Chapter 930: When the Big Dipper Points to Yi and Bright

Chapter 930: When the Big Dipper Points to Yi and Bright

Erniu didn’t care about appointed positions as long as his reward in general was good enough. Of course, he was also a swordsage. Though neither King Firecrusher nor the emperor had mentioned that, Erniu didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, prestige trumped all. The reality was that, though he was deeply connected to humankind, he actually didn’t count as being fully human. As for what exact species he was, not even he knew for sure.

Ai, things were so rough for me in my past lives.

Sighing proudly, Erniu looked instinctively at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing sensed his gaze and looked back with a smile of congratulations.

Erniu was very pleased by that. Then he thought about his Grand Zodiacist Armor and got even more excited.

After explaining Erniu’s reward, the chief minister paused for a moment to let everyone digest the information. Then he continued speaking.

“Humankind has destiny on its side; the Dawning light shook nonhumans in all directions. Then Sea-Sealing County waged war in Holytide, then expanded human territory into the two regions of the Nightshades.”

These words caused the eyes of the gathered officials to glitter with excitement.

The previous imperial edict had named Xu Qing a heavenly king, and that had been somewhat expected. But as for the words uttered just now... everyone could tell that they were leading to something special.

Opening words like that couldn’t indicate anything else, and now everyone was guessing what was to come.

“The war has ended with a formal letter of surrender from the Nightshade Region. What’s more, all subsidiary species of the Firemoons have retreated and ceased hostilities. In a matter of days, an emissary will arrive to discuss a peace treaty to last a thousand years.... What’s more, we’ve successfully acquired the Moonrite Region as allies.

“For countless years, humankind has worked toward the goals put in place by our ancestors. And today... we finally see the light of dawn!

“As of today, humankind has truly expanded. No longer do we have one region and seven counties. We now have four regions and seven counties!

“The Imperial Region, Holytide Region, Nightspirit Region, and Nightshade Region!

“Now we must make sacrifices to our ancestors, provide offerings to the souls of the fallen heroes, and to inform all under heaven of the existence of humankind!

“These are the words of Emperor Dark War, who hath accepted the Mandate of Heaven and hath been enshrined by immortals.

“In the year 2,939 of this dynasty, humankind will hold the ancestral sacrifices which have not been observed for the past 800 years. They will be held one hundred days from now, when the Big Dipper points to Yi and Bright. At that time, the ancient planet will be opened, and we will go to the Temple of Heaven. There, the emperor will bear the destiny of our species to once again offer sacrifices to the ancestors!”[1]

As the chief minister’s words rang out, the gathered officials’ hearts started racing.

Ancestral sacrifices were an extremely important ceremony to humans. In fact, it was essentially the most important formality there was. There was nothing more solemn. And normally speaking, they were only carried out when one emperor died and another took the throne, or humankind in general accomplished some heaven-shaking, earth-shattering deed.

After all, opening up Planet Ancient Emperor required a vast amount of precious resources. Even during the reign of previous emperors, when humankind was considered much stronger, their ancestral sacrifices would attract the attention of other species throughout Revered Ancient.

At the moment, humans were far from being as strong as they had been in the past. But they were rising to prominence. As a result, it was a given that their ancestral sacrifices would become the focus of many nonhumans. The mere thought of what was to come left everyone in the hall shaken.

However... as the imperial edict had indicated, humans really had achieved some unheard-of accomplishments. To call for ancestral sacrifices... was completely reasonable and logical.

Xu Qing was also shaken by what he was hearing, although there was no trace of surprise visible in his eyes. He had come back to the Imperial Region for the official purpose of reporting for duty. But he also had personal matters to deal with!

And that was Plumdark and her Plumdark Evergreen Lamp! He also wanted to lend Ningyan a helping hand. After all, that lamp... was on Planet Ancient Emperor. Planet Ancient Emperor was humankind’s most profound reserve power. It had a terrifying spell formation on the outside and even more astonishing things on the inside. That was why truly opening it could only coincide with ancestral sacrifices.

Xu Qing bowed at the waist.

There wasn’t a bit of insincerity in his words. Everyone knew about the relationship between Xu Qing and Ningyan, so it was no surprise. It only took a moment for the emperor to respond.

“Approved!”

After the words rang out, the emperor blurred before vanishing into thin air.

