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"The way of the witches is rooted in the strengthening of the bloodline as well as..."

Fang Yuan sat cross-legged and contemplated the differences between the present world and its past.

The Ancient One had harvested a wave of energy from the old Ancient Realm, which left it gravely damaged. When the Realm Alliance and the Hidden Dragon Guards were involved in a violent conflict, the Ancient Realm had taken the opportunity to achieve independence. The Realm was determined to never return to its old state. It organised an internal purge while foreigners were denied entry.

The marks of the Da Qian dream masters had been cleared away and all that was left was the dao that truly belonged to this world.

"Every world has its own expansion pathways and power systems. One would not necessarily die if they propagated energy from elsewhere but they would most definitely face many obstacles while doing so and might even incur divine retribution!"

"Of course...if one managed to succeed, it would be a peaceful evolution and would earn him much merit! It is still an invasion of the world though..."

...

Dozens of thoughts surfaced in Fang Yuan’s mind.

"In this realm...what should I do other than to pursue the Ancient One? How should I proceed with harvesting energy from the world?"

After all, the Realm had been kind to him. Fang Yuan was unwilling to cut directly into the energy source of the world and then leave with the loot just like that.

"Compromising the interests of other people will foster hatred. The best way to go about this is to offer benefits to everyone..."

Fang Yuan had made up his mind.

"No matter what, I will have to get to know this place better!"

Although Jie was a citizen and could live within the city walls, he was too ignorant!

Especially regarding secret histories and the legacies of power.

"What I can do now is to leave this battlefield for the Shang capital...I could even go to Fang Mountain if it is close by..."

Fang Yuan was also interested in visiting the tribe that he had founded on a whim. He wanted to know how they were doing.

Regarding the punishment of deserters, Fang Yuan was not bothered by this issue at all.

After all, Jie was a lone ranger with no kin left. There was nothing that held him back from living life on his own terms.

Besides, Fang Yuan was prepared to give up on Jie’s past and start afresh in this world as a new person.

"This world...shares some similarities with the Former Qin era in my memories and yet they are different...I just can’t put a finger on these differences..."

Fang Yuan thought back to the strange occurrences in the Ancient Realm.

"Could it be...that there is a higher-dimensional world of the same type as the Demonic Heart Realm exerting its influence on this realm?"

This was the guiding principle that illustrated the effect that the Demonic Heart Realm had on its subsidiary realms which included Da Qian.

"It’s happening on a higher level though...the Demonic Heart Realm projects power while that higher-dimensional world projects history and culture?"

Fang Yuan had a sudden thought.

"Now that I think about it...that higher-dimensional world is probably the same place that was featured in my dreams. Or could it be that the world in my dreams had been influenced by that higher-dimensional world?"

Fang Yuan used to have recurring dreams of himself in another world back when he was still young.

This could be due to his dream-traversing abilities or it might even have something to do with reincarnation, which caused these memories to surface.

Thus, Fang Yuan had always considered that world in his dreams his homeland.

"I now have some clues about my homeland..."

Fang Yuan clenched his fists tightly.

His main goal in life was to climb his way up to the top of the world and find out more about his homeland in the process.

Now that he had made lots of progress in these aspects, it was a cause for celebration indeed.

"Seems like I’m getting a better idea about why the Ancient Realm has accepted me..."

Fang Yuan raised a brow suddenly. He had sensed a disturbance.

"Sigh..."

He exhaled and stood up with his iron sword firmly in his grip.

The sword was about 3 feet long and had a hemp wrap on its hilt, giving it secure non-slip grip. Intricate carvings of strange beasts adorned its blade.

"This must be the sword of a yeoman. It is not something that a commoner can possess!"

Fang Yuan had drawn a conclusion upon seeing the sword for the first time.

In this era, a man who could ride to war in a chariot was probably a man of status.

At this moment, Fang Yuan maintained a good upright posture while holding his sword. He watched on as the bushes swayed and uncovered a few human figures.

"Who are you?"

The stranger wore black robes that were torn and tattered, revealing several bloody wounds. He was in an extremely miserable state and had probably followed the path of the stream to arrive here. Bumping into Fang Yuan had obviously surprised him.

"A Shang citizen?"

The two of them stared at each other and recognised that they were both from Shang.

After all, the Dongyi people were barbaric and very much like the Jiuli tribesmen. They would not be wearing clothes nor have their hair tied up into a man bun.

The man questioning Fang Yuan was undoubtedly of noble birth. He wore fine clothes and carried a jade pendant at his waist.

"Hey! What an insolent person. This is a yeoman from the army. Salute him and report your name now!"

Another man had jumped out of the bushes to accost Fang Yuan.

"Yeoman?"

Fang Yuan was slightly baffled.

"Was this rank already in use back during the Shang era? Wait a minute...this world does not follow the Former Qin timeline. Having been influenced by foreign civilisations, the Xia Dynasty adopted feudalism and it would be no wonder that there were yeomen in the Shang period."

