"That's amazing." Xie Lanzhi knew that modern times also have such gadgets as bamboo dragonflies, which can fly for so long thanks to batteries, while this artificial creation is clearly far superior to modern handicrafts.
It must be a unique skill passed down in ancient times. Unique skills are usually passed down within families and are not easily taught to outsiders.
The fact that a Mohist disciple could teach his neighbor likely implies a hidden intention to pass on his knowledge.
Even if what remains are just a few rare techniques, they are still astonishing enough.
The two stared at the bamboo dragonfly, seemingly tireless in its flight, but their eyes were tired from watching it.
Si Xitong put the trinkets away and hid them in the drawer of her dressing table.
Xie Lanzhi, sitting on the side of the chaise lounge, glanced at her figure. "You specifically mentioned the epidemic just now, was it because you wanted to ask me something? Why didn't you ask?"
Si Xitong sat back on the other couch and shook her head: "I believe you can handle it. Your ability to strategize has always been praised, and I don't think anyone would be uneasy about it."
Strategic planning?
Xie Lanzhi's eyes darkened as she stared at her extremely serious expression. She suddenly said, "Little Phoenix, no one can predict the future. Not even me."
I don't care what others say, but if you believe it too, I'm afraid I'll disappoint you one day.
"Believe it or not, there are some things you do seem to have foreseen, just like those two people living in the Star-Picking Tower, who always claimed that the old master could predict the future. Whether I believe it or not is fine, but what's wrong with doing things perfectly?" Si Xitong lowered her head, making it impossible to see her expression.
Her words were just like any other conversation she would have, and she poured her heart out to Xie Lanzhi without reservation.
Today is the same. But today is also a little different.
Xie Lanzhi rested her head on her arm and stared at her sideways: "You're right, perfection is fine, but it's okay if it's not."
After saying that, she turned over and turned her head to the other side: "Just do your best."
These words seemed to be spoken to her, yet also to himself. The listener was attentive, but the observer didn't understand. Outside, Xiao Xiu and Granny Xie had been closely observing the relationship between the two masters.
Xiao Xiu felt something was wrong, but Granny Xie thought it was the same as usual, with no difference at all.
At this moment, Si Xitong noticed and wiped away the drop of water from Bai Zi with a cloth.
At the Star-Picking Tower, Lu Qing was enjoying pastries and wine with her daughter, chatting happily.
A palace servant then reminded her, "His Highness summons you to Jianzhang Palace for an audience."
"Not Lanzhang Palace?" Lu Qing felt that Jianzhang Palace was too far away. The Golden Palace was right next door. She had been to the Golden Palace when she was a child, back when the old man was in charge.
After Tianjing fell, it changed hands again, and even the Golden Palace is now ruled by a man of a different surname.
The palace maid replied truthfully, "The Marshal is resting in Lanzhang Palace. If Miss Lu wishes to go there, then this servant will go and inform His Highness."
Upon hearing that Xie Lanzhi, that ruthless woman, had returned to the palace, Lu Qing immediately dropped the pastries and waved her hand, saying, "No, no, I'll go to Jianzhang Palace. Jianzhang Palace is a place with excellent feng shui, perfect for me to have great luck."
Holding her daughter and carrying a few plates of snacks, she hurriedly followed the palace servants to Jianzhang Palace.
As soon as Lu Qing arrived at the palace gate, she noticed that the guards at Jianzhang Palace were no longer the Xie family's personal guards in black armor. Just as she was wondering about this, a palace maid came out and picked up the child.
The palace maid respectfully said, "Miss Lu, His Highness is inside."
“But it’s my child.” Lu Qing frowned slightly.
The palace maid said, "Your Highness has important matters to discuss, and the child needs to be kept out of sight. Please rest assured, I will take care of the young lady."
Then the palace maid skillfully took out an exquisite seven-colored rattle drum, whose vibrant colors instantly captured the little girl's attention.
Qianqian took the rattle drum and shook it a few times, saying happily, "Mother, don't worry about me. Go inside, my sister is inside, flashing on and off."
Flashing? Lu Qing's eyes darted around: "Could it be that the bright light has finally become uncontrollable?"
Regardless, she'll know once she goes in and sees her Heavenly Court.
Lu Qing handed her daughter over to the palace maid and then went inside with peace of mind.
