In the shadow of the golden spear, a loyal heart suffers;
Amidst the sound of bronze drums, white hair appears…
Ancient poetry, yet still full of emotion;
For a thousand years, the ancestral image remains.
…Tran Lac Tinh was a fourth-year student at Can Tho University.
Ordinary aptitude, ordinary family background. To be precise, poor.
And being poor, he couldn't possibly be the type with pockets full of money and a heart full of love. His greatest hobby was reading all sorts of xianxia novels, which didn't cost much. Generally, hobbies and entertainment depend on one's circumstances: "The rich go to bars, the poor drink iced tea." Each social class has different ways of entertaining themselves, so he still managed to live happily.
But that was just self-consolation. Who doesn't dream of being able to: "Awake, command the world; drunk, recline on a beauty's lap"? Lac Tinh was no different.
One beautiful day, Lac Tinh walked into an antique shop near Ninh Kieu Wharf. He intended to see if he could buy anything special. Because last night, Lac Tinh had read in the newspaper about someone who accidentally bought an antique for a few hundred thousand dong. Later, it was discovered to be a Ming dynasty artifact, and they became a billionaire overnight. So he wanted to try his luck too.
The antique selling area stretched along both sides of the road. Old vases, old bowls, radios, TVs, phones, paintings – generally, he didn't know if they were truly antique or not. But one thing was certain: they were all old items. It seemed the owners didn't even bother to clean them.
He walked around once, then again. What he wanted to buy, he couldn't afford. What he could afford was either ugly or seemed to have no use. Lac Tinh rummaged in his pocket, looked at his last two banknotes totaling 550,000 dong, and prayed silently: "Heavenly spirits, earthly spirits, please let me buy something that will change my life."
After that, Lac Tinh entered a small room, a souvenir shop named Dai Ha, which had a few items on display. But the items were neatly arranged and had price tags. He scanned the rows from highest to lowest price: two million, one and a half million, one million, eight hundred thousand, seven hundred thousand... Down to the five hundred thousand dong row, there were three products.
The first was a wooden bagua mirror, the kind often hung in front of houses to ward off evil. The second was a round crystal ball, but engraved with images of rivers, mountains, seas, birds, and fish. The third was a round shield, he didn't know if it was copper or iron, with a faded, broken pattern that was hard to make out.
Lac Tinh picked up each item to examine it. When he picked up the copper shield, a cool sensation spread, and he felt a familiar feeling, as if he had seen it somewhere before. Perhaps in a dream...! Like the feeling of déjà vu often mentioned. When seeing an image or an event, and feeling very familiar with it, as if one has experienced it before. Anyway, he was just seeking good luck, and perhaps the coolness was just from the metal, but never mind. "I choose you."
Lac Tinh received the packaged item from the shop owner and paid the remaining money in his pocket. His heart was pounding with anticipation, hoping this was a valuable antique that he could resell for a higher price. Otherwise, it would be a complete waste, like having to eat instant noodles for ten meals over the next half month. "Well, if I can't sell it, maybe it'll bring me good luck anyway," Tran Lac Tinh told himself.
Just as he floated out of the shop, whistling a winter love song, "CRASH!" The world spun. When he came to his senses, he saw a beautiful girl in a sporty t-shirt, sitting there, concerned and chirping: "I'm so sorry, are you okay? Let me pay for your medical expenses." He shook his head a few times to clear it, then realized it was because he had been lost in thought, not paying attention to the road. The girl, riding an SH scooter, had lost control, veered onto the pedestrian path, and "kissed" Lac Tinh, sending him flying to the side. "No need, I'm fine," he said. Well, it was partly his fault anyway.
Not paying attention to the road, Lạc Tinh hurried home. "I just hoped buying that item would bring good luck, who knew I'd get kissed by a car instead."
"It's fine since it was a beautiful person who hit me, but if it had been just anyone, I'd definitely demand compensation. Ah, heroes have always found it hard to resist the allure of a beauty. I wonder how someone can be so pretty..."
"Come to think of it, I was lucky I didn't buy that crystal ball or the Bagua mirror earlier, otherwise they'd surely be shattered... And thanks to the shield, the car hit the shield first, which is why I only flew back two meters and wasn't hurt." Arriving back at his rented room, Lạc Tinh tried to ignore the throbbing pain in his scraped hand as he hastily opened the shield he'd bought to check for damage.
