Dream of the Red Chamber: Starting from Immortal Martial Arts

In the autumn of the thirty-eighth year of Chongwu in the Great Zhao Dynasty,

The majestic palace, spanning two hundred miles in length and width, sits atop the largest primordial energy vein within the territory of the Great Zhao Dynasty. Faintly, four colors of light—yellow, green, blue, and gold—flow in the air, weaving a primordial energy net to guard the heavens.

Thirty feet high and thick black city walls stretched across the ground, with banners fluttering on the battlements, armored soldiers with their weapons at their sides, their sharp eyes surveying the bustling crowds coming and going inside and outside the city.

This city is the capital of the Great Zhao Dynasty—Xianjing City.

As the sun set and the golden crow moved westward, the sky was filled with crimson clouds. Under the glow of the sunset, the entire giant tower, with its black stones and the afterglow intertwined, seemed to be enveloped in rings of blood-red light, appearing exceptionally solemn and iron-blooded.

At three quarters past dusk, a group of people, their armor tattered and their bodies stained with blood, carried the dying Crown Prince on their backs and entered the palace from the southwest. The main gates of the capital city then began to slowly close, and the city's protective array was activated.

An hour later, with the imprisonment of Jia She, the commander of the Eastern Palace Guards, and Jia Jing, an official of the Eastern Palace, and the activation of the palace's formation, the atmosphere in the entire capital city plummeted to freezing point, and an invisible killing intent permeated and surged in the air.

Just as the various prefectures of the founding lineage activated their clan protection formations, and figures flew into the air, while the capital garrison outside the city gradually became agitated, the primordial energy above the imperial palace surged and gathered, condensing into a hundred-zhang-tall figure with an empty, earth-yellow face overlooking the city. Its indifferent voice resounded throughout the heavens and earth, slowly echoing.

"By His Majesty's decree, the Military Governor of the Capital Garrison, Jia Daihua, and the Left Commander of the Left Army, Jia Daishan, are summoned to the palace for an audience."

Above Ningrong Street in the western city, the two Jia brothers exchanged a glance, reassured their relatives and friends, and then entered the palace.

A month later, Jia Daihua and his companion led the dejected Jia Jing and Jia She out of the palace and back to Ningrong Street.

Only then did the lofty capital city, which had been shrouded in heavy dark clouds for over a month, finally see rays of sunlight piercing through the haze and dispelling the eerie and oppressive atmosphere that permeated the city.

···

Spring of the forty-first year of Chongwu reign, at Ruihu Courtyard, Ningguo Prefecture.

With white hair and beards and hunched backs, Jia Daihua and Jia Daishan were feeling the bones of a chubby-faced toddler, their eyes filled with ecstatic joy.

The two exchanged a glance and murmured, "All meridians are open?"

"Golden skin and jade bones? Abundant qi and blood?"

"It is time for the Jia family to prosper."

The child on the bed was so ticklish from being touched by the two men that he couldn't help but grin and giggle, which made Jia Daihua and the other man burst into laughter as well.

Laughter resounded throughout the heavens and earth, as if even the dark clouds above the two mansions were shaken away and slowly disappeared.

···

Winter of the forty-sixth year of Chongwu, in a secret room of Ningguo Prefecture.

A burly young man with long, flowing hair, red lips, and white teeth stood shirtless, legs spread apart, back arched high, hands clenched into fists, eyes gleaming with ferocity, pouncing like a hungry tiger.

With a swing of his fists and a hunched back, accompanied by rhythmic breathing through his mouth and nose, the colorful energy around him seemed to slither through his body like tiny snakes, constantly strengthening his bones.

The bones, which were originally jade-like, were refined by the vital energy, and the last bit of the golden joints finally turned into jade color, making them even more crystalline.

Then, as if dominoes were falling, one golden joint after another was forged into jade bones, causing the sound of gold and jade clashing to resound within his body.

As his last joints turned into jade, his body shone with a luminous jade light, his body becoming perfectly rounded like jade, and even the beads of sweat reflected on it looked like glass. Continuous power burst forth from his bones and merged into his flesh and blood.

