After settling that matter, Wen Mang turned to inspect the rest of the items.
"Sheet music for Grand Formation Music? Seriously?"
"I thought this thing was supposed to be lost."
"I can't read it," he muttered, flipping pages, "but damn… it looks real. The craftsmanship alone is insane."
He picked up another object.
"This cup's pretty," he said, wobbling it slightly on the table.
"…but it won't even sit flat. Absolute trash."
After a moment's thought, he scratched his head.
"Still… maybe I should ask a music-content creator to actually perform Grand Formation Music? Keeping the big spenders happy is important too."
With that in mind, Wen Mang casually checked his creator backend, hoping—against all odds—that some blind-yet-talented music uploader had already followed him. That would make sliding into their DMs much easier.
That was when he noticed the small red notification dot in the upper-right corner.
"What the hell is this 'Deviation Value' nonsense," he groaned.
"When is this stupid platform going to give up pushing garbage H5 games?"
He clicked [Spectator → Verified Viewer] without even reading it, backed out, and watched the red dot vanish.
Instant relief.
Right on cue, a message from Dongfang Ye arrived—just a single image, accompanied by a short note:
"Pick it up yourself later.
I trust you.
And update faster."
Wen Mang smiled helplessly and sent off the content he had already prepared.
Chang'an · Ganlu Hall
Li Shimin was still discussing state affairs with Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui when the Records of the Supernatural on the table suddenly spread open on its own.
[User permissions upgrading…]
[Upgrade complete. Enjoy your enhanced access.]
A thin thread of light extended from the book, unfurling in midair. Slowly, a brand-new light screen expanded—this one massive, nearly filling an entire wall.
Li Shimin stared, dumbfounded.
"What… just happened?"
Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui, on the other hand, visibly relaxed.
A light screen this large meant it would be much easier to add more ministers to view it together. More importantly—
"Copying the text will be far easier now," Du Ruhui said with satisfaction.
They had two small desks brought over, set their notebooks atop them, and looked up.
The light screen displayed a post:
[Light-screen]
[Thanks to the generous donor for their kindness!
Everything has been handled successfully.
The donor declined to leave their real name, jokingly calling themselves 'Zhuge Village Scholar,' so that's what we used.
The images show the two items donated to the creator 'Zhang Yu.'
All-powerful netizens—show us what you've got.]
Li Shimin glanced through the images.
The Grand Formation Music was familiar enough.
The cup—he'd thrown away more than a few like it in his youth.
Only the final image made his eyes linger.
"Thanks to Zhuge Village Scholar for donating to the Disaster Relief Committee… boundless compassion…"
Zhuge Village Scholar?
Zhuge Kongming?
Li Shimin fell into thought.
This wasn't the first time he'd noticed these post-ending images that appeared after the light screen's content concluded. Judging by the tone—and the nature of the items—he already had a vague suspicion.
He only needed one more confirmation.
[Server Chat Log]
NoScopeAgain: They already mentioned this earlier—Grand Formation Music. But honestly, this score looks too real, so it's definitely fake.
AFK_Since_2019: Yeah, they even used the Han-era pentatonic notation, which is thoughtful—but the paper's way too new.
RespawnPls: One glance verdict: not from Shang or Zhou.
It's from last week.
Carry it out, next!
LowPingDream:I recognize that cup. That's a rhyton. But wait—rhinoceros horn?
UP almost unlocked the "go to jail" achievement again.
LagKilledMe:Don't trade it. Seriously.
Once money gets involved, congrats—soap, meals, and iron bars.
PatchDayVictim: Han Dynasty had plenty of rhino horn, but rhytons came from Europe and the Middle East via the Silk Road.
Didn't really show up before Han.
By Tang, they were making them domestically.
InputDelay: Remember that line from frontier poetry?
"Grape wine in luminous cups at night"?
Some scholars think that cup was a rhyton—perfect for wine.
HitboxIssues: Fun fact: China's rhinos went extinct just over a hundred years ago.
Medicinal demand wiped them out.
ServerRollback: Yeah, blame the Qing first.
They banned civilians from hunting rhinos—then hunted them themselves to make gifts.
LoadingScreenMain: Climate played a role too.
Northern China started cooling around 500 BCE.
Late Tang got colder—imperial rhinos literally froze to death.
NoScopeAgain: UP now owns two high-risk items.
Prison-route content creator confirmed.
Li Shimin ignored most of it—but one line stood out.
"Climate cooling… Late Tang…"
How cold was "cold"?
Did this relate to disasters among the people?
And… did climate play a role in the Tang's eventual collapse?
He remembered the earlier mention of a so-called "window period."
…Granted, his descendants probably caused plenty of problems themselves.
Before he could speak, Du Ruhui stepped forward.
"I will consult those familiar with rhinos," Du said.
"To determine what level of cold could freeze them to death."
Li Shimin nodded slowly.
"And the south," he added.
"We must consider the south."
His gaze drifted to the map on the wall—the Silk Road clearly marked, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Wuwei, Dunhuang all labeled.
For a fleeting moment, he imagined a man named Zhang Yichao fighting desperately across those lands two centuries later.
The map's flaw was its narrowness—it ended at something called the Strait of Malacca.
Li Shimin briefly wondered if renaming it was an option.
"What lies even farther south, I wonder?" he asked idly.
"It may be too early to plan that far," Fang Xuanling cautioned.
"Just record the thought," Li Shimin replied.
Once the troublemakers nearby were dealt with… expansion and naming could come later.
Jing Province
"I never imagined later generations would announce donations publicly," Kongming said with a sigh.
"My apologies."
The others waved it off.
"Mere reputation," they said. "Nothing more."
Zhang Fei stood and cupped his hands.
"I should be the one thanking you all," he said solemnly.
"Zhuo County is our homeland."
The matter of climate cooling barely registered.
"Six hundred years later," someone muttered.
"That's their problem."
Liu Bei, however, frowned.
"If music like this can be lost," Kongming said softly,
"how much of Han culture has vanished?"
The hall fell silent.
Kongming remembered Luoyang in flames—countless unique texts reduced to ash.
Truth or forgery hardly mattered.
What mattered was continuity.
The day passed in a blur.
Liu Bei returned briefly to Gong'an, spoke with Lady Gan, lingered with Lady Sun, then set out again for Jiangzhou.
Before leaving, Guan Yu arrived.
"Move the families to Jiangling?" Liu Bei considered.
"The walls here are too weak," Guan Yu said.
"Eastern Wu has been restless."
"Then move the families—and the confidential archives," Liu Bei decided.
"But leave a fierce general behind."
Guan Yu understood immediately.
If Wu seized Gong'an and discovered the light screen—
Disaster.
They walked by the river, Jiangling visible across the water, its walls still unfinished but already bristling with crossbows.
"If Sun Quan had repeating ballistae and Kongming's troop-hiding ladders," Liu Bei mused,
"could Jiangling hold?"
Guan Yu smiled.
"They would fail."
Reassured, Liu Bei clasped his brother's shoulder.
"Jing Province… is yours again."
Dantu
Without Zhou Yu, Dantu felt diminished.
Sun Quan had returned to stabilize Jiangdong, leaving Lu Su in charge.
Lu Su rubbed his temples and looked at Bu Zhi.
"How goes the round wagon?"
"The waterwheel is easy," Bu Zhi replied.
"But the linked mechanisms keep jamming or breaking."
"Then hire more craftsmen," Lu Su said.
"Offer more rewards."
As orders went out, Lu Su frowned.
That destitute Liu Bei…
…was becoming harder to read.
What exactly changed?