My Apocalypse System Arrives 10 Years Early

Chapter 382: Chapter 258: Earth Pivot Tour: Forbidden City Earth Vein, Profound Yellow National Guardian, and Vientiane Secret Pavilion (3)

The gates of spacetime opened, letting them witness history as if they were there.

The two of them wandered through the river of time, personally experiencing the iconic moments of the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, the Republican era, and the rise of modern China.

The sound of crashing waves mingled with the scent of spices from the Zhan Cheng Country. The Treasure Ship Keel was built from Hidden Dragon Wood, a branch of the Qinling Dragon Vein itself. Every single rivet was inlaid with the lost foreign annotations of the *Yingya Shenglan*. This was the scene of ”Zheng He’s Voyage.”

In the Third Year of Yongle, Zheng He’s fleet on its maiden voyage paid homage to the Celestial Consort at Fujian Changle Port. The banners of the treasure ships blotted out the sun as they set sail, laden with porcelain, silk, and the *Great Ming Unified Map*. The crew used a Compass to navigate by the stars and a Star Board to measure latitude. Their seven voyages to the West opened up the Maritime Silk Road. During the Battle of Ceylon Mountain, they captured the usurper king, Ali Kurnai’Er, a display of the Great Ming’s might. The accompanying Interpreter, Ma Huan, authored the *Yingya Shenglan*, which recorded how the Guli Country used pepper to settle trades, leading to the economic phenomenon of ”pepper monetization” in the Ming Dynasty.

An elegant, elderly man stood alone and proud in Fengtian Hall, sword in hand, his hair and beard bristling with righteous fury. ”Anyone who dares speak of moving the capital will be executed!” he declared. He then personally donned his armor, patrolled Desheng Gate, and used the Nine Gates Fire Cannon Array to rout the Wala cavalry. This was the scene of ”Yu Qian’s Defense of the Capital.”

Then came Wang Yangming’s enlightenment at Longchang, Xu Xiake’s deathbed manuscript, Zhang Juzheng reviewing memorials late into the night, the Chongzhen Emperor hanging himself on Meishan, the Kangxi Emperor’s clever capture of Ao Bai, the controversy surrounding Emperor Yongzheng’s ascension, Cao Xueqin writing *Dream of the Red Chamber*, Lin Zexu’s destruction of opium at Humen, and the Eight-Nation Alliance sacking the Capital City, forcing Cixi to flee west...

Time flowed onward, bringing them to the Republican era.

Sun Yat-sen assumed office as the Provisional President in Jinling and promulgated the Provisional Constitution. Empress Dowager Longyu issued the Imperial Edict of Abdication of the Qing Emperor, bringing an end to over two thousand years of imperial rule in China. Yuan Shikai used the promise of a ”Republic of Five Races” to secure the transfer of power, and the edict’s final, classical phrase—”Would it not be grand?”—became a historical metaphor.

Burnt scraps of the ”Twenty-One Demands” flew from the fire at Zhaojialou. The students’ roars were deafening. Inside the Vientiane Secret Pavilion, the pages of the first issue of *New Youth* rustled on their own. This was the ”Thunder of the May Fourth Movement.”

The Age of Awakening had begun!

Then came the Northern Expedition, the Long March, and the War of Resistance—all memories forged in blood and fire.

These iconic moments, one after another, were not historical reenactments. They were the actual, precious memories of history preserved within the Dragon Vein. No modern filmmaker could ever hope to capture such authentic scenes and their profound atmosphere.

”This archive is priceless.” Both Li Xiang and Jiang Cai’Er were deeply shaken. At the same time, Jiang Cai’Er broke through to a new level.

The Vientiane Secret Pavilion flew into Jiang Cai’Er’s sea of consciousness, merging with her Memory Palace. The Memory Palace, which was originally the size of a mortal empress’s residence, abruptly expanded to more than five times its previous size. It now possessed a celestial aura, resembling the divine palace of an immortal sovereign.

Tier Four.

Jiang Cai’Er’s cultivation path was quite unique. Li Xiang could no longer help her progress, as simply consuming Spiritual Medicine now had minimal effect. He had even been wondering if they should begin Dual Cultivation to help her advance. However, since she was a senior in high school, they had agreed to wait until after the college entrance exams and their official engagement party. He never expected that, thanks to this serendipitous opportunity, Jiang Cai’Er would leap straight into Tier Four.

Her Tier Four was unlike any other. Li Xiang had a feeling that even he might not be able to withstand her attacks. He was beginning to realize he couldn’t quite see through Jiang Cai’Er anymore.

Once her Spiritual Power stabilized, Li Xiang asked, ”Babe, what’s your fourth Superpower?”

’A prodigy like Jiang Cai’Er would never have a breakthrough without gaining a new Superpower.’

Jiang Cai’Er chuckled. ”It’s called High-dimensional Manifold: Laplace’s Eye.”

Seeing Li Xiang’s dumbfounded expression, Jiang Cai’Er did her best to explain simply. ”High-dimensional manifold comes from differential geometry, and the Eye of Laplace is a nod to Laplace’s Demon of determinism. Basically, it means I can observe and modify causal data chains in the Metaverse. For example, I could erase someone’s social media presence, which would weaken their ’real-world presence.’ I can also fold my consciousness into the fourth dimension to preview all possible futures within the next thirty-six hours, kind of like the world line jumps in *Steins;Gate*. I can even unleash a Bayesian Storm, using a probability cloud to randomly quantize an enemy’s body parts—their left arm might appear in the past, while their right leg collapses into a parallel universe...”

