"Oh?"
Dai Tianling raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, a hint of spirited interest appearing on his face.
He was currently wishing that Huo Yuhao owed the Star Luo Empire a few more favors, so he waved his hand grandly and said readily, "Don't stand on ceremony with me. Feel free to make any request. As long as it is within the capabilities of the Star Luo Imperial Family, I will not hesitate."
Huo Yuhao did not beat around the bush and asked directly, "I wonder if the Star Luo Imperial Family possesses any records concerning the Spirit Ice Douluo from Ten Thousand Years ago?"
Dai Tianling had thought it was some major request; he hadn't expected it to be just this.
He stood up from the sofa immediately, walked a few steps to a nearby desk, and pressed a concealed button in an inconspicuous corner under the tabletop.
Immediately, Huo Yuhao saw the portrait of the Spirit Ice Douluo on the opposite wall rise, and then, with the sound of a mechanism, a rectangular hidden compartment was revealed on the originally smooth wall behind it.
Dai Tianling reached into it and carefully took out a notebook that looked like it had seen many years.
The cover of the notebook was yellowed and curled at the edges, and the corners were heavily worn, making it clear at a glance that it had been flipped through countless times.
He walked back to the sofa with the notebook and handed it to Huo Yuhao.
"This contains private records left behind by the ancestors of the White Tiger clan when the Spirit Ice Douluo was alive Ten Thousand Years ago."
"It records many things not found outside; it should contain the content you wish to see."
Although the content recorded in this notebook was quite secret, at the end of the day, it was just dusty, old history from Ten Thousand Years ago.
It was neither a core secret involving national security nor some disgraceful scandal, so Dai Tianling handed it to Huo Yuhao without the slightest hesitation.
Moreover, in his view, since Huo Yuhao had taken the initiative to ask to see the records of the Spirit Ice ancestor, it just proved that this young man had a sense of belonging to the White Tiger Bloodline flowing in his body, which was a good thing.
Huo Yuhao carefully took the old notebook, held it gently in his hands, and slowly opened the fragile cover.
There was no signature on the frontispiece, only a faded White Tiger crest stamped on it.
He continued to flip through it, and when his gaze fell upon the somewhat blurry handwriting, his brow furrowed involuntarily.
This was because he was too familiar with this handwriting; it was precisely written by the Duke White Tiger Dai Hao from Ten Thousand Years ago.
It recorded Duke White Tiger Dai Hao's personal account of being stationed at the border for many years, rarely returning to the Dukes Mansion for several years, and thus neglecting the growth of his children at home, especially being particularly indebted to Huo Yuhao.
And because Huo Yuhao lacked his father's companionship and guidance, he developed many misunderstandings and resentment toward his father, eventually running away from the Dukes Mansion while still a minor, venturing out alone...
Huo Yuhao flipped page after page, the crease between his brows tightening deeper and deeper.
It was only because he had experienced so much that he had already learned to control his emotions.
Otherwise, at this moment, he would surely be furious, his hair standing on end, and would have slammed this notebook onto the ground, gritting his teeth and shouting, "Shameless!"
It was truly because the records in this personal notebook by Duke White Tiger Dai Hao completely absolved himself of everything, dismissing all matters as mere misunderstandings and shirking all his responsibilities.
All that talk about fighting bloody battles at the border for years, all that talk about everything being for the greater good of the country, all that talk about being a commander who could not attend to the personal affairs of his children...
These high-sounding words filled the yellowed pages densely, yet not a single word of genuine reflection or repentance could be found.
Huo Yuhao suppressed the anger that was almost bursting out of his body, took a deep breath, and continued to flip through it.
Fortunately, this notebook was not entirely filled with Duke White Tiger Dai Hao's self-justifications and excuses. After flipping past those nauseating pages of personal accounts, the subsequent content was exactly as Huo Yuhao had expected, beginning to record some hidden history that even Shrek Academy and the Spirit Pagoda had not documented.