If it were damaged, he'd be heartbroken. The shield was still intact, but there was something unusual about it, and Lạc Tinh couldn't figure out what it was. After staring at it for a while, he suddenly remembered that the pattern seemed different from when he bought it.
Upon closer inspection, it seemed the outer ring of the shield was misaligned. Lạc Tinh flipped the shield over and looked at the inside, realizing that its structure was like several concentric circles that could shift. "It must be because of the car crash, the joint must have come loose, making it more obvious."
He tried to rotate it with his hand. Lạc Tinh discovered it was like a circular jigsaw puzzle with serrated edges. He fiddled with it for thirty minutes, rotating the five concentric circles back and forth until the patterns aligned perfectly. Then, looking closely, the image was quite beautiful. In the center was a star, and the outer rings were divided, each depicting a different pattern: some with people, some with birds, some with deer. "Wait a minute!" Lạc Tinh suddenly remembered an image he had seen before: the patterns carved on a Đông Sơn bronze drum.
"Could this be a four-thousand-year-old artifact?" Overjoyed as if he had found a treasure, Lạc Tinh swung the shield up, shouting, "OHM YEAH!" Suddenly: "Pop..." There was an explosion. It turned out the shield had hit the light bulb hanging on the wall, causing the electrical wire on the wall to short-circuit, and the light went out completely.
At the same time, a numbing sensation spread through him. Lạc Tinh could only think, "Electric shock!" "I'm really done for, Mom and Dad..." After that, he knew nothing more.
If Lạc Tinh had still been conscious, he would have seen the bronze shield light up, enveloping him, and then both vanished as if they had never existed.
The Hùng Thiên Continent. A primitive continent with no airplanes, no cars, no televisions... Only humans in a "fur-eating, hole-dwelling" era – well, not quite that bad. Humans already knew how to roast food with fire instead of eating raw meat, and how to sleep in tents made of animal hides instead of just sleeping in caves.
Besides humanity, there were also colossal creatures only seen in movies, like dinosaurs – here called *Giao Long* (water dragons) living in water and *Địa Long* (earth dragons) living on land... and many other gigantic beasts. The flora also consisted of many enormous trees, many man-eating plants, and no one had yet cataloged how many species of animals or plants existed. Because no one knew how vast the Hùng Thiên Continent was...! An unexplored land...
Humans here grew rapidly; by sixteen, they were considered adults and could marry.
The average lifespan was one hundred and twenty years. Although human life wasn't particularly good, to survive in this harsh environment, humanity was also incredibly resilient. The strength of the people here was several times greater than that of modern humans. In particular, there was a type of tattoo-like mark that could multiply one's strength many times over, known as a Divine Seal. When teenagers reached fifteen or sixteen, a prayer and sacrificial ceremony to the gods would be held to awaken these seals, but with a very low success rate—only one in a hundred. The tattoo-like seals bestowed by the gods included Heaven-tier Divine Seals (Heaven Seals) and Earth-tier Divine Seals (Earth Seals). Besides these two, there was also a third type of Divine Seal: the Human Seal. This type was bestowed by someone who already possessed a Divine Seal, using a special technique. However, the Human Seal offered little room for growth and was dependent on the caster.
Three days prior, Luo Xing had woken up to a startling truth: he had transmigrated and possessed the body of the Viet Tribe chief's grandson, also named Luo Xing. However, this boy's surname was Luo, not Chen. While he was climbing a tree to stand guard, a stream of fire shot down from above and struck him. When people found him, he was unconscious, his clothes burned away, and his hair coiled like instant noodles. He was then brought back to the Viet Tribe. During that time, Luo Xing felt as if he were in a deep dream, witnessing the genuine Luo Xing's life from childhood to adulthood. Another three days passed, and the memory fusion process between the two was complete.
Luo Xing awoke, gradually accepting his transmigration fate. Although his current status was the chief's eldest grandson, the situation was far from promising, as this was a world where the strong survived and the weak perished. The position of chief wasn't hereditary; instead, it was held by whoever was most capable. Everyone in the village bore the surname Luo, a branch of the powerful Great Luo Tribe.
However, a long time had passed without contact with their main lineage. The tribes didn't settle in one place, due to generations of a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
Moreover, without maps, no one knew where their main lineage was anymore. Returning would be difficult. Currently, the Luo Viet Tribe was also in a dangerous period, constantly under attack from the Ferocious Beast Tribe.
