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. Demonfiends, puppetry, and evil sects were even less viable choices. Fate Arts Master was his final path to advancement.

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

The two slowly began talking about Fate Arts Masters, and those hazy memories gradually stirred awake.

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

Suddenly, Li Qingxian's expression shifted.

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

"Nothing. I remembered memorizing 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.

He had lain in bed for three days before, dreaming 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 from his dreams was anything but ordinary.

"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 outfits and carried long sabers. Their clothing was far less neat and uniform than the Night Guard's, but every one of them was tall and powerfully built, with fierce faces.

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

Luo Jing stood motionless, lowering his head in thought for a moment before waving his hand. "To the Night Guard Yamen."

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

Before they had gone more than a few steps, a black carriage rolled over. Pang Mingjing stepped down and blocked Luo Jing's path.

The soldiers on both sides gripped their saber hilts tightly and watched one another.

Pang Mingjing cupped his hands 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 inscrutable smile flickered across Pang Mingjing's face. Pointing at Li Qingxian, he said, "He belongs to my Night Guard. He received military orders to carry out duties at the Ministry of Revenue. Why is Lord Luo taking him away? Could it be that you have official documents from the Ministry of Revenue?"

"This man received a secret order from Zhou Chunfeng, Chief 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."

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

Pang Mingjing smiled. "May I ask which warehouses, yards, offices, or checkpoints Lord Luo serves in?"

"None of them." The smile on Luo Jing's face faded slightly.

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

"Neither."

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

"This subordinate currently serves in the Documents Section."

Li Qingxian noticed that Luo Jing's smile had stiffened as though frozen solid.

Pang Mingjing slightly reined in his smile. "I have shared meals with Section Head Liang from the Documents Section several times, and I have met the other Entry Rank officials there as well. 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.

"So that is how it is," Pang Mingjing said. "Yet the winds and rains of the Divine Capital are more unpredictable than those of the great sects. Why not give Pang and our Night Guard Finance Office some face, Brother Luo? Let go of this matter, and another day I will visit your door 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. How does that sound?"

Luo Jing remained silent.

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

Luo Jing sighed. "Lord Pang, I have only just arrived in the Divine Capital. I know neither the people nor the ways here, and I will need to rely on all you esteemed figures of the capital. But I merely 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, I will let you deal with him as you please. How about it?"

"Other matters can be discussed. This one cannot. Even my lord cannot make the decision," Pang Mingjing said, staring at Luo Jing.

"I will first take him to the Divine Capital Office." Luo Jing fearlessly met Pang Mingjing's gaze.

Li Qingxian's heart gave a thump. Was someone even greater than the Finance Office Chief trying to kill him?

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

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

A mocking smile suddenly surfaced on Luo Jing's face. A flash of red light passed through his eyes. His eyeballs remained still while his pupils trembled rapidly from side to side, leaving afterimages.

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

The Southern Star God, deity worshipped by the Southern Star Religion.

"Move aside!" Luo Jing said coldly.

Still 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 curled around both his hands, settling upon them and staining them violet-black.

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

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

Li Qingxian said, "Lord Luo, I told you already, didn't I? Pang Mingjing came to provoke a conflict between the Night Guard and the Ministry of Revenue. He absolutely dares not make a move. A bastard like him would have acted long ago if he dared! He's putting on a brave front!"

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

"You know each other?" Pang Mingjing asked.

Li Qingxian cut in, "What does whether we know each other have to do with you? I advise you to move aside quickly. Otherwise, once you trigger a conflict between the Ministry of Revenue and the Night Guard because of this, that Finance Office Chief will not be able to protect you. You may look down on an Eighth Rank official, but you cannot insult a Divine Tablet!"

Pang Mingjing sneered. "As the Section Head of the Finance Office's Household Section in the Night Guard, 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 that possibility.

The Confucian School and evil sects were nearly as incompatible as fire and water. Before the Demon Race invasion, Grand Confucians of the Confucian School had joined forces with the Dao Sect, crushing the five great evil sects into retreat after retreat.

After the Demon Race invasion, the Confucian School suffered grievous losses, and only then did the evil sects find an opening to grow and strengthen.

Li Qingxian, the son of Li Gangfeng, that Literary Cultivation Monument of the Confucian School, being forced to seek refuge with an evil sect?

The Ministry of Rites would be able to dig up Li Gangfeng's Tomb, then conveniently excavate Pang Mingjing's ancestral graves clean as well.

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

Luo Jing smiled. "I happen to think Brother Qingxian is quite skilled at managing affairs and remains calm in the face of danger. He may very well be our god's illegitimate divine son who wandered outside. If he can return to the sect and be entered into the clan genealogy, that would be a tremendous merit indeed."

Pang Mingjing said in a low voice, "I hope you will still dare to say those words before Vice Minister Feng!"

The two sides stood locked in confrontation.

Li Qingxian spotted Han Anbo sneaking about in the distance. Though he did not quite understand the other man's hand gestures and lip movements, he could more or less guess: keep stalling, drag it out by force.