Chapter 418: Omen

A star falling from the heavens was an omen of terrible disaster.

But this was not yet the time to wonder what exactly the omen foretold, because the thing was still falling.

Perhaps, after it struck the earth, officials from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau would memorialize the Emperor of Yan: a star had fallen in the empire’s eastern frontier. Then ministers at court would seize upon the celestial phenomenon and start making arguments of their own.

But all of that came later.

Right now, the Sword Saint felt he might be the one about to get crushed to death.

Fan Li walked out of the kitchen carrying five or six steamed buns. He was chewing as he raised his head.

Then he froze.

“Mother of mine...”

The Blind Man was indoors reviewing documents. Siniang had accompanied Master to Fengxin City, so every mundane administrative affair in Snow Sea Pass had fallen onto his shoulders.

Because he was inside, and because even his mental perception had a limited range, he did not notice the abnormality in the sky. By the time he sensed it later, it would already be too late to react.

At this hour, most soldiers and civilians inside and outside Snow Sea Pass had already fallen asleep. Even among those still awake, only a few happened to raise their heads.

In the small courtyard of Count Pingye Residence, the Young Marquis and the Demon Child were looking up.

The Sword Saint was looking up as well.

Elsewhere, a handful of other eyes stared in astonishment at the strange sight overhead.

Ninety-nine out of a hundred people could do nothing but watch. There was no time for anything else.

The Demon Child was slightly better off. He used his stone body to hold the Young Marquis in place, but he did not dare move him rashly.

When a star fell, its momentum was like a rainbow crashing through the heavens. It was nothing like the flaming stones siege engines hurled during an assault, where while the projectile was still in the air one could roughly predict where it would land.

The Sword Saint’s palm tightened slightly.

Longyuan flew out from the woodshed.

On the way, it instantly sliced through the little hatchet the Sword Saint had been using to chop firewood earlier.

Clearly, the famous sword was furious.

It had already been used to slaughter a pig. Now it was apparently expected to compete for favor with some miserable little axe.

But those were minor details.

The Sword Saint had no attention to spare for them.

At that moment, one thought occupied his mind.

What a loss.

What a damned loss.

Previously, he had believed Zheng Fan deliberately arranged for his family to live beside Count Pingye Residence partly to curry favor with him, and partly so the Sword Saint could help keep an eye on the Count’s household.

Now the Sword Saint suddenly wondered whether Zheng Fan had committed so many guilty deeds that he had actually developed a premonition Heaven might one day throw a rock down to smash him dead.

Was that why he had deliberately tied the two households together?

If the falling star struck Count Pingye Residence, the Sword Saint’s little home next door certainly would not survive either.

So he had no choice.

He hated the feeling of being bound together like this.

Even though he also knew there was no possible way Zheng Fan could have predicted a star would literally fall from the sky and smash into his home one day.

His sword was already beside him.

The Sword Saint silently gathered his qi and focused his mind.

He understood that if he were still at his peak, he might genuinely have been able to deflect that blazing object.

In his current condition he probably could not.

And whatever happened, he himself would most likely not survive.

This was the might of Heaven and Earth.

Truly terrifying.

If the presence next door—the thing that occasionally radiated a dark and sinister aura—had not fallen into deep sleep, then with its help their odds might have been slightly better.

At the very least, perhaps they could have shifted the falling star’s path just enough.

As long as it missed Count Pingye Residence.

Whether civilians elsewhere died because of that shift would not matter much.

The Sword Saint carried the word *Saint* in his title, but he was hardly some truly compassionate holy man who swept the floor carefully for fear of injuring even an ant.

When decisiveness was required, he could be decisive.

He merely felt somewhat rueful.

Not long ago, he had opportunistically carried off one pig’s head from Count Pingye.

Today he might have to repay that favor many times over.

What a loss.

What a damned loss.

Yet the affairs of the world were inconstant.

The falling star descended incredibly quickly. All those thoughts flashed through the Sword Saint’s mind in no more than an instant.

And because its path could not truly be predicted, the next moment gave everyone a genuine sense of leaving life and death to fate.

Their fate was not bad.

Count Pingye’s fate was not bad.

He might not be home right now, but if Count Pingye Residence were flattened by a falling star and the Young Marquis died inside...

Snow Sea Pass’s fate was not bad either.

The falling star’s angle was very slightly inclined.

When it remained high in the sky, it truly looked as though it would fall directly on one’s head. But once it plunged downward at speed, even the slightest angle translated into a huge distance.

**BOOM!**

The star finally struck a point about two li north of Snow Sea Pass’s northern wall.

