The Full Moon Day fell on the fifteenth of every month.
November 15th, Black Iron Calendar 903—on this day, for those living on Xuanyuan Hill, nothing seemed any different from before. No one could have imagined that, in the eyes of people decades later, this day would become the landmark day when Great Xia was fully drawn into the Third Holy War.
Although the Holy War had already begun many years ago, for Great Xia on the Eastern Continent, the flames and smoke of war on the subcontinents had yet to spread to its borders. Other than the Emperor Xuanyuan's disappearance, and the occasional stir caused by the surviving remnants of the Heaven-Piercing Sect that left people somewhat vexed, ordinary people's lives had not been greatly affected in the years since the Holy War began. Everyone still did whatever they had always done.
The weather on the fifteenth was excellent—a rare sunny day.
After Uncle Zhong got up that morning and drank another bowl of medicinal soup, he felt that his body had recovered considerably after these days of treatment. Especially today, he felt as if he had returned to how he had been before being poisoned by the Gu. Uncle Zhong was overjoyed. After suffering from the Gold-Breaking Gu poison for years, he had finally seen hope of a full recovery for the first time.
When Uncle Zhong rose from bed, Old Zhou, the boatman who made his living on the Golden Water River, also got up. After washing up, Old Zhou stood in the courtyard of his home, where several peach blossom trees grew, and looked at the clear, jade-blue sky overhead. Smiling, he said to his wife, who was preparing breakfast for him, "The weather's nice today. There'll definitely be plenty of people wanting to tour the