Chapter 393: Seven-Star Lamp to Extend Life at Wuzhang Plains (Part 1)

Half a month later, the sky-screen appeared again.

This was the last scene of the top ten famous scenes of the Three Kingdoms.

The lingering warmth of the previous nine scenes was still there.

The sound of rain in the discussion of heroes with boiled wine, the sound of the zither in the empty city strategy, the horse hooves at Changban Slope, the falling flowers in the Peach Garden, the rain of arrows on the straw boats...

Every scene was like a branding iron that had burned through the sky of this chaotic world.

When the last scene lit up, all the previous sounds were quiet.

Before the image began to emerge on the sky-screen, the wind arrived first.

The sound of the wind came from inside the sky-screen, dry and cold, with the crisp sound of withered grass breaking and the fine friction of sand grains rubbing against cloth.

Wuzhang Plains.

When the image unfolded, the entire sky-screen was occupied by that desolate wilderness.

The grass in late autumn had withered through, lying on the ground and blown by the wind into strands, like the hair falling off an old man.

The Shu army's tents were connected in a piece, but there was no sound.

No drill commands, no horse hoof steps, no smoke and fire from cooking stoves.

The passages between the camps were empty, occasionally a figure in armor walked past with his head lowered, his footsteps pressed very lightly, as if afraid of waking something up.

The lights in the main tent were on.

The tent curtain hung down, and when the wind blew, the corner of the curtain lifted a narrow slit, and one could see the light leaking out from inside, dim yellow and dark, like an oil lamp that had been burning for a long time and was about to bottom out.

The smell of medicine seeped out from the slit of the tent curtain, it was the smell of medicinal soup that had been boiled many times, bitter, astringent, with a bit of burnt smell.

The figure in the tent was withered and thin.

When sitting on the mat, the outline of his shoulders was not much wider than the mat.

The shape of the shoulder blades could be vaguely seen through the fabric of the Taoist robe, like two stones exposed after being blown by the wind for a long time.

The veins on the back of his hands supporting his knees were protruding, the skin was so thin that the direction of the blood vessels underneath could be seen, like the dried riverbeds drawn on an old map.

When he coughed, his shoulders retracted first, and then his whole body shrank inward, and after coughing, he relaxed and sat up straight slowly.

Zhuge Liang.

The sky-screen gave him a camera shot from near to far and then back.

When close, one could see the white hair at his temples—

Not gray-white, but completely white, from the root to the tip without a trace of dark color, as if the whole piece had been hit by frost.

His lips were very pale, like the color of paper that had been soaked in water and dried.

When he looked up at the sky-screen outside the tent, his eye sockets were deeply sunken, the skin of his eyelids was so thin that it was translucent, and the extremely fine purple-blue blood vessels underneath could be seen.

He watched for a while, his lips moved, no sound was made, but the subtitles of the sky-screen followed:

【Three star stars, swaying and about to fall.】

The voice of the sky-screen was lower than any previous time, low to the point that it was like someone reading a letter in a very distant place, half of the sound was blown away by the wind, and the other half fell into the ears:

【Wuzhang Plains, autumn night.】

【Zhuge Liang observed the astronomical phenomena at night and saw that the three star stars were dim and unclear, and the main star was dim and about to fall, which was a sign that his time was running out.】

The tent curtain was lifted.

When Jiang Wei came in, he brought a chill with him, his armor had not yet been taken off, and the sword at his waist collided lightly with the armor plates with his steps, making a fine metallic sound.

He saw Zhuge Liang sitting on the mat with his back to him, his gaze fixed on the starry sky outside the tent, and his steps paused.

The sky-screen cut to Jiang Wei's face.

His brows were locked together, the corners of his mouth pressed down, his Adam's apple moved up and down before making a sound: "Prime Minister..."

Zhuge Liang did not look back, his voice was very light: "Boyue, come and look at those three stars."

Jiang Wei walked to the tent entrance and looked up following Zhuge Liang's gaze.

In the night, three stars were connected in a line, the middle one was so dim that it could hardly be seen, and the two on the sides were not bright either, like three lamps that were about to be extinguished by the wind.

Jiang Wei's hand gripping the tent curtain tightened, his knuckles white.

He turned and walked back to Zhuge Liang, knelt on one knee, and the sound of armor collision was amplified in the quiet tent.

"Prime Minister, this disciple has heard that in ancient times there was a method of 'praying to the stars to extend one's life,' which could borrow years from Heaven..."

He raised his head, his eye sockets red, "Please Prime Minister, try it."

