Twenty years ago. Chan Master Bujie suddenly announced his departure. He exchanged his life's merit and remaining lifespan for an opportunity to explore the future.
At that time, Elder Tianji was by his side, guarding the formation.
Finally, guided by divine providence, Chan Master Bujie learned that the Great Yu Dynasty would face a great catastrophe in twenty years.
He calculated that Huo Qiyuan, who was only two years old at the time, carried a righteous soul. If the nation were ever to fall into peril, the person who could turn the tide would be closely connected to him.
Originally, heavenly secrets were not to be revealed. However, Chan Master Bujie, risking divine retribution, left a warning for the late Emperor. This was why the late Emperor doted on Huo Qiyuan so much.
Therefore, for the Great Yu Dynasty to prosper, the Huo family must not be mistreated, especially Huo Qiyuan, who bore the righteous soul!
However, Chan Master Bujie only told the late Emperor a portion of the truth. He then split a poem into two brocade pouches.
He gave one to his good friend, Elder Tianji, and the other to the next abbot of the Great Temple, the current Master Zhikong.
Along with the brocade pouches, he gave each of them a life bead. The ice-blue one belonged to Huo Qiyuan, and the fire-red one belonged to the future Phoenix Maiden. Bujie instructed them not to reveal all this unless absolutely necessary, as it would incur retribution!
After speaking, Bujie passed away, his form turning to dust.
Unexpectedly, five years later, rumors began to circulate in the marketplace. It was said that Chan Master Bujie had uttered a phrase before his death:
"The Chu family has a daughter, her destiny is to aid dragons."
This meant that whoever married the Chu family's daughter would be assisted by her in ascending the throne!
At that time, the only Duke's mansion in the capital, whose prestige and status were second only to the Prince of Jian (Prince of Parallel Lines), who had supported the late Emperor alongside Huo Sizhun, was the Chu family. The old Duke was named Chu Yingzhong!
The Chu family at that time already had two young granddaughters. One was the daughter of a concubine's son, Chu Ruoqiao, who was three years old. The other was the young daughter of the legitimate son, Chu Ruoxi, only a few months old.
When Elder Tianji heard this, he was startled. How had this information gotten out? He rushed to the capital, but it was ultimately too late.
Duke Chu Yingzhong was greatly troubled by the rumors! Firstly, he worried about bringing trouble upon his family. Secondly, to avoid the princes who came to propose marriage for his infant granddaughter.
He simply sent people to quietly send his two granddaughters back to their hometown in Linzhao Prefecture.
Originally, Chu Ruoxi was too young, and the second madam of the Chu family should have returned with her. However, her husband was the legitimate son of the Duke's mansion, and as the lady managing the household, she had to remain at the Duke's mansion. Thus, she assigned several capable wet nurses to her daughter.
But who would have thought that there would be an accident on the way back to their hometown! Someone had laid an ambush along the road. When the escorting party passed by, the young granddaughter and her wet nurses were abducted by those people, their fates unknown!
The elder granddaughter, Chu Ruoqiao, could already walk. Fortunately, she was only hit on the head by the villains, and was later recovered by the guards of the Duke's mansion.
When Old Master Chu heard this devastating news, he blamed himself. At that time, Elder Tianji arrived in the capital, and he quickly asked him to perform a divination for his younger granddaughter, to see if she was auspicious or inauspicious!
However, Elder Tianji performed several divinations, but each one failed. Finally, the divination sacred cup shattered, and Elder Tianji was punished by spitting blood on the spot.kanδん
Seeing that Elder Tianji was injured, Chu Yingzhong no longer pressed him. Since even heaven did not allow him to ask further, it was likely that his young granddaughter would... From then on, the second daughter of the Chu family was never heard from again.
Chu Yingzhong felt he had failed his second son and his young granddaughter. Therefore, he requested the title of heir apparent for his legitimate son. He himself gradually retreated from public life.
Although he knew his young granddaughter had likely met with misfortune, he continued to send people out to search for her. He then personally tutored his elder granddaughter, Chu Ruoqiao, whom he had managed to protect.
Seeing Chu Yingzhong's deep sorrow, Elder Tianji did not inquire further about the original source of that saying. Besides, so much time had passed, it would be harder than ascending to heaven to investigate.
Most importantly, the life bead in his hand still glowed. This meant that the Chu family daughter mentioned by Chan Master Bujie was not dead. Therefore, the abducted Chu family young lady might not be the person he was waiting for.
Since then, he had returned to the no-man's-land and had not left for more than a decade. It wasn't until early this year that Master Zhikong suddenly came to the no-man's-land to find him.
He said that the life bead of Huo Qiyuan in his hand had suddenly begun to flicker. When he took out the Chu family daughter's life bead, the bead, which had been emitting a dazzling light, also began to dim.
Master Zhikong dared not delay and immediately calculated Huo Qiyuan's fate. He discovered that his fortune had undergone a significant change overnight. Therefore, he quickly set out of the no-man's-land to find Huo Qiyuan.
After Master Zhikong left, Elder Tianji stayed by the life bead every day. It wasn't until the third day of the sixth lunar month that the bead's red light suddenly extinguished.
The dimming of the life bead meant that the person who could turn the tide was gone. It seemed that heaven intended to destroy Great Yu...
What was going on? The life bead, which had just completely extinguished, was actually starting to flicker again?
Elder Tianji's mouth hung open, unsure whether to sigh at fate or destiny! He was afraid the life bead might flicker out again any moment...
However, fortunately, the disaster he feared did not occur. The life bead only had that one false alarm, and then it grew brighter and brighter. It even gradually began to show more than just one color!
During this time, Master Zhikong also sent him a message via carrier pigeon and brought him a glass vial. Inside was a section of the root of the ice-silk grass that had been forced out of Huo Qiyuan's body.
He said he had found the owner of the life bead and had temporarily protected his life. However, Huo Qiyuan's condition remained critical, and he was also being pursued.
The letter also mentioned that Master Zhikong had followed his master's example, using half of his cultivation and lifespan to privately employ forbidden techniques to divine Huo Qiyuan's destined person.
He was now suffering from the backlash and needed to enter seclusion immediately. Therefore, he could only give the ice-silk grass root to Elder Tianji, who could keep it with him to identify Huo Qiyuan.
He also informed Elder Tianji that the person they were waiting for was about to arrive, and instructed him to activate the formation left by Chan Master Bujie to verify if that person was the Phoenix Maiden.