Chapter 1 Starfall

Stars fell, a sign of great misfortune;

But right now, was not the time to ponder where the "omen" would manifest, because it was already plummeting down.

Perhaps, after it fell, officials from the Astronomical Bureau would report to the Yan Emperor that a star had fallen as a meteor in the eastern frontier of the country, and then, ministers would begin to expound on this celestial phenomenon.

But that was later, because right now, the Sword Saint felt that he might be the one about to be crushed to death.

Fan Li walked out of the kitchen with five or six steamed buns in his hand, chewing on them as he looked up, and then, he froze.

"Oh, my goodness."

The Blind Man was in his room, reviewing documents. Si Niang had accompanied the master to Fengxin City, and all the mundane affairs in Xuehai Pass had fallen on his shoulders.

However, because he was indoors, and because mental detection had its distance limitations, he had not sensed the change in the sky, and by the time he did sense it, it was too late to react.

At this moment,

Inside and outside Xuehai Pass, most of the soldiers and civilians had already entered their dreams. Even those who were awake were few who looked up at this moment.

The young marquis and Mowan in the courtyard of the Earl's mansion were looking up,

The Sword Saint was also looking up,

And some other eyes were also marveling at the celestial phenomenon.

Ninety-nine percent of the people could only watch, but had no time to do anything at all.

Mowan was a little better; he used his stone body to hold back the young marquis, but dared not move rashly, because when a star fell, its momentum was like a rainbow. This was not like a fireball thrown by a trebuchet during a siege; when it was in the sky, you could roughly predict where it would fall.

The Sword Saint slightly clenched his palm,

Long Yuan flew out of the woodshed, instantly cutting off the small axe that the Sword Saint had previously used to chop wood, obviously full of anger. As a famous sword of the world, it had previously been used to slaughter pigs, and now it had to compete with a broken axe