Chapter 1: I Was Transported

  Guo Yu lay on his bed at home, staring blankly at the ceiling, dazed and thinking about today's experience.

  He crossed himself and came back again.

  Yesterday, I had a drink with friends and walked home through the night market. I wanted to buy a toy for my son, saw an interesting stall selling cultural artifacts, took a look, and was persuaded by the boss to buy an old Tianzhu.

  After returning home, the wine took effect and I fell asleep without even taking off my clothes. The next day when I woke up, I found myself sleeping on a grassland in the wilderness.

  My heart was in my mouth for a good half of the day, thinking I had been kidnapped.

  After walking for four or five miles in the wilderness, I finally found a big road. From a passerby, I heard that this was the outskirts of Beijing in May 1914.

  Guo Yu hesitated for a while outside the city gate. Whether it was good fortune or bad luck, he couldn't avoid the misfortune, so he went in.

  The first impression of the capital city on Guo Yu was that it was shabby, dirty and chaotic. The faces of people on the street were all dark and yellowish, wearing long gowns and horsehair hats, with queues and melon-shaped heads. His own Western-style suit and leather shoes, although having been rolled in the grass, looked much more decent than theirs.

  After a morning, Guo Yu's heart gradually calmed down. Looking at his watch, it was already past 11 o'clock. He hadn't even had breakfast yet, and his stomach was growling loudly. Since he had come this far, the general idea was to survive for now, and worry about the rest later.

  He asked the way and entered a relatively large pawnshop in Beijing. After chatting with the boss, he said that he had studied in the UK and returned home, the watch was given by a British noble friend, royal exclusive use, latest design, noble model. Finally, he sold his Casio watch, which cost more than 300 yuan, for 410 silver dollars. The boss specially used a rattan money box to pack it up.

  Having money on one's body makes one feel at ease. With money, everything can be settled. Guo Yu is a person with a relatively big heart. Since he has come, let him stay for now, and think about the future after having dinner first.

  While eating, I asked the waiter where was more lively. It's not easy to come to old Beijing, so I want to experience its prosperity first. The waiter mentioned several places, but Guo Yu only knew a few that he had heard of in modern times: Qianmen Street, Eight Great Hutongs, and Tianqiao. After dinner, with the money box in hand, he rushed straight to Tianqiao.

  The Tianqiao Bridge is located between Zhengyangmen and Yongdingmen, west of the Temple of Heaven. On both sides of the bridge to the north are tea houses, bathhouses, restaurants, and clothing stores. To the west of the bridge is a bird market, snack stalls, performers doing acrobatics, telling jokes, and singing drum ballads. Guo Yu walked along the street, listening to the cacophony of sounds, and suddenly felt that all these things were very close to him.

  At that time, the capital had a Beiyang government in power and hadn't experienced any major upheaval. People's lives were still relatively stable; after all, it was just a change of leadership with Yuan Shikai at the helm - wasn't the emperor still living in the Forbidden City?

  They stopped at a stall where a group of people were performing acrobatics, with a circle drawn on the ground in white powder to mark out the performance area. Inside the circle, a 14 or 15-year-old girl was juggling swords, while two men in their twenties stood by, wearing short-sleeved shirts. The two men looked similar, with sturdy builds, and Guo Yu guessed that they were siblings, probably over 1.8 meters tall, truly deserving of the title "Great Han".

  Guo Yu felt that the little girl's sword dance was very beautiful, and the rest didn't understand. Mainly because this little girl had a good-looking face, when she danced with her sword, her small waist twisted, and her legs kicked up, it was really eye-catching.

  "Stop, stop, don't play around, can you hear me telling you to stop?" Just as everyone was watching with great interest, several men in black uniforms, holding batons with flowers on them, rushed in.

  One of the guys wearing a hat sideways seemed to be the leader, pointing at the three performers with his baton and saying "You haven't paid your taxes, and you're still trying to act tough in front of us brothers? I think you won't be able to mix around this skybridge from now on."

  The oldest of the three performers stepped forward and said, "We've been in the capital for two years now, so we understand the rules. However, my father passed away a few days ago, and I spent all my money on his funeral. Today was our first day back at work, but before we even opened up, that official came to collect taxes. We didn't have enough money on hand, so we thought about delaying for two days. But then that official started spouting nonsense, saying 'Your sister, we're just like that.'"

  The leader of the patrol team blinked his small eyes and said, "I don't care about that. This tax must be paid today, otherwise you won't be able to perform or sell your art here at Tianqiao in the future."

