Yinghuo in the North, a Sea of Blood and Mountains of Corpses

"Your Highness."

Behind Chu Xuanao, Qiuyue stared at the large chests being carried away, her little face miserable.

She had always managed the private treasury. Now that nearly two-thirds had been taken out at once, how was the manor supposed to go on living?

All in all, having no money truly left one feeling unsettled.

Looking at Qiuyue, Chu Xuanao calmed himself before speaking.

"Dragon Guard Manor's development requires all manner of resources. Only by giving can one gain. They are merely worldly possessions; there is no need to take it so hard."

Those words were not only for Qiuyue, but also Chu Xuanao consoling himself.

Mm, he would see what tomorrow brought!

This was currently Chu Xuanao's most reliable source of profit. The monthly lottery draw came once a month, and tomorrow was the first of December. With the arrival of the twelfth lunar month came a new draw opportunity, and one month later, the new year's two summoning opportunities would arrive as well.

If he drew another treasure like the Earth Fire Condensed Lotus, he would strike it rich in one fell swoop.

Besides, this was a business guaranteed to make a profit without any loss. One lottery draw every month, right on schedule.

Even if he drew another Earth Dragon, it would not be a loss. At the very least, he would have earned scraps worth a copper coin.

Mm, look on the bright side. It was not as though he had to pay anything for it.

Pure profit.

Qiuyue lowered her head and nodded. Naturally, she knew about Dragon Guard Manor. His Highness had specifically told them before that it was Prince of Qin's Manor's intelligence organization. Since it was an intelligence organization, its expenses could not possibly be small.

Chu Xuanao rose, stretched lazily, then reached out and patted Qiuyue on the head with a smile.

"Enough, you little miser. Let's go. Everything has been moved out already. If we don't leave now, are you planning to follow that pile of things away?"

After speaking, Chu Xuanao did not linger and strode away.

Hearing Chu Xuanao's words, Qiuyue's little face reddened. She stamped her foot, quickly caught up to him, hugged his right arm, and said coquettishly, "Wherever Your Highness is, Qiuyue is there. Qiuyue will serve Your Highness and go nowhere else."

The night was black as ink, the stars glittering. Yuan Tiangang stood atop the ridge of Chu Xuanao's bedchamber roof, his hands clasped behind his back.

His gaze was profound as he looked toward the northern sky. There, a star that should not have existed occupied the central position, its strange red light flickering, brightening and dimming.

With a wave of his hand, an ancient Daoist chart appeared before Yuan Tiangang. It was the Tui Bei Tu.

As Yuan Tiangang placed his right hand upon the Tui Bei Tu and activated it with the true qi in his palm, the various patterns on the Tui Bei Tu bloomed with dazzling golden light. They gradually solidified in the night sky before him, becoming points of light.

The yin-yang Eight Trigrams on the Tui Bei Tu shifted. The image of Taiji yin and yang spun rapidly, while the positions of the Eight Trigrams, the formations of the Nine Palaces, the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, and the celestial compass gradually expanded.

They filled this small space sealed off by Yuan Tiangang. The stars differed from one another, and all phenomena evolved.

After the yin-yang Eight Trigrams operated like a grand formation, countless points of light began shifting positions. Their radiance flashed as though echoing the stars in the heavens.

The star sequence aligned, drawing down the power of the heavenly stars. Before Yuan Tiangang, a star chart identical to the myriad stars above appeared.

The Eight Trigrams lay beneath the star chart. Under the arrangement of the Eight Trigrams and the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, the celestial signs upon the chart were clearly separated.

Yet in the Kan trigram positioned in the north, the principal star at the center of the north had been usurped by a star flickering with an eerie red light.

True qi surged from Yuan Tiangang's body. The Eight Trigram runes flashed, yin and yang revolved, and all the stars on the chart moved, as though time itself were turning over.

As the stars in every direction shifted, the red light on the northern star occupying the principal position no longer flickered uncertainly. It slowly stabilized, then grew brilliant, its radiance stretching ten thousand zhang.

Red light fell upon the Daoist patterns of the Tui Bei Tu below. That was the Gui position among the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, situated in the north. The red light was like blood, like a bloody rain pouring from the heavens, drenching the earth.

Crimson illuminated the entire northern star chart, incomparably brilliant and exceptionally sinister. The other stars dimmed, seeming to wail in grief.

And as the red light shone upon Yuan Tiangang, it seemed to add yet another bone-chilling air to this peerless man.