The impact still produced an enormous crash.

The Sword Saint released a long breath and sat down.

Even someone like him had broken into cold sweat under the sight just now.

Sometimes, one could treat one’s own life and death lightly.

But once people one cared about were dragged into it, the burden became very heavy.

He reached out and picked up Longyuan.

Then he placed a piece of firewood onto the chopping block, raised Longyuan, and with a soft *slice* cut it cleanly in half.

He chopped several more pieces before finally calming down.

At the same time, the thunderous impact drew enormous attention.

Snow Sea Pass’s northern gate opened wide.

Squad after squad of cavalry galloped out.

Liang Cheng was the first to reach the impact site.

White smoke was still rising from the area.

He immediately ordered his men to spread outward and establish a security perimeter. At the same time, he sent riders to notify the nearby Hailan Tribe and tell them not to panic.

He had only just finished issuing those orders when he saw Fan Li arrive carrying the Blind Man on his back.

“A meteorite?” the Blind Man asked.

Liang Cheng nodded.

“Up ahead.”

“Fine. Let’s go look.”

“There may be radiation.”

“Tsk...”

The Blind Man hesitated.

Then finally said:

“You two go take a look first.”

Liang Cheng was a zombie.

Fan Li carried Barbarian God blood.

Neither was especially afraid of radiation.

For all anyone knew, getting blasted with strong radiation from time to time might even stimulate their bloodlines and help them improve.

The Blind Man was different.

His body was already weak.

If something went wrong after exposure to heavy radiation, he might genuinely spend the rest of his life bedridden.

Liang Cheng and Fan Li dismounted and walked toward the impact point.

The white smoke had not completely dissipated.

The crater itself was not especially large—roughly half a basketball court—with scorched marks all around.

And while the crater was that large, the actual meteorite was much smaller.

Fan Li jumped down first.

His skin was thick and his flesh tough, so he could endure heat well.

Even so, once he approached the meteorite, he did not dare reach out and touch it yet.

Liang Cheng stood nearby and observed carefully.

The Blind Man, meanwhile, stealthily edged a little closer.

Through the Mental Link, he asked:

“So? Can you tell what it is?”

“Haven’t you ever seen a meteorite before?” Liang Cheng asked back. “If you want to see it, just send your mental power over here.”

“You really think my mental power can seep through anything?”

“It’s either iron or stone. Or iron mixed with stone. Meteorites are mostly those few categories.”

“It can’t be that ordinary, can it?”

“What were you hoping for? Profound Ice Coldsteel?”

“I wouldn’t object.”

“Your imagination is too rich.”

“You’re a zombie telling me my imagination is too rich?”

“Have someone bring water. Let A’Li pour it over the thing. We should transport it back before daylight so word doesn’t spread too far and cause problems.”

In this era, falling stars and meteorites were often treated as omens of terrible disaster.

The Demon Kings might believe in science, but ordinary soldiers and commoners did not possess that kind of education.

“Let A’Li cool it with water first. I’ll check the radiation afterward. If there’s no problem, we’ll hurry and bring it back.”

Very soon, soldiers carried buckets of water over.

No one else was allowed to approach.

Fan Li alone lifted the buckets and poured water over the meteorite again and again.

After several rounds, the temperature genuinely dropped.

Fan Li cautiously touched it with his hand.

“Not hot anymore.”

Only then did the Blind Man approach.

He muttered to himself:

“Looks like the radiation isn’t strong.”

Liang Cheng sounded surprised.

“You tested it that quickly?”

“If the radiation were strong, A’Li should have transformed into the Hulk by now.”

“This really isn’t a good time for that joke.”

“Just loosening the atmosphere.”

As he spoke, the Blind Man pulled out another orange.

He peeled it while jumping down into the crater.

After examining the meteorite carefully, he said:

“From the outside, it looks like ordinary silicate. Once we bring it back, we’ll find some way to cut it open and see whether there’s anything interesting inside.

“Come on, A’Li.

“Carry it home.”

...

Count Zheng returned to Snow Sea Pass around noon the next day.

Without the Commandery Princess’s carriage slowing the return journey, and with the Marquis of Jingnan having issued a military order that required him to begin preparations immediately, everyone had ridden without stopping.

Naturally, the return trip was much faster.

Only after reaching the residence did Zheng Fan learn that a meteorite had fallen the previous night.

His eyes widened.

“What?”

...

It was hardly surprising Count Zheng reacted that way.

The crater might have been two li from the northern wall, but that amounted to only about a kilometer.

And Count Pingye Residence stood extremely close to that northern wall.

