Great Desolation Evil Night

Great Desolation Evil Night

"Not... Qingshan Town? What do you mean by that!?"

"Are you saying the Bureau of Military Affairs has been deceiving us?"

"If you say this place isn't called Qingshan Town, then what is it called?"

Her words threw everyone into an uproar, and even Xia Fan was quite taken aback. But he quickly realized something: everything he knew about Qingshan Town had come from the Bureau of Military Affairs. He had not made his way here on his own either. He had first traveled to Jianglin City according to his travel permit, met up with some of the other examinees, and then been transported here by official carriage.

In other words, he had indeed never had the chance to verify whether a place called "Qingshan Town" truly existed.

Of course, this had nothing to do with any oversight. Maps in this era were top-secret documents, utterly beyond the reach of ordinary people. And limited by the speed at which information traveled, it was perfectly normal for a town's residents not to know how many villages lay nearby. Without someone to guide them, most examinees would probably have struggled to find this examination site nestled among the mountains on time.

"Of course I know. That is precisely why I suggested that everyone return three years later!" Facing the clamoring crowd, Luo Qingqing's presence did not yield in the slightest. "In fact, this place's true name is the Qingshan Array!"

"The Qingshan Array? No way..." Wei Wushuang's face changed dramatically.

"Uh, what was the difference between the two?" Xia Fan looked utterly baffled, once again feeling the embarrassment brought on by his shallow knowledge.

Why had his cheap master not taught him more common sense related to Sorcery Art?

Instead, all he had taught him was how to kick people in the crotch, drug them, and take advantage of them.

"You haven't even heard of that?" Wei Wushuang asked in surprise. "Legend has it that it was the origin of Yong State's downfall."

At last, a term he could understand. "Yong State... that was the previous dynasty, right?"

"That's right. King Yong was extravagance incarnate, with countless treasures of gold and jewels in his palaces. Local governments catered to his tastes and massively conscripted laborers to mine the mountains. Until the thirty-first year of the Yongxing Era, when this provoked the wrath of Heaven and brought about a Great Desolation Evil Night. Yong State swiftly declined after that, completely collapsing in less than ten years." Wei Wushuang patiently explained, "And rumor has it that the origin of that Evil Night was the Qingshan Mining Area."

"Great Desolation Evil Night... what was that?"

"Well... I don't know the specifics either." He scratched his head. "After all, I only heard these things while traveling with my father on business. I only know that it was a vicious phenomenon formed from countless resentful souls. Wherever it swept through, the living died and the dead came to life. Forget ordinary people—even Sorcery Art practitioners would face nine deaths and one chance at life if they became trapped inside. I heard Yong State paid an enormous price to eradicate that calamity. The Bureau of Military Affairs only became independent from the Six Ministries after that."

Xia Fan drew in a sharp breath. If Luo Qingqing was right, didn't that mean this entire group of examinees was standing at the very heart of an extremely sinister place?

The previously noisy crowd also fell silent.

Clearly, such shocking information needed time to sink in.

"Do you have any proof?" Brother Yan once again demanded loudly. "If you say this place isn't Qingshan Town but the Qingshan Mining Area, then you need solid evidence!"

"That's right. Who knew whether you great families were deceiving us, just to make everyone willingly withdraw!"

Luo Qingqing revealed an expression that said she had expected this all along. She made a gesture, and two Luo Family disciples below the platform placed a gray, grimy object on the table.

"This is the evidence. Everyone may come forward and inspect it."

Someone in the front row asked doubtfully, "Is that... a ceramic mold used for casting?"

"Correct. I found it on the Back Mountain." Luo Qingqing nodded, then briefly recounted how she had gone up the mountain and discovered the wooden tracks and the piles of bones. "After seeing the scene in the valley, I searched nearly another li toward the mountaintop before finding this damaged ceramic mold. The reason it was made in a long strip was obviously to hold molten metal."

"And the key to confirming that this place is Qingshan was the inscription on the ceramic mold." She spoke in a clear, melodious voice. "Supervised by the Taihu Gold Casting Bureau, twenty-eighth year of the Yongxing Era!"

"The Yongxing Era... that really was the reign title used by Yong State."

"The Taihu Gold Casting Bureau? It sounded familiar somehow."

For a moment, everyone broke into discussion.

"Could you explain it to us in detail?"

"The Gold Casting Bureau was established in the ninth year of the Yongchang Era, the same year the Qingshan gold mine was discovered. These events were all recorded in the Taihu Chronicles and the Yongchang Records. I believe some among you must have read these two books." Luo Qingqing spoke with orderly precision. "After the Taihu Gold Casting Bureau was established, its primary source of supply was the Qingshan Mining Area. If this was not Qingshan, why would a ceramic mold from that Gold Casting Bureau appear here?"

Xia Fan pondered for a while before understanding that this so-called "ceramic mold" was simply a mold made of clay.

She continued, "And there is more than one point that corroborates the books. According to the Taihu Chronicles, in order to increase production, the Gold Casting Bureau forcibly conscripted large numbers of residents to the mining area, leaving many villages and towns with nine out of ten homes empty. They never fully recovered even after Yong State fell. So many people were sent to Qingshan, yet not a single one ever returned. Now we know where those people went. This also explains why they needed to construct dedicated wooden tracks to transport the bodies—there were simply too many."

