Chapter 142: Heaven’s Mandate Scattered
In the deep autumn of the 36th year of the Shu Tian Calendar, inside Tianchi City, in a courtyard, a child was running, with a woman chasing behind. Although the child’s stature was small and his steps couldn’t match the woman’s long legs, he relied on his agility to dart everywhere through the courtyard’s flowerbeds.
This woman was naturally Yao San Gu, now called Yao San Niang. San Niang held a golden rope and bound her useless son, scolding, “Yan’er, why do you only know how to climb trees and catch butterflies! I’m talking about you!”
However, this one-year-old child raised his head stubbornly, babbled a few times, and then cried. As he cried, tears fell, and a wave of heat spread, causing sparks to appear on the surrounding dry grass. The sparks solidified on the grass tips without burning, just like flower buds in the shrubbery. This was a scene where fire and wood attributes were completely fused.
This child had Vermilion Bird Bloodline, but what he was currently showing was Bi Fang’s naughty personality.
San Niang looked at this child coldly. After about a quarter of an hour, the child sniffled and looked at his mother, realizing that San Niang’s pupils were still fixed on him like “gun barrels.” He wilted again, and those blooming sparks on the grass began to extinguish.
San Niang was greatly angered. Her son, whom she had taken three years to give birth to, had already made her very distraught by not reciting three hundred poems at birth.
Now, even in these past few months of learning characters, he had only learned a few dozen before crying and fussing, not wanting to learn and wanting to play instead. Just now, he had slipped out and climbed a tree to kick the cat down.
The Wu Family People quite praised this child. At one year old, he already had such strong athletic ability, could eat and sleep well, much better than Wu Fei back then. No wonder it took three years to crawl out of the womb; given time, he would be a good martial arts seedling, with the courage to stand against ten thousand.
But Yao San Niang was very dissatisfied with this. She herself had Spiritual Root and could recite Daoist books before she was a hundred days old.
From her perspective, this guy who came out of her belly had neither Spiritual Root nor was he obedient. If not for carrying him so long, she would almost hate to rebirth once more.
Having seen innate wisdom, she could not tolerate stupidity, especially in these years when she, possessing “World-Shaking Wisdom,” was tightly controlled by the child’s father. She was holding back a breath. Whenever she was angered by her son’s naughtiness, she would say, “You look just like your damn father; you’re both here to torment me.”
Just as San Niang was about to look for a feather duster, she suddenly paused and regained her intellectual calm.
She instructed the servant nearby to take “Young Master Yan” to the study, then straightened her expression, opened the lampshade of the lotus pedestal table beside her, revealing the flame inside.
A bean-sized flame hovered in the Lotus Lamp, and Wick transmitted Xian Daoren’s voice: “Junior Sister, long time no see. Hmm, your Magic Power recovery seems slower than I imagined.”
San Niang put on a smile of unclear meaning and leaned back in the mansion’s rocking chair: “I don’t need Magic Power right now, so it’s a bit slow.”
Xian: “You’ve changed since having a son.”
San Niang suppressed her smile: “Hmm, aren’t all things in the world just about change?”
Thousands of miles away, in the underground Mechanism Room, Xian Daoren’s face showed anger. Clearly, he did not accept his third junior sister’s sophistry about this “change.”
But soon after, he restrained his displeasure and put on a manic joyful expression: “Da Yao’s Dragon Qi is about to shatter, and the main line of human destiny will scatter to the Nine Provinces and Ten Thousand Directions. This dynasty unchanged for thousands of years! Alas, it is about to collapse.”
San Niang’s expression was calm: “Giving the Under Heaven true change has always been what you, Senior Brother, have pursued! Forty years ago, when the state initiated the “Common Union” movement, you joined the sect~
“Don’t talk about the past!” Xian Daoren was stepped on his sore spot, his expression twitching for an instant, as if there was an irreconcilable contradiction between his past self and his current self. Then he said to San Niang: “Even if Heaven’s Mandate scatters, it still cannot return to nothingness; it will scatter into strands and eventually find new carriers. Hmm, Junior Sister, when will you pass the Lotus Lamp to my nephew?”
San Niang giggled: “You as his uncle, why not think of a gift yourself, like that axe of yours.”
Xian Daoren’s mouth twitched: Perhaps in the future, this uncle will give him this seat!
