Gu Yun felt a wave of gloom, but he steeled himself to find a way out. The Human Emperor’s mausoleum was unlike others; nourished by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, even the interior allowed for breathing through this energy, preventing Gu Yun from suffocating.

There was only one path forward, and after walking it, he found himself facing several branching corridors. After passing through one dark chamber and entering the next, he realized he had completely lost his sense of direction.

How is this supposed to work? The compass in his hand was also being interfered with by the spiritual energy here, making it impossible to determine direction. Gu Yun had no choice but to resign himself to wandering blindly, trying his best not to trigger any arrays or mechanisms.

The mausoleum was unimaginably vast, and he had no idea how long he had been walking. When he pushed open the bronze door in front of him, Gu Yun was stunned by the scene inside. He stood rooted to the spot, his mouth hanging open wide enough to fit an egg.

Countless night-luminescent pearls were piled up around the periphery of the main hall, forming small mountains that illuminated the dim palace. As he walked into the main hall, the air grew thick with increasingly concentrated spiritual energy. Clouds and mist swirled—illusions formed by the density of the spiritual energy.

The mountains were steep and jagged, the sun reflecting off clear forests; layer upon layer of red mist curled around. Wind stirred in the gloomy gullies, with tens of thousands of colorful clouds drifting by. The cliffs were covered in lush grass, and the scent of plum blossoms drifted from the ridges. The scenery was lush and dense; zhi orchids gave off a faint, clean fragrance. Dragons roared, tigers howled, cranes danced, and apes cried. Elks emerged from the flowers, and blue phoenixes sang to the sun.

The scene left Gu Yun speechless for a long time. By the time he gathered his senses, the illusions of spiritual energy had vanished, though they still flickered faintly. In the very center of the hall, two bronze coffins rested upon a high platform. Nine golden-red divine dragons circled above them.

Gu Yun’s pupils shrank. His mind raced, and finally, he gasped, “Destiny Golden Dragons?!”

The so-called “Destiny Golden Dragons” were the manifestation of a nation’s accumulated destiny. These nine incredibly solid golden dragons were the condensed national destiny of the Great Yan Imperial Dynasty over its nine-hundred-plus years of existence. One hundred years of national destiny were required to condense a single Destiny Golden Dragon, and since the Great Yan Dynasty had lasted for over nine hundred years, it had formed nine of them.

However, one must realize that once a nation falls, its destiny dissipates. What kind of existence could possibly condense the entire destiny of the Great Yan Imperial Dynasty? If that were the case, why did the Great Yan Dynasty fall after only nine hundred years? With such vast destiny, it should have been no problem to continue for several more centuries. Unless… these Destiny Golden Dragons were condensed only after the Great Yan Imperial Dynasty had already fallen!

The concept of national destiny is mysterious and unfathomable invisible and intangible, existing only in the deep unknown. The entity capable of condensing such destiny was truly terrifying. Just how powerful would one have to be to condense the destiny of an empire after its collapse?

Gu Yun watched for a while and soon noticed something wrong. These Destiny Golden Dragons, along with the surrounding rich spiritual energy, were all nourishing the contents of the bronze coffins. What kind of object could require nine hundred years of national destiny transformed into Destiny Golden Dragons to nourish it?

In an instant, Gu Yun’s imagination ran wild. This was the Imperial Mausoleum of the Great Yan’s Emperor Yan Wu. Surely, one of the people lying on the high platform was Emperor Yan Wu. As for the other bronze coffin, he didn’t know who lay inside. However, legend had it that the founding War General of Great Yan, Duan Yan, was buried with Emperor Yan Wu. Could the other coffin really belong to Duan Yan?

After being nourished by the Destiny Golden Dragons for so long, have the people inside… come back to life? Why use Destiny Golden Dragons to nourish them? What is the secret behind this?

Gu Yun’s curiosity peaked. He desperately wanted to go up and take a look, but he was also terrified. In the end, curiosity overcame his fear. Gu Yun cautiously stepped onto the high platform. The closer he got to the bronze coffins, the more nervous he became.

The bronze coffins were not sealed. Gu Yun leaned over and took a look at the left coffin, only to find a black dragon robe inside, with nothing else—not even bones. Gu Yun was momentarily stunned, but he realized that Emperor Yan Wu was indeed the one meant to be in this coffin why else would the dragon robe be there? But why weren’t there even any remains?

Gu Yun leaned over to look at the right bronze coffin. At a single glance, his eyes widened instantly.

Lying in the bronze coffin was a young man as gentle as jade. He wore a long-sleeved white robe, his ink-black hair draped over his shoulders, loosely tied with a white ribbon. His brows were sparse and indifferent, and the jade pendant at his waist shimmered with light. He was tall and slender, looking clean, cold, elegant, and gentle. His face was pale, and he lay quietly in the bronze coffin like an exquisite doll, his stillness possessing a sense of fragile beauty.

Gu Yun noticed that a constant stream of spiritual energy was nourishing this person. What truly shocked Gu Yun, however, was this man’s appearance. Gu Yun had once seen a painting among the antiques collected by his family. That painting had been drawn by Emperor Yan Wu himself, stamped with his private seal it could not be fake.

The painting depicted a gentle, jade-like nobleman it was Duan Yan. His appearance seemed entirely inconsistent with his status; he looked more like a humble gentleman from a noble family. Yet, this very person had never lost a battle on the battlefield, defended the frontiers, and conquered the world for Emperor Yan Wu. The person now lying in the bronze coffin looked exactly like General Duan Yan from the painting.

Gu Yun’s mind became a chaotic mess. So it wasn’t a legend, and it wasn’t unofficial history! Duan Yan really was buried with Emperor Yan Wu; they really did have a relationship! So all nine of the dynasty’s Destiny Golden Dragons were nourishing Duan Yan!

Just as Gu Yun was lost in his thoughts, the person in the bronze coffin moved. Gu Yun looked over and saw the gentle general in the coffin open his eyes. Gu Yun met his gaze. He froze.

“Ah!”

“A zombie!”

His scream resounded through the sky. Gu Yun’s brain briefly short-circuited; he didn’t even know what he was yelling.

The general’s fair hands gripped the edge of the bronze coffin, using it to sit up. He looked at the sitting Gu Yun with a blank, bewildered expression, clearly at a loss. The next moment, he suddenly clutched his head tightly, his pale face filled with agony. One hand gripped the edge of the bronze coffin so hard his veins bulged, trying his best to suppress his pain.