Twin Stars Accompanying the Moon

Leaving the tent, he followed everyone's gaze.

Mo Beiyuan's blue eyes contracted sharply. This scene seemed to have appeared in his vision before.

Mo Beiyuan shook his somewhat muddled head.

He seemed to remember a pitch-black night, the surroundings utterly silent, suddenly turning as bright as day. The sky seemed to have looked just like this.

Then the purple-eyed girl surfaced in his mind.

She seemed to be in terrible pain, though he could not make out her face, and he, too, seemed to feel her pain as though it were his own...

Seeing Mo Beiyuan standing there in a daze, Luo Fan nudged him with an elbow.

"Beiyuan, what do you think is going on with this celestial phenomenon?"

Mo Beiyuan watched the sky without speaking, but his blue eyes gradually grew grave. A celestial phenomenon like this...

In the imperial study of the palace in the capital.

A young man in dragon robes sat on the dragon throne, his bearing imposing. His sharp features held a pair of sinister, cold phoenix eyes. Looking at the three people kneeling below, he spoke in a low voice.

"I summoned you here late at night to tell me what caused tonight's celestial phenomenon."

The three kneeling below were directors of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau.

They exchanged glances, trembling and not daring to speak, and lowered their heads even farther as they knelt.

The emperor above grew even angrier and gave an order in an icy voice. "Guards, drag these useless fools away and exterminate their nine clans!"

"Spare us, Your Majesty! We have observed the heavens tonight and already ascertained the cause."

The emperor's gaze was cold and dark upon the dragon throne. "Speak!"

The chief director of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau closed his eyes.

He knew he could no longer escape today's calamity. He only hoped the emperor would not implicate his family. Opening his grief-stricken old eyes, he spoke gravely.

"Your Majesty, this configuration of stars signifies that the virtuous shall prosper and the unvirtuous shall perish. Now twin stars accompany the moon: the primary star signifies that a true dragon sovereign has been born, and the secondary star signifies that the Army-Breaking God of War accompanies him. Twins bearing heaven's mandate should have entered the world. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

The emperor's gaze was chillingly sinister, his tone unreadable. "Hmph. What else?"

The chief director trembled, no longer daring to look at the sovereign on the dragon throne. He prostrated himself in terror, closed his eyes in despair, and spoke in a trembling voice.

"No twins were born into the imperial family today, and from my observation of the stars, those twins possess extraordinarily noble destinies. They should be among the imperial relatives or the great aristocratic families."

The emperor's eyes were filled with malice as he sat upon the dragon throne and spoke with an inscrutable air.

"Director Yan, are you saying that rebels will rise in our Southern Mo Kingdom?"

Hearing the mention of rebels rising, the chief director replied without thinking. "Your Majesty need only rest easy. With the North-Guarding King and the Black Flame Army here, rebel armies are nothing to fear."

"Insolence!"

The emperor's gaze instantly turned cold and savage, his tone clearly threatening.

"Get out! I command you to calculate the twins' location within three days, or you shall be executed without mercy!"

Once the men withdrew with ashen faces, the imperial study became so quiet that a falling needle could have been heard. Chief Steward Yu stepped forward and respectfully offered tea.

"Your Majesty, this is the freshly prepared summer-tip tea, tender indeed. Please have a taste."

The emperor took a sip, but the malice in his eyes had yet to fade. No one could threaten his imperial throne.

"Summon the leader of the Imperial Shadow Guard."

"Yes."

The emperor looked at the dragon patterns on the imperial desk. His voice was sinister, yet panic lurked in his eyes as he instructed Chief Steward Yu beside him.

"Go to Fanqing Temple and ask Perfected Fanqing whether there have been any unusual developments."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Steward Yu hurriedly accepted the order with respect and left.

Before long, a man dressed in black entered, his gaze indifferent and his aura powerful. He stepped forward, swept aside his robes, and respectfully knelt.

"Yintou of the Imperial Shadow Guard pays his respects to Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty, ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years."