After the flame extinguished, San Niang’s face flickered with uncertainty. After pondering for a bit, she took out a sheet of Soul Paper, folded it into a little person with ghost-like fingers, whispered to it, and the paper person vanished into the air.
…Inside Yongji Pass…
In the mountain stream of the Southern Border, Jia Mude was sitting cross-legged on a large rock, using Gold Element Magic to place pieces on the rock to deduce the changes of the stars. Behind him, a python body as thick as an arm’s embrace was swimming between the stones, forming a snake formation. This was Wu Qing; every half month, she would transform into her Python Body to perform Spiritual Cultivation with Jia Mude.
As for Jia Mude, back then Wu Fei had assigned him to Wu Qing as her person, but over these years, Jia Mude had exchanged merits within the Southern Border System for enough to gain his own freedom.
Of course, through this process, Jia Mude no longer cared that his bedmate was a Snake Person.
This time, Wu Qing’s Spiritual Cultivation was exceptionally long, continuously absorbing the qi of heaven and earth, sun and moon. But just as Wu Qing was cultivating comfortably, Jia Mude suddenly stood up: “Stop!”
Wu Qing was clearly unhappy at the sudden interruption; a trace of entangled desire flashed in her snake eyes, but soon under the golden constraint, she regained clarity. — If it were someone else interrupting her cultivation, it would be terrible; the outcome would inevitably be being coiled into meat strips by her python body.
In battle form, Wu Qing was accustomed to strangling enemies, and in private life, she also liked to coil around Jia Mude.
Returning to the present, Wu Qing, who had retracted her Inner Core, said to Jia Mude: “What’s wrong?”
Jia Mude looked at the sky in horror, at that faintly visible shadow of the Evil Moon, then clutched his chest and said: “The Evil Moon in the sky, hmm, someone is usurping Heaven’s Mandate. You must be careful, restrain your aura, do not, do not invite disaster.”
After Wu Qing transformed back to human form and wrapped herself in clothes, she asked: “What’s going on?”
After hesitating for a moment, Jia Mude revealed the secret known only to the Da Yao Imperial Family. — His line had been the Crown Prince line four hundred years ago. Although far from Heaven’s Mandate now, he could still sense it when Heaven’s Mandate changed.
Over these thousands of years, the reason Da Yao had continued unbroken was because the Emperor had the auspicious qi to turn misfortune into fortune. In simple terms, the Emperor blessed by Heaven’s Mandate could see fortune and misfortune.
Of course, this ability to predict fortune and misfortune was not perfect. It depended on the Emperor’s virtue; the higher the virtue, the stronger the premonition of fortune and misfortune.
Therefore, over these thousands of years, all forces that wanted to assassinate the monarch ultimately met bad ends. Over time, the entire Under Heaven defaulted that the Da Yao Imperial Family line was Destined by Heaven.
For outsiders, this was an awe-inspiring “indescribable,” but for the Da Yao Imperial Family internally, this auspicious qi manifesting was real.
The Emperor and Crown Prince seemed only like current and next in line, but every Crown Prince knew that as long as he had not ascended, Heaven’s Mandate was not on him.
Thus, there had been Court Struggles over “seizing Heaven’s Mandate” in Da Yao history.
Jia Mude’s line, eight hundred years ago, was the line of the Li Crown Prince who failed in seizing Heaven’s Mandate.
Of course, his line was quite unwilling. Once, the old ancestor refused to give up and plotted in the Southern Border for centuries, trying to kill back into the palace.
But as a junior, he knew that the Da Yao Emperor had already obtained Heaven’s Mandate; it really couldn’t be seized back. His old ancestor staying in this major Southern Border sect without bowing was actually just not wanting to lose the last bit of attachment to living in this world. Five years ago, being thoroughly devoured by backlash from Vermilion Bird Fire was perhaps a kind of release.
However, now Jia Mude sensed that the situation with “Heaven’s Mandate” was not transferring, but directly collapsing. As a descendant of Da Yao bloodline, he felt a chill in his bones.
Anxious and worried, as he prepared to return to the Southern Border, he encountered a paper person, who transmitted San Niang’s message.
San Niang: “Stay inside Yongji Pass, do not act rashly.”
Jia Mude: “Mistress, you?”
San Niang: “I know what you’re thinking, but I advise you best not to think it. Change your surname. Da Yao’s Heaven’s Mandate right now is being corrupted.”
Jia Mude was stunned, hesitated for a moment, then nodded and made a decision.
