Five Frozen Centuries

Wei Huo saw an altar after bumping his head into the wall. There were stone statues on the four corners of the altar. The statues were respectively the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermillion Bird, and the Black Tortoise[1]. The statues looked very realistic. They guarded the place, giving the altar a solemn and dignified aura. It filled people with a sense of awe.

Wei Huo walked onto the steps gradually and solemnly. He moved vigilantly forward to the altar step by step. He was afraid there would be hidden traps in the altar. Surprisingly, when Wei Huo arrived at the top of the altar, he discovered a game console.

Wei Huo was confused. “???”

Why was there a game console in such a solemn and dignified altar?

Wei Huo walked closer. ‘F*ck, it is the Subor [2]game console.” ƒ𝓇e𝙚𝔀𝐞𝚋𝓃𝐨𝘷e𝙡.𝒄𝗼m

The game console was connected to a CRT [3]television. The image displayed on the screen was very clear.

Wei Huo looked at the television screen. A tank and familiar sound effects greeted him.

Wei Huo was left speechless.

Could it be... Battle City[4]?

Wei Huo instantly knew that he was going to nail it, seeing that minigame. Somehow, players were always required to play classic minigames at caves that hold heritages, and the scores from the minigame would determine the completion rate of the inherited Cultivation Skill.

Wei Huo walked over, sat down, and grabbed the video game controller.

He then tapped on the game start button. Just as expected, the screen of the game started to change. The classic first level scene in Battle City came into his view.

Wei Huo was confused as he noticed the game contents were in Chinese.

‘Was God from the Z Country? Or did the system have an automatic translation function to allow people from any country and even any kind of creature, to understand the game’s content?’

Otherwise, how did the Demonic Ant Warlock obtain the heritage there?

Wei Huo thought to himself, ‘I obtained the Qi energy heritage because I’m a citizen of Z Country. If that was the case, could people from foreign countries obtain the Dou Qi heritage and the Magic heritage? Could it be that the reason those Demonic Ants had obtained the Qi heritage was because they had traveled across the Z Country?’

Wei Huo started playing the game. He had to familiarize himself with the games operation as he had not played that game for a long time. After that, he began to kill from all directions with his terrifying quick reaction ability.

After passing the first level, Wei Huo saw that he still had two lives. However, he felt that he did not need the second life at all.

With Wei Huo’s reaction speed, the game was a piece of cake for him.

“This is just a child’s play for me!” Wei Huo scoffed as he reached level nine.

As he finished his sentence, an airplane that could fly freely without being limited by the game’s landscape suddenly appeared on the map.

Wei Huo was confused. “???”

‘Why did an airplane appear in Battle City?’

Wei Huo immediately became serious and shot down all the airplanes. When he reached level 18, artillery soldiers carrying rocket launchers appeared on the map. Wei Huo had to control the tank and shoot down those rocket assisted projectiles. Otherwise, his base would have been bombed.

Wei Huo worked hard and finally reached level 27. At level 27, oceans, warships, aircraft carriers, countless artillery shells, missiles and airplanes, appeared on the map, and charged towards Wei Huo’s base.

Wei Huo was bewildered. ‘Was this really motherf*cking Battle City?’

At level 36, aliens appeared with countless oval-shaped spaceships attacking Wei Huo. They could even discharge lasers.

Wei Huo understood at that moment. It seemed like special freaky enemies would be added every time players successfully passed nine levels.

Wei Huo felt strange the more he played the game. Was this really not ‘The Rebirth of Battle City Fighting Against The Whole Universe’ game?

Wei Huo’s enemy turned into robots when he reached level 81.

Wei Huo was speechless since even Transformers[5] appeared now! This was no longer Battle City anymore!

However, level 81 was the last level. There were no further levels after that. Wei Huo finally cleared all the levels!

Wei Huo let out a deep breath when he saw that he cleared all the levels. He wiped the sweat on his forehead. “Phew, that was not easy. This kind of game was a bit too difficult, wasn’t it?”

