Love from the Male Protagonist's Harem

Chapter 36- Ancestral Tomb Part 3

Translated by Snowfall77

Immediately, Xia Ge put the night pearl in her grasp back into its original place.  After which she faced the far end of the stone passage, hands pressed together as if in prayer: “For disturbing the ancestor’s rest so late at night, this disciple is very sorry.  Might I ask if there are any secret divine dan that could be bestowed upon this disciple?  Then this disciple can take it and easily attain wealth……no, I mean so this disciple could use it to glorify the sect, bringing honor to the ancestors—–”

System: [……]

The stone passage was completely still and quiet, Xia Ge’s words echoing into nothingness.

Not a whisper of breeze, not even a feather falling.

Xia Ge: “……”

C’mon, shouldn’t something magical appear right about now?  Like maybe holy light?  Or some indication of divine favor?  This wouldn’t do, too disappointing.  At the very least, there should be hidden mechanisms and weapons aimed at trespassers.  Were Lingxi Sect ancestral tomb standards really this low?  How was she supposed to brag to people about this later?

Depressed, Xia Ge put her hands down and took a closer look at a mural illuminated by a night pearl.

A woman in a light garment was depicted sitting at the apex of a peak, fine black hair flowing down like a waterfall, and with a white flute hanging from her waist.  She was gazing at the first rays of dawn, with one hand on a knee, posture relaxed, exuding indolence, yet also somehow managing to look romantic and unrestrained.  Clouds and mist hung about her, obscuring the facial features of another woman standing behind her, tenderly embracing her neck.  The hidden woman’s head was pressed against the first woman’s ear, a yellow robe visible, a five-clawed golden dragon embroidered on a sleeve, ferocious and domineering.

Xia Ge’s eyes widened in shock.

……fuck, even if she didn’t have first-hand knowledge of it, Xia Ge know that, at that time, there was only one person under the skies who could wear an outfit with a five-claw dragon on it!!

But was the lady with the flute at her waist Lingxi’s first ancestor?

And……managed to hook up with a queen too…damn!

Since Xia Ge had drifting along in life for some time, she’d spent a lot of time at Siguo Pavilion.  Whenever she’d felt bored there, she’d flip through the unofficial histories and fantastical novels to amuse herself, thus gathering the basic gist of this continent’s history.

Hundreds of years ago, there’d been a【Dynasty】with an emperor surnamed ‘Chu.’  The emperor was a hopeless imbecile. Barbarians from the south were always making border raids, and to the north, there were tiger-fierce nomads.  In addition, there was sky-high taxation, leaving people no way to survive.  It all culminated in constant unrest.

And although there were many cultivators at that time, they adhered to the principle that the mortal world had its own fate, and that as cultivators, they were to focus on the divine, not earthly matters.

Xia Ge understood it quite well.

In short, the cultivators had their heads up in the clouds, and didn’t lift a finger for those they considered beneath them.  They were too busy cultivating immortality, making themselves more powerful.  They weren’t anything like ordinary people, they were superior, ok?  Oh, was the country in a spot of trouble?  Why don’t you beg?

But begging is useless, for I don’t care, hehehe……

Hmm?  The country is about to be destroyed?  Still don’t care……refining dan is all that matters.

Back then, a cultivator……was likely that kind of asshole.

The country had predatory barbarians on the outside, dead-weight cultivators on the inside, and an emperor incomparably out of his depth.  Constantly chasing immortality, he bankrupted the national treasury, leaving the common people in the depths of misery.

Finally, a barbarian attack hit a little too close to home, and the ashen-faced emperor had the thick skin to marry off one of his daughters to them.

That daughter became an empress who fought war on all sides, unified the continent, and ruled over it.  Her name was Chu Shi and she was revered as the Queen of War.

As for how Chu Shi went from a married-off princess to a state-founding queen, the books hadn’t really told.  Whenever the subject was approached, it was treated as taboo and details became especially vague.  Xia Ge was quite curious about it, but hadn’t been able to figure it out.

“……this ancestor was really awesome.”  Xia Ge stroked her chin, then subconsciously recalled some of the ancestor’s teachings, “And an oddball too.”