San Niang smiled and nodded, granting him the surname Huang.
San Niang knew Xian Daoren’s temperament; the great tribulation he was plotting was to wipe out the entire Da Yao imperial family in one fell swoop.
Throughout the under heaven, anyone who connected themselves to the Da Yao imperial family identity and harbored that “obsession” with heaven’s mandate would be entangled by karma and fall into obsession.
Now, while Jia Mude had already let go and had not yet fallen into the plan to guide “myriad changes,” Qian Cuo directly made him change his surname, which could directly sever the means of the “eye of the future.”
Now, Qian Cuo as the “past” already stood in opposition to myriad changes as the “future.”
…Perspective shifts to Yao Capital; these days’ major changes…
After Emperor Shu returned to the capital, for three months in the palace it seemed as if nothing had happened, and he even mainly rewarded Prince Zhou, which allowed the originally worried under heaven to breathe a sigh of relief.
According to the “heaven’s mandate” concept narrated earlier by Jia Mude, Emperor Shu as the son of heaven could see blessings and misfortunes around him for ten days or even months ahead.
Emperor Shu knew that if he stirred up a great disturbance immediately upon return, it would drive Prince Zhou to desperate actions, leading to the expenditure of great sums to activate certain undercover networks within the palace, at which time guards and palace maids would create an incident within the palace restrictions.
Therefore, in these three months, Emperor Shu seemingly made no adjustments to the seating of the ministers, but he replaced all the close attendants around him.
After all, in palace intrigue and official politics, only by ensuring one’s own survival can one plot other matters; the monarch needs servants around him, even cooks and doctors, to be absolutely reliable. How many young masters who were precociously wise died young innately, soon poisoned by cookies fed by maternal relatives, or died directly after cultivation by taking red pills.
Xuan Chong, observing all this, felt he did not need to worry about the level of this “palace intrigue veteran.” Emperor Shu was someone who could hide his abilities and endure patiently even when he was crown prince.
Emperor Shu bore heaven’s mandate. If an eastern monarch on Earth suffered a military defeat, he would basically be waiting for Yang Guang’s fate; after losing the army, the best outcome would be like Li Longji as grand emperor, but he managed to reclaim power more smoothly than Zhu Qizhen.
After the third month, he made his move, promoting and transferring away the commander in charge of city defense in Da Yao Capital City, then replacing him with new military general Mu Xingyu, who was poached from Wu Fei’s Eastern Market Army.
This move was more effective than simply granting titles, because when Emperor Shu formed the new imperial forest army, he openly used people from the Eastern Market Army. This directly bound the Eastern Market Army to his side.
Meanwhile, on the Eastern Market Army side, Wu Fei was preparing for the great war next year and urgently needed the “rear center to be trusted but not interfering with the frontline.”
Thus, after receiving the imperial decree, they very tacitly sent thirty shrewd non-commissioned officer seeds to Mu Xingyu. This counted as taking a side with Emperor Shu.
When Mu Xingyu was leaving, Wu Fei earnestly instructed this seed he favored: “This time, though wealth and honor are sought in danger, if the monarch is not secretive he loses his ministers, if the minister is not secretive he loses his body; matters not kept secret lead to harm—take good care of yourself.”
Mu Xingyu: “Thank you for the warning, sir.”
Wu Fei watched his departing figure and shook his head. Li Xiaorong beside him: “Sir, you don’t think highly of Brother Mu.”
Wu Fei: “He listened to my words, but did not grasp their essence; and without grasping the essence and asking, he does not understand.”
Li Xiaorong: “Sir, why not directly teach him?”
Wu Fei looked at this burly fool: “On military affairs, I will explain clearly to you all directly, but that is an imperial family secret matter.”
…The messy experience of politics is the one thing that cannot be explained clearly; explaining it clearly gives them pretext…
Approaching the year-end, in Yao Capital the merchants were all flicking their abacuses with “snap” sounds to tally accounts. Mu Xingyu from Bo Prefecture returned to Yao Capital with over a hundred cavalry, among whom thirty were officers from the Eastern Market Army, and the rest were favors agreed upon with various military families before Emperor Shu’s return.
After Mu Xingyu arrived in the eastern district and took over the soldiers mainly recruited from rope-pullers, Prince Zhou and his faction, having been rebuffed at the Mu family, sensed that something was off.
