Twelve Longevity Stages

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

"Stand by the door."

Zhou Chunfeng's rustling voice fell like cold rain.

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

"Our Night Guard has two branches, one overt and one covert. The overt branch monitors the civil and military officials and deals with Demon-Devils and monstrous puppets. The covert branch is spread throughout the land, lurking everywhere like a great net cast over the world. In this Divine Capital, there are matters that can be hidden from the Grand Secretaries, matters that can be hidden from the princes, but few that can be hidden from the Night Guard," Zhou Chunfeng said slowly.

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

"Lord Zhou, this subordinate is guilty! Heir of Prince Yuan relied on the favor Prince Yuan once showed my father, then threatened this subordinate. I was forced to agree to conspire with them. But I swear to Heaven, Heir of Prince Yuan only said he wanted Li Qingxian to make a fool of himself and suffer a harsh lesson. He never said he wanted to take his life. I only learned later that he wanted to kill Li Qingxian."

"You have not reached Entry Rank, and your official position has yet to be determined. How dare you call yourself this subordinate?" Zhou Chunfeng asked softly, still looking out the window.

Ye Han's entire body turned cold.

"You know that 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 were acquainted with Li Qingxian, then even if I died, I would never have agreed to Heir of Prince Yuan's request. 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 clenched his teeth. His right hand tightened into a fist, then slowly loosened. In the end, he let out a soft sigh.

"You should count yourself fortunate that Qingxian is alive. I heard you have encountered one strange opportunity after another lately. Find a chance to properly apologize to Qingxian and make amends," Zhou Chunfeng said.

Ye Han abruptly raised his head and said excitedly, "Thank you, Lord Zhou, for sparing me! I will immediately find a way to redeem myself! Rest assured, I will make Qingxian satisfied and never disappoint your expectations."

"Leave."

Ye Han rose to his feet and left amid profuse thanks.

In the study, Zhou Chunfeng let out a long sigh. He had never expected Ye Han, whom his close friend had entrusted to him, to be so utterly disappointing. He had originally intended to nurture him with great care.

"Old friend, the favor of that day ends today. From this day onward, Ye Han and I have no further connection."

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

Li Qingxian walked out of Zhou Chunfeng's study, slowed his pace, and gradually refined the plan in his mind.

This matter absolutely could not end here!

With a cold laugh, Li Qingxian slowly headed toward the Street Patrol Office residences.

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

"Don't you dare disbelieve me! I was right there at the time, only an inch away from Lord Zhou Hen's horse hoof. The moment that hoof lifted, the aura of a Fourth Rank master shot straight into the heavens. The sky darkened, fierce winds howled, and the strips of rags on me flapped wildly. That Pang Mingjing was scared out of his wits..."

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

Under the great locust tree, surrounded by Night Guards, torches, and oil lamps, Zheng Hui was brimming with vigor, his spittle flying.

From time to time, he tugged at the tattered clothes on his body with his right hand, as though displaying military medals.

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

Ding...

A strange sound of jade striking jade rang out, followed by the rumble of enormous boulders crushing across the earth. Darkness and light flashed before Li Qingxian's eyes.

In the void, faint light flickered.

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

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

The colossal object gave a slight tremor. The disk spread apart, and the rings began to turn.

It resembled an armillary sphere.

The twelve rings emitted a thunderous roar, as if stars were grinding through the void.

Li Qingxian looked toward the writing on the base. He could only make out the two characters "Mandate Instrument." Before them, overlapping marks seemed to indicate that something had been scratched out.

He had seen this thing in a dream. 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 glimmered 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 smoke. Mainstream Fate Arts centered on the Fate Mansion, with Fortune as its supplement.

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

When each person was born, most of their Fate Mansion was already fixed and difficult to change.

When Fate Arts Masters judged a person's destiny through their Fate 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 full course of a person's life. Anyone capable of doing so was without exception a Grand Fate Arts Master.

Current Fate, on the other hand, used the Fate Mansion and such factors as 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 Fate Mansion, it also emphasized other factors, such as the environment, the season, and the overall situation.

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

The force with the greatest influence 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 Girdle, Taking Office, and Imperial Prosperity were the Four Auspicious Stages.

Bathing Fragile, Death, Tomb, and Extinction were the Four Inauspicious Stages.

Decline, Illness, Gestation, and Nurturing were the Four Neutral Stages.

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

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

He had not understood what it meant then, but now he did.

That withered tree represented "Decline" among the Four Neutral Stages.

Decline meant that Dong Ying's Fortune was gradually weakening over the year, just as a person entering old age began to grow frail. It was a normal phenomenon, and thus was considered neutral.

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

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

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

Li Qingxian looked in the direction of the voice and saw the crowd surrounding Zheng Hui turn in unison to look at him. They formed a vast black mass, seeming to merge with the canopy of the Old 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 more 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 by public rules. As a Night Guard, he sold out the Night Guard. He must be severely punished."

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

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

The clamor stopped. Everyone looked toward the voice with utmost respect, then bowed and greeted the speaker in unison.

"Greetings, Chief He!"

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

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

Note 2: I made up the Twelve Longevity Stages. I have never seriously reread books such as The True Explanation of Ziping, Yuanhai Ziping, and Heavenly Marrow Drip. Those books say the Twelve Longevity Stages belong to fate calculation, while mine concerns the Fortune of a fantasy immortal-heroic setting. It does not count as feudal superstition and is not part of the same system. Readers, please distinguish for yourselves. (Slanted-Eye Dog Head emoji)

Note 3: This book's settings take precedence over everything else and may very well differ from other works. Please be aware. Everything in this book was improvised nonsense I made up after listening to old men and women chatting beneath the great locust tree at the village entrance. It is merely a fantasy immortal-heroic novel and has nothing whatsoever to do with feudal superstition.

Note 4: This book is not a Fortune-stream story, but an entirely new school, provisionally called the Fate Arts stream. Fate and Fortune are completely different concepts. At least personally, I have not seen web novels that truly write about "fate"; they are either about Fortune or something resembling game attributes.

No more need be said.