System: [……]  Shut up!  You’re not remotely qualified to make such a judgement!!

Ahead, there were more murals and Xia Ge had nothing better to do.  She didn’t know how to get out, so she might as well look at the rest of them.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, this Lingxi ancestor sure lived the life of leisure.”

Xia Ge heaved a sigh.

All the activities on the murals were very carefree and relaxed.  Most of them were the lady with the white flute drinking, smelling flowers, or leaning against the lady in yellow, reciting poetry.  The flute lady’s expressions were all lightheartedly tranquil, showing someone utterly at ease.

It was actually kinda sweet.

Until Xia Ge looked at the last one, which stuck a knife in the viewer without any warning.

Now the image was of the lady in yellow holding a dress in one hand, while the other pale hand caressed a tombstone, tears falling down her face.

The lady with the white flute was nowhere to be seen.

Finding this turn of events oppressive, Xia Ge felt she’d been blindsided: “……what happened?”

Why had the first ancestor abruptly become a monument?

System: [……This.]

Tragedies always come suddenly.

But Xia Ge did not like seeing a sweet love story unfold, only for the artist to force-feed X at the end.

Couldn’t the artist give the viewer some emotional buffer?  How suffocating, people might think the yellow-robed lady was the main protagonist!  Where was the respect for Lingxi’s prestigious ancestor?!

At the edge of the last image that forcibly fed X, there was a line of verse in bold letters.

“Ten years of admiration and affection will never be forgotten, accompanied by a beautiful woman, endowed with sorrow.”

Xia Ge: “Is it just me, or does this verse seem kinda smug ……?”

System: [I Think You’re Misinterpreting.  Anyways, It Wouldn’t Have Been Written By Your Lingxi Ancestor.]

Xia Ge: “……”  Was that so?

Trying to be tactful, Xia Ge gently asked: “It’s her tomb, though, right?”

System: [……You Can See In The Mural That She Died.  She Couldn’t Still Be Writing Poems To Herself, Could She.]

Xia Ge: “Mm, little puppet, I think you should say ‘passed away’ instead……it sounds a little better.”

Especially when stuck in someone’s cold tomb.

Feeling chills was inevitable.

Xia Ge took another look at the last image and found something odd: “So that’s the grave of the Lingxi ancestor?  And it’s a mound?  Hey……hold on, then why is there this stone tomb?”

System: [The Descendants Might Have Moved Her Body, Or This Might Simply Be A Cenotaph.]

Xia Ge: “Oh……”

Even if it was just a cenotaph, at least it was an impressive, high-end one.

Guess this first Lingxi ancestor was worthy of being Xia Ge’s ancestor after all.

Finished looking at the murals, Xia Ge carefully went farther down the stone passage, coming to a more spacious area.

It was a large stone chamber, with a stone path at the other end, leading even deeper.  On its floor were painted arrays that Xia Ge couldn’t make heads or tails of.  So, feeling unusually prudent, Xia Ge stood in the doorway, going no further.  Although she did crane her neck to try and read a stele that was in the middle of the chamber.

“There’s something written on it……”

With a clang, Xia Ge reseparated the handle of her sickle into 3 sections, “Maybe I can snag it, drag it over, and read it easier.”

System: [……Wait, I Think There’s A Safer Approach……Damaging A Historical Relic Is No Good.]

In the act of throwing out her sickle out to act as a hook, Xia Ge went: “Huh?  What safer approach?”

Clunk!

The chains of the sickle had extended, the edge of the sickle blade curving around the mid-section of the stele.

Xia Ge maintained a properly solemn expression: “I’m not going to destroy a historical relic, I’m just going to drag it a little closer so I can get a better look at it.”

System: [……]

Focused on demonstrating her respectable intentions, Xia Ge gently tugged the stele in her direction.

The sickle cut through the stele like it was slicing through tofu, the cut impossibly smooth, and the top half of the stele fell onto the arrays.

Xia Ge: “……”

System: [……]  Hehe.

Xia Ge casually retracted her sickle, then went ‘mm’ a couple of times before saying: “……I didn’t do it, I’m not taking the blame.”

System: [It Was You!  It Was You!  Compensate!  Pay For It!]

(tn-whoops!)