Chapter 10: Genius Lanling, the Truth About Crossing Over?

Suo Ningbing's beautiful eyes were full of apology as she said, "I'm sorry, Ling, for Suo Lun's lack of ambition, putting you in a difficult position."

Lanling said with difficulty, "I, I'll do my best. What do these women roughly look like? It would be troublesome if I don't recognize them when we meet."

Suo Ningbing continued, "Suo Lun may be incompetent, but the one thing he excels at is painting. He loves to keep portraits of women he's fond of, let me show you."

Then, a moment later, Suo Ningbing brought over a box. Upon opening it, there were dozens of scrolls inside.

Each portrait was of a beauty, plump or slender, each more beautiful than the last. This bastard's private life was such a mess, yet each woman he ruined was more beautiful than the next, all comparable to goddesses on Earth.

And this bastard's portraits were indeed exceptionally well done. In this world, there was nothing like sketching or photorealism, only ancient Chinese-style beauty paintings, and it was rare for him to capture the essence of these women with such simple lines.

Lanling looked closely at the portraits of Commandery Princess Zhi Ning, Gui Qinshao, and Yan Nai'er. The mere portraits were already stunningly beautiful, how extraordinary must the real persons be? Yan Nai'er in particular, truly had the face of an angel and the figure of a devil, a peerless beauty.

This bastard's romantic fortune was truly not shallow.

"Ling, Suo Lun excels at nothing in literature or martial arts, only his painting skills are excellent," Suo Ningbing said. "So, during this time, I want to teach you about painting techniques, lest you can't put your brush down when it matters most."

Lanling had wanted to say that it wasn't necessary, as he was adept at painting. But when he opened his mouth, he ended up saying, "Alright, sister."

Lanling majored in fine arts and had a high level of proficiency. Moreover, he had drawn no less than a thousand portraits for his sister Lankou from childhood, his skill in life drawing reaching a divine level, almost comparable to actual photographs.

However, being taught painting by Suo Ningbing would inevitably lead to close contact, which was indeed a great opportunity to foster feelings.

...

In the first two days, the sister taught Lanling all about Suo Lun's social relations, that is, she gave a cursory introduction to the dozens of ex-girlfriends in the portraits. She also briefly introduced the teachers and classmates from the Royal City Academy.

Next, it was time to begin studying the history and basic knowledge of this world.

And so, Lanling, for the first time, saw the books of this new world and was immediately astonished.

Because the text therein was all familiar to him, it was exactly like the Chinese language on Earth. And not just that, some of the articles and sentences were things he had studied before.

Indeed, this world had its own versions of the Four Books and Five Classics, basic mathematics, and its own philosophies. Moreover, all these areas of knowledge were based on ancient Chinese literature, with some philosophies from the West as well.

Not only that, but in music, both the staff notation and the ancient Chinese musical notation of gong, shang, jiao, zhi, and yu coexisted.

Then, he quickly turned to this world's history, finally unraveling the biggest mystery since his arrival.

The use of the Chinese language in this world was indeed not a coincidence. The reason lay with one person, the Dragon Emperor!

The Dragon Emperor, the most powerful man in this world, the super-human who single-handedly created the civilization of Central Earth.

Three thousand years ago, this world was chaotic and disordered, with most areas comprised of primitive tribes, and a few small towns and cities. The civilization of the entire world was still at a very basic stage. The world's written languages amounted to dozens or hundreds, while spoken languages were in the thousands.

The humans of this world were known as the descendants of dragons, with each person having more or less the bloodline of dragons. The higher the purity of one's bloodline, the stronger their martial force.

As a result, for thousands of years, martial strength became the eternal theme of this world, and with it, eternal warfare.

The whole world was always engaged in conflict, people fighting with each other, people fighting with beasts. Almost no civilization, no order existed. There was no strong national organization; the only mighty organization was the Dragon God Temple.

The Dragon Temple was the most powerful and transcendent organization of this world. From the start of history, there had been the Dragon Temple. It was the faith of the entire world, the spokesperson of the dragons on Earth.

However, the Dragon Temple was detached from worldly affairs and did not intervene in the wars of the world.

So, Central Earth was a wild land, with bloodshed and warfare happening every year, every stretch of land. Countless people died every day, and it was sheer luck for any child to grow up safely.

But this chaos and disorder came to an end three thousand years ago.

Because the most powerful human ever was born. No one knew where he came from or who his parents were; he seemed to have been born from the womb of the earth itself.

In just under forty years, he became the undisputed strongest warrior under the heavens.

Then, over twenty years, he defeated all the tribes and clans of the world, nearly uniting the entirety of Central Earth, establishing the mighty Flame Dragon Empire. For the first time, the Flame Dragon Continent moved from chaos toward order. He became the world's first emperor.