Looking at the man kneeling below, the emperor's gaze softened slightly, and he issued a grave command.

"Set out immediately with sufficient men. I command you to investigate every aristocratic family throughout Southern Mo within three months, including their mistresses kept outside and all their concubine-born sons. Wherever twins were born today, slaughter them all!"

Yintou's gaze paused briefly before he cupped his hands and asked, "Your Majesty, are we to wipe out the households or kill the infants?"

Sinister killing intent flashed through the emperor's eyes, his tone icy and merciless.

"Leave no survivors. For daring to give birth to such rebels, their nine clans deserve extermination!"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The Imperial Shadow Guard accepted the order and departed.

The emperor's long, pale fingers brushed lightly over the dragon throne. The light in his eyes flickered, but his voice was cruel and savage.

"Whether it is you or those twin stars accompanying the moon, whoever dares threaten my throne shall die a wretched death!"

While storms gathered here, the Yun Family was filled with warmth and harmony.

Yun Manman watched the two babies surrounded by Old Father Yun, Yun Zewu, Yun Zeren, and Yun Mo, a smile on her lips reaching all the way to her eyes.

Beside her, Madam Zhou tucked in Yun Manman's quilt, a relaxed smile on her lips as well.

"My Manman truly is blessed. Giving birth without any pain-even I have never heard of such a thing."

Yuanwei was also beside her, straightening Yun Manman's collar. She smiled and spoke in a soft, clear voice.

"Yes! And the eldest young master hasn't cried once since he was born. He's truly steady and composed, especially with those eyes exactly like Sister Man's, both such a beautiful purple.

"The second young master is livelier, and his voice certainly is loud, but his eyes look blue, don't they? Why aren't they purple?"

Yun Manman's eyes flickered as she fixed her gaze on the second baby.

That man's eyes must be blue, then? She felt somewhat frustrated that she still could not quite recall what had happened then.

Determination flashed in her purple eyes. Whatever color their eyes were, they were her, Yun Manman's, sons. No one could say a single word against them.

Yun Manman had eaten plenty of Returning Lotus Fruit earlier, and her body had now recovered completely. Watching everyone hold the babies, unable to bear putting them down, she turned to Old Father Yun.

"Father, what should we name the two children?"

At Yun Manman's question, Old Father Yun looked nervously toward Madam Zhou. Madam Zhou gave him an amused glare, then turned to Yun Manman with a smile.

"You, don't make things difficult for your father. A schoolteacher in town chose all your names. Otherwise, what do you think you would have been called?"

Yun Manman, Yun Zewu, and Yun Zeren looked curiously at Madam Zhou and asked in unison, "What would we have been called?"

"Daya, Tietou, and Gousheng! Back then, it was only because I fought tooth and nail against it that you got your current names. I don't want my darling grandsons to have such unpresentable names, too."

Yun Manman imagined being called Daya. Her full name would be Yun Daya?

She could not help shuddering. She really could not accept that! Looking earnestly at Madam Zhou, she spoke solemnly.

"Mother, you're right. The children's names concern their dignity for the rest of their lives. Let me give it some proper thought."

Feeling somewhat wronged, Old Father Yun looked at Madam Zhou, then at his daughter. Doesn't Daya sound quite nice?

What's wrong with it?

Yun Zewu spoke somewhat anxiously. "Sister, can't you wait a few more years?"

Yun Zeren also looked at Yun Manman and nodded, his eyes full of anxiety.

Yun Manman raised her eyebrows in some bewilderment. "Wait? Wait for what?"

Only then did Yun Zewu and Yun Zeren speak in unison.

"We want to keep learning to read with you for a while longer, Sister. Once we're more learned and know more characters, we'll be able to give our nephews good names."

Madam Zhou burst out laughing.

Realization dawned in Old Father Yun's eyes. That works, too?

"Then, Manman, why don't you wait for your father, too? If I study a while longer, I should be able to come up with good names as well?"