Zhuge Liang turned his head to look at him, his gaze lingering on Jiang Wei's face for a moment.

He did not answer immediately, looked down at his own hands, those hands rested on his knees, his fingertips curled slightly, as if wanting to grasp something but already having no strength to grasp tightly.

Then he nodded slowly.

The tent was cleared.

The table was moved away, the mat was rolled up, and only a circular open space was left on the ground.

Forty-nine small lamps were placed along the outer circle, the distance between each lamp was measured, and the spacing was the same.

Seven large lamps fell on the inner circle according to the position of the Big Dipper.

In the center of the array, a main life lamp that was half a foot higher than all the lamps, the lamp base was copper, and the lamp wick was twisted thin and straight.

Zhuge Liang changed into a plain Taoist robe, the belt at his waist was tied tighter than usual, as if afraid of loosening.

He walked to the center of the array and sat down, cross-legged, hands forming a seal.

The lamps were lit one by one, and when the first lamp lit up, the firelight jumped in his eyes.

Then, the seven large lamps and forty-nine small lamps lit up in turn, and the entire star array unfolded in the tent, like a piece of starry sky shrunk and spread on the mud ground.

The sky-screen gave a close-up of Zhuge Liang's profile.

His lips were moving, what words he was chanting could not be seen clearly, but the sound was pressed very low by the wind, like a person talking to himself.

The warm color of the lamp fire shone on his profile, giving those originally pale skins a bit of temperature.

Jiang Wei retreated to the outside of the tent and stood at the entrance without leaving.

He pulled the tent curtain tightly, then stood sideways against the tent wall, his hand pressing on the sword hilt.

Forty-nine armored soldiers outside the tent were lined up in three rows, black clothes and soap flags, someone on duty in every direction, no one spoke.

The sky-screen bullet screen floated out:

【Zhuge Liang: I have stayed up late all my life, and finally I have to stay up for a seven-day and seven-night game.】

【Using the Seven-Star Lamp to extend life, from a metaphysical point of view, he is borrowing time from heaven, from a realistic point of view, he is using his life to exchange for a possibility.】

【He guarded for six days and six nights, and succeeded one day short.】

【The most heartbreaking overtime game in history.】

Six days.

The sky-screen skipped the image of the six days in fast-forward.

The speed of the alternation of day and night was accelerated, but the main lamp in the tent had never been extinguished.

Zhuge Liang's posture of sitting cross-legged in the center of the array had hardly changed, only the occasional hand-changing movement and the arm raised when drinking water proved that he was still alive.

His complexion was worse day by day, the darkness under his eyes was thicker day by day, but the candle flame of that main lamp was always steady, without shaking.

The night of the sixth day, the lamp was still on.

The sky-screen slowed down the speed.

The wind outside the tent was a bit louder than the previous few days, but the lamp flame only tilted slightly, and then straightened back.

Jiang Wei changed shifts once, stood back to the tent entrance, and a thin layer of frost condensed on his armor plates.

The seventh night.

The image of the sky-screen switched to the direction of the Wei army camp.

Sima Yi stood outside the tent wearing an outer robe, looking up at the night sky, the piece of jade he was holding was squeezed warm.

He watched for a long time, then said in a low voice to the person beside him:

"In the Shu camp, the main general star is dim and unclear, its commander must have a great illness."

He turned and walked back to the tent, and the sound of the order soon rang out.

"Ready the troops, tonight feign attack on the Shu camp, test the reality."

The image switched back to the Shu camp.

The report sound of the outer sentries spread very fast in the night, like water waves swinging from the outermost camp to the main army.

Wei Yan rushed out of his tent, wearing only one boot, holding a knife in his hand, the hem of his armor that had not been tied tightly was lifted by the wind and then fell.

After hearing the intelligence of the Wei army's night raid, he turned his head to look at the direction of the main tent—the light was still on, but the tent curtain was tightly closed.

He hesitated.

The interval from standing in place to taking the first step was about three breaths.

Then he strode out.

The sky-screen slowed down his speed.

Every step was very large, the boots stepped on the ground making a muffled sound, the knife hilt turned in his hand and gripped tightly.

When he passed the first row of black-clothed armored soldiers, the armored soldier reached out to stop him, he avoided the hand sideways, and did not stop.

The second row of armored soldiers took a step forward to block in front of him, he roared "let go", and pushed away the other's shoulder.

When he lifted the tent curtain, the force was very great, the curtain was lifted to the highest point, and the wind surged in with him. ===== CHAPTER 394 =====