Deep Palace Pet Peach Blossom Flawless

Chapter 670 Emperor Ming Zhao

The reign title of Emperor Ming Zhao, "Ming" is taken from the "Ming" in Chu Ming, and "Zhao" is the "Zhao" of Empress Zhaoyi. Every character of the reign title implies Emperor Ming Zhao's infinite attachment and longing for his mother Lan Qingwu.

Just as Emperor Shenwu had predicted, Emperor Ming Zhao eventually grew into a cold, ruthless, and aloof emperor, aloof from the world. Caught in the whirlpool of calculations and self-interests within the imperial court and harem, he gradually hardened his heart, became overbearing, and dominated by authority.

Emperor Ming Zhao closed his heart, tightly wrapped up his true feelings, and clearly embarked on the path to becoming an emperor as pointed out by Emperor Shenwu! It wasn't until the gears of fate turned again, and a "little clay cat" he had once rescued was sent to his side, that he felt a little fresh breath and focused on the emotions of being attached to, loved, and cared for by others.

However, Emperor Ming Zhao was rarely hesitant and worried because of his parents' past experiences. He did not want the woman in his heart to be like his mother, who had all the favor and resentment in her. He was afraid - afraid that he could not protect her!

His father had employed numerous methods to protect his mother, the empress, impenetrably, but he still couldn't withstand the treacherous tendencies of the harem. The scene of his mother's death was still vivid in Emperor Ming Zhao's mind. Even as an emperor, he feared he couldn't completely control the hearts of the people. Perhaps his father's warning was correct; he shouldn't have a single favorite woman in this complex and treacherous harem! Emperor Ming Zhao couldn't, and wouldn't, let his son Ni Ni follow in his mother's footsteps.

Many, many years later, the imperial system gradually declined, major families rose, technology gradually developed, and the whole world became developed and advanced, with countless bridges built in the air, various private RVs, aircraft that fly on air bridges, various factories, etc. ... Technology in later generations developed rapidly, but the environment of the entire planet suffered correspondingly great trauma. Natural disasters such as seabed sinking, melting snow mountains, earthquakes, volcanoes, mudslides, tsunamis, tornadoes, etc. are increasing, and each time is accompanied by huge casualties.

Until another devastating natural disaster struck the once-thriving Dasheng Empire, devastating human civilization. This developed and prosperous world instantly wiped out nearly half of its population. Meteorites rained down from the sky, impacting various regions of the world, creating a unique spiritual magnetic field on the once-white planet. Plants and animals mutated, the five elements skyrocketed, and nearly 20% of humanity perished in this sudden change.

Ordinary animals such as pet cats and dogs, chickens, ducks, geese, and mice began to evolve rapidly. Humans on the streets became the smallest prey, attacked, killed, and eaten by animals that evolved into ferocious beasts!

At the same time, various mutations occurred in humans, and the five elements phenomenon appeared similar to and almost overlapping with the ancient mythological history of the Dasheng Empire. However, the probability of this kind of human being appearing was only one in ten thousand, and experts named it the Returned Human, which means returning to being a cultivator.

With these Returned True Persons, the world's chaotic order was restored for nearly a decade. Elimination, reorganization, leadership, power, bloodshed, tranquility... slowly, humanity found the balance to survive in this new world. Magnificent cities were built, and outstanding Returned True Persons emerged. Each of the most powerful Returned True Persons directly controlled the economic lifeline and military power of an entire metropolis. The vast expanse of the former Dasheng Empire, ravaged by natural disasters and the newly formed special five-element spiritual magnetic field of the planet, was divided into nine safe cities, each governed by a powerful Returned True Person City Lord.

There are nearly thirty foreign cities outside the nine safe cities. The forces of the nine cities are intertwined, but they repel, help and kill each other, but they are united against the forces of the more than thirty foreign cities outside. There were nearly fifty small countries that were destroyed in the great disaster, and the countries that survived by chance all survived with difficulty and tenacity.

After more than a decade of bloody cleansing, the Dasheng Empire, aside from the nine safe cities, has divided its other dangerous areas into ten sacred training grounds, also known as the Ten Dangerous Secret Realms. Within these, opportunities coexist with spiritual plants and mutant beasts. The nine cities regularly organize teams to enter these secret areas to hunt for new discoveries, thereby enhancing their strength. The most famous of these is the Qiling Mountain Secret Realm, home to the richest and most abundant spiritual resources.

