Chapter 251

Time flew, and before he knew it, over a month had passed.

The slight winter chill had already ceased with spring's arrival; plants sprouted, the world was renewed, and An Nan had already entered mid‑February in the blink of an eye.

Thirty li outside the King of An Nan's city, the open plain stretched wide, the terrain flat, where a strictly regulated border garrison was stationed.

Tents stretched in continuous rows, scattered yet orderly, black‑blanketing the entire plain; banners stood thick, fluttering loudly, tearing through the clear spring sky.

Within the camp, armor clanged, weapons gleamed in the sky‑light, a chill pervaded, exuding a stern, solemn aura of impending expedition.

Crown Prince Shi Er, dressed in dark battle attire, stood on the troop‑inspection platform, conducting the final troop roll‑call before the march——

A month earlier, the Daoist master Fu Cu Zi had revealed the death of his fifth brother, making him furious to the point of nearly dragging the man out and beheading him on the spot.

However......

However, within just three or five days, the An Nan Scout sent out to investigate truly returned with the news of his fifth brother's death, and word that the likely culprit was the prefect of Yongzhou Zhoufu.

Fu Cu Zi was summoned from his villa and appointed as his new advisor.

Over the past month, he has followed Fu Cu Zi's counsel, using the pretext of his fifth brother's death to make big moves.

Those old fogeys lodged high in the royal court previously dared not even speak of sending troops, let alone utter half a word of opposition to the Central Plains.

But now, northerners have moved south, and the realm is divided.

The officials of Yongzhou again took the lead in striking at them......

What is this?

According to the master's words, this is literally a heaven‑sent opportunity!

If not now to raise arms and conquer, when else would we wait?

Although this time we will drain An Nan's reserves accumulated over generations of stability, but......

But everything will surely be worth it!

Below the platform stood his hand‑picked light cavalry, each wearing a saber at the waist and a strong bow on the back, stalwart and fierce, agile in posture—all the elite renowned in the An Nan army for their swift and fierce combat.

Over a thousand light cavalry stood still on the plain; merely the thought of where to fight would expose the fierce spirit unique to An Nan's youths.

Shi Er looked down upon the flourishing elite cavalry below, a faint pride flickering in his eyes——

With such fine youths supporting him......

What is a mere Yongzhou Zhoufu?

Moreover, the boy emperor of the Southern court is weak now, while the Northern court's forces eye him hungrily.

Even a petty villain like Yuan Lang, who can't keep order, can snag an emperor's throne—so surely the Southern court will eventually fall into chaos, and who else but him could contend for the realm?

First strike unexpectedly, surge east, seize a few cities, then march on Yongzhou Zhoufu; once he takes Yongzhou, he can plot to take the Nanning route, and when the several Zhoufu along that road are united, the whole Huguang province will be his!

Once Huguang province is in his grasp......

Afterward, the realm—or at least half of it—would not still be decided solely by him, Shi Er, would it?

Why bother worrying about being discovered for secretly poisoning and plotting to kill his father?

Why fight to the death with a bunch of fools in a tiny An Nan?

His fifth brother used to urge him not to be rash, but now looking at him, he isn't impulsive at all!

What is a mere Crown Prince worth?

Who knows what the future holds—he too may have the makings of a contender for the realm!

By then, what petty Crown Prince—others should call him 【Son of Heaven】!

Shi Er indulged in a pleasant fantasy, then withdrew the pride from his eyes, turned, and looked at the figure in a blue‑gray Daoist robe standing beside him.

Fu Cu Zi still wore that clean, dust‑free plain Daoist robe, standing amid the stern camp, untouched by any harshness, his brows and eyes warm, his expression calm, utterly out of place among the surrounding iron‑blood atmosphere.

Shi Er's heart stirred at the moment; this campaign's fortune was unknown, and he, who always wary of unknown risks, thought to consult Fu Cu Zi's divination, saying proudly:

"Master Daoist, how do you see the situation of my troops this time?"

