Chapter 73: Conquer the Stars

The Tang Dynasty timeline.

The night wind in the Taiji Hall square suddenly ceased.

The blue smoke from the incense burner rose straight upward, dissolving into the night sky.

Yuan Tiangang remained in a kneeling posture, gazing up at the colossal image in the night sky, his pupils slowly dilating.

Li Chunfeng trembled all over.

"Fake… all of it is fake."

They had spent their entire lives calculating celestial movements, divining auspicious and inauspicious omens, deciphering the will of heaven.

But the lifeless, dusty sphere labeled "Yueqiu" on the Sky Screen crushed their lifelong beliefs beneath its weight.

On the Danbi, Li Shimin felt his feet go weak.

"If there are no gods in heaven… then what am I, this Son of Heaven who ruled by heavenly mandate?"

For thousands of years, the foundation of feudal emperors' rule over the world was the "Mandate of Heaven."

The Emperor was the Son of Heaven, entrusted to shepherd the people on Heaven's behalf.

The people thus revered him, thus obeyed him.

The Sky Screen had torn open the universe's final card.

Not only were there no gods in heaven—there wasn't even a single blade of living grass.

The Weiyang Palace of the Han Dynasty timeline.

The elixir of immortality Liu Che had sought his entire life, the mythical mountain pavilions shrouded in mist spoken of by sorcerers.

Under the irrefutable evidence displayed by the Sky Screen, they became nothing but pitted, ruined rocks.

"Heretical lies! All of it is deceiving me!"

Liu Che drew his long sword and wildly slashed at the silk curtains inside the hall.

Inside and outside Chang'an.

Among the ranks of civil officials, several great Confucians collapsed to the ground.

Dong Zhongshu's doctrine of "Heaven-Man Resonance" held that when a ruler lost virtue, Heaven would send calamities.

Now, Heaven itself was merely a lifeless ball of mud.

This doctrine, which had dominated intellectual circles for centuries, had its roots utterly severed.

Countless commoners kneeling in courtyards to worship the moon stared in terror at the desolate scene on the Sky Screen and screamed.

They smashed their ceramic bowls filled with offerings, prostrated themselves, and banged their heads against the ground.

The collapse of faith brought pure terror.

The modern era.

Inside a rented apartment.

Xiao Sizi released Lin Xuan's hand and walked toward the white wall.

The white projection light fell upon her face.

She extended her small hand and pressed it against a cratered image of a meteorite on the wall.

The wall was warm, yet she seemed to feel the deep cold of the universe transmitted through the image.

Xiao Sizi spoke softly, voice filled with confusion: "Father said he was the Son of Heaven."

"The generals said the Mandate of Heaven belonged to the Great Tang."

"Heaven is empty—how does Father rule over all these people?"

"By swords, by law, by the ability to feed the people." Lin Xuan's reply stripped away all sentiment, striking straight to the core.

"Heaven does not grant grain—it is soil and seeds that do."

"Immortals cannot stop enemy cavalry—iron-forged spears can."

Lin Xuan took Xiao Sizi's hand pressed against the wall, "Your father holds the throne solely because he wins battles, quells chaos—unrelated to the Mandate of Heaven."

Hearing this, the fear in Xiao Sizi's eyes faded.

She looked again at the white figure leaping in the vacuum on the wall.

"Did they go up using that fiery metal pillar?" Xiao Sizi asked.

Lin Xuan nodded. "Yes. That is science."

"The power humans master themselves."

"By understanding the laws of physics, humans can tread among the stars."

As the projection light on the wall vanished, the living room returned to darkness.

Lin Xuan pressed the wall switch; the ceiling light turned on.

He walked to the balcony and pulled open the heavy curtains.

He pushed open the Glass door.

The early autumn night wind rushed into the room.

The massive full moon hung again in the night sky.

Xiao Sizi stood in place.

She did not cry or descend into hysterics over the collapse of her faith.

She walked to the balcony's edge, gripped the railing, and stared at the moon for a long time.

Next chapter is even more exciting: Chapter 73, Conquer the Stars. We look forward to your visit.

The Great Tang Imperial Family's innate instinct for strength and exploration overcame the panic of shattered myths.

Xiao Sizi turned her head: "Brother, brother, I want to see it with my own eyes."

Lin Xuan looked into the light dancing in her eyes. He nodded.

He turned and walked into the secondary bedroom, dragging a long black canvas bag from the top of the wardrobe.

He unzipped it, revealing it was filled with metal tubes and precision lenses.

This was a Celestron entry-level astronomical telescope that Lin Xuan had saved up to buy during his university days.

Lin Xuan carried the parts out to the balcony.

He unfolded the tripod and secured the main optical tube.

He attached the finder scope and the zenith prism.

Bending over, he turned the knobs on the equatorial mount, aiming the lens at the Moon in the night sky.

Finally, he inserted a low-power eyepiece and twisted the focus wheel.

The blurry halo in his field of view shrank bit by bit, until it became sharp and clear.

"Come here." Lin Xuan stepped back half a pace.

Xiao Sizi brought her own small plastic stool and climbed onto it.

Imitating Lin Xuan, she closed her left eye and pressed her right eye close to the eyepiece.

Her breath instantly stopped.

In the lens lay vast expanses of silent gray-white plains, and at the edges, densely packed, pockmarked craters like a face covered in spots.

The images from the projector were confirmed.

Lin Xuan stood beside her, his voice steady: "Those craters were made by stones from the sky smashing into it."

"There is no air on the Moon to block the meteorites."

"Nor is there any wind to blow the dust away."

Xiao Sizi looked up, rubbing her aching eyes: "If there is no air, how can people survive up there?"

"Bring our own air, and create suits and tanks that can seal it in."

"That requires an extremely high level of industry."

"Then why don't people fall down?" Xiao Sizi continued to press.

An apple hit the floor with a dull thud.

"Earth, the ground we stand on, has an invisible force."

"It pulls everything downward."

"The Moon has gravity too, just less than Earth's."

Lin Xuan tore open a corner of physics with the most plain language: "The rockets we build are simply playing tug-of-war with this force."

"As long as the fire sprays hard enough and the thrust exceeds gravity, people can break free from the ground and fly into the universe."

Xiao Sizi looked at the apple on the floor.

In her mind replayed the scene from the documentary just now, of rockets spewing flames.

Lin Xuan patted the top of her head. "Humans of our era, relying on mathematical formulas calculated by generations, on blueprints and steel, using the power of mortals, have step by step stepped onto the stars and the sea."

Xiao Sizi nodded vigorously.

The confusion in her eyes completely vanished.

Great Tang.

The incense burner of the Sacrificial Moon Ceremony was still emitting blue smoke.

The entire court of civil and military officials knelt prostrate on the bluestone slabs, none daring to raise their heads.

Several elderly censors trembled all over, their teeth chattering.

The Mandate of Heaven was shattered, the divine authority collapsed.

They had read the sages' books all their lives, believed in the divine right of kings all their lives, yet before the steel creations of later ages and the cold laws of physics, it all became a joke.

"Great Tang... Great Tang has lost the Mandate of Heaven!" An old censor suddenly pounded the ground, wailing in tears.

The crying spread like a plague among the officials.

Li Shimin slumped onto the dragon throne.

Listening to the lamentations of the ministers below the steps, those cries that shook the foundation of the state.

The Mandate of Heaven?

Li Shimin slowly raised his head.

His gaze passed over the weeping ministers, looking toward the imperial guards standing solemnly at the edge of the square.

Looking at the Mo blades they held, and the bright armor on their bodies gleaming with cold light.

Suddenly, memories surged.