Just then, a tiger talisman, entirely golden in color, gradually flew out from between the boy's eyebrows and hovered in front of him.

The boy sensed something was amiss, looked up and saw the tiger tally in mid-air. Before he could even be surprised, he saw the tiger tally's body shimmering with light, and a vast amount of memory appeared in his mind.

A moment later, the memories merged, and disbelief flashed in the boy's eyes as he murmured, "Could it be that the dancers in the black bar had poison in their mouths?"

"Even doing a mid-level project can lead to time travel?!"

···

In the fourth year of Changwu, in the northern part of the capital region.

At noon, the sky was covered with thick, dark clouds, obscuring the sun, and a torrential downpour began.

The sharply shaped Sharp Tooth Mountain stands amidst the rain and waterfalls, its peaks hidden in the inky clouds, like a miasma pervading the entire mountain.

Inside, strange thorny trees covered with barbed branches twisted and turned, and from time to time, sounds like the cries of a child could be heard from deep within.

"Jia Tang! You'll die a horrible death!"

Suddenly, a mournful wail echoed throughout the entire forest, followed by the earth-shattering roar of the mountain lord.

"roar!"

The village halfway up the mountain was littered with severed limbs and pieces of flesh, and crimson blood flowed down the mountain with the rain.

On the wooden walls surrounding the village stood burly warriors clad in armor, their bodies enveloped in a crimson aura.

Strands of blood energy emanated from his body, gathering above his head and condensing into a plump, strong, and fierce-looking blood tiger with fangs.

The tiger lowered its head, its savage eyes silently watching the people wailing in the village square.

"Why are you still not satisfied after killing for so long?"

Blood gushed from Jianshan Village's mouth and nose as the village chief collapsed in the muddy, blood-soaked ground, his eyes fixed on the dead brothers around him, muttering to himself.

"I didn't offend your Jia family, so why did I suffer such a misfortune?"

"Because you are a bandit, and my men died at the hands of bandits."

The chieftain looked up in stunned silence: "You only lost one of your men, just one! And for that, you slaughtered the entire bandit community around the capital? From Baoding in the north to Hejian in the south, you wiped out every mountain stronghold, river stronghold, and ghost market. You killed more than a thousand times that number of people. Aren't you afraid of retribution?"

"Retribution? You're a bandit, I'm an official; not only am I innocent, I'm meritorious!"

"And what about them?"

The chieftain struggled to his feet from the mud and pointed to a pile of mangled corpses to the south: "They were the people I captured."

"Whether forced or voluntary, when they raised their swords and pointed them at me, their fate was already sealed."

"Better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free!"

The chilling words echoed through the mountains and forests, just as dark clouds rolled and surged in the sky, and a thunderclap exploded within them.

"Snap!"

A fleeting flash of lightning brought a ray of light, revealing Jia Tang, dressed in a black martial arts robe with gilded tiger patterns and a jade tiger crown. His robust and muscular physique was shrouded in a thin red veil, ensuring that he remained untouched by rain and mud.

Jia Tang's rugged features remained expressionless as he calmly watched the bandit leader crawling towards him, leaving a mark on the muddy road.

The chieftain crawled to Jia Tang's side, raised his mud-covered hands high, and fiercely wiped them off the shoes in front of him.

Even if it means death, I want him to be tainted!

"puff!"

With a flash of cold light, a Tiger Guard wearing tiger-patterned armor half-squatted in front of Jia Tang, plunging his black gold knife into the bandit's head, causing his raised hand to fall limply, only an inch away from the shoes.

A mere inch apart is an insurmountable chasm.

Jia Tang turned and walked out of the village, followed by two men wearing black military robes with gilded tiger patterns. They were Jia He and Jia Ping, the Tiger Guards commanders, who led two teams of Tiger Guards closely behind him.

"Have the Flying Eagle Division men from the foot of the mountain come up to count the number of people and thoroughly search the nearby caves and ghost lairs."

"Even the rats in the hole, I chopped them all up."

"only!"

Jia He bowed and accepted the order, then added, "General, Jianshan Village is the last place on the list."

"Is anything missing?"

"Nothing exists!"

"Then let's return to the capital."