Chapter 72: Revealing the Moon Landing

Against the backdrop of a deep blue night sky.

A woman with her hair styled in a Flying Immortal Bun, holding a white rabbit in her arms, ascends toward a huge full moon.

Xiao Sizi held the box, trotted back to Lin Xuan's side.

"Brother, tonight is the fifteenth."

Lin Xuan took the box, glanced at the production date on the back: "Yes, the Moon Festival."

Xiao Sizi tilted her head up, her black-and-white eyes filled with seriousness: "Then shall we set up an incense table on the balcony?"

"Put some pastries there, and arrange a few fruits."

She pointed at the picture on the box, her tone gentle: "The Shangyi in the palace taught me that the moon on the fifteenth is the roundest and closest to the mortal world."

"Sister Chang'e in the Moon Palace suffers in the cold palace, and the Jade Rabbit is very tired pounding medicine."

"We must make offerings to them."

"This way, when the immortals receive the offerings, they will bless the Great Tang with favorable weather."

At the checkout counter.

The queue of people pushed their carts forward inch by inch.

Just as Lin Xuan was about to hand over the iron box in his hand, his movement froze in mid-air.

In the eyes of this girl not yet six years old, immortals live on the moon, there is Guanghan Palace, and there is the Osmanthus Tree.

This is the education she has received since childhood.

It is the self-evident common sense of the entire Great Tang, and indeed the entire ancient feudal society.

Lin Xuan handed the iron box to the cashier.

The Mobile Phone scanned the code, payment made.

He lifted two heavy plastic bags, freed one hand, and held Xiao Sizi's hand.

"Go home," Lin Xuan said.

Great Tang timeline.

Taiji Hall Square.

Night fell.

A full moon as large as a jade plate hung above the flying eaves and upturned corners of the imperial city, casting a ground full of silver frost.

Hundreds of eunuchs hurried, shuttling across the square. They carried out huge redwood long tables and spread velvet cloth edged with gold thread.

The tables were filled with autumn pears, grapes, edamame, and various exquisite pastries.

Two bronze incense burners half the height of a person stood on either side of the long table, burning the finest Western Regions agarwood. Green smoke rose straight into the sky.

August fifteenth, the Sacrificial Moon Ceremony.

Li Shimin, wearing the Twelve-Tassel Crown and a black Sacrificial Robe, stood on the Danbi with his hands behind his back.

Hearing Xiao Sizi's words from the Sky Screen, his gaze shifted slightly.

Since ancient times, which emperor did not yearn for the fairyland above Jiutian? Which one did not wish to seek the Longevity Pill pounded by the legendary Jade Rabbit?

Qin Shi Huang and Han Wudi expended countless manpower and resources seeking immortals and asking for medicine, all returning in vain.

Now, do these people from the future truly intend to reveal the true appearance of Guanghan Palace before the public?

Li Shimin's breathing increased slightly.

"Where is the Imperial Astronomical Bureau!"

Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng stepped out quickly from the line of civil officials, kneeling with both knees on the ground.

"Your subjects are here!" the two said in unison.

"Prepare ink and brush, and for the Emperor, watch the Sky Screen closely."

"Technology in the future is flourishing, and that boy Lin Xuan knows both past and present."

"If he sets up an altar on the balcony tonight to worship the moon, there must be a method to communicate with the immortals."

"Record the secret methods of summoning gods and descending immortals in the future, word for word, for the Emperor!"

Yuan Tiangang's heart pounded wildly.

He pulled out several rolls of blank silk from his wide sleeves and spread them on the bluestone pavement.

Li Chunfeng lifted the inkstone, knelt on one knee, and began to grind the ink quickly.

Modern rental apartment.

The key inserted into the lock hole, turned.

The security door was pushed open.

Lin Xuan placed the shopping bags on the floor of the entrance hall and changed into slippers.

Xiao Sizi kicked off the small leather shoes on her feet, didn't even put on slippers, and ran barefoot into the living room.

She ran to the sliding door of the balcony, pressed both hands against the Glass, and looked up at the bright full moon in the night sky.

The city's light pollution was heavy, but tonight's moon was still bright.

"Brother, shall we move the table?" Xiao Sizi turned her head, her tone filled with expectation, "Put the mooncakes from the iron box on it."

"Sister Chang'e can smell the fragrance; we ask her to bless Father's health."

