Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 930: When the Big Dipper Points to Yi and Bright

Erniu didn’t care about appointed positions as long as his reward in general was good enough. Of course, he was also a swordsage. Though neither King Firecrusher nor the emperor had mentioned that, Erniu didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, prestige trumped all. The reality was that, though he was deeply connected to humankind, he actually didn’t count as being fully human. As for what exact species he was, not even he knew for sure.

Ai, things were so rough for me in my past lives.

Sighing proudly, Erniu looked instinctively at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing sensed his gaze and looked back with a smile of congratulations.

Erniu was very pleased by that. Then he thought about his Grand Zodiacist Armor and got even more excited.

After explaining Erniu’s reward, the chief minister paused for a moment to let everyone digest the information. Then he continued speaking.

“Humankind has destiny on its side; the Dawning light shook nonhumans in all directions. Then Sea-Sealing County waged war in Holytide, then expanded human territory into the two regions of the Nightshades.”

These words caused the eyes of the gathered officials to glitter with excitement.

The previous imperial edict had named Xu Qing a heavenly king, and that had been somewhat expected. But as for the words uttered just now... everyone could tell that they were leading to something special.

Opening words like that couldn’t indicate anything else, and now everyone was guessing what was to come.

“The war has ended with a formal letter of surrender from the Nightshade Region. What’s more, all subsidiary species of the Firemoons have retreated and ceased hostilities. In a matter of days, an emissary will arrive to discuss a peace treaty to last a thousand years.... What’s more, we’ve successfully acquired the Moonrite Region as allies.

“For countless years, humankind has worked toward the goals put in place by our ancestors. And today... we finally see the light of dawn!

“As of today, humankind has truly expanded. No longer do we have one region and seven counties. We now have four regions and seven counties!

“The Imperial Region, Holytide Region, Nightspirit Region, and Nightshade Region!

“Now we must make sacrifices to our ancestors, provide offerings to the souls of the fallen heroes, and to inform all under heaven of the existence of humankind!

“These are the words of Emperor Dark War, who hath accepted the Mandate of Heaven and hath been enshrined by immortals.

“In the year 2,939 of this dynasty, humankind will hold the ancestral sacrifices which have not been observed for the past 800 years. They will be held one hundred days from now, when the Big Dipper points to Yi and Bright. At that time, the ancient planet will be opened, and we will go to the Temple of Heaven. There, the emperor will bear the destiny of our species to once again offer sacrifices to the ancestors!”[1]

As the chief minister’s words rang out, the gathered officials’ hearts started racing.

Ancestral sacrifices were an extremely important ceremony to humans. In fact, it was essentially the most important formality there was. There was nothing more solemn. And normally speaking, they were only carried out when one emperor died and another took the throne, or humankind in general accomplished some heaven-shaking, earth-shattering deed.

After all, opening up Planet Ancient Emperor required a vast amount of precious resources. Even during the reign of previous emperors, when humankind was considered much stronger, their ancestral sacrifices would attract the attention of other species throughout Revered Ancient.

At the moment, humans were far from being as strong as they had been in the past. But they were rising to prominence. As a result, it was a given that their ancestral sacrifices would become the focus of many nonhumans. The mere thought of what was to come left everyone in the hall shaken.

However... as the imperial edict had indicated, humans really had achieved some unheard-of accomplishments. To call for ancestral sacrifices... was completely reasonable and logical.

Xu Qing was also shaken by what he was hearing, although there was no trace of surprise visible in his eyes. He had come back to the Imperial Region for the official purpose of reporting for duty. But he also had personal matters to deal with!

And that was Plumdark and her Plumdark Evergreen Lamp! He also wanted to lend Ningyan a helping hand. After all, that lamp... was on Planet Ancient Emperor. Planet Ancient Emperor was humankind’s most profound reserve power. It had a terrifying spell formation on the outside and even more astonishing things on the inside. That was why truly opening it could only coincide with ancestral sacrifices.

With such thoughts on his mind, Xu Qing shivered mentally.