The ’yeomen’ were the lowest ranked members of the ruling class. They were noblemen of the Shang Dynasty and lorded over commoners like Jie.

Nevertheless, this social system was only supposed to be developed in the Zhou era and widely adopted during the Spring and Autumn period. Its current presence in the Shang period was way ahead of its time.

"Has feudalism developed fully?"

A thought entered Fang Yuan’s mind. Feudalism involved granting land to nobles in exchange for their services or labour.

The knights of Europe and the samurai of Japan were the most basic units of the feudal system. In Shang, they had the yeoman!

"The yeomen were exempted from conscription but would become commanders if they chose to pursue a military career. They had excellent prospects in academia too and would enjoy prestige wherever they chose to go ...above the yeoman in the social hierarchy were the gentlemen bureaucrats, the gentlemen ministers and the noble lords. The Shang King himself sat on the apex!"

A relevant memory had materialised in Fang Yuan’s mind.

’Explains the attitude. This fellow is a nobleman!’

"Never mind..."

The yeoman was straightforward and waved a hand.

"Our army has just suffered a great defeat and this soldier is new. We can excuse him for being absent-minded...my name is Meng Kuo, a centurion in the army. Who is your immediate superior? Hmm?"

The man was about to sit down when he uttered an exclamation upon noticing the iron sword in Fang Yuan’s hand.

"This is...my Brother Meng Guang’s sword. How did you get hold of it?"

"How dare you!"

The accompanying soldier shouted accusingly.

"He must have stolen it!"

"Enough...if my brother’s sword isn’t with him, he must have already fallen in battle...my heart! How it hurts!"

Meng Kuo’s eyes had reddened and a look of anguish crossed his face. Still, he remained rational in spite of his pain and did not accuse Fang Yuan of killing his brother and taking the sword.

At this point, it would have been appreciated if Fang Yuan decided to return the sword and offered his condolences.

Unfortunately, Fang Yuan would never part with something that he had obtained through skill. He would only part with some words of comfort.

"I had picked up this sword by chance. Your brother might still be alive. Don’t get too worked up..."

’This fellow...’

Meng Kuo was a tolerant man but Fang Yuan’s attitude was making him feel uncomfortable.

Anyone could see that Fang Yuan was being quite difficult.

"You..."

The accompanying soldier was preparing to rail at Fang Yuan when an object flew out of the forest and embedded itself in his neck. It was a dart.

"Pshh...Poof!"

Blood spurted out from the soldier’s neck wound as he collapsed onto the ground with a stunned look on his face.

"There are pursuing soldiers?"

Meng Kuo’s expression changed.

"It’s the blowgunmen of Dongyi!"

The Dongyi people were barbarians that were unversed in the art of smelting. However, they were adept users of the blowgun and utilised poisonous darts, making them formidable guerilla fighters.

The Shang army had been undefeated right until they advanced right into the forest ambush of the Dongyi fighters, who had used the land to their advantage.

The collapsed soldier’s face was blackening from the poison. He was not going to make it.

The dart sticking out of his neck had a tail of colourful feathers that danced in the wind. It was a chilling sight.

"The enemy...is catching up!"

Meng Kuo was stupefied.

More figures had emerged from the shadows of the forest. There was at least a dozen of them. On the contrary, there were only a few defenders. It was going to be a walkover.

"At the start...I was the only deserter, which definitely wouldn’t warrant the pursuit of these agents...they are after the nobleman Meng Kuo...they must have been following him the whole time!"

Fang Yuan scanned his surroundings.

"How bothersome!"

Fan Yuan flicked the blade of the iron sword impatiently.

"We’ll fend them off. Let our lord leave first!"

Meng Kuo’s subordinate had spoken. He seemed to imply that as a foot soldier, it was Fang Yuan’s duty to give up his life for the protection of the nobleman.

"How can I leave my men behind? If we have to fight to the death today, so be it!"

Meng Kuo drew his sword and roared.

"Charge!"

A flurry of poisonous darts flew out. Another two of Meng Kuo’s men fell dead to the ground.

"It’s fine if you want a fight to the death, but have you considered that we might not want to join you?"

Fang Yuan stood by with a cold look on his face. At this moment, a blowgunman shot a dart towards him.

"You must be tired of living!"

He brandished the iron sword and deflected the dart with ease.

Meng Kuo, who was on the ground, watched with amazement as Fang Yuan displayed his technique.

"I shall grant your death wishes!"

Fang Yuan charged into the forest and whipped up a storm of blood as he swished his sword.

Although Fang Yuan was still getting used to his new body, dealing with these attackers was elementary.

Meng Kuo could not believe his eyes.

"What a warrior! A warrior of the first class! Such abilities would be greatly regarded wherever he went. A yeoman rank would definitely be bestowed upon him together with money and gifts. No wonder he paid no heed to me when we first met!"