In other words, if the meteorite’s butterfly wings had fluttered only the tiniest bit differently, his home might have ceased to exist.

The thought alone broke him into cold sweat.

Fan Li had already carried the meteorite back.

It now sat underground.

There were three secret chambers beneath the residence, and each was enormous.

Half the reason Count Pingye Residence had taken so long to build in the first place was because of this underground construction.

At present—

Sha Tuo Queshi slept in the easternmost chamber.

The Savage King occupied the middle one.

And the meteorite had been placed in the westernmost chamber.

So the Savage King truly was pitiful.

One neighbor was a zombie.

The other high radiation.

Zheng Fan entered the secret chamber and looked at the smooth, rounded meteorite.

“So, have you cut it open yet?”

“Not yet,” the Blind Man said. “We were waiting for Xue San.”

Xue San had arrived as well.

Excited, he stepped forward and touched the meteorite here and there.

“Whether we cut it or not probably doesn’t matter much. It should just be a lump of stone mixed with iron.”

Then he joked:

“Unless there are words carved on it.

“Something like: **Great Something Shall Rise—Zheng Fan Shall Be King.**”

“San.”

“Master.”

“Can you cut it open today?”

“Sure. No problem. I’ll work on it through the night.

“There probably won’t be any surprise inside, but I enjoy the process anyway.

“Tomorrow I’ll organize the group I trained, and the day after that I’ll leave ahead of you to scout the route.”

“Hard work.”

“Master, listen to yourself. No need for words like that.”

Zheng Fan and the Blind Man walked out of the underground chamber side by side.

Once they returned aboveground, Zheng Fan patted at his clothes.

He had only just returned and had not even bathed yet.

After days on the road, his body felt dusty and sticky.

The Blind Man said:

“Master, the Marquis of Jingnan’s order this time will not be easy.

“But difficulty is one thing.

“The Marquis’s intention to value and cultivate Master is also obvious.”

“Truthfully, I don’t especially want to take risks anymore.

“Slowly developing the territory and growing stronger sounds pretty good.”

“That is only what Master thinks right now.

“As the saying goes, once a man is warm and well-fed, other desires awaken.

“Perhaps once Master personally leads troops into Chu territory, you’ll feel excited instead.

“Just like back then, when Master took only three hundred barbarian riders and charged directly into the State of Qian without even giving anyone advance notice.”

“Perhaps.”

The Blind Man was best at reading people’s hearts.

Zheng Fan did not refute him directly.

Most of the time a man’s eyes did not look inward at himself.

“We still need to prepare everything properly this time,” Zheng Fan reminded him.

“Master can rest assured.

“We are sending only one thousand men.

“Even after adding Xue San’s hundred-odd people, our logistical burden is practically nothing.”

That troop count truly was far smaller than what they had originally expected.

Sending one thousand men and sending fifteen thousand did not create merely fifteen times the logistical pressure.

Besides, this thousand-man force would carry sufficient supplies from the beginning.

There would be no need for follow-up resupply.

A small unit penetrating enemy territory would inevitably live off the enemy once inside.

There was nothing else to discuss.

“Xue San said you’re staying behind to guard the house again.”

“Master can rest assured.

“I’ll guard home properly.”

“Mm.”

“Oh, right, Master.

“Do we need to submit a memorial about the falling star?”

“Send one to Fengxin City.”

Whether to report it to court could be left for the Marquis of Jingnan to decide.

After all, meteorites carried immense mystery in the eyes of people in this era and were often regarded as dire warnings from Heaven.

But Count Zheng had grown up beneath the red flag.

He did not care much for that.

“Yes. This subordinate understands.

“However, I think Master should still be slightly more cautious.”

“Mm? What do you mean?”

“In our original world, a meteorite was just a meteorite.

“Several tens of thousands of tons probably fall toward Earth every year, but most burn away in the atmosphere.”

“So?”

“But this world...

“This subordinate has always felt we cannot rely entirely on science here.

“Forget Martial Artists, swordsmen, and magic.

“Just look at the place Master currently lives and the people living with you.

“You really should not trust science too much.”

“Blind Man, what are you trying to say?”

“This subordinate simply has a feeling.

“Something may be about to happen.”

...

Yanjing.

The Imperial Study.

The Crown Prince and Ji Chengjue sat facing one another.

The Crown Prince had only recently ended his mourning observances.

He was visibly thinner and more weathered than before.

Ji Chengjue, seated opposite him, looked completely different.

Life after marriage had apparently treated him well.

He had actually gained weight.

Naturally, a Crown Prince’s mourning period would never last as long as that of an ordinary official.