They had to flee constantly, east and west. From an initial population of over ten thousand, after ten years of fleeing and moving through many shelters, the tribe's population had dwindled to just over a thousand. They no longer had the strength to move again, as there were many elderly, the weather was unfavorable, and food was depleted... This Viet Tribe group lived a nomadic, hand-to-mouth existence.
They were hunter-gatherers, with almost no concept of settling in one place to cultivate food or raise livestock. Luo Xing gradually accepted his new life, along with a yearning for the legendary power he'd heard about.
He recalled the *xianxia* novels he'd read during his student days. Could his era finally be here?
If those characters lived glorious lives, then perhaps Luo Xing could too, for he had already achieved the first prerequisite. That was transmigration... "Magnificent Heaven Continent, here I come!" *—Wait a minute...*
*"—So hungry..."* "What can I eat?" After three days and three nights of just sleeping, his whole body was now weak from hunger.
Currently, at the Viet Tribe chief's tent, the atmosphere was tense and sorrowful, as food was depleted and enemies lurked nearby. The villagers had finished their discussions and decided to dedicate their hope for survival to the children.
Therefore, they would proceed to ask the Ancestral Spirits to bestow Divine Seals one last time, for those aged fifteen to seventeen. Afterward, they would split into smaller groups to flee and avoid complete annihilation. Due to the scarcity of sacrificial offerings, the entire Viet Tribe had used their own fresh blood as a substitute.
Hoping to bring good fortune to the last generation of descendants. Each member contributed a cup of blood into a large stone tray for offerings. Around nine in the morning, as the sun rose directly over the village gate, its light shone upon the Ancestral Spirit of the Việt Tribe. Tribe Leader Lạc Việt stepped forward, holding the tribal staff.
He raised both hands before the Ancestral Spirit. It was a statue of a bird resembling a fiery phoenix, its entire body glowing crimson.
It looked incredibly lifelike. But Lạc Tinh knew it wasn't a phoenix, but the Lạc Hoàng bird, the Ancestral Spirit of the Việt Tribe. The Tribe Leader's voice resonated far and wide: "—I bow to the nine directions of Heaven, and the ten directions of Earth.
I bow to the virtuous Lạc Hoàng, I bow to all the gods. You who brought light and warmth, helping us, the Việt Tribe, dispel the cold darkness and find warmth. You helped us find food to eat, shelter, and gave us strength to fight against wild beasts and enemies. Today, we offer our blood to Heaven, to Earth, and to the revered Lạc Hoàng."
"—We beg you, grant the children of the Việt Tribe the Divine Mark, so they may protect the villagers and perpetuate our lineage. I promise that the Việt Tribe will worship Lạc Hoàng forever. Should we disobey, the entire Việt Tribe shall become prey for wild beasts..."
After the worship concluded, over one hundred and twenty Việt Tribe Youths, having been thoroughly washed and coated with a glistening layer of oil, stepped forward one by one. Both males and females wore loincloths and were bare-chested. The females, specifically, all had their hair parted and draped over both shoulders to conceal what everyone knew needed concealing. Naturally, this was not the usual attire for women. However, during the ritual worship, wearing shirts was forbidden.
One by one, each person used a ritual knife to prick themselves, letting their blood drip into a jade cup placed before the Lạc Hoàng statue. Nothing happened to the first ten people. Nor the twentieth, or the thirtieth. The thirty-third person was a girl who stepped forward. Her blood-dripping left the deepest impression on Lạc Tinh; it was his childhood sweetheart, Lạc Dương. Suddenly, the Lạc Hoàng statue shone with an earthy yellow light. The blood from the sacred cup rose like a thread and flew into Lạc Dương's chest. Her entire body glowed with patterns that shimmered in and out of sight. As the light gradually faded, a clear image emerged: a swirling Lạc bird, with its main eye precisely on the girl's Dàn Trung acupoint.
Everyone in the village embraced each other joyfully, then knelt to thank Lạc Hoàng. The Tribe Leader shed tears, overjoyed that Lạc Hoàng still showed mercy to the Việt Tribe by granting the Divine Mark. In the past 50 years of continuous worship, only twelve individuals had been granted the Divine Mark, and the last person to receive it was Lạc Tinh's father, who had lost his life ten years ago fighting wild beasts to protect the villagers.
After the jubilation subsided, the ritual continued for the remaining individuals. Everyone hoped to be noticed by the gods. The fiftieth, sixtieth, and even the hundredth person came and went, but no one else received the Divine Mark.