In recognition of his achievements, he was ordained by the Dragon Temple as the Dragon Emperor.

```

However, this was merely the beginning of his accomplishments. Over the next thirty years, he halted his conquests and instead, with his own power, eradicated all other languages and scripts from the world, creating the Dragon Language as the sole language and script of this world.

He went on to create philosophy, arts, mathematics, literature, music, and more, almost single-handedly laying the foundations of an entire civilization.

Of course, even the mightiest of great men must one day die. At the age of one hundred twenty-nine, the Dragon Emperor passed away.

...

After the Dragon Emperor's death, the Flame Empire continued to uphold his legacy, enhancing the civilization he built. A great number of literati and philosophers emerged, producing splendid writings and composing numerous melodies, ushering the world into an era of flourishing thought and culture reminiscent of a hundred schools of thought vying for prominence.

Yet, even the grandest of empires have their day of fragmentation.

Three hundred years after the death of the Dragon Emperor, the Flame Empire had already splintered. Over the next two to three thousand years, incessant conflicts arose, akin to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods of ancient China.

Up to now, Middle Earth had split into dozens, if not hundreds, of large and small nations. Among these, four major kingdoms and one empire stood as the five dominant powers of this world.

The four major kingdoms were the East Li Kingdom to the east, the Rage Wave Kingdom to the south, the Xiliang Kingdom to the west, and the North Wind Kingdom to the north.

The empire was the Central Flame Empire, the foremost overlord of the Middle Earth World and the leader among all nations.

Of course, the Flame Empire was nominally the heir to the Flame Dragon Empire established three thousand years ago by the Dragon Emperor; however, in reality, the two held little connection. The relationship between the Flame Empire and the Flame Dragon Empire was even more distant than that between the Later Tang Dynasty founded by the Shatuo and the Tang Dynasty of the Li family in ancient China.

Today, the Flame Empire's prominence and the recognition by the Dragon God Temple allowed it to become the central empire of the Middle Earth World. Despite this, the current ruler of the Flame Empire only dared to claim the title of king and not emperor.

Although it had been nearly three thousand years since the Dragon Emperor's death, he still held an almost god-like status as the totem of the entire world.

No one in this world knew the origins of the Dragon Emperor, but Lanling could see it.

This strongest and greatest Dragon Emperor, like Lanling, was a traveler from another world. But he was far more formidable than Lanling, having unified most of the world, established an empire, and created a civilization.

Even so, Lanling had a faint suspicion that the former host of the Yao Xing inside him might possibly... perhaps be the Dragon Emperor himself. But it didn't seem likely; Yao Xing had mentioned that its mission upon traversing to this world was to destroy it.

Yet, how could it be that the civilization painstakingly built by the Dragon Emperor was intended for destruction?

Regardless, Lanling felt that his own traversal was mysteriously linked to that of the Dragon Emperor.

Then, Lanling recalled the mission Yao Xing mentioned for coming to this world.

To destroy this world?

At the thought of this mission, Lanling shook his head vigorously, determined to ignore such a chaotic task. All he wanted was to protect his sister and safeguard her family—nothing more.

"Ling? What's wrong?" Suo Ningbing asked.

Lanling replied, "It's nothing, Lankou. I've studied the content of these books before, so I don't have to start from scratch. Perhaps after studying with you for a while, aside from Martial Arts, I should be able to pass the other three subjects in the Royal City Academy's graduation exam with ease."

Lanling was being modest with these words. He was, after all, a talented student from a prestigious university's arts faculty. The philosophy, literature, and other fields of this world might have changed, yet they originated from Earth's disciplines. Moreover, Lanling had read countless classic literary works from all eras and cultures, many of which he could recite from memory.

Therefore, as long as he became acquainted with this world's writing formats, Lanling's proficiency in these subjects had already surpassed many others.

"Really?" Suo Ningbing was overjoyed.

Lanling nodded, "Really."

In the following ten days or so, Lanling's learning progress was indeed remarkable. His knowledge in many subjects left Suo Ningbing utterly amazed.

"Ling, you are so much more remarkable than Suo Lun," said Suo Ningbing. "You have truly opened my eyes and left me in awe."

It seemed that the biggest obstacle for Lanling to pass the graduation assessment of the Royal City Academy would be Martial Arts.

The key to Martial Arts cultivation in this world depended on the quality of one's Dragon Vein.

Ye Jingyu, being a high-ranking samurai, would personally teach Lanling the ways of Martial Arts.

The crucial suspense now was whether Lanling's Dragon Vein talent was high or low.

```