Chapter 1694: Hidden Past

Of course, Lu Yanhe's dissolute life might also have been a manifestation of his true nature.

Next, He Lingchuan flipped through "Dafeng Unofficial History," left behind by Lu Yanhe. This was essentially a work of non-fiction he compiled after traveling through various states. It not only documented the social landscape of Bailie but also the customs, local conditions, and strange tales of surrounding nations. Detailed and meticulous, it could be considered a historical document.

But none of this was what He Lingchuan was looking for.

Dong Rui was also disappointed. "What is this nonsense?" he exclaimed. "On paper worth fifty taels of gold, he wrote such trivial things?"

What use was it to them now? What was its purpose? Was it worth traveling thousands of miles from Bailie to Shining Gold Plain, only to be delivered into He Lingchuan's hands?

He Lingchuan had been thinking. "His unconventional behavior suggests he's willing to do extraordinary things. Furthermore, on his first journey, Lu Yanhe caused the death of a high-ranking official's grandson—that man had drowned several young girls in the suburbs just for the amusement of seeing their panic. So, Lu Yanhe still possesses a measure of chivalry."

He quickly flipped through the gold-leaf paper from beginning to end. Then he casually turned to a page and showed it to Dong Rui. "Haven't you noticed how much blank space there is in this book?" he asked.

That page contained only two sentences, with the rest of it blank.

Only after turning a page would Lu Yanhe write down the next event.

As He Lingchuan said this, Dong Rui flipped through the pages continuously. Sure enough, every few pages he found a partially blank one, and then another a few pages later…

"Is this guy so wasteful with gold-leaf paper?" It seemed this prince was truly wealthy. Dong Rui chuckled. "What secret is hidden in these pages? Don't keep me in suspense, tell me!"

"I've heard," He Lingchuan began, recalling that Master Sun had not only told him this but also demonstrated it, "that if special ink is made from ingredients like *xuanhu* and *baishu*, the words written on gold-leaf paper become invisible once the ink dries. Making them reappear is also very easy; you just need to—"

He snapped his fingers, and a small wisp of red flame appeared at his fingertip.

Such minor supernatural abilities were effortless for him.

Then, he carefully brought the page close to the flame and gently warmed it.

Under everyone's gaze, line after line of indigo-blue script slowly emerged from the blank spaces on the page!

"As expected!"

"Aha!" Dong Rui exclaimed. "Lu Yanhe, that old fellow, has quite a trick! What kind of unspeakable content is hidden in this book?"

When the flame was removed, the words on the paper would slowly disappear again after a few minutes.

Lu Yanhe used this method to preserve what he truly wanted to write.

He Lingchuan casually lit a candle, found the blank pages in "Dafeng Unofficial History," and carefully heated them one by one.

Almost every page was covered in tiny script.

Dong Rui, who had been smiling, watched as his smile slowly faded.

"No wonder he used invisible ink to write this book," Dong Rui remarked, clicking his tongue. "With this content, if he had written it in plain text, the book would probably have been destroyed long ago, wouldn't it? And it would have implicated the Lu family too. He's a member of the Lu family, and the Lu family has served Spirit Mountain for three thousand years. Yet, they produced a rebel like Lu Yanhe!"

"The old Lu family has always produced talented individuals, and talented people tend to have strong personalities," He Lingchuan said, continuing to flip through the family history. "Lu Yanhe saw things clearly, which is why he lived so unrestrainedly. But he was unwilling to let the truth be buried by history, so he wrote this hidden book."

In just a few words, a bloody history was revealed. And every blank page of the gold-leaf paper was filled with such passages.

This was before the emergence of Beijia.

Lu Yanhe did not draw conclusions but merely compiled the historical materials he had learned and heard. These events were filled with conquests and bloodshed, mostly occurring around the state of Bailie. Some were insider details he only knew due to his special status.

Although the Middle Ages were so important, very few historical records from that period survived. Thus, Lu Yanhe's handwritten notes were exceptionally precious.

He Lingchuan and Dong Rui read carefully. They discovered that the most prominent characteristic of the area around Bailie during the Middle Ages—or what is now Beijia—was "chaos."

Of course, the mortal realm had always been chaotic. However, the "chaos" of the Middle Ages primarily manifested in the interwoven clashes among the three forces: immortals, demons, and humans.

At this time, the spiritual energy of the world had not yet depleted as it would in later generations, but it was already far from sufficient to meet the needs of the High Immortals. To conserve spiritual power, cultivators no longer used elaborate flying spells. High Immortals generally remained hidden but directed their subordinate forces to collect and compete for resources.

The fewer the resources, the fiercer the competition—an unchanging truth throughout eternity.

Consequently, the relationship between immortal sects and mortals became increasingly strained. According to Lu Yanhe's records, Kui was a small state, but a rich mine of mysterious crystals with vast reserves was suddenly discovered within its borders. Upon learning this, the Immortal Sect "Hunyuan Sect" made three "offers to purchase" to Kui, but the terms were no different from outright robbery. At this time, the Immortal Sects' power was far less than in ancient times and the early Middle Ages, and their deterrent effect on human states was greatly reduced, so Kui naturally refused. The Hunyuan Sect then destroyed Kui, seized the mysterious crystal mine and the natural resources, and its citizens were reduced to sect slaves, treated no better than cattle or horses.

Eight hundred *li* from this location, a lone immortal attacked a city in the middle of the night, collecting the blood of two hundred children for refining. Children under the age of three, in particular, still retained a trace of innate spiritual energy, making them suitable for concocting pills. Lu Yanhe later discovered that this immortal had been injured and fled in a previous battle and, lacking sufficient elixirs, had turned his attention to living people. While mortals possessed very little spiritual energy, at that moment it was better than nothing, so the lone immortal had to make do.

During the same period, immortal sects were also extensively capturing demon races.

He Lingchuan knew that after the great catastrophe, instigated by the Sky Demons, conflicts between immortal sects and demon races escalated, leading to centuries of fierce battles. The demon race had already suffered heavy losses in the ancient war, with many great demons either falling or being severely wounded, leaving few survivors. By the Middle Ages, their power had further waned.

The claws, teeth, fur, and horns of demonic beasts were all raw materials for crafting artifacts, and their inner cores, blood, and flesh were rich in spiritual energy, making them sought after by immortal sects. Furthermore, demon races were inherently undisciplined and loosely structured; they either lived in small groups or as solitaries, rarely gathering on a large scale like humans, which made it easy for immortal sects to defeat them one by one.

Lu Yanhe had compiled statistics: during the Dafeng Era, the state of Bailie launched 137 "punitive" expeditions against demonic beasts within its borders and in surrounding areas, always claiming that the beasts harmed the populace or damaged crops. In reality, many of these demonic beasts were harmless to humans. For example, the Jade-Forged Deer Demon tribe, possessing ancient spiritual deer bloodline, had only moved from a foreign land to Hidden Cloud Mountain on the border of Bailie three years prior, yet they were twice besieged by Bailie, under the pretext that they destroyed royal medicinal fields, devoured rare treasures, and had even kicked to death Bailie's royalty and nobility.

But Lu Yanhe, as a member of Bailie's royal family, knew that these deer demons had never set foot in Bailie, nor even left their mountain. They suffered this calamity simply because their antlers and inner pellets possessed special properties and were coveted by immortals.

Ultimately, others simply coveted their bodies.