Today is a good day—sunny and beautiful, with birds singing and flowers blooming. My name is Li Xuan. I'm an archaeologist. On the surface, I call myself, but I work in this field. To put it bluntly, I'm just someone who cleans up artifacts. When it comes to identifying the dates of unearthed artifacts or bones, I'm just talking nonsense—as ridiculous as it can be. Today, the museum sent another batch of freshly unearthed artifacts, big and small, totaling several hundred pieces. Looks like I'll have to work overtime tonight. "You guys should be gentle. These are priceless treasures. If you break them, you won't even be able to afford to buy them. Take care of yourself!" The middle-aged man speaking was just a lowly deputy director, bossing us around all day, while a few friends and I had long disliked him and were planning to teach him a lesson someday. "It's best if he breaks it, it's easier to deal with." I muttered. The deputy director was middle-aged, but his hearing hadn't diminished. He pointed at me and said, "Li Xuan, what are you mumbling about!" "Deputy Director, how could I dare speak ill of you? You're dashing, charming, and unruly...... "Ahem, that's enough, as long as you know in your hearts, there's no need to say it. Let's just let this go. Li Xuan, take a few people and move these weapons and armor to clean them up properly, or we won't have dinner tonight." "Yes," she muttered a few more words as she watched him leave, "Old bastard, one day, your position will be mine." "
Li Xuan and Ouyang Zibo carried several boxes of weapons to the studio. The two of them buried themselves in hard work. Several hours passed in a flash. When it was mealtime, Ouyang Zibo put his arm around Li Xuan's shoulder and said, "Oh! I've never seen you work so hard! Alright, let's go eat." "That old bastard told me to finish cleaning up. Since you're already better, you go ahead. Once I'm done with these, there's not much left." "Eating is the foundation of the revolution. If you're hungry, how can you go against that old bastard? If you're starving, do you still expect him to help collect your body?" "But...... This ...... ""Come on, come on, I'll take care of anything you need." Ouyang Zibo threw away Li Xuan's phone and pulled him out of the studio. A sword covered in mud on the workbench emitted a faint light, lasting only a few seconds, and there weren't many people in the museum now, so no one noticed anything unusual about the sword.In the evening, Li Xuan was working alone in the studio. Since Ouyang Zibo had assigned him fewer tasks, he went home early. Li Xuan, rubbing his sleepy eyes, was cleaning the artifacts, and accidentally cut his finger. A few drops of blood happened to fall on the workbench. Li Xuan hurriedly found a band-aid, and then he heard footsteps gradually approaching from outside. Li Xuan knew it had to be the curator and hastily wiped the cloth on the workbench where the rusty sword lay.
The footsteps stopped, and the studio door was opened. An elderly man, nearly ninety years old, walked in. His hair was sparse and graying, and he dressed very simply, with cloth patches all over his clothing. As Li Xuan stood up, he felt a bit dizzy and nauseous. He had to hold on to the workbench to steady himself.
"Curator, it's so late, why are you here?"
"I am the curator here; why shouldn't I come? If I want to come, do you still want to stop me, you brat?"
The curator sat opposite Li Xuan, holding the rusty sword, with a smile on his face. He said, "Brat, do you know the origin of this sword?"
Li Xuan shook his head. At this moment, he no longer felt dizzy.
"Then let me tell you about the origin of this sword. Speaking of this sword, it has quite an interesting beginning. It is said that during the Hongwu era..."
It is said that in the ancient times, six miraculous stones fell from the sky, landing in the Yanhuang Tribe and the Chiyou Tribe respectively. Each tribe's leader ordered their wizards to forge six weapons. When the two armies clashed, three of the weapons were lost. By the time of the Hongwu era, celestial spirits descended, granting mankind divine powers. Thereafter, human society saw the appearance of sects, demon realms, ghost realms, etc. The human and divine realms obtained three swords: Xuanyuan, Tiancong, and Dilin. The remaining three—Shangjie, Mieshi, and Jueying—were rumored to be possessed by the demon realm and ghost realm respectively. Judging by the strength, it was more likely that the demon realm possessed all three weapons.