Each city is composed of aristocratic families descended from the Return True Persons, as well as ordinary people from the lower classes. While the majority of ordinary people handle daily social operations, the Return True Persons are responsible for the safety and protection of the entire city. Over a decade of power transitions, maneuvers, and trials, the Dasheng Empire has essentially established a new system and rules. The city is a time of peace and prosperity, free from the slightest danger of mutant plants and animals. People work and live as usual, and most newly born ordinary people will likely never encounter the cruel and dangerous secret realms outside, where giant, man-eating mutant plants and animals, or the myriad of rare spiritual plants and mutant beasts, will live their entire lives. The Return True Persons have always been committed to ensuring that ordinary people are unaffected by worldly disasters, allowing them to survive, thrive, and reproduce, thereby preserving humanity's fire, hope, and the functioning of the world.

The nine cities are headed by the Dasheng Imperial Capital, referred to as the Imperial Capital. It was once the most prosperous center of the Dasheng Dynasty. The Imperial Capital once provided the other eight cities with various advanced weapons, equipment, various supplies and stockpiled food and medicinal materials that they lacked under the most difficult circumstances, in order to help the eight cities overcome difficulties. The other eight cities all followed the lead of the Imperial Capital, at least on the surface, and had a certain degree of cohesion.

Lan Qingwu was born again in this peculiar period and this special environment. This time she was born in the Xue family, which once guarded Yanhai. It was also the mother's family of the well-known Queen Xue. It was a remote branch of the main branch of the Xue family. She was the third child and the third daughter of a not-so-small family. Her name was Xue Qingwu.

Starting at the age of six, Xue Qingwu began to recover fragments of memories from her past life in her dreams. She looked in the mirror and saw her face was identical to the Lan Qingwu she remembered, even the same height. This reaffirmed her belief in reincarnation. So, did that person experience reincarnation? Was there reincarnation? Could she meet him again?

Due to a series of natural and man-made disasters brought on by meteorites, the world's population plummeted, reaching near-despair. Once the situation stabilized, the ruling authorities immediately issued new decrees on births and marriages, requiring women to marry and have children at eighteen. Contraceptive methods were prohibited, with a two-year reprieve available for special circumstances, such as with parental petitions or a fiancé. If a woman remained unmarried before the age of twenty, her local government would assign her to a citizen of the Empire for marriage. Exceptions could be made by providing relevant documentation and proof of immediate family ties. However, this policy has been remarkably humane in recent years, and enforcement has generally been relaxed unless the delay was intentional and extended for extended periods.

Xue Qingwu didn't expect that after so many years, she would be born again in this small family of the Xue family's branch. What worried her most was the troublesome marriage problem.

Of course, she wouldn't just accept her fate. Just like in the closed-off Dasheng Dynasty, she would try to carve her own path. However… Xue Qingwu raised her arms and looked at her thin legs. It seemed she still had a long way to go! She thought again and again. Since she could reincarnate into the present day, more than a thousand years after the Dasheng Dynasty, it made no sense that Zhou Xuheng hadn't reincarnated. It seemed she should look for people connected to the Zhou Dynasty.

Xue Qingwu had been studying this planet since she regained her memory at the age of six. This wasn't the azure planet she was familiar with, but a snowy white one. She wondered if this planet had more snow-capped mountains. She hadn't heard of this before, even during the Dasheng Dynasty.

However, the snow-white planet, which had suffered severe damage, once turned into a foggy gray. Later, humans regained control of the planet, and the returning to true people gradually became stronger. In addition, the five elements of spiritual power and magnetic field took root and stabilized on this planet. Now the whole planet has regained its vitality and luster. The new planet shown on the satellite has become a silver-gray planet with twinkling stars.

Xue Qingwu found information related to the Silver Planet, but discovered it was all encrypted, making any extraneous information impossible to retrieve. All he knew was that the Returned True Persons from the Imperial Capital, who had led the fight against mutant plants and animals and rebuilt the Great Sheng Empire, were surnamed Zhou. Over a decade later, information and deeds of the Zhou family in the Imperial Capital were scarce, and they maintained a low profile. Furthermore, according to Xue Qingwu's research, the aristocratic families of each major city relied heavily on their own Returned True Persons, leading to fierce and brutal power struggles among them. Smaller families like their own, the Xue family, were huddled in the southwest corner of Yuncheng, ranked seventh among the nine major cities. Yuncheng was considered a low-tier city, and their family had split from the main branch of the Xue family centuries ago and relocated to Yuncheng. When the natural disaster struck, five Returned True Persons emerged from their family. While their talents weren't particularly high, they were able to maintain their position in these turbulent times.

I heard that the main branch of the Xue family suffered heavy losses in the meteorite shower that devastated the world. Living near the coast, they were already vulnerable to natural disasters like tsunamis and tornadoes, which had already cost them many people and resources. But after the meteorite shower, coastal cities were hardest hit. The main branch of the Xue family suffered heavy losses overnight and had been moving to other land-based cities. They have now re-established their roots in Qingcheng, the sixth-ranked city. This process was brutal and long. According to Xue Qingwu's father, the main branch of the Xue family once sought assistance from the side branch, and the then-Patriarch of the Xue family provided appropriate assistance and rescue. After all, you can't write two "Xue" characters with one stroke, and they both share a common origin, dating back over a thousand years. Therefore, the two Xue families still maintain a close connection.

