Twelve Longevity Stages

Ye Han pushed the door open and entered. Seeing Zhou Chunfeng standing beside the desk, looking out the window with his side facing him, he walked forward as usual.

"Stand by the door." Zhou Chunfeng's raspy voice fell like cold rain.

"Yes." Ye Han stopped where he was, lowering his head as his eyes flickered.

"Our Night Guard has two branches, one open and one hidden. The open branch monitors civil and military officials and deals with demonfiends, puppets, and monsters. The hidden branch is spread across the land, lurking everywhere like a great net cast over the world. Some matters in the Divine Capital can be hidden from the Grand Secretaries, and some can be hidden from the princes, but few can be hidden from the Night Guard," Zhou Chunfeng said slowly.

Ye Han clenched his teeth hard, bent his knees, and dropped to the ground with a thud.

"Lord Zhou, this subordinate is guilty! The Heir of Prince Yuan relied on the debt my father owed Prince Yuan from years ago, then threatened this subordinate. I was forced to agree to conspire with them. But I dare swear to Heaven that the Heir of Prince Yuan only said he wanted Li Qingxian to make a fool of himself and be taught a harsh lesson. He never said he wanted his life. I only learned later that he intended to kill Li Qingxian."

"You have yet to attain Entry Rank, and your official position has not been decided. How dare you call yourself this subordinate?" Zhou Chunfeng asked gently, still looking out the window.

Ye Han's whole body turned cold.

"You know, I once thought highly of you," Zhou Chunfeng said.

"This lowly one understands. If not for you, whether in the Marquis Manor or the Night Guard, this lowly one would have been walking on thin ice, trembling with fear. If I had known you and Li Qingxian were old acquaintances, then even if I died, I would never have agreed to the Heir of Prince Yuan. Truly, this lowly one is willing to swear by everything, even by an Evil God." Ye Han's mouth was full of bitterness.

Zhou Chunfeng gritted his teeth, clenched his right hand, then slowly released it. In the end, he let out a soft sigh.

"You should be glad Qingxian survived. I heard you have encountered one stroke of fortune after another lately. Find a chance to properly apologize to Qingxian and make amends," Zhou Chunfeng said.

Ye Han suddenly raised his head and said excitedly, "Thank you, Lord Zhou, for your mercy! I will immediately find a way to atone! Rest assured, I will satisfy Qingxian and never disappoint your expectations."

"Leave."

Ye Han rose, offered a thousand thanks, and departed.

Inside the study, Zhou Chunfeng sighed deeply. He had never expected Ye Han, whom his close friend had entrusted to him, to be so unworthy. He had originally intended to nurture him with great care.

"Old friend, the favor of that day is settled today. From this day forth, Ye Han and I have no further ties."

Zhou Chunfeng stared blankly out the window, his eyes filled with desolation.

Li Qingxian walked out of Zhou Chunfeng's study, slowed his steps, and gradually thought through the plan in his heart, refining it.

This matter absolutely could not end here!

With a cold laugh, Li Qingxian slowly made his way toward the Street Patrol Office quarters.

After turning past a corridor, he arrived at the large courtyard outside the quarters. The Old Scholar Tree in the center spread like a giant umbrella, covering nearly half the yard.

"You don't believe me? I was right there! Lord Zhou Hen's horse hoof was only an inch away from me. When that hoof rose, the aura of a Fourth Rank master shot straight into the heavens. The sky and earth darkened, fierce winds howled, and the strips of rags on my body flapped wildly. That Pang Mingjing was scared out of his wits..."

Li Qingxian heard Zheng Hui's familiar voice and looked toward the sound.

Under the great scholar tree, surrounded by Night Guards, torches, and oil lamps, Zheng Hui stood full of vigor, spittle flying as he spoke.

Every so often, he tugged at his tattered clothes with his right hand, as if showing off military medals.

Li Qingxian shook his head with a smile. He had not expected Zheng Hui to still be wearing the same clothes. After taking a few steps, he leaned against the nearby rockery and listened to Zheng Hui boast.

Ding...

A strange sound of jade striking jade rang out. Then came the thunderous rumble of an enormous stone crushing across the earth. Li Qingxian's vision went dark, then bright.

Faint light flickered in the void.

At the end of heaven and earth, a colossal object resembling an armillary sphere descended from the stars, blotting out the sky and sun.

Upon a gray-silver base guarded by four dragons, twelve brass rings streaked with Black Pattern nested within one another, forming a great disk.

The giant object gave a gentle shudder. The disk spread apart, and the rings began to turn.

It was like an armillary sphere.

The twelve rings gave off a deafening rumble, as though stars were grinding through the void.

Li Qingxian looked at the writing on the base and could only make out the two characters for "Mandate Instrument." Before them, crisscrossing marks seemed to show that something had been scratched out.

He had seen this thing in a dream before. It was called the Heaven's Mandate Instrument.

A hazy white mist descended from the sky and landed upon the Heaven's Mandate Instrument.

Light rippled across the Heaven's Mandate Instrument's surface, and the rings spun faster.

