Chapter 1 - The Meteorite that Changed History

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Young Master, Young Master…” Chen Xi could hear someone muttering next to his ear as he was in a daze.

‘My head is so heavy,’ Chen Xi struggled to open his eyes. ‘If I had known I wouldn’t have drunk so much.’

Three days had passed and Chen Xi had finally understood his current situation. He was in the Three Kingdoms era. The Yellow Turban Rebellion had just been crushed and it was an era where heroes walked the earth. It was also an era when Chen Xi had fantasized about in his spare time. No matter if it was Zhao Zilong who wielded the White Stallion Silver Spear, or the very avatar of intelligence Zhuge Kongming, they all had a lot of fans. What could he say? There were many people in China.

He belonged to the branch family of the Chen clan of Yingchuan. He had some connection, but he was at the point where no one would notice even if he had left home. Other than a maid and butler that took care of him at home, he was a classical representation of those who only needed to take care of himself to survive.

As he looked at his butler practice with his sword to the point where perhaps even drops of water wouldn’t be able to penetrate his defenses, Chen Xi could only look not knowing what kind of expression he should wear on his face. Were all the people in this era this powerful? Could it be that history was right and all the ancient humans could easily surpass modern humans? Was this possible? But Chen Xi wouldn’t believe it.

“Lord Chen, have you felt any better recently?” An old man wearing the trappings of a doctor asked with a smile.

“Much better.” Chen Xi quickly bowed. He knew that in this era, a simple headache or fever could kill him. It must have taken the old man a lot of effort to save him seeing how sick he was previously.

“You look much better now. You should focus more on your internal energy,” the old man said with a smile, “If that is the case, I should take my leave.”

“Uncle Chen,” Chen Xi called as he turned his head back.

The butler quickly led a horse over as he dashed. He was so quick that it was quite unbelievable.

“Uncle, I see that you are in a rush. That means you must be on urgent business. I would like to gift you this horse as a mount. Please accept it.” Chen Xi forced the reins into his hand. Speaking of which, he still didn’t know his name, but he didn’t introduce himself either.

The old man looked at Chen Xi and nodded after giving it a thought as he accepted his gift. He did have an urgent business to attend to. A horse would be able to save him much trouble.

‘I need to at least return the favor as he did save my life. While a doctor does not seek repayment to save a patient, it is my obligation to at least return the favor in some way. Chaos will drown the world soon. If something happened to him, there is no way for me to return it even if I wanted to.’

After the old man had left, Chen Xi closed the door and prepared to return to his room to do some reading. There was nothing more important to him than learning the texts and writings of this era. While he did have the original Chen Xi’s memories, it was obvious that it wasn’t complete.

“Young Master, Master brought that horse all the way from Bing Province as a gift to you. Is it not improper to gift it to someone else so easily?” Butler Chen said to Chen Xi after he had closed the door.

“No matter. I have no use for that horse regardless. By the way, take all the books from the studies to my room. I want to do some revision,” Chen Xi said as he shook his head. He knew how valuable that horse was, but it was still not comparable to him saving his life. He felt that it was worth it. At least, it would no longer weigh down on him.

Chen Xi wasn’t born into poverty. In fact, he was born with a silver spoon. Unfortunately, after his father Chen Luo had passed away, Chen Xi fell sick and never recovered. The amount that he had spent on his treatment and the push out from his own clan was enough to cause a wealthy family to fall.

In the mind of Butler Chen however, as long as Chen Xi had recovered, then this branch of the Chen clan would still have the hope to return to its previous glory. After Chen Xi had fallen sick, most of the servants and songstresses had all left, leaving behind only Butler Chen and the songstress cum maid Chen Lan in the large Chen household.

Chen Xi didn’t pay that much attention to it, however. It was fine if they wanted to leave, seeing that he had the two most loyal ones remain by his side.

After Chen Xi had recovered, he didn’t leave the Chen Residence’s gate for three whole months. He had spent most of his time mastering all that the original Chen Xi had learned. For example, writing. For example, the four classical arts of the Chinese scholar: Playing the Guqin, playing the Go, calligraphy, and painting. And of course, most importantly on how to use his Psionic Power and the arrays.

After revising all these things, Chen Xi understood that the Late Eastern Han Dynasty that he lived in now was completely different from the Late Eastern Han Dynasty that was from his memories. Perhaps it was still the same history, but the world itself was completely different.

As he flipped through the history of the Chu Han Era, Chen Xi had remembered the part where it described the Battle of Gaixia. Xiang Yu went into war alone and defeated Liu Bang’s 30,000 elite troops and died of exhaustion. Despite having the chance to escape, he rather died in combat than to let the Sons of Jiang Dong be disappointed. No one dared to approach him even after his death, cementing his name as the Undefeated Conqueror.

Chen Xi then read through the annals of history carefully, and finally confirmed that the times had changed four hundred years ago during the Chu-Han Contention.

All the changes came from a meteorite, and it was recorded in history as the Divine Rock. The Divine Rock fell unto the Central Plains and started to change the physique of those living there.

Originally, there were only some who could conjure chi and strengthen themselves during the seven-hundred long Spring-Autumn Warring States Period. And there were even fewer of those who could awaken their Psionic potential and resonate with Heaven and Earth. But that rock had changed the entire Central Plains, and brought great change to everyone’s physique.

Anyone could conjure chi through training, and the difficulty of awakening one’s Psionic potential had also greatly reduced. That had caused all the generals during the Chu Han period to be exceptionally powerful, and Xiang Yu was the crème de la crème.

“I have the strength to pick up the mountains and my might is sufficient to conquer the world.”

If that poem was an exaggeration in the original history, then this poem was true in this world. At his peak, Xiang Yu could use his own strength to drag a small hill and throw it out. He could beat the air into liquid form, and the solidified air be blasted into the ground and splinter the earth like a missile. In short, he was no longer human.

In the four hundred years during the Han Dynasty, many martial sects had appeared. The generals that originally used their talents to earn their keep during the Chu Han period had slowly opened up a path for training systematically. Cutting down thousands with the power of one was no longer a myth, but reality.

Similarly, the methods of awakening to one’s Psionic potential had also created their own sects. The so-called Arcane magic, Daoist magic had also appeared. And similarly, arrays and formations had also been developed as a method to curb the power of powerful generals to greatly reduce their attack power. Of course, if one were to face them with an untrained, rag-tag band of courageous soldiers, then there would only be one ending for them.

After 400 years of development, the knowledge of Chi and Psionic had become very widespread. While most didn’t master anything good, at least they had the opportunity to interact with such things. That meant that this world’s Late Han Period had farmers that could throw several hundred kilograms’ worths of rocks by a dozen meters…

As for how powerful generals were, it was clearly recorded that Xiang Yu could pick up a mountain and throw it out. So, if he were to calculate it by a similar ratio, Chen Xi felt that Lu Bu’s all-out attack could possibly shatter an entire mountain…

‘This is no longer the historical Three Kingdoms Period. This is perhaps a Mythical Three Kingdoms Period,’ Chen Xi thought to himself.