Scripture of Days Past

The longer the silence dragged on, the more tense and uneasy Chen Zhong became.

He frantically recalled the contents of the report. It was extremely detailed, recording everything that had happened during the martial examination, including the Vast Heavens Faction’s secret dealings behind the scenes, Chu Qiguang’s eight characters, and many other pieces of information, both important and trivial.

As the Yong’an Emperor read through the report, rays of iridescent light began to appear around him. The rays of light seemed to have been coming from all directions, and they were all converging into his glabella.

Is His Majesty using the spirit veins and the feng shui formation in the capital city to conduct divination? Chen Zhong thought to himself.

Upon closer inspection, Chen Zhong discovered rainbow light swirling within the Yong’an Emperor’s eyes. Those eyes seemed to contain the boundless secrets in the deepest and most primordial reaches of the universe, or the most reclusive abysses of the underworld.

It was only when the Yong’an Emperor began walking out of the hall that Chen Zhong finally returned to his senses, and he hurriedly followed. However, the captivating and mesmerizing sight that he had just witnessed had already been firmly imprinted into his mind.

His Majesty’s powers are becoming more and more unfathomable...

At this moment, the Yong’an Emperor was looking up at the sky, as if he could peer straight through the heavens to see the flowing river of fate. He then cast his gaze toward the north. In his eyes, a constantly shifting black cloud hovered in the northwest, and a dozen or so wolf heads of different forms would occasionally emerge from within it. He knew that they represented the northwestern wolf race.

In the northeast, a golden eagle representing the northeastern eagle race was soaring up into the heavens. It was far smaller than its wolf counterpart, but it glowed with golden radiance, and its aura wasn’t inferior in the slightest.

Then, there was the southwestern bear race, the eastern dragon race, the distant Great Zhu Nation... The fortune of countless races from countless nations were all being revealed to him.

There’s been no change in national fortune.

He looked up into the sky again. Even though it was daytime, he could see the stars as clearly as if it were night, and every single one of those stars seemed to represent a person’s fate.

Jiang Longyu’s fate hasn’t changed, either, so how has this happened? My previous divinations showed me that this was meant to be a flawless ascension phase for him. He should’ve remained undefeated before reaching the Dao Comprehension state, so how did he lose to Chu Qiguang? And why can’t I see Chu Qiguang’s fate at all? His eight characters are completely murky and unclear to me...

The more he tried to peer into Chu Qiguang’s fate, the more distorted the rainbow light in his eyes became. All of a sudden, dragon scales began to appear over the skin on his back, while thick veins bulged from his neck.

The rainbow light in his eyes faded, and the physical changes taking place in his body were quickly reversed.

After a long silence, he sighed, ”Bad omens are sure to appear when a nation is about to fall.”

Chen Zhong was terrified to hear this, and he immediately fell to his knees.

”During the second year of the Yong’an Era, I conducted divination with the 108 officials of the Ministry of Divination to try and glean our empire’s fortune,” the Yong’an Emperor continued. ”It took us ten months. The Minister of Divination fell dead on the spot, while the rest of the ministry’s officials either died or sustained severe injuries. In the end, the heavens told us of the Eight Han Resurgence Generals, who will provide our human race with a slim chance of survival.

“Good omens are sure to emerge with a nation’s rise or resurgence, and those eight are the good omens of our Great Han Empire. However, Chu Qiguang has now appeared out of nowhere, and he defeated one of the Eight Han Resurgence Generals, even though he isn’t one of them. What does that mean? Is he a bad omen or a good omen?”

Chen Zhong frantically kowtowed over and over again as he replied in a fearful voice, ”I don’t know.”

The Yong’an Emperor considered the situation for a moment, then decided, ”Send him to the Demon Vanquishing Department. No, send both him and Jiang Longyu to the Demon Vanquishing Department. If they can pass the Demon Vanquishing Department’s trial in a year, then grant both of them an orthodox art. Also, go and find out for me what Chu Qiguang’s true eight characters are.”

Chen Zhong immediately accepted the instructions.

”Can you guess why I’m sending those two to the Demon Vanquishing Department?” the Yong’an Emperor asked.

Chen Zhong knew that the Yong’an Emperor had a habit of asking his subordinates to guess at his plans and intentions, so he replied, ”I can understand why you’re sending Chu Qiguang to the Demon Vanquishing Department. Regardless of whether he’s a good or bad omen, once he enters the Demon Vanquishing Department, he’ll no longer have any chance of embarking on a political career or becoming the prime minister. However, when it comes to Jiang Longyu... I’m afraid I can’t figure that one out.”

”You have figured it out, you just don’t dare to say it,” the Yong’an Emperor chuckled.

Of course, Chen Zhong was aware of the emperor’s intentions. What infuriated the emperor the most wasn’t his defeat but how close he had gotten to the people of the Vast Heavens Faction, to the point that he was even willing to teach Chu Qiguang a lesson on their behalf.

The Vast Heavens Faction was already too powerful for its own good, and the Yong’an Emperor had placed Jiang Longyu in the Seven Kill Faction so that he could contend against the Vast Heavens Faction in the future. For him to be working with the Vast Heavens Faction was completely unacceptable.

Chen Zhong knew that the last thing that the emperor wanted to see was all of his subordinates getting along well. The second thing that he resented the most was for his subordinates to see through all his intentions.

However, those in the officialdom had no choice but to constantly guess his intentions for the sake of power and wealth.

At this moment, Chen Zhong could see a hint of a smile on the Yong’an Emperor’s face, and he couldn’t help but feel as if he were missing something.

***

The day after the martial examination ended, Chu Qiguang, Hao Yongtai, and Hao Xiangtong were packing up their things, planning to return to Azure Sun County together.

Prior to this, Wang Chaoqun and Zhang Yuntian had both given him the cold shoulder, but they had since come over to apologize to him.

Not only were they not able to pass the martial examination, they had both been thoroughly beaten by the likes of Chu Qiguang, Jiang Longyu, and Chen Yuebai.

Hao Xiangtong had regarded their apology with complete disdain. She knew that they were only trying to get back into Chu Qiguang’s good graces now that he had displayed his potential.

Right at this moment, Hao Yongtai approached his sister, then asked with an awkward look on his face, ”Xiangtong, can you lend me some money?”

”You’re short on money?” Hao Xiangtong asked with a surprised expression.

”I’m not short on money, I just can’t be bothered going to the bank to fetch silver,” Hao Yongtai replied with a smile.

Hao Xiangtong gave him fifty taels of silver, but the awkward look on his face only became more pronounced, and he said, ”I’m gonna need a bit more.”

”I don’t have much silver myself. If it’s not enough, then give it back to me,” Hao Xiangtong said with a displeased expression, then reached out to make a grab for the silver.

Hao Yongtai hurriedly stepped back and said, ”It’s alright, it’s enough. I need to run an errand before we leave, but I’ll be back soon.”

Hao Xiangtong watched with a puzzled expression as her brother hurriedly left.

Some time later, Hao Xiangtong was approached by an old man in a brocade robe.

The old man appeared rather familiar to her, but before she could identify him, he called out, ”Is this where Chu Qiguang lives?”

Chu Qiguang had already emerged from the room, and he greeted, ”To what do I owe this honor, Senior Wu?”

The old man was none other than Wu Liangxu, and he wasted no time with small talk, cutting straight to the chase as he asked, ”Who is your master?”