The Heaven's Mandate Instrument conveyed a message: that white mist was Fortune.

Li Qingxian slowly recalled some knowledge of Fate Arts.

The study of Fate Arts was as vast as a sea of mist. Mainstream Fate Arts centered on the Destiny Mansion, with Fortune as a supplement.

Destiny Arts Masters believed that every person possessed an invisible, intangible Destiny Mansion within their body. The Destiny Ground, Destiny Pillar, Destiny Star, Destiny Spirit, Destiny Pattern, and other elements within it determined everything about a person.

At birth, most of everyone's Destiny Mansion was already fixed and difficult to alter.

When Destiny Arts Masters judged a person's fate through the Destiny Mansion, it was called Fate Reading.

Fate Reading was generally divided into three types: Complete Fate, Current Fate, and Annual Fate.

Complete Fate referred to deducing the complete destiny of a person's life. Anyone capable of it was undoubtedly a Grand Destiny Arts Master.

Current Fate, on the other hand, used the Destiny Mansion and the Four Pillars and Eight Characters to calculate a person's present circumstances. It was also the most common form of Fate Reading.

Annual Fate was different. Though it likewise relied on the Destiny Mansion, it also emphasized other factors, such as the environment, season, and overall situation.

Annual Fate concerned only the fortune and misfortune of the coming year, and its fluctuations were immense.

The force with the greatest impact on Annual Fate was Fortune.

Fate Arts had an extremely strict classification for the stages of Fortune, known as the Twelve Longevity Stages.

They were divided into Four Auspicious Stages, Four Inauspicious Stages, and Four Neutral Stages.

Birth, Cap and Belt, Taking Office, and Imperial Prosperity were the Four Auspicious Stages.

Decline, death, Tomb, and Extinction were the Four Inauspicious Stages.

Decline, Illness, Embryo, and Nurture were the Four Neutral Stages.

Each stage was further divided into three minor phases, and shifts in Fortune could also occur.

Li Qingxian suddenly recalled that at dawn, he had once observed Dong Ying's Fortune and seen a withered tree.

At the time, he had not understood what it meant. Now, he did.

That withered tree represented "Decline," one of the Four Neutral Stages.

Decline meant that Dong Ying's Fortune would gradually weaken over the course of that year, like a person reaching old age and beginning to grow frail. It was a natural phenomenon, which was why it was called neutral.

Leaning against the rockery, Li Qingxian slowly pondered Fate Arts and the white Fortune.

That white Fortune was clearly something good. It had brought the Heaven's Mandate Instrument to life—but where had it come from?

Just as he was thinking, someone suddenly shouted, "Isn't that Li Qingxian?"

Li Qingxian looked toward the voice and saw the crowd surrounding Zheng Hui turn their heads toward him in unison. They formed a vast black mass, seeming to merge with the canopy of the great scholar tree beneath the night sky.

"Qingxian!" Zheng Hui excitedly pushed through the crowd and strode over.

Han Anbo and Yu Ping followed behind him, while the other Night Guards eagerly came along as well.

"I heard Lord Zhou kept you for a meal and talked with you all day. How did it go?" Zheng Hui asked loudly.

Li Qingxian smiled. "Lord Zhou thought my work was too leisurely, so he added a little weight to my shoulders and arranged for me to serve as a clerk at the Imperial Prison Bureau."

"What about Pang Mingjing?" Zheng Hui asked.

Li Qingxian said, "Public matters will be handled publicly. As a Night Guard, he betrayed the Night Guard. He must be severely punished."

"Good!" Zheng Hui let out a breath of relief.

Just then, a deep, heavy voice rang out. "Qingxian, you weren't hurt, were you?"

The clamor ceased. Everyone looked respectfully toward the voice and saluted in unison.

"Greetings, Chief He!"

Two Night Guards behind the man held up two crackling torches. The flames danced, and faint shadows flickered across his face.

Note 1: In the Twelve Longevity Stages, the "chang" in Birth is pronounced like "zhang" and means growth. It is not the "chang" in immortality.

Note 2: The Twelve Longevity Stages were made up by me. I have not seriously reread books such as The True Interpretation of Ziping, Yuanhai Ziping, or Heavenly Marrow Drip. Those books say the Twelve Longevity Stages are destiny theory, while mine is Fortune in a fantasy xianxia setting. It does not count as feudal superstition; they are not the same system, so readers should distinguish for themselves. (Slanted-Eye Dog Head emoji)

Note 3: This book's setting takes precedence and will likely differ from others, so please be aware. Everything in this book was improvised nonsense after I listened to old men and women chatting beneath the great scholar tree at the village entrance. It is only a fantasy xianxia novel and has nothing whatsoever to do with feudal superstition.

Note 4: This book is not a Fortune-flow novel, but a brand-new genre that may tentatively be called Fate Arts flow. Fate and Fortune are entirely different concepts. At least, I personally have not seen any webnovels that truly write about "fate." They are either about Fortune or something like game attributes.

No more need be said.