Facing the Crown Prince's query, Fu Cu Zi merely lifted the corners of his mouth in a faint smile, offering no reply, as if he had it all figured out yet seemed to keep it deeply hidden.

After a moment, he finally spoke slowly, his voice clear and moist, carrying a hint of profound Daoist insight:

"Today is not suitable for discussing military matters, but it is an excellent day for divining heavenly secrets."

"I, the humble Daoist, must return to my tent to set up an altar and cast a hexagram."

Fu Cu Zi lifted his gaze to the distant spring sunshine, the light gentle, the clouds thin, and slowly expounded the subtle heavenly mechanism within:

"Do you know how rare today's cosmic timing is? This year is bingwu, the time has reached renchen midspring second month, and the Qingming solar term happens to fall on February 18."

"The Huangdi's Guicang divination classic records that a Qingming in the second month occurs only once every several decades, and a conjunction like this year's—where the year's stem‑branch, the month's stem‑branch, and an early Qingming all align—is an even rarer opportunity that comes once in a sixty‑year Nominal son cycle."

He paused slightly, his tone gaining a touch of solemnity:

"Looking back, the previous bingwu year with a second‑month Qingming triple conjunction occurred a full sixty years ago. I fear the next time such a perfect celestial alignment appears will be after you and I have been dead a century, never to be witnessed again."

"On ordinary days, yin and yang block each other, heavenly secrets grow obscure; many hidden grudges and covert plots are shrouded, so divination is ultimately deficient."

"Only today does Qingming open the hidden path, yin and yang energies meld, allowing the living, the dead, and mountain sprites to mutually exchange breath. The yin‑yang mysteries and heavenly cause‑effect that are usually impenetrable and unclear can be seen today, unobscured, through divination, revealing the utmost truth."

He expounded this profound mystical theory at length, each word backed, each sentence wondrous.

Shi Er felt his head swell; he had originally wanted to say more to keep the man, but seeing him personally inspect the troops, hearing this he could only reply awkwardly:

"Oh, I, the Crown Prince, understand now; the master means today is very important…… then master, please go ahead."

Fu Cu Zi saw that the other party simply didn't understand, and seeing no need to elaborate, he gave a slight nod, turned, and walked slowly toward his own secluded quarters at the rear.

Inside the tent, it was tranquil and silent, shut off from the clamor of troops outside and the howling wind.

Fu Cu Zi let drop the smiling doll‑face he had held for a while, silently uttering a few "pah" to dispel ill fortune, then sat cross‑legged on the felt mat within the tent, neither fully seated nor not.

He cast aside distractions, raised his hand, and took from his bosom the personal stone mirror he always carried, holding it steadily in his palm.

He half‑closed his eyes, breathed long and slow, following the Profound Mystery method to focus his spirit and calm his qi, using today's rare celestial alignment—obtainable only once every several decades—to re‑harmonize the mystic qi within the stone mirror.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths......

The sun and moon turn, mayflies skim the world.

Inside the tent, the invisible airflow finally moved at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, slowly circulating.

The surface of the stone mirror also finally rose a thin layer of faint hazy light, warm, moist, and clear, wrapped in pure heavenly-earthly spiritual qi.

Fusuzi felt a stir in his heart, knowing the moment had come, he simply took out his engraving knife and, at great speed, carved a few characters onto the stone mirror's surface, making clear his earlier doubt:

【Who is Yuan Long?】

The four characters on the stone mirror were gradually erased, as if someone opposite him held an engraving knife and, just as he usually did, slowly wore away the markings on the stone mirror.

The traces faded, and on the other side, at great speed, a line of text was written:

【Yuan Long is the Empress's firstborn, born in the thirty-seventh year of Dayin; if you kill him, I will reveal more heavenly secrets to you.】

Indeed, there is an anomaly in heaven and earth.