The interior of the hall served as a temporary office and rest area, and was virtually identical to the Hall of Supreme Harmony except for its smaller size.
At the bottom of the ascending ladder, Si Xitong gazed at the silver-lacquered throne, its dragon head supporting her arm, the black eyes of the dragon head seeming to stare at her from the depths of an abyss.
Lu Qing was about to bow as soon as she entered.
"Greetings, Your Highness. Thank you for the delicious food and drinks you have provided these past few days, which have given me the opportunity to taste the delicacies of the palace."
Si Xitong turned around, not to answer her directly, but to look her over first.
Lu Qing gave a perfunctory bow and stood up. When she looked up, her eyes met Si Xitong's, but Si Xitong looked away in an instant.
She said, "Three days ago, you said something big would happen, but could you give a specific and accurate prediction of when?"
"Your Highness, I'm not a fortune teller. You think too highly of me." Lu Qing found this prince rather interesting. Just a few days ago, he had questioned her and left her in the Star-Picking Tower, ignoring her completely. But that also fit the suspicious nature of those in power.
But now she's openly declared that she believes it. Her change of heart is faster than turning the pages of a book.
Si Xitong tilted her head slightly, speaking in a self-deprecating tone: "Yes, there are no people in this world who can predict the future, nor can everything be foreseen."
Lu Qing sensed a hidden meaning in her words; it seemed like she was talking about herself, but Lu Qing felt she was talking about someone else more.
Anyone who can be remembered so vividly by this prince must be extraordinary.
"Your Highness need not be disappointed. Even my father had to cast a divination beforehand, and for just one divination, he paid such a high price." Lu Qing did not harbor any resentment towards the Emperor Emeritus when she mentioned her father.
Si Xitong said, "Was it not the Emperor who killed the old Grand Master and caused his death?"
Lu Qing had long accepted this fact: "My father was injured, but the divine physician in the Mo family saved him. I thought he could hold on for a while longer to divine the next divination, but on his way home after changing his dressing, he slipped and fell into a shallow puddle and drowned."
The current leader harbors hatred for the Great Jin Dynasty, and the Mohist disciples are going through their most difficult period, needing a motivating goal. Therefore, they concealed their father's death, claiming it was caused by a fatal wound, thus preserving the current foundation of the Mohist school.
Lu Qing said sadly, "This is probably divine punishment."
Divine punishment? Si Xitong's heart trembled violently, and her voice turned cold: "The old master only saw through the secrets of heaven once, and he suffered a catastrophic disaster. What would happen to someone who could predict the future repeatedly?"
Lu Qing felt that she was acting strangely today, constantly asking about things that had nothing to do with her.
She patiently replied, "There is absolutely no one in the world who can predict the future multiple times and reveal divine secrets without incurring divine retribution."
"Really not?" Si Xitong asked again, "How can you be so sure?"
Lu Qing said, "Of course, why would I lie to you? Anyway, apart from my father, no one else has mastered the art of divination to unravel the secrets of heaven. If there is anyone, it's only because..."
Si Xitong's eyes darkened: "Unless?"
When Lu Qing spoke of this matter, her expression became somewhat solemn, perhaps because it was too unbelievable, just like questioning the authenticity of the things recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
"I think you should be very familiar with the legendary cases of the rebirth of the Yin spirits in the Great Jin Dynasty. The Yin spirits need to be nourished by a high-quality ancient jade to be able to possess another body. So the Yin spirits can possess another body and return to life."
"The spirits of the dead who managed to escape the Black and White Messengers and return to the living must be fish that slipped through Heaven's net. All spirits are within the Six Paths of Reincarnation and are under Heaven's jurisdiction, so it is impossible for them to be overlooked. If there are any, it is unless..."
This time, Lu Qing didn't speak in riddles, but said, "Unless that person is not under the jurisdiction of Heaven."
Si Xitong pursed her lips slightly and asked again, "Don't forget that there are taboos that cannot be touched by Yin spirits. They cannot possess the bodies of evil spirits or those who have committed serious killings, simply because such people have already had their souls captured by the messenger."
“Since it is a soul-capturing operation, then it is someone that the Black and White Envoys are particularly focused on guarding.”
Lu Qing was somewhat surprised. She nodded and said, "Your Highness asked about this matter because you suspect that a spirit has possessed the world. If that is true, then the spirit is still human when it returns to life and can be injured by objects, so there is nothing to fear."
