117: Chapter 117: Asking about Bianjing (Kaifeng) in the Northern Song Dynasty, and getting to the ministers.

In the living room.

Jiang Zhe's body jerked violently; when he opened his eyes again, his face had turned pale.

Even with his extremely high spirit points, he couldn't withstand continuous Wen Gu.

"This time!" Xiao Yu looked at her brother's sweat-drenched state, feeling a bit distressed. "Was it a soldier in a chaotic era? The Great Ming, a family fleeing... was it the late Ming Dynasty?"

"Yes." Jiang Zhe nodded. "A soldier surnamed Liu, just as the capital was about to fall. But I lied to him; according to historical records, many people didn't make it out of the capital that day!"

As he finished speaking, the bullet comments in the livestream suddenly decreased.

"!!!"

"My heart feels a bit heavy!"

"If this is a story, it's far too heavy!"

"Brother, take a break. I believe you, okay? Look how pale you are!"

"..."

Seeing her brother's pale face and the cold sweat covering him.

Xiao Yu, looking worried, turned and walked into the master bedroom, bringing out a folded vermillion trench coat. "Brother, why don't you stop the Wen Gu? I believe you now, alright?"

She didn't want Jiang Zhe to continue; something terrible was bound to happen sooner or later!

Jiang Zhe shook his head slightly and took the trench coat. A strong premonition gripped his heart, a sense of melancholy as if he would lose something if he didn't do something this time.

"No, this time is different. I must perform Wen Gu once more!"

He donned the trench coat; its deep red color looked like fresh blood under the lights.

Closing his eyes again, his right hand gripped the copy of the I Ching.

His mind sank deeper: the leap eleventh month of the first year of Jingkang in the Northern Song Dynasty, a few days before the fall of Bianjing.

The warmth of the living room gradually vanished, turning into a hollow coldness in an instant.

This was a spacious yet silent study. The candlelight on the bronze lamp flickered uneasily, illuminating a desk piled high with documents.

A purple-robed official lay slumped over the desk in a deep sleep, his brow furrowed; even in his dreams, he looked exhausted.

Jiang Zhe's figure gradually materialized.

The middle-aged official, still slumped over the desk, seemed to sense something, and his surroundings instantly transformed into a dreamscape of ice and snow.

He stood facing Jiang Zhe, staring intently at Jiang Zhe's short hair, strange clothes, and finally fixing his gaze on the vermillion trench coat. "Who are you? This is a restricted area; how dare a spectral entity intrude!"

Jiang Zhe didn't speak, merely raising a hand to point at the surrounding environment.

The official looked around at the swirling snow and realized he was dreaming.

He realized something: the person before him was giving him a revelation. Legend had it that before major events occurred, people would encounter strange phenomena in their dreams. He hadn't expected it to happen now!

"Sir... you are not of this world? Why have you appeared?"

Hearing the archaic speech in a Henan accent—Jiang Zhe had been trained in dialects and ancient languages in his past life—he spoke: "I was passing by and heard of your deep anxieties, so I came to see you."

"Anxieties?" The official gave a bitter laugh. "The state is on the brink of collapse, and the situation is beyond salvation. Since you are no ordinary person, can you tell me—what will be the ultimate outcome of this year of Jingkang?"

"Are His Majesty and the Crown Prince safe? Is there still hope for the dynasty's fate?"

His Majesty, the Crown Prince—Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong of Song... the two emperors of the late Northern Song who were captured by the Jin Dynasty.

His words grew more urgent, his eyes fixed on Jiang Zhe's vermillion trench coat; the civil official was afraid he would forget everything once he woke up!

Jiang Zhe Just about to speak， And then through the middle-aged official's ear， I heard footsteps outside the study..

The official was about to wake up; time was running out!

"Heaven's mandate is constant, and prosperity and decline follow their course. Once human efforts are exhausted, one can only look to their conscience. Future generations will remember tonight, they will remember Bianjing, and they will remember those who held the line."

Jiang Zhe paused for a moment, a hint of regret in his voice:

"Even I... regret that I cannot travel upstream against the current of time to prevent this collapse."

"But the river flows east and the bones have long grown cold; only this voice remains to reach you... tell them: the descendants of future generations have not had their spines broken..."

Hearing this, the middle-aged official's body swayed uncontrollably, and the last flicker of hope vanished from his face.

He understood the words Jiang Zhe hadn't spoken in that latter half—the Song Dynasty was doomed!

He also realized the person before him was a powerful Daoist figure from a future dynasty.

After a long while, the official straightened his robes and bowed solemnly to Jiang Zhe. "Thank you, Sir... for telling me!"

As the sound of a door opening in the study reached them, the official's dream shattered instantly—he was awake.

Upon waking, the official quickly and solemnly took up a brush to record on paper: [While staying at the Lou Yuan, I dreamed of a Person in Vermillion Robes...]

Jiang Zhe was then pulled back into the living room.

His body jerked violently as he collapsed back onto the sofa, his forehead covered in cold sweat and his breathing quickening.

"Brother, are you okay?"

He caught his breath for a few moments before slowly sitting up, a faint, wry smile on his face. "I'm fine."

"Are you really okay?"

"Really, I'm fine."

"If you're fine, then eat some Liu Liu Mei!" Seeing her brother's pale face, which looked like a sign of low blood sugar, Xiao Yu quickly pulled a few sweet and sour Liu Liu Mei plums from her pocket.

Jiang Zhe's eyes widened at Xiao Yu's bizarre logic; his faintness was instantly cured.

"???"