The session of court had been adjourned.

As everyone left the grand hall, most of the officials smiled, clasped hands respectfully to Xu Qing and Erniu, and offered some sincere words. It seemed as if everyone was pleased about what happened with the two of them.

The reality was that there were plenty of them who weren’t pleased at all. But expressions of goodwill were by far the majority. It was a result of status and human norms. When someone reaches extremely high heights, those who looked up to them generally did so with benevolence. After all, they could end up paying a very high price if they caused conflict. If the rewards had been even greater, maybe things would have been different. Maybe... not everyone would have reacted so pleasantly.

Xu Qing was aware of all that. That’s just how humans are. We’re the same species, but it’s only because humans are in the spotlight right now that they act so kindly.

After the imperial guards delivered a greater spirit mansion medallion to Xu Qing, he said his farewells to everyone and then left the imperial palace with Erniu. Bearing oilskin umbrellas, they walked down the street toward the greater spirit mansion.

The rainwater turned into threads that spilled down over the edges of the umbrellas. All heaven and earth was misty because of the rain. There weren’t many pedestrians about. The crowds that had gathered to welcome Xu Qing had dispersed thanks to the rain. Therefore, he and Erniu were able to thread their way through whatever people remained on the streets, all while having a casual conversation.

“And therefore, little Ah Qing, we have to keep working hard! Now’s not the time to fall behind. Trust me, you don’t want to see what humans can be like if that happens.” Erniu clasped Xu Qing on the shoulder.

Xu Qing’s expression didn’t change. “I’ve seen it already.”

“Right. Forgot about your childhood. You really did see a lot of the ugly side of the world.”

The two of them walked along listening to the rain, looking at the clouds, and enjoying the peace and quiet after everything that happened in Firemoon territory.

About two hours later they caught sight of the greater spirit mansion that Xu Qing had been given as a reward. It was one of only 108 greater spirit mansions in the imperial capital. At the moment, most were empty and sealed. Only heavenly kings could occupy such mansions.

Every single protective spell formation was astronomically expensive. After all, they were built onto the very spell formation nodes that powered the grand protective spell formation. Because of that, they had much higher levels of spirit energy than surrounding areas. Whether it was the construction materials or the furnishings, they offered the peak of what humankind was capable of providing. Of course, the built-in spell formations were astonishing.

What was more, each greater spirit mansion had unique aspects. For instance, Xu Qing’s mansion had a spirit pond inside, which would provide a significant boost when working on the fleshly body or ordinary cultivation. Beyond that, spending long periods of time here could nourish the soul. That was why this particular greater spirit mansion was ranked in the top ten among the total 108. It went to show how much the emperor was favoring Xu Qing with the rewards.

Erniu bid farewell after they reached the entrance of the mansion.

“I won’t be joining you,” he said. “I’m going to try to track down the old man. I’m curious if he’s still hanging around in the Imperial Region. After all, he got a lot of flesh from the broken face.... As our Master, he can’t hog it all!”

Erniu hadn’t mentioned anything about this on the return trip, but clearly he had been thinking about it. Erniu puffed up his chest and strolled away. Xu Qing watched him go.

Just before Erniu was about to disappear around the nearest corner, Xu Qing remembered something.

“Hold on, Eldest Brother!”

Erniu stopped and turned around, a perplexed look on his face.

Xu Qing, doing his best to not reveal even a scrap of emotion in his facial expression or tone of voice, said, “Do you happen to have any extra hairpins?”

1. Quasi-spoiler here. The line “when the Big Dipper points to Yi and Bright” is a dating system from ancient China that combines the position of some of the stars in the Big Dipper with the Heavenly Stems. The date when “the Big Dipper points to Yi” corresponds to the solar term “Clear and Bright,” which is when Tomb-Sweeping Festival is held (also known as Clear and Bright Festival). To be clear, I had no idea about this until researching this chapter. Later, the author will outright explain that the specific date is Tomb-Sweeping Festival, which leads me to suspect that most Chinese readers didn’t understand this part. That ancient dating system is not common, and nowadays seems to only be used in very specific contexts referring to specific dates. The Big Dipper is a big part of Chinese mythology and mysticism, and based on what I can tell, its usage here does not indicate some connection to our real-world constellations. ☜