Meanwhile, the chief minister began speaking again. “During these ancestral sacrifices, there are certain individuals who have proven to have integrity and talent. They have selflessly devoted themselves to public interest, and as such, they will be given special glory. They are: Grand Prince Firemoon, who performed meritorious services; Fourth Prince, who earned renown in bloody battle; and Fifth Prince, who loyally defended the border. These three imperial princes performed spectacularly, and therefore, will be allowed to stand with the emperor during the ancestral sacrifices.”

With that, the chief minister turned to face the emperor before bowing deeply.

The emperor nodded his head but said nothing.

As per etiquette, the chief minister held his bow for nine breaths of time before straightening up. Then he looked out at the gathered officials with gleaming eyes.

“Are there any other petitions to be submitted to the court today? If not, then this session is adjourned.”

The officials bowed their heads.

However, that was when Xu Qing took a step forward and bowed to the emperor.

“I, Xu Qing, have a petition to submit.”

His words caused all eyes to turn in his direction. The emperor looked at him, his gaze like the sea. The heavenly marquises and heavenly kings were looking at Xu Qing similarly. Even King Firecrusher looked very serious. Considering Xu Qing’s current status and identity, whatever words came out of his mouth couldn’t possibly be trivial.

Looking very serious, the chief minister said, “King Skycrusher, what petition would you like to submit?”

After a moment of thought, Xu Qing decided not to speak the words aloud. He took out a jade slip, within which he inscribed the details of what he had seen in Fardark County, including the three cultivators from the holy lands, their actions, and other pertinent details. The only thing he left out was the information about how the holy fardark nectar was distributed. Then he waved his hand to send the jade slip flying to the chief minister.

The chief minister scanned the jade slip with divine will. His expression flickered and his eyes went wide. He looked at Xu Qing.

“Heavenly King Xu, this report—”

“It’s absolutely true,” Xu Qing replied in a low voice.

The chief minister’s reaction, and Xu Qing’s affirmation, caused everyone in the crowd to look on with even more serious expressions than before.

Only Erniu could possibly guess what Xu Qing had put into the jade slip. Smiling, he went back to fantasizing about what it would be like to parade around in the Grand Zodiacist Armor.

The chief minister, meanwhile, took a deep breath. Normally speaking, his willpower would prevent him from reacting in this way. But the news Xu Qing had just handed over was far too monumental. People had come from the holy lands!

Without any hesitation, the chief minister sent the jade slip to the emperor. The emperor also scanned it with divine will. He betrayed no reaction via facial expression, but there was something that glimmered deep in his eyes as he sent the jade slip to King Firecrusher. After King Firecrusher studied it, his expression darkened. He passed the slip to the other heavenly kings.

As the moments ticked by, anticipation built among the congregated officials. After all the heavenly kings had looked at the jade slip, their expressions were as solemn as stone. They did not pass the jade slip down to the heavenly marquises.

“This matter,” the emperor said, “does not need to pass beyond the heavenly kings.”

Of course, everyone was more curious than ever. But the officials had no choice but to bow their heads and continue to wonder what was going on.

The sky outside suddenly seemed to turn steely and forbidding. A rumble of thunder echoed out, and rain started to fall from the clouds.

As the sound of gurgling water became louder, Xu Qing stopped thinking about the situation with the holy lands. As far as he was concerned, that was something that people more important than himself needed to worry about. He was a mere Void Returning cultivator, and the holy lands were too monumental to be of concern to him. What was more, there was something left for him to handle that was far more important than any of the holy lands.

Therefore, he opened his mouth and said, “The main reason I went to Firemoon lands was for the sake of Ningyan. Imperial Prince Ningyan might not have personally accomplished much in terms of meritorious service. But whether it’s his morals or his devotion to public interest, he ranks among the best. Since Your Majesty has appointed me as the tutor for imperial princes, I would like to recommend that Ningyan be given the honor of standing with you during the ancestral sacrifices. I hope Your Majesty will approve this humble request.”

Xu Qing bowed at the waist.

There wasn’t a bit of insincerity in his words. Everyone knew about the relationship between Xu Qing and Ningyan, so it was no surprise. It only took a moment for the emperor to respond.

“Approved!”

After the words rang out, the emperor blurred before vanishing into thin air.

The session of court had been adjourned.