Lin Xuan walked to the water dispenser, filled a cup with cold water, and gulped it down in one breath.

His Adam's apple rolled up and down.

He looked at Xiao Sizi standing in the moonlight on the balcony.

He could perfectly follow Xiao Sizi's words and tell a warm bedtime fairy tale.

Tell her Chang'e received the offerings, and the Jade Rabbit has eaten its fill. Kole Books — Your Personal Pocket Library, Access Anytime.

This is the most common way modern adults dismiss and soothe a five- or six-year-old child.

But Lin Xuan did not move.

This is a princess of the Tang Dynasty, standing behind countless ancient emperors and ministers who looked up at the Sky Screen.

The Tang Dynasty does not need false fairy tales.

The foundation of rule in ancient feudal dynasties was divine authority and the Mandate of Heaven.

Lin Xuan made his decision.

He would use the coldest, cruelest objective facts of modern science to perform an unprecedented breakthrough of thought.

He would tear apart the mythic foundation of ancient China's thousands of years.

"No tables moved, no incense altars set."

Xiao Sizi tilted her head in confusion, lowering her hands from the Glass.

Lin Xuan grabbed the edge of the balcony's blackout curtain and yanked hard.

Whoosh—

The track emitted a scraping sound.

The thick double-layered curtain closed, completely blocking out the moonlight outside.

Lin Xuan pressed the main power switch on the wall.

Click.

The ceiling light in the living room went out.

The entire room plunged into darkness.

Xiao Sizi grew nervous.

She shuffled closer to Lin Xuan's leg and tugged at his pant leg.

"Don't be afraid," Lin Xuan said, lowering his head and wiping his thumb across Xiao Sizi's cheek.

In the dark, he walked to the TV cabinet and pulled open the bottom drawer.

He reached in with both hands and pulled out a black square device.

It was a top-tier 4K HD projector on the market.

Lin Xuan placed the projector in the center of the coffee table.

He pulled out the power cord and plugged it into the wall outlet.

He pressed the power button.

A faint hum of the internal fan sounded from the machine.

A weak blue light ignited before the lens.

Lin Xuan pulled out his Mobile Phone, turned on Bluetooth, connected the device, and opened a full HD astronomy documentary.

He rotated the device, aiming the lens at the empty white wall of the living room.

He pinched the focus ring in front of the projector and slowly turned it.

The blurry halo on the wall gradually tightened, its edges becoming sharp.

The next second.

A blinding beam of light sliced through the dark living room, striking the entire white wall.

The beam on the wall stabilized.

The image unfolded.

A female voice counting down echoed through the living room.

"Ten, nine, eight…"

The speakers emitted a deep roar.

Xiao Sizi tilted her head up, her vision filled entirely by the image on the white wall.

On screen, a Saturn V Rocket over a hundred meters tall spewed blinding orange-red flames.

Violent reaction forces stirred up vast clouds of white steam and dust.

The steel creation broke free of gravity, trailing a fiery tail, piercing straight into the heavens.

Xiao Sizi's voice trembled: "What is that?"

"A rocket. A creation of our era."

"It carries people to the Yueqiu."

The scene switched.

Passing through the atmosphere, the vast cosmic backdrop revealed itself.

The lens drew closer.

The actual surface of the Yueqiu filled the entire wall.

The ground was covered in gray-white dust.

Craters of all sizes crisscrossed the surface.

Light and shadow rendered an extreme black-and-white, radiating a suffocating stillness.

Several astronauts in thick white Space Suits stepped upon the barren rocks.

They moved slowly, leaping and kicking up clouds of dust.

Cosmic radiation glowed faintly at the edges of the lens.

Lin Xuan pressed the pause button on the Remote Control.

The image froze in that desolate crater.

"Look, it is all stone and dust; not a single tile of Guanghan Palace can be found, nor a broken root of the osmanthus tree."

"Let alone Chang'e and the Jade Rabbit."

Xiao Sizi opened her mouth, her breathing growing faint.

The myths she had heard since childhood, the celestial theories taught by the Tang Dynasty's most top scholars.

Before this desolate pile of rubble, they all shattered.

Lin Xuan continued, "The idea that heaven is round and earth is square is wrong."

"Heaven cannot sustain immortals, nor hide living creatures."

"Above Jiutian, there is only vacuum, radiation, and the unfeeling laws of physics."