Formerly, the stone mirror's surface was obscure and hard to understand, twisted and chaotic; even if he tried to deduce and speculate, he could not fully comprehend the heavenly secret patterns, but today, under this excellent heavenly timing that occurs only once in sixty years, they quietly underwent an anomaly......

Today, those texts that had long been hidden, blurred and defective, layered with veils, were no longer twisted but instead appeared with perfect clarity!

To say he wasn't happy would definitely be a lie.

However, just as Fusuzi's face broke into a smile, he felt something was off—

The thirty-seventh year of Dayin?

Isn't that this year?

And now it's already February!

Moreover, who exactly is the mighty being opposite the stone mirror?

Even he could only roughly estimate how many people had fallen in the Empress's Descendant Palace, so how could that mighty being not only insist the person was male but also call out his name?

Is this something ordinary ghosts and mystic spirits can do?

Fusuzi was puzzled, but over these years he had practiced the Yin Tradition and encountered many indescribable beings, and he knew that some wandering ghosts would seek to bite back by claiming to reveal heavenly secrets, thereby reentering the mortal world.

Therefore, he wasn't in a hurry either; instead, he used the engraving knife to slowly wear away the characters above and asked:

【Why?】

This time, the silence from the other side was unusually long.

Good days are few, and Fusuzi's impatience grew; he knelt before the stone mirror, urging it not to hem and haw but to speak quickly, for time could not afford such delay.

Just then, there finally came movement from the opposite side of the stone mirror—

【I am the birth mother of the Young Emperor of Dayin; previously, to delay the southern advance of the northern peoples, I risked my life to investigate the holy relic of the Northern Dynasty, but unfortunately encountered a great disaster......

During that period, the myriad hardships need not be spoken of to outsiders.

You only need to know that when we opened our eyes again, we had already arrived several thousand years later.

We have painstakingly sought a way back to no avail, so we can only resort to this method to convey our feelings.

I can find you through the histories of later generations, and I can know what major events and outcomes occurred in each year, yet I cannot precisely know what happened in the process leading up to those results.

I know the Empress will inherit the throne by borrowing the Young Emperor's name, and I know that afterward she will establish two capitals, leaving my son vacant and giving birth to a lineage not of my blood......

Yuan Long's father is a mystery, a fact known to all later generations.

The infant is innocent, but my child is also innocent.

Please, you must help me prevent the Empress from becoming pregnant; if Yuan Long has already been born, you might as well simply kill him.

If you are still unwilling to act against the infant, then please kill Chen Weifang, He Lian Bo Bo, and the eighteenth son of the Chenjun Xie clan, Xie Wujiu......

These three are the candidates for Yuan Long's father that I have inferred from unofficial histories.

As long as they are killed, Yuan Long will lose his father in youth, have little support, and thus can only remain confined within the palace walls, living out his days in idleness.

And my son, together with my descendants, will thereafter rest easy and enjoy a hundred years of peace......】

?? This update is packed with information!! The word count is also nearly three thousand again!!

? This chapter also counts as hitting the author's old specialty...... The author loves traditional Chinese learning, having fortunately read many classics, which is why earlier he insisted on clearly marking the classics used.

? Moreover, the 【Yin Tradition】 mentioned in these past two days' updates is not baseless; there really is a friend nearby called 【Slay Red Dragon and Pass the Yin Tradition】 (here "Red Dragon" refers to a woman's menstruation).

? The author has always held sufficient curiosity about the unknown, but because of fear has never taken the first step toward genuine investigation, which can be said to be very regrettable.

? I hope everyone won't mind my adding a few genuine metaphysical elements to this side branch~ If you don't like it, it's fine—actually only the Fusuzi line has this~ Fusuzi also won't leak too many heavenly secrets, and won't expose them to others~

? This chapter is released on the Dragon Boat Festival, so I wish everyone a happy and healthy Dragon Boat Festival! (Traditional holiday meeting traditional metaphysics—what a coincidence, haha)