"Good, good... impressive," Wei Wushuang muttered.

The sigh from his fellow townsman was undoubtedly what most of the examinees were thinking as well. The scene suddenly became exceptionally quiet, and even the earlier voices of doubt vanished without a trace.

Clearly, since Luo Qingqing dared to say it aloud, she naturally did not fear anyone verifying it. Even if the mold could be artificially aged and forged, the tracks on the mountain and the corpses in the valley could not be faked. Once several crucial points were linked together, they formed ironclad evidence, each link locking tightly into the next.

Xia Fan had never even heard of those two books, but judging by their titles, they were clearly not required classics. One was probably a local chronicle of customs and geography, while the other barely counted as half a history book. Put simply, both were extracurricular reading. It was one thing to have happened to read them; to remember them so clearly admitted no explanation but exceptional talent.

"Have you not heard of the Luo Family of You Province, whose knowledge encompasses all things?"

He suddenly recalled what Luo You'er had once said.

"Half the book halls in the country are run by the Luo Family. The You Province main residence alone holds over ten thousand rare books. When it comes to knowledge in this world, no one can surpass the Luo Family."

Now it seemed that Luo Qingqing herself could perhaps count as half a library.

"Please wait," Fei Nian suddenly stepped forward and said. "I remember that a Great Desolation Evil Night is very difficult to eliminate completely. Every so often, it returns in full force, and this continues until all the resentful souls have dissipated. That was why Da Qi established the Qingshan Array, to keep its harm within controllable bounds. If your deduction is correct, then doesn't that mean..."

Luo Qingqing nodded slightly. "This cycle is no secret. The Essential Records of the Bureau of Military Affairs contains detailed records. It appears roughly once every five and a half years. I calculated it: the next period when yin is at its peak will be exactly two days from now."

—and today was the fifth day of the Scholar Examination.

In other words, the Great Desolation Evil Night would appear on the final day of this examination.

After a brief deathly silence, the crowd abruptly erupted—

"No way, how could there be such a coincidence?"

"Where are the Proctors? I want the Proctors to verify this!"

"Do you think the Bureau of Military Affairs would overlook something like this? This is probably the key part of the examination."

"What kind of joke is this! Either pass the examination or die? I don't want to gamble my life in this damned place."

"Could the complete evacuation of the local residents have been to avoid this calamity too?"

"It's not certain yet. Does anyone want to go to the Back Mountain and confirm it?"

"R-right... so far, this is only the Luo Family's side of the story. We can't let them lead us around by the nose!"

The examinees had clearly panicked, and the center of the square instantly became a chaotic mess.

Just then, a somewhat shrill voice rose above the disorderly arguments. "There is no need to go. I can prove that everything she said is true. In fact, you yourselves can prove it as well."

Those words immediately drew the examinees' attention. Everyone followed the sound and focused their gazes on a pale young man dressed in gray, holding a paper fan.

The Bagua diagram behind him had already revealed his identity—he was a disciple of the Fang family.

"Wasn't that... Fang Xiandao?" Wei Wushuang said in a lowered voice.

"You know him?" Xia Fan asked.

"Yeah. Since I wasn't planning to pass the examination anyway, I basically spent the last few days in tea houses gathering information and got to know quite a few people." Wei Wushuang nodded. "Though the Fang family is not as powerful as the Fei and Luo families, it has its own unique strengths. They are extremely skilled at divination and interpreting hexagrams. And this Fang Xiandao is said to be the disciple of the new generation most adept at such methods."

"Go on, then. What do you mean, we can prove it too?" someone asked impatiently.

"The hexagrams have already explained everything. What Miss Luo described is basically identical to the result of my divination—that a great calamity will surely occur on the final day of the Scholar Examination, and only those who seize the initiative can turn misfortune into fortune." Fang Xiandao opened the paper fan in his hand and spoke unhurriedly. "I know the art of divination is profoundly esoteric and not everyone can master it. But the flow of qi is itself an omen. As Qi Sense Users, quite a few of you should already have received warnings."

"What kind of... warnings?"

"If I remember correctly, during the first two days of the examination, many of you had a nightmare!" Fang Xiandao snapped his paper fan shut. "Dreams are the manifestation of consciousness sensing the qi of Heaven and Earth. Though less precise than divination, they can sometimes be extraordinarily specific. Was there a clearer warning than that nightmare? A blood-drenched red moon, the dead crawling out from beneath the earth, Evil Spirits tainting living creatures—if that was not the Great Desolation Evil Night, then what else could it be?"

"Pfft." Xia Fan could not hold it in and sprayed out a mouthful of saliva.

"Why was Brother Xia laughing?" Wei Wushuang looked at him in surprise.

"Cough... it was nothing." Xia Fan coughed twice and resumed an utterly unaffected expression. If the Fox Demon were not lying in his room right now, he might actually have believed that load of nonsense.

But the other examinees did not think so.

"I had that dream too!"

"So did I!"

"So that was it—the dream had warned us long ago..."

"I thought I was the only one who had a nightmare."

"So many people had it... then that dream was definitely no coincidence!"

In everyone's eyes, great families might deceive Sanmen cultivators, but Sanmen cultivators could not possibly join hands to deceive themselves. All doubts melted away like snow beneath the sun. In less than a quarter of an hour, the matter of the Qingshan Array and the Great Desolation Evil Night had become the consensus among the examinees.