Looking at the star chart, Yuan Tiangang said in a low voice, "Yinghuo appears, calamity in the north;

Twin stars accompany the moon, the Red Star shines;

Blood becomes a sea, corpses form mountains;

Three stars strung like pearls, troops lose their way."

He raised his head toward the north. Apart from that hazy sliver of moonlight, darkness lay all around, as though it had devoured everything, while the north seemed impossibly distant.

Yet Yuan Tiangang simply gazed into that darkness, as though he could see the northern lands.

Only after a long while did Yuan Tiangang shift his gaze back to the star chart, a faint furrow appearing between his brows.

This star chart had been deduced by Yuan Tiangang with the Great Gan Dynasty, with Jingzhou occupying the principal position. North of Jingzhou was Taizhou, and north of Taizhou was You Province. The Eight Trigrams lay in Kan, the Heavenly Stem was Gui, and the Earthly Branch was Zi—thus, the extreme north.

The Great Gan Dynasty's northernmost land was the border of You Province.

You Province had four prefectures, divided into two border prefectures and two inland prefectures near Taizhou. One of the two border prefectures was Hanshan Prefecture, which had been granted to his Highness.

Beyond You Province lay Xuanshan Plain, the buffer zone between the two nations. Past that was Great Feng's Eastern Border.

Yinghuo was the Yinghuo Star. Because it resembled a flickering flame, was blood-red in color, and followed an unpredictable course, it was called the Yinghuo Star.

Because it shone with a brilliant red light, it was also called the Red Star, or the crimson demon star.

Yinghuo represented every kind of calamity—war, rebellion, plague, brutality, death, famine, and more. Wherever it appeared, disasters came in frequent succession. Thus, people also called it an ominous star.

And when three stars aligned, war and conquest would rise. What Yinghuo represented had already made that clear.

There was nothing more to say about an unjust war. Great Feng was attacking the pass.

Yinghuo hung in the north, drooping over Youzhou. Unjust warfare, a sea of blood and mountains of corpses.

If nothing changed in this Battle of Youzhou, its outcome was already decided.

Once war began, the two border prefectures would fall, and Youzhou would suffer catastrophe.

And at the height of Yinghuo's radiance, ominous stars such as Five Disabilities and Heavenly Calamity flashed in mutual echo with it.

With declining fortune and no majesty, ghosts and monsters ran rampant.

Once Dagan showed signs of defeat, all manner of demons and freaks would stir. Truly, when there was no tiger in the mountains, the monkeys proclaimed themselves kings.

Watching those evil stars echo one another, Yuan Tiangang's gaze turned faintly cold.

No rush. Take it slowly. The reckoning would come.

Yuan Tiangang felt a trace of anger toward all this.

This scheme targeted Youzhou, the entire prefecture of Hanshan Prefecture. That was his Your Highness's fief, and Youzhou was all his Your Highness's territory.

Yinghuo had only just appeared; it was not yet the time when the Red Star blazed like the sun. This battle would clearly take place after the New Year.

But after the New Year, his Your Highness would be heading to his fief. They were planning to bundle his Your Highness up and take him away along with it!

And with ominous stars like Five Disabilities and Heavenly Calamity stirring up chaos besides, they were directly rubbing medicine into his eyes.

Yuan Tiangang studied the Yinghuo Star carefully, but a smile appeared in his eyes as he said, "Yinghuo appears—a fine celestial sign. Great Feng has truly gone to great pains for this game of chess.

"But His Highness has yet to nod, and Yuan Tiangang has yet to place a piece. How can anyone be convinced by such a hasty decision?"

Yinghuo had appeared—Yuan Tiangang acknowledged that. Nothing in this world ever went smoothly. The celestial signs Yuan Tiangang had seen so far included plenty more ominous than this. One Yinghuo was not enough to frighten him.

But whether Yinghuo would fall upon Youzhou of Dagan or the Eastern Border of Great Feng was not for them to decide.

Divining the secrets of Heaven, Yinghuo hung over Youzhou;

the celestial signs were plain for all to see, and the outcome was already decided?

What the hell use was that?

Yuan Tiangang had never believed in fate.

Fate decreed by Heaven? Man could triumph over Heaven.

The Heavenly Dao was ever-changing; my Dao was the Dao.

No rush. This game had only just begun. This chessboard could not be filled solely with pieces placed by Great Feng, could it?

Once he reported to His Highness, amid the crisscrossing moves, black and white would clash. Victory and defeat had yet to be decided.

Before Heaven and Earth were settled, whether one was a dark horse or merely a workhorse would only be known after some training.

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