A note from the author:
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 19:11:48 on December 17, 2021 and 19:57:49 on December 18, 2021!
Thank you to the little angel who threw the landmine: Fenglai Wushanji (1);
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: bt111 (10 bottles); Sujiu and Qingming (5 bottles); Xinxin (1 bottle);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 83 She Argued with Her
"It seems your understanding is still shallow. No, even the old master has failed to unravel the mysteries of the world." Si Xitong Yili's face showed undisguised disappointment.
Lu Qing was provoked by that expression.
She immediately rolled up her sleeves, ready to launch into a verbal battle: "Your Highness, you cannot doubt my and my father's abilities. We are more skilled than any priest or sorcerer in this world. If you don't believe me, ask again."
"I'm sure I can answer that."
Si Xitong asked, "If a spirit is reborn and possesses the ability to foresee the future, how would you explain that?"
Lu Qing immediately replied, "It's very simple. If there is such a spirit, then she was born either in accordance with fate or against it. Those who can be tolerated by the Heavenly Dao are either some Taoist priest undergoing tribulation or destiny itself."
“But my father once said that Heaven has never had such a destiny. If there is one, there will be two, but two begets three, and three begets all things. It is impossible to go beyond three. If there is a day when the leak will occur, there will be more variables.”
"The more variables there are, the more chaotic the world will become, until humanity is destroyed!" At this point, Lu Qing emphasized, "We must find the other party, kill this variable, and restore the Dao."
"Only in the human world can it exist!"
In the final episode, Si Xitong staggered back several steps, her hands clenched into fists beneath her phoenix robe sleeves, her knuckles turning white, her lips unconsciously biting down, her face as pale as paper.
"Your Highness, could it be that you've been possessed?" Lu Qing was startled by her deathly pale face: "That's impossible."
Si Xitong turned her back, her face pale, and said, "I was just asking."
"But your complexion doesn't seem like..." Lu Qing muttered softly. Clearly, she didn't believe it. His Highness's reaction suggested the existence of such a spirit, but she trusted her father more. How could such a variable exist? If it did, her father would definitely discover it, and so would she. If it existed but couldn't be discovered, it would only be because someone with a balanced Yin and Yang could remain undetected, neither by others nor by the Heavenly Dao.
Since the Heavenly Dao will not reject it, just as she described, it will become human and return to the human world, so what is there to be afraid of?
Si Xitong composed herself. Despite her pounding chest and turbulent thoughts, she didn't forget to command, "This matter is best left to you and me to know; it must not be spread further."
Lu Qing patted her chest and said, "No one would believe it if it got out; wouldn't that be a slap in my father's face?"
The old master Mo Ju was renowned throughout the world. Even though he had been dead for more than 20 years, every bit of his writings was still considered to be extraordinary, treasured by monarchs of various countries, and highly sought after.
Si Xitong hadn't forgotten that she had said something big would happen soon. She specifically brought it up: "You said something big would happen in the future, is it related to the epidemic?"
An epidemic has broken out in many places in the Northern Region and Shiguo Prefecture. The army has been mobilized to clear out the infected, treating them like weeds and cutting them off at their root.
Several cases were also discovered in Tianjing, which Lanzhi identified first.
The situation in the southern regions is still unknown, but there are basically no cases of the epidemic in these areas, and all regions are on high alert due to the epidemic prevention measures implemented by Lanzhi.
Lu Qing said with some doubt, "Perhaps, but Your Highness, compared to that matter, I have been wanting to tell you about your secret hall ever since I entered the palace."
"The light in your dark room is a little dim, which is a time when fortune and misfortune are reversed. I hope you will be careful."
"I understand." Si Xitong did not receive a definite answer, but she did not blame the other party, only assuming that Lanzhi had eliminated this great calamity in advance.
"But I still find it strange. Three days ago, I saw that you were going to be in some trouble. Why did you disappear?" Lu Qing regretted more and more that she had not properly learned her father's divination skills and only learned to read faces. Being able to read faces was fine, but she just happened to encounter an emperor whose divination was extremely complicated.
Just three days ago, she showed signs of impending disaster, but three days later she disappeared.
If it's related to the epidemic, then His Highness's troubles must be inextricably linked to the epidemic.