The viewers couldn't help but twitch their lips, and the livestream was flooded with [???] bullet comments.

Principal Fu, Old Wang, Xiao Wang, and the various experts and professors were stunned for a moment before the atmosphere suddenly lightened.

Xiao Yu turned serious again. "Brother, from your one-sided conversation, I gathered it was... Bianjing City? Was it a civil official from before the Jin army captured Bianjing?"

"Yes, this official was a high-ranking one."

As soon as he spoke, the viewers' bullet comments came pouring in.

"Holy crap, he reached a minister? Seems like it's from the Northern Song!"

"Northern Song, Bianjing... Wait, I'm a history major. I feel like I've read about this outfit and this scene somewhere before."

"Me too. I think I've read a similar passage in some notes."

"Damn, I was watching this like a play, but if you guys are saying that, could he be for real?"

"Just look at his condition. That's not normal. It's definitely freaking real!"

"..."

Kyoto, History Staff Quarters, in the living room.

Professor Chen Runzhi looked at the large screen and tried to analyze: "Bianjing, Northern Song. When Bianjing fell, there weren't many patriotic civil officials; those who truly cared were few and far between."

Professor Old Qian looked at the comments on the screen: "Time: Northern Song; Xiaoyu's brother: Red trench coat—in the Northern Song, that would be called 'vermillion robes.' The core of the dialogue revolves around the Northern Song Dynasty..."

"We can't find the historical record right away."

Professor Liu Guangyi nodded in agreement. "If it's truly recorded in history books, then what we heard tonight isn't just a story, but a dream that actually occurred to a minister during the Northern Song. It all depends on whether that minister recorded it in history."

At this moment, they felt a fantastical intersection between the modern era and history.

They also knew that normally, one would have to queue up at Daoist or Buddhist temples to witness such mystical occurrences.

They hadn't expected to be able to watch Xiaoyu's brother demonstrate 'Heaven-Human Induction'—a concept found only in the three schools of Daoism, Buddhism, and Divinity—for free today!

Inside Qingfeng Temple, Zheng Ming took out his phone and looked at Professor Chen Runzhi's contact, whom he hadn't spoken to in a long while. "I want to see if this is real or fake. This time he reached a Northern Song minister; there must be a record in history. Professor Chen is a history teacher; he should know."

...

Gusu No. 1 Middle School, Principal's Office.

Principal Fu stared at the screen, then looked at Old Wang. "Old Wang, what's your guess? There's very little verbal information this time!"

Xiao Wang pondered for a moment. "Bianjing, the two emperors captured, Northern Song, loyalty to the country... Yue Fei? No. Zhang Bangchang? No. Li Gang? No, it's not a general either. Who could it be?"

Old Wang flipped through a book on Song history. "It should be Li Ruoshui, He Li, Sun Fu, Zhang Shuye, or Liu Ge..."

"A few days before Bianjing fell, there were only a few patriotic civil officials, and specifically those who could attend court. Civil officials of lower ranks had already fled."

"We just need to check their historical records to know if Jiang Zhe's fourth Wen Gu is real or fake!"

Jiang Zhe's voice came from the screen.

"Xiao Yu, I'll rest for a bit, and then we'll start with the first source of the consciousness/soul."

"I'll go boil a pot of Lava Water for you. Brother, remember to drink lots of lava later to recover!"

Jiang Zhe watched speechlessly as Xiao Yu got up and went to the kitchen to boil brown sugar water.

...

While Jiang Zhe rested, the popularity of the livestream remained high.

Many viewers temporarily left the livestream to investigate on more professional metaphysics forums.

[Big shots, Xiaoyu's brother is livestreaming Wen Gu. Is Wen Gu real? Can consciousness truly tear through the limits of time and space?]

This was a topic started by a materialist fan.

"I just came from Xiao Yu's livestream, and I'm panicking. Her brother performed four Wen Gu in a row: Republic of China Nanjing, the Guangxu Great Drought, the late Ming capital, and Northern Song Bianjing. The details of the conversations are terrifyingly realistic. Even her brother is dripping with cold sweat; anyone can see it's not acting. Also, if there were heat in the room, Xiao Yu would definitely be sweating too, but she isn't."

"Some say it's a script, some say it's hypnosis. I just want to know if there's any possibility this is real. I hope some experts can tell me!"

As soon as the post went up, metaphysics enthusiasts and experts from across the country descended upon it.

[Kyoto Daoism: A comment from a 'sweeping student' of Mount Longhu:]

"First, the conclusion: it is possible, but extremely difficult!"

"According to the 'Seven Slips of a Cloudy Satchel' in the Daoist Canon: 'The spirit wanders the eight poles and can communicate with the unseen and the manifest.'"

"The 'unseen and manifest' mentioned here includes the time dimension in modern physics, but it requires several conditions, all of which are indispensable."

"1: Entering a very deep state of meditation with pure intent. 2: Having clear spatial-temporal coordinates; in the video clips you posted, Xiaoyu's brother used date numbers."

"3: The other party happens to be in a state of consciousness boundary—boundaries being dreaming, near-death, shock, and so on."

"All of these are essential!"

"I'm from Jiangxi. In his later years, my grandmaster could touch fragments of the late Qing Dynasty, but clear conversations like Xiaoyu's brother's are one in ten million. If that 'Brother' in the livestream is the real deal, I can only say he is incredibly strong—ridiculously so. No one in the domestic metaphysics circle can match him in Communicating with the Unseen; even the twenty-nine-year-old Celestial Master Zhang in Kyoto isn't at his level!"