After learning about the general background of this planet and this world, Xue Qingwu began to think about planning a trip. Mainly, she wanted to find that person. She had never thought about marrying anyone else! They had an agreement! She wondered if there would be any news about that person. Would he marry someone else? It seemed she had to speed up her plans!

However, this new world soon dealt a heavy blow to Xue Qingwu. Residents of the nine major cities were not allowed to leave their local cities without reason. As an ordinary person, if you want to travel or go out to play, you can just stay in your own city with a vast territory. Because the new city has been rebuilt, it is dozens of times larger than the original city. You still cannot go across cities for marriage, travel, study or work. Of course, this only applies to ordinary people.

The exception was privileged Returning True Persons, but they could only train in the dangerous secret realms of their own city, and they had to undergo rigorous screening and organization by the local government before they could enter. Those who wanted to train in secret realms in other cities could only do so with the approval of the Imperial Capital, the largest city, and through strict procedures involving the joint entry of several major cities.

In other words, if nothing unexpected happens, Xue Qingwu may have to stay in Yuncheng for the rest of her life! Going to school, working, getting married, having children...

Xue Qingwu was now sixteen years old. She threw herself onto the big bed in frustration, murmuring softly, "Brother Heng, where are you? Or... are you not even in this new world?"

It was very likely that Zhou Xuheng was in another big city, the largest city, the imperial capital, where there was the Qiling Mountain Secret Realm, and another border city, where there was the Peach Blossom Secret Realm...

These are the places related to Zhou Xuheng that Xue Qingwu had written down on the list, especially the Peach Blossom Secret Realm. There is a beautiful legend that there is a Peach Blossom Tomb in it, where a pair of lovers who depended on each other for life and death were buried a thousand years ago. The Peach Blossom People have guarded the Peach Blossom Tomb for generations. It is said that the current Border City Lord is from the family that guards the Peach Blossom Tomb.

Xue Qingwu's emotions were complex and tinged with sadness. She knew that was where she had been buried, and that Zhou Xuheng had ultimately chosen to forgo burial in the imperial mausoleum he had spent decades building, choosing instead to be buried alongside her beneath the giant peach tree where they had first met. No matter what, she would try to find Zhou Xuheng. She longed to visit the Peach Blossom Tomb! Was her peach tree still there? Had it become a spirit, cared for by later generations? She also wanted to... see that person! The beautiful legend of the Peach Blossom Tomb reminded Xue Qingwu that Zhou Xuheng had never given up on her, and in the end, he even gave up his status as an emperor to be buried beside her beneath the giant peach tree! If they met again in this life, Xue Qingwu would tell Zhou Xuheng: I'll keep my promise to wait for you again, and you must also keep your promise to be with me for this life!

Xue Qingwu's family is simple, but not simple either. As a large family, it still has some weight in the local area. Of course, this is only in the local area. Once you go out, the Xue family's side branches are not enough to be seen.

It was Xue Qingwu's grandfather who had assisted the Xue family's main branch during the meteorite disaster. The current head of the family is Xue Qingwu's father, Xue Chengshan. Xue Chengshan has five brothers and four sisters, and he's the most honest, simple-minded, and unscheming eldest son. Xue Chengshan only inherited the title of eldest son, serving as a tool to handle the family's complex affairs. Xue Qingwu's two uncles, two aunts, and five or six nephews were all gifted with the ability to return to the True Reality realm, which was already quite impressive.

It was because the two uncles refused to submit to each other that the grandfather allowed the honest eldest son to succeed the head of the family. The two uncles finally calmed down. As for the two aunts, their abilities were very useless, no different from ordinary people. Xue Qingwu had never seen them use their abilities. It seemed that their talents were really average.

Xue Qingwu herself has five sisters and brothers, and she is the third child. She has two older sisters, a younger sister, and a youngest brother who is only ten years old. Her sisters are sweet-talkers, and her brother is a darling. The two older sisters are already married, but they are the most favored. As the middle child, she is the most neglected by her parents...

Well, her father was fine, but her mother was the most obvious. Of course, her mother didn't dislike her, but she was afraid of comparison. Whenever her older sister or younger sister had a conflict with her over trivial matters, her mother always asked her to endure it, and it was always Xue Qingwu herself who was criticized. Of course, after the quarrel, the family continued to live their lives, and her mother began to care about her again, cooking for her and asking her to finish her meals. As a normal housewife, her mother cared most about the food of each child. As long as three meals a day were eaten, it was no big deal in her opinion.