The moon hung high overhead. At the Heavenly Secret Sect, atop the Observation Platform.
An astrolabe large enough to hold a hundred people slowly revolved beneath the starlight. Every twinkling star upon it echoed a real star in the sky.
One exceptionally bright star was surrounded by many slightly dimmer ones. Although these stars were less brilliant than the one at their center, their light was far stronger than that of the other stars.
The brightest star flickered incessantly, as though hinting at something.
Not far from this cluster were several exceedingly dim stars, the most conspicuous of which was dark red. The few stars around that red star looked as though they were about to vanish altogether.
Three people stood on the Observation Platform: an old man, a young man, and a boy dressed as a servant.
The old man appeared very advanced in years, his beard, hair, and eyebrows all snowy white. He sighed as he studied the astrolabe.
The young man in blue robes, by contrast, seemed quite optimistic.
"Hongguang, neither you nor I know what the Heavenly Dao intends. Why keep sighing?"
"The Child of Destiny's fortune weakening isn't necessarily a bad thing. If that luck spreads, won't it give more people a chance?" The young man twirled the flute in his hand, paying little heed to the astrolabe.
The old man cast a complicated glance at the dark-red star. "It hardly matters if the Child of Destiny's fortune weakens a little. I only fear that Demon Star will wreak havoc."
The young man chuckled. "I suddenly feel it's been terribly wronged. All it did was begin straying from its stellar course seven years ago, and you started calling it a Demon Star."
The old man glared at him. "The Heavenly Secret Sect's ancient records state