"The powerful human, demon, and divine realms fought to collect all six swords, not hesitating to use force. Over the following decades, countless lives were lost and the wars never ceased. Legend has it that a young boy stopped the wars. As for his name or appearance, no one knows. Strangely, that boy disappeared without a trace and never appeared again," said the curator.
"The story you told is really interesting, Curator. Although I haven't read much, I still know a little about history.""\"Listen to me finish speaking first. Not long after that young man disappeared, everyone on the continent also vanished. This Hongwu era lasted less than twenty years, and many clues disappeared with it. Not knowing the people of this period is normal.\"\"\"How do you know that, Director?\"\"\"When I was young, I was a national first-class archaeologist. I still have more than enough knowledge about this bit of history. Otherwise, how could I be your director?\" The director said with a smile.\"\"You are right. Good... good... so sleepy...\" Saying this, Li Xuan lay on the workbench and began to snore.\"\"The director held a sword in his left hand and a helmet in his right, saying, 'Old friend, long time no see, you've grown old.'\"\"The sword and helmet emitted a faint white glow, as if understanding his words.\"\"The next morning at eight o'clock, Ouyang Zibo brought two boxes of steamed buns into the workshop. Once he stepped through the door, he exclaimed, 'My God!' This shout also woke Li Xuan. He slowly looked up and saw that the ancient sword was covered in blood, and his hand happened to be on the sword, making it clear whose blood it was.\"\"Li Xuan, are you okay?\"\"Ouyang Zibo stepped forward to support Li Xuan, who bent slightly and waved his hand, saying, 'I'm fine, I'm fine.'\"\"Li Xuan wobbled and took a small step, but immediately fainted. Ouyang Zibo dropped what he was holding and carried Li Xuan to the hospital.\"\"In the hospital room, Li Xuan was receiving a blood transfusion, while outside, Ouyang Zibo was talking to the doctor.\"\"How did your friend lose so much blood?" the doctor asked.\"\"I don't know. I wasn't with him last night, so I don't know what happened. This morning, I just found him like this," Ouyang Zibo said helplessly.\"\"There are no obvious large wounds on his body. We only found a scar on his hand that seems to have been cut by a knife more than ten days ago.\"\"I see, he is usually so cautious, how could this happen… It seems we can only wait for him to wake up to tell me what happened.\"\"Ouyang Zibo returned to the museum, explained everything to the deputy director, and took over Li Xuan's remaining work.\"\"The deputy director thought to himself: That kid is always so careless. When he comes back, I must give him a proper lesson."At this moment in the hospital, Li Xuan slowly regained consciousness, but everything before his eyes was blurry. He felt as if a sharp sword had pierced through his chest, causing unbearable pain, and he also felt that his right arm had been chopped off. In his daze, Li Xuan saw a sword and unconsciously reached out to touch it. Then a harsh ringing sound went off; it turned out Li Xuan had pressed the wrong button. The doctor immediately rushed over, examined Li Xuan for a long time, and then said, 'A miracle, this is incredible. Nurse, take him for a full-body CT to ensure there are no internal injuries.'
Li Xuan fainted again as soon as he woke up, and this fainting lasted until evening without him regaining consciousness.
Ouyang Zibo was cleaning the bloodstains off the ancient sword in the studio. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remove the stains. Fearing that the curator would scold him if he found out, Ouyang Zibo hid the sword. He worked all day without even having a meal, so he casually grabbed the steamed buns from that morning to eat. After finishing half, he collapsed onto the workbench and fell asleep.
In his dream, Ouyang Zibo saw Li Xuan wielding a sword and attacking him. From his left, another person rushed out to fight Li Xuan, while yet another person attacked from behind Li Xuan, aiming straight for Ouyang Zibo. Suddenly, someone pulled Ouyang Zibo aside to fight with that person. Only then did Ouyang Zibo realize that he had two swords in his hands. When someone came at him to attack, he remained calm; instead of pointing the swords at others, he drove them into himself.
Elsewhere, Li Xuan was having a similar dream. The difference was that a voice echoed in his ears, making the dream seem both real and unreal.