  Watching the commotion, vendors and performers around them whispered to each other, suggesting that the patrol officer should give them a few more days. The patrol officer's face was somewhat embarrassed, so he pointed at the three siblings and said, "No one can say what happened today, either pay up or get out of here." Both sides were at an impasse, and although some people in the surrounding crowd chimed in with words of support, no one dared to step forward.

  Guo Yu couldn't help but look down on them, this was a perfect match for the city management. He immediately stepped forward, ignoring the street patrol, and said to the three siblings "I can help you pay the fine, but I also have an idea, why don't you three stop performing and follow me instead?"

  "Where did you little brat come from?" The leading patrol policeman pointed at Guo Yu.

  "Xin Chang Yang Hang, purchasing agent, 'Mister Guo' is me. What's your opinion?" As he spoke, he adjusted his Western-style collar with one hand and looked up at the several patrolmen.

  "No opinion, no opinion. Mr., you're a busy person, we'll leave first." Seeing Guo Yu in his Western-style suit and proud demeanor, they thought he might be a foreign comprador, and these people didn't dare to mess with him, so they quickly led the patrolmen away in a hurry.

  Guo Yu only brought out a tenth of his usual swaggering skills, and with just a few words, he scared these small-time patrol officers so much that they were trembling with fear.

  The onlookers burst into loud laughter.

  At this moment, a surge of information flooded into Guo Yu's mind, and he also understood why he had crossed over to the Republic.

  Seeing Guo Yu suddenly standing there motionless, his face constantly changing color, the big man hastily asked "Sir, are you okay?" "I'm fine, just a bit tired, I'll be alright after resting for a while."

  Dahan quickly brought over a stool and asked Guo Yu to sit down. The second child nodded to the crowd of onlookers, "Thank you for your help, everyone. Today's matter is settled, so let's disperse. Thank you all." The crowd, seeing that there was no more excitement to be had, slowly dispersed.

  Guo Yu sat there with his head down and didn't say a word. The three siblings also didn't dare to speak, they just stood quietly beside Guo Yu.

  It turned out that all of this was caused by Guo Yu buying that Tianzhu and also hitting the jackpot.

  The Tianzhu is a treasure of a small god in the heavenly court, and it's not some kind of super divine artifact. Any immortal who cultivates divinity has similar treasures, which are used to collect and store merit points or faith power. This treasure has spatial storage capabilities, and its space can be expanded by consuming merit points. With this treasure, Gu Yu can use merit points through the treasure, and the uses of merit points are numerous: they can strengthen one's body, increase height, beautify appearance, heal wounds, save people, and most impressively, extend one's lifespan using merit points. After helping his three siblings, he collected three merit points and activated this treasure.

  As for the origin of this treasure, Guo Yu also understood that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Great Disaster began, and the immortals fled from the earth's plane, closing the mountain gate and not coming out. The Heavenly Court also closed the gates to the lower realm. This little god was the only one who was ordered to stay behind and guard the earth's plane. This was also why he was ignored in the Heavenly Court, had no powerful backing, and was sold out by others. The dragon pulse broke, and the spiritual energy gradually thinned out. This little god suffered on earth for hundreds of years, until even the emperor disappeared. The divine land's spiritual energy became chaotic, gradually condensing into a bloody aura, showing signs of great disaster and catastrophe. He made a desperate plan to use this treasure to open a plane passage. If he was lucky, he could escape to a plane with dense spiritual energy and barely survive, hoping to get through the Great Disaster.

  He was originally not strong in his magical powers, who would have thought that although he opened the dimensional portal, it connected to a hundred years later China, his magic was exhausted, wanting to cultivate and nourish his energy, but as soon as he started cultivating, he was choked to death by the chaotic primordial energy of the later generations, what an end to the law, what a great calamity.

  The Heaven Pearl has been passed around for over a year, and after a series of twists and turns, it ended up in Guo Yu's hands. He was able to recognize its true owner, and now the Heaven Pearl is inside Guo Yu's body. This is indeed a wonderful thing! Although it can't make him an immortal or a god, it allows him to travel freely between two planes of existence, and increasing his lifespan is a great fortune in itself.

  He looked up at his three siblings with concern and said, "I'm fine, what I just said was true. Consider it, I've just returned from abroad and need help in the capital. If you follow me, I won't treat you unfairly."

  Guo Yu had thought of it just now when he was lost in thought. Since he came to this strange era, he must find a way to make a living. Moreover, since he had the Tianzhu, he wanted to strengthen his body and increase his lifespan, so he had to spend money on good deeds, which meant he had to work hard to make money. He needed a lot of manpower, and it would start with these three people.