As everyone left the grand hall, most of the officials smiled, clasped hands respectfully to Xu Qing and Erniu, and offered some sincere words. It seemed as if everyone was pleased about what happened with the two of them.

The reality was that there were plenty of them who weren’t pleased at all. But expressions of goodwill were by far the majority. It was a result of status and human norms. When someone reaches extremely high heights, those who looked up to them generally did so with benevolence. After all, they could end up paying a very high price if they caused conflict. If the rewards had been even greater, maybe things would have been different. Maybe... not everyone would have reacted so pleasantly.

Xu Qing was aware of all that. That’s just how humans are. We’re the same species, but it’s only because humans are in the spotlight right now that they act so kindly.

After the imperial guards delivered a greater spirit mansion medallion to Xu Qing, he said his farewells to everyone and then left the imperial palace with Erniu. Bearing oilskin umbrellas, they walked down the street toward the greater spirit mansion.

The rainwater turned into threads that spilled down over the edges of the umbrellas. All heaven and earth was misty because of the rain. There weren’t many pedestrians about. The crowds that had gathered to welcome Xu Qing had dispersed thanks to the rain. Therefore, he and Erniu were able to thread their way through whatever people remained on the streets, all while having a casual conversation.

“And therefore, little Ah Qing, we have to keep working hard! Now’s not the time to fall behind. Trust me, you don’t want to see what humans can be like if that happens.” Erniu clasped Xu Qing on the shoulder.

Xu Qing’s expression didn’t change. “I’ve seen it already.”

“Right. Forgot about your childhood. You really did see a lot of the ugly side of the world.”

The two of them walked along listening to the rain, looking at the clouds, and enjoying the peace and quiet after everything that happened in Firemoon territory.

About two hours later they caught sight of the greater spirit mansion that Xu Qing had been given as a reward. It was one of only 108 greater spirit mansions in the imperial capital. At the moment, most were empty and sealed. Only heavenly kings could occupy such mansions.

Every single protective spell formation was astronomically expensive. After all, they were built onto the very spell formation nodes that powered the grand protective spell formation. Because of that, they had much higher levels of spirit energy than surrounding areas. Whether it was the construction materials or the furnishings, they offered the peak of what humankind was capable of providing. Of course, the built-in spell formations were astonishing.

What was more, each greater spirit mansion had unique aspects. For instance, Xu Qing’s mansion had a spirit pond inside, which would provide a significant boost when working on the fleshly body or ordinary cultivation. Beyond that, spending long periods of time here could nourish the soul. That was why this particular greater spirit mansion was ranked in the top ten among the total 108. It went to show how much the emperor was favoring Xu Qing with the rewards.

Erniu bid farewell after they reached the entrance of the mansion.

“I won’t be joining you,” he said. “I’m going to try to track down the old man. I’m curious if he’s still hanging around in the Imperial Region. After all, he got a lot of flesh from the broken face.... As our Master, he can’t hog it all!”

Erniu hadn’t mentioned anything about this on the return trip, but clearly he had been thinking about it. Erniu puffed up his chest and strolled away. Xu Qing watched him go.

Just before Erniu was about to disappear around the nearest corner, Xu Qing remembered something.

“Hold on, Eldest Brother!”

Erniu stopped and turned around, a perplexed look on his face.

Xu Qing, doing his best to not reveal even a scrap of emotion in his facial expression or tone of voice, said, “Do you happen to have any extra hairpins?”

1. Quasi-spoiler here. The line “when the Big Dipper points to Yi and Bright” is a dating system from ancient China that combines the position of some of the stars in the Big Dipper with the Heavenly Stems. The date when “the Big Dipper points to Yi” corresponds to the solar term “Clear and Bright,” which is when Tomb-Sweeping Festival is held (also known as Clear and Bright Festival). To be clear, I had no idea about this until researching this chapter. Later, the author will outright explain that the specific date is Tomb-Sweeping Festival, which leads me to suspect that most Chinese readers didn’t understand this part. That ancient dating system is not common, and nowadays seems to only be used in very specific contexts referring to specific dates. The Big Dipper is a big part of Chinese mythology and mysticism, and based on what I can tell, its usage here does not indicate some connection to our real-world constellations. ☜