”Whoa, whoa, stop! In English, please!” Li Xiang quickly cut her off. ’You keep talking like that and my head’s going to explode.’

Jiang Cai’Er giggled, hooking her arm through his and whispering, ”In plain English? It means that no matter how incredible I become or what Superpowers I get, you just need to know one thing: I’ll always be your doting girl who loves you more than anything!”

Li Xiang instantly felt a wave of relief and pulled her into a hug, showering her with kisses.

The couple shared an intimate moment deep beneath the Forbidden City, completely unaware that the outside world had been thrown into an uproar.

The very instant Li Xiang finished reconnecting the Dragon Vein, a series of strange phenomena erupted across the outside world.

The Imperial Capital City was having an ordinary morning. The usual clamor of rush hour traffic filled Chang’an Street, and no commuter was aware of the change that had just occurred deep underground.

But then, a little boy in a red school scarf pointed to the sky and yelled, ”Mom, look! The clouds are making a dragon!”

”’Silly boy, clouds are always changing shape. That’s normal,’ his mother said dismissively. But when she turned to follow his pointing finger, she was utterly stunned. ’Oh... my God!’”

The young woman’s mouth hung open. She had never seen a cloud so vividly shaped like a dragon.

It was as if a real dragon had manifested in the world.

Then, an even more shocking scene unfolded: stars began to fall from the sky like rain.

In broad daylight, the ”Book Stars” mentioned in the *Gan Shi Star Scripture* rained down over the Forbidden City, transforming into ancient seal script upon hitting the ground before fading away. Meanwhile, from deep beneath the city, the roars of a dragon echoed.

Strange phenomena were appearing in other places as well.

The ancient Yuan Capital Bell Tower and the modern CCTV Tower flickered between reality and illusion, coexisting in the same space. Swallows circling the eaves transformed into the iconic rainbow bridge from the *Qingming River Painting*.

...

And these were but a few of the many occurrences.

Since it was the morning rush hour, countless people were out and about. Naturally, these scenes were all filmed. Videos from different angles and of different events sparked one viral trend after another online.

The public erupted in fervent discussion.

”Following the phenomena in Chang’an City, another world-shaking event is happening in the Northern Imperial Capital!”

”I knew it! If something like that could happen in Chang’an City, there’s no way our Imperial Capital would be left out. Chang’an is just an ancient capital, but the Northern Imperial Capital is the seat of power *now*.”

”Did you guys see that trending video on TikTok? They’re saying a bunch of Ming Dynasty officials just time-traveled here.”

”Yeah, I saw it. I think it’s just some kind of special effects projection. Or a mirage. They’re probably filming a movie somewhere, and the light got bent and projected the image over here.”

”No way. It looked too real to be from a movie set. A film crew could never make something look that authentic.”

”I saw it, too.”

In truth, the phantom of Fengtian Hall that had flickered into existence over the Capital City—its halls filled with the spectral memories of officials from ages past—was nothing more than a memory projection, accidentally leaked while Li Xiang and Jiang Cai’Er were viewing the iconic moments of history.

The leak had only lasted for a brief moment before Jiang Cai’Er noticed and shielded it with her Imaginary Number Corridor.

The resulting online buzz was far more explosive than what had happened after the incident in Chang’an City.

There were more phenomena, and this time they were happening in the current Imperial Capital. As the central hub of the nation, countless eyes were on it. Its influence was on a completely different scale from Chang’an City’s.

All sorts of trending topics emerged, such as:

#MingJinyiGuardsInCapitalSky (120 Million Views)

#GeologicalBureauReportsGeomagneticAnomaly (Official Explanation)

#RealGhostFootageInForbiddenCity (Over 300 Million TikTok Plays)

A well-known professor from Tsinghua University’s architecture department offered his analysis: ”This is a coincidence, a combination of a mirage and a geomagnetic storm. There’s no need to panic. It’s a normal phenomenon that can be explained by science. Now, allow me to use my professional expertise to break it down for all of you...”

The article went on at length, and it was all quite plausible, managing to explain everything away.

A certain metaphysics blogger posted: ”The Imperial Capital’s Dragon Vein has leveled up. The nation’s destiny in 2026 will inevitably...” The post was deleted in seconds.

Some foreign media outlets sensationalized the events. One American news source reported, ”According to satellite surveillance, China is secretly testing some kind of spacetime weapon...”

Meanwhile, the famous Pan Garden market was suddenly flooded with ”Dragon Scale Fragments.” ”Get your authentic Old Imperial City dragon scales right here!” one vendor shouted. ”One gram is worth a hundred grams of gold! It’s a seller’s market, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!”

Some poor sucker got swindled by a vendor’s spiel and paid a fortune for one, only to discover it was a fake. You could find them by the bucketload in any eastern wholesale market.

At that very moment, Li Xiang and Jiang Cai’Er were enjoying the view from the Badaling Great Wall.

”Honey, is it really okay for us to cause such a huge commotion every time?” Jiang Cai’Er asked, a little worried.

”It’s fine,” Li Xiang said, pulling the little beauty closer to comfort her. ”You and I are the most powerful beings on this planet right now. A few little strange sights are nothing to worry about. You just focus on your studies. I’ll handle everything else.”