In the palace, Emperor Shu calmly had the palace people undergo various obedience tests: today having the eunuchs move things to one side of the palace, tomorrow to the other, observing if they showed resentment or signs of being bribed from outside.
Once Mu Xingyu quickly stabilized the military defenses at various city gates in Yao Capital, the second step began.
That noon, poisonous mushrooms brazenly appeared in Emperor Shu’s imperial meal, enraging the son of heaven and sparking a major case.
Those ministers who had recently been granted audience in the palace still saw His Majesty as kind and gentle, seemingly admitting he was old and wanting to abdicate, so they relaxed.
The next day, imperial guards burst into their homes, taking away the “principal offenders,” imprisoning men, women, elderly, and children alike, with their properties sealed.
In daily life, strong speakers can seize the initiative to suppress the other side into silence, then deal with them like fish on a cutting board.
In palace intrigue and official struggles, it’s the same: the leader often strongly occupies the “righteous high ground,” loudly berating the opponent’s camp to prevent mutual support, then breaking them down one by one, turning them into ironclad cases, silencing the losing side.
“Student’s” note: In any struggle, do not expect “abandoning the clamor” to bring justice.
Far in the north, Xuan Chong continued (flatteringly) commenting: Emperor Shu is indeed a deep palace palace intrigue veteran; with this set of punches, decades of cultivation—who in the palace can withstand it, who in the court and populace can withstand it?
Those capital officials rallied by Prince Zhou in the court seemed glamorous, but in the major case suddenly stirred up by Emperor Shu, they were one step slow, failing to seize a favorable position in court opinion, and were each promptly slapped with the pot of filth.
These individuals targeted by Emperor Shu were shunned by other forces and could not assemble a party struggle storm strong enough to shake the court. A few days later, they confessed one by one in the decree prison.
These days in Yao Capital, strict curfew was enforced, with imperial guards patrolling the streets every day.
…The capital city’s canal seemed to have had a fresh flow of water…
Prince Zhou’s faction sensed the crisis. Su Kang, before his arrested allies dragged in the two brothers, sent his older brother back to their hometown to lie low.
He stayed in Yao Capital, using the ‘Missing One Gate’ to perform rites for a final gamble, and also prepared a secret letter for Prince Zhou, informing him that he would help resolve Prince Zhou’s crisis, but asking Prince Zhou to please take care of his family.
What Su Kang valued was the “puppet technique” recorded in the “Missing One Gate,” which could stuff a person’s soul into a wooden puppet—of course, this was not just for making wooden machinery; people who died in houses would be bound by the beam-column layouts and other structures, forming vengeful spirits. And these days, with the harsh officials of the Ministry of Justice in the decree prison “rushing quotas” under torture, innocents were killed indiscriminately, resentment accumulated throughout the decree prison, reaching the conditions for a certain bewitch person technique in the Missing One Gate!
Sensing he was about to be taken to that yin energy place, Su Kang began chanting according to the dharma gate. He drew a series of witchcraft runes on himself with blood, then wrote Emperor Shu’s name on his body, and pierced himself with a needle—this was using himself as the “bewitch person” to curse the opponent, the most vicious curse method.
After finishing all this, the witchcraft bloodstains on Su Kang’s body faded, making him seem like an ordinary person, only his gaze became dull, like a paper figure. Soon, his door was pushed open.
Imperial Guard: “Su Kang, you’re done for—come with us!”
After asking twice with no response, the imperial guard rushed forward and kicked him, then was slightly stunned upon seeing him fall to the ground.
“Yo?” “Hm?”
One of the imperial guards stepped forward to check his breathing, grinned, and said: “He’s breathing, it’s fine—hey, pretending to be mad?”
The imperial guard sneered: “Even if you’re really mad, you still come with us; we’ll cure your madness!” With that, he smashed the knife hilt viciously onto Su Kang’s finger.
Seeing no reaction from Su Kang, the imperial guard paused, then ground the knife hilt hard on the finger, but still no reaction; finding it pointless, he said: “Good, good, good, sir is a tough guy.”
He then called for people to drag Su Kang out.
However, they did not know that a three-eyed being was observing them from several hundred steps away.
The Daoist Priest gazed at the Evil Moon in the sky, which was gradually returning to its position, and revealed a rampant smile.
The Daoist Priest refilled his own cup with wine, raised his cup to toast the bright moon: “The father clips the son’s wings, the son curses the father’s virtue. This, ha, this is royal family affairs.”