As Wei Huo stood up, the altar started to emit a faint light. The faint light soon disappeared, and those four statues suddenly started moving. The Azure Dragon stretched its body and caused green trees to appear on its back. The White Tiger roared and its color turned gold. The Vermillion Bird spread its wings as flames started burning on its body. The Black Tortoise stamped on the ground while the attached snake lifted its head, oozing a cold breath.

Although Wei Huo had not read a lot, he knew that the Azure Dragon represented wood, the White Tiger represented metal, the Vermillion Bird represented fire, and the Black Tortoise represented water.

Wei Huo understood the meaning when he saw those Four Symbols transformed. It meant that he had to choose one among the four statues.

If he chose the Azure Dragon, he might be able to increase his lifespan greatly, regain his HP rapidly, and obtain the cultivation skill to control plants. If he chose the White Tiger, he might be able to improve his strength, destructive power, and obtain the cultivation skill to control metal. Choosing the Vermillion Bird meant he could control fire, and choosing the Black Tortoise meant he would be controlling water.

Wei Huo started debating among those four options. ‘I’m suffering from decision paralysis now!’

The four options were very tempting...

However, being Descendants of the Dragon, choosing the Azure Dragon Cultivation Skill would be a better choice. Also, God had added the patch ‘Dragon type monsters added’ a long time ago. In other words, dragon creatures had already existed in this world. The power of dragons was indubitable. Although Wei Huo had yet to come across a real dragon, he thought that it was just a matter of time. He could even cotton up to the dragons if he had chosen the Azure Dragon heritage.

Hence, Wei Huo had decided to choose the Azure Dragon heritage!

An option popped up as Wei Huo walked up to the Azure Dragon statue. ‘Do You Wish To Choose The Longevity Skill?’

Wei Huo was dumbstruck. “???”

‘Why is it Longevity Skill? Wasn’t it supposed to be the Azure Dragon’s heritage?’

Wei Huo walked up to the Vermillion Bird statue and the option turned out to be, ‘Do You Wish To Choose The Fiery Palm?’

The option for the White Tiger was, ‘Do You Wish To Choose The Vajra Body Defending Divine Skill?’ 𝙛r𝚎𝐞𝑤𝚎𝗯𝗻𝗼𝐯e𝚕.𝒄𝐨𝓂

Lastly, the option for the Black Tortoise was, ‘Do You Wish To Choose The Ice Soul Divine Skill?”

Wei Huo was left speechless.

‘I understand now! These statues were just for decoration! Why would the Four Symbols pass down their heritages to a human?’

Wei Huo walked up to the Azure Dragon statue and decided to choose the Longevity Skill. After all, he had not needed other cultivation skills with his current strength and his God of Thunder Skill.

However, longevity was a desire that every creature could not give up. Wei Huo decided to follow his desire and had chosen the Longevity Skill.

Of course, another main reason for choosing the skill was because there were still many caves in the world. Only with sufficiently long lifespan could he search for more caves. Under the circumstances that he could only choose one from the four options, it was better to choose the Longevity Skill.

When Wei Huo had chosen Longevity Skill, another option popped up before his eyes. ‘This site is a cultivation resources spot that will boost the Player’s cultivation speed by 15%. However, it would cost 30 Magical Stones per day as rental fee. The Player can only cultivate at this site for 3,650 days.”

Wei Huo’e eyes shone brightly but he frowned after a few moments. ‘3,650 days is equivalent to 10 years. I will not misspend these 10 years!’

[1] In Chinese Constellations, there are four mythological creatures guarding the world in four directions, which are named ‘Four Symbols’ or ‘Four Mythological Symbols’ (‘Si Xiang’ in Chinese). They are the Azure Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, the White Tiger, and the Black Tortoise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Symbols

[2] Subor was a well-known game console in China. https://www.abacusnews.com/digital-life/console-chinese-gamers-remember-most-fondly/article/3010014

[3] CRT is the short form for cathode-ray tubes. CRT television is a type of television that was most widely used back before the invention of the flat screen television. https://allgreenrecycling.com/what-is-a-crt-tv/

[4] Battle City is a multi-directional shooter video game for the Family Computer produced and published in 1985 by Namco. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_City

[5] The Transformers are a species of sentient, living robotic beings. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformer