Southern Star God

Li Qingxian had thought it over. With his aptitude, barring some miracle, literature, martial arts, and the Dao were basically out of reach. Demon-devil, puppetry, and evil arts were even less of an option. Fate Arts Master was his final path to advancement.

Once he became an Entry Rank Fate Arts Master, he would be much safer in Great Qi.

The two gradually began discussing Fate Arts Masters, and those hazy memories slowly surfaced.

Li Qingxian really had memorized some Fate Measuring Sect scriptures and Fate Arts chants, but he had swallowed them whole without chewing. He could still recite them now, yet had no idea what they meant.

Suddenly, Li Qingxian's expression shifted.

"What is it?" Luo Jing stopped and asked.

"Nothing. I remembered reciting Fate Measuring Sect scriptures when I was little," Li Qingxian said.

"If you can walk the path of Fate Arts, never give it up."

Li Qingxian nodded, but his mind was on something else.

For the previous three days, while lying in bed, he had dreamed of the Heaven's Mandate Instrument every day.

As he recalled the Fate Measuring Sect scriptures, he increasingly felt that the Heaven's Mandate Instrument in his dreams was anything but ordinary.

"Lord Divine Son, Lord Li, we're here!" Duan Heng's voice rang out as he hurried over with more than ten men.

These men wore fitted black garments and carried long sabers. Their attire was far less neat and uniform than the Night Guard's, but every one of them was broad-shouldered and powerfully built, with fierce faces.

Duan Heng held a red-silk-wrapped box in both hands and approached with utmost care.

Luo Jing did not move. He lowered his head in thought for a moment, then waved his hand. "To the Night Guard Yamen."

Luo Jing walked in front, Li Qingxian followed behind, and the others brought up the rear as they headed toward the Night Guard Yamen.

They had barely taken a few steps when a black carriage rolled over. Pang Mingjing stepped down and blocked Luo Jing's path.

The soldiers on both sides gripped their saber hilts and stared each other down.

Pang Mingjing cupped his fists and smiled. "I am Pang Mingjing. Greetings, my lord from the Ministry of Revenue."

Luo Jing had no choice but to lower his head slightly. "This subordinate is Luo Jing. Greetings, Lord Pang."

An unreadable smile flickered across Pang Mingjing's face. Pointing at Li Qingxian, he said, "He is one of my Night Guard. He received military orders to handle business at the Ministry of Revenue. Why is Lord Luo taking him away? Do you perhaps have documents from the Ministry of Revenue?"

"This man received a secret order from Zhou Chunfeng, Chief Administrator of the Night Guard's Divine Capital Office. I am taking him to see Lord Zhou," Luo Jing said.

"This Li Qingxian was brought here by our Finance Office."

"He belongs to the Divine Capital Office."

Principal Seventh Rank Pang Mingjing and Principal Eighth Rank Luo Jing locked eyes.

Pang Mingjing smiled. "May I ask whether Lord Luo serves in the various granaries, yards, offices, or checkpoints?"

"I do not," the smile on Luo Jing's face faded slightly.

"Then does Lord Luo serve in the Civil, Revenue, Gold, or Granary Sections?"

"Neither."

Pang Mingjing's smile deepened as he probed, "Could it be that my lord serves in the Documents Section?"

"This subordinate currently serves in the Documents Section."

Li Qingxian noticed that Luo Jing's smile had become so stiff it looked frozen solid.

Pang Mingjing reined in his smile somewhat. "I have dined with Chief Clerk Liang of the Documents Section several times, and I have met all the other Entry Rank officials there. Yet I have never seen Brother Luo."

"I only recently came from the Southern Star Sect to the Ministry of Revenue," Luo Jing said calmly.

"I see," Pang Mingjing said. "Yet the wind and rain of the Divine Capital are even more unpredictable than those of the great sects. How about this, Brother Luo? Give Pang and our Night Guard Finance Office some face and let go of this matter. Another day, I will visit your residence to offer my thanks. In a few days, my lord will host Vice Minister Feng, the Left Vice Minister of Revenue. I can ask my lord to introduce you to him. What do you say?"

Luo Jing remained silent.

Li Qingxian sighed inwardly. These officials truly were no simple people.

Luo Jing sighed. "Lord Pang, I have only just arrived in the Divine Capital and am unfamiliar with the people and place. I will still need to rely on the capital's honored figures. However, I only wish to find Lord Zhou and verify this matter. If he was sent by Lord Zhou, then Lord Zhou may decide what to do. If he has nothing to do with Lord Zhou, you may handle him as you please. How about it?"

"Other matters can be discussed, but not this one. Even my lord cannot decide it." Pang Mingjing stared at Luo Jing.

"I will take him to the Divine Capital Office first." Luo Jing met Pang Mingjing's gaze without fear.

Li Qingxian's heart skipped a beat. Someone even greater than the Finance Office's Chief Administrator wanted him dead?

Pang Mingjing's face darkened. "So, Brother Luo refuses to give our Finance Office this face?"

"I would like to, but duty binds me, and I have no choice but to go. Besides, since when was it your place to point fingers at the affairs of our Southern Star Sect?"

A sneer suddenly appeared on Luo Jing's face. A trace of red light flashed through his eyes. His eyeballs remained still while his pupils shook rapidly from side to side, leaving afterimages.

"You..." Pang Mingjing actually did not dare meet Luo Jing's eyes. Instinctively, he glanced at the most human-like of the five manifested thousand-armed, thousand-eyed deities, then swiftly lowered his head.

Southern Star God, the deity attended by the Southern Star Religion.

"Move aside!" Luo Jing said coldly.

Holding the red-silk-wrapped wooden box, Duan Heng stepped forward.

"Do not force my lord to open the Divine Tablet," Duan Heng said.

Pang Mingjing drew a deep breath. Smoke suddenly coiled around both his hands. As it settled upon them, it dyed them purple-black.

Luo Jing smiled. "It seems Lord Pang does not intend to yield?"

"I would like to see how Lord Luo plans to answer to the Ministry of Revenue and the Southern Star Sect if a fight breaks out here on Ministry of Revenue Street!" Pang Mingjing raised his head proudly at Luo Jing.

Li Qingxian said, "Lord Luo, didn't I say so just now? Pang Mingjing came here to provoke a conflict between the Night Guard and the Ministry of Revenue. He absolutely does not dare make a move. A bastard like him, if he dared to act, would have acted long ago! He is putting on a bold front!"

"Lord Li is right," Duan Heng chimed in.

"You know each other?" Pang Mingjing asked.

Li Qingxian immediately replied, "Whether we know each other or not, what is it to you? I advise you to move aside quickly. Otherwise, if you trigger a conflict between the Ministry of Revenue and the Night Guard, that Chief Administrator of the Finance Office will not be able to protect you. You may look down on an Eighth Rank official, but you cannot insult the Divine Tablet!"

Pang Mingjing sneered. "As Chief Clerk of the Household Office of the Night Guard Finance Office, I am only arresting you. This has nothing to do with the Southern Star Sect!"

"Are you forcing me to join the Southern Star Sect?" Li Qingxian asked.

Pang Mingjing froze. He had never considered such a possibility.

The Confucian School and the Evil Sects were almost like fire and water. Before the Demon Race invasion, the Grand Confucians of the Confucian School had joined forces with the Dao Sect, suppressing the five great Evil Sects until they retreated step by step.

After the Demon Race invasion, the Confucian School suffered grievous losses, allowing the Evil Sects to seize their chance and grow stronger.

Li Qingxian, the son of Li Gangfeng, a Literary Cultivation Monument of the Confucian School, was being forced to seek refuge with an Evil Sect?

The Ministry of Rites could dig up Li Gangfeng's Tomb, then conveniently unearth Pang Mingjing's ancestral graves as well.

Pang Mingjing looked at Li Qingxian, at a loss for how to proceed.

Luo Jing smiled. "I think Brother Qingxian is quite skilled at managing affairs and remains calm in danger. He may very well be our god's illegitimate Divine Son, cast adrift beyond our sect. If he returns to the sect and is entered into the clan register, that would truly be a great merit."

Pang Mingjing said grimly, "I hope you will still dare say that before Vice Minister Feng!"

The two sides remained locked in confrontation.

Li Qingxian spotted Han Anbo sneaking about in the distance. Though he did not quite understand the other man's gestures or lip movements, he could roughly guess: keep stalling, stall them hard.