Even when an official lost both parents, if his post was too important for the court to leave vacant, His Majesty might issue a special order exempting him from withdrawing for mourning.

After all the ruler was also one’s father.

With imperial command providing legal justification, remaining in office posed no ritual problem.

And truthfully, most officials did not want to withdraw for mourning anyway.

Court positions were like radishes filling pits.

They had struggled for years to climb into their present place.

If they went home for three years, who knew whether the same position would still be waiting when they tried to return?

If ordinary officials were already like this, the Crown Prince—the foundation of the state—naturally mattered even more.

Let the Crown Prince mourn for three full years?

Would that not ruin the foundation of the state itself?

Still, even though formal mourning had ended and he could return to work, many rules still governed his clothing, food, travel, and daily conduct.

The State of Yan had only become stable over the past few generations.

That was when rituals and regulations gradually increased.

Earlier generations had not cared nearly as much.

Unfortunately, the people of Qian constantly mocked the Yan people as barbarians ignorant of etiquette.

The Yan people shouted back that Qian men were useless cowards and taught them lessons with blades whenever they felt like it.

But in practice despite all the loud disdain—

Yan still gradually established more and more ritual rules of its own.

The Crown Prince finally seemed to have lost interest in performing the act of “affection between brothers.”

Ji Chengjue was happy enough with the peace.

On the day of his wedding, he had already openly declared his intention to join the succession struggle.

His momentum was currently strong and his various hidden cards had been revealed one after another.

The Crown Prince, meanwhile, had first lost the Empress.

Then the Commandery Princess left Yanjing.

Now even that marriage appeared close to collapsing completely.

Most importantly so much time had passed since the Empress’s death, yet the Marquis of Jingnan had not submitted even a single memorial concerning his elder sister.

Military memorials still arrived.

But by ordinary principle, when one’s own elder sister died, a younger brother ought to memorialize the capital and request permission to return and mourn.

Naturally, the Marquis of Jingnan could not actually leave his post right now.

The situation in Jin and the threat from Chu both required him.

So His Majesty and the court would first issue an edict consoling him, then urge him to place the affairs of the state first and abandon his plan to return.

That was the proper procedure.

Yet the Marquis of Jingnan had behaved as though the entire matter did not exist.

He would not even bother going through the motions.

Whether at court or among ordinary people, most could understand why.

This was the man who had exterminated his own household without blinking.

If he suddenly started crying that his elder sister had died and demanded to return to mourn who exactly was he trying to impress?

Was there really any need?

But the problem was the Crown Prince now desperately needed outside support to stabilize his position in the Eastern Palace.

So the Marquis of Jingnan’s silence was almost equivalent to disregarding the Crown Prince’s status altogether.

Ji Chengjue yawned.

In his hand was a list of customs duties collected over the past few months from merchant caravans traveling out of Beifeng Commandery.

There was another list for caravans trading with the State of Qian, but that one could not be submitted openly.

Only Zhao Jiulang and his father Emperor could see it.

The two states were currently clashing along the frontier.

Meanwhile, merchant business between them continued as usual.

If word spread, it would not sound good.

The two princes sat there in silence for a long time.

Neither touched the tea.

Eventually—

Ji Chengjue began feeling suspicious.

When he arrived earlier, Wei Zhonghe had said Father Emperor was taking an afternoon nap and asked him to wait.

Fine.

He waited.

But nearly a full two-hour block had passed.

Father Emperor still had not awakened?

Even if Father Emperor had not awakened where had Wei Zhonghe gone?

The two princes were waiting inside a side hall of the Imperial Study.

How could the Grand Eunuch in charge of the inner palace simply leave them unattended?

More importantly for as long as Ji Chengjue could remember, Father Emperor had never possessed the habit of taking afternoon naps.

Setting aside the man’s coldness as a father, when it came to being emperor he truly worked from dawn until late at night and exhausted his mind over state affairs.

The moment that thought appeared—

Ji Chengjue stood.

He turned to a young eunuch standing nearby and said:

“Tell Eunuch Wei later that the Ministry of Revenue still has matters requiring Our attention.

“When Father Emperor wakes, We will return to pay Our respects.”

“Yes, Your Highness. This servant understands.”

Ji Chengjue had just taken a step toward the exit when Wei Zhonghe’s voice rang out:

“His Majesty arr—”

Ji Chengjue’s foot slipped slightly.

His lips silently formed several possibilities:

*Ben?*

*Bun?*

*Dumb?*

*Ox?*

“—ives!”

Ji Chengjue sighed.

...

[End of Chapter 418]