The notebook explicitly stated that Huo Yuhao's lover, the Dragon Butterfly Douluo Tang Wutong, was actually the daughter of the Sea God Tang San.
When writing this part, the handwriting was clearly more forceful than the previous accounts, the strokes were more flamboyant, and there were even several ink spots left from applying too much force in excitement, clearly showing how proud and agitated the writer was when jotting down these words.
It was understandable; his own son had actually married the daughter of the Sea God Tang San, which was indeed something to be proud of.
As for how Wang Donger became Tang Wutong, Huo Yuhao still did not know the details.
But previously on Devil Island, the accounts from the residual souls of the God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life had clearly confirmed that Tang Wutong was the daughter of the Sea God Tang San, which indirectly verified the authenticity of the content recorded in this notebook.
Although Duke White Tiger Dai Hao had used every rhetorical trick to twist the truth in the earlier descriptions of the father-son relationship, these purely descriptive records that followed should be reliable.
However, when he flipped to the next few pages, his pupils shrank violently.
He suddenly lifted his head to look at Dai Tianling sitting opposite him, and in those eyes that were usually as calm as water, there was a rare surge of shock and astonishment that could not be concealed.
Dai Tianling seemed to have long anticipated that he would have this reaction, and a faint smile hung on his face.
He had already read this notebook countless times, so naturally, he guessed what Huo Yuhao was seeing at this moment.
Huo Yuhao could not help but ask, "So, this legend is true?"
"That emperor of the Sun Moon Empire from Ten Thousand Years ago was actually a descendant of the Spirit Ice Douluo?"
Xu Yunhan—this name was unavoidable in the history of the Douluo Continent.
Because it was this ambitious and talented emperor who accomplished the great undertaking that countless predecessors had exhausted their lives trying to complete; he completely ended the fragmented and separatist situation of the Douluo Continent and successfully unified the entire continent.
And what amazed later historians even more was that after unifying the continent, Xu Yunhan did not indulge in the dream of an eternal foundation like the emperors of the past; instead, shortly after ascending to the throne, he personally abolished the imperial system.
He reformed the vast Empire into a federation, thereby establishing the Douluo Federation that ruled the Douluo Continent for Ten Thousand Years.
For a long time, there had been a legend that Xu Yunhan was actually a descendant of the Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao.
But because it was so long ago, and there were no reliable historical materials to corroborate this claim, this rumor could only be treated as an unofficial anecdote for after-dinner conversation, and no one took it seriously.
But just now, Huo Yuhao had seen the record of that earth-shattering battle Ten Thousand Years ago that determined the final direction of the continent in this notebook written by the hand of Duke White Tiger Dai Hao.
The notebook wrote that back then, the Sun Moon Empire, relying on powerful spirit tool technology far exceeding the three original nations of the Douluo Continent, had wiped out the entire Heavenly Soul Empire with overwhelming force.
The remaining Star Luo Empire and Dou Ling Empire, despite resisting desperately, were still retreating steadily in the face of the Sun Moon Empire's crushing spirit tool weapons, with large swathes of territory falling one after another.
In the end, even with the full support of Shrek Academy, the Sun Moon army had fought its way to the gates of Star Luo City, besieging this thousand-year-old capital of the Star Luo Empire so tightly that the fall of the nation was imminent.
And it was at this critical moment that the Sea God Tang San descended upon the continent.
With the divine power of a god, the Sea God forced the Sun Moon Empire to rename itself the Heaven Dou Empire, and demanded that the Sun Moon army retreat and return the occupied Star Luo territory.
A war that had swept across the entire continent was thus brought to an end by a single word from a god.
It was also at that time that Duke White Tiger Dai Hao finally learned that Tang Wutong was the daughter of the Sea God Tang San.
And that Sun Moon Crown Prince Xu Yunhan was actually the descendant of Huo Yuhao's Bloodline!
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A/N:
I hope all of you are enjoying this story so far. I would appreciate some Power Stones if you can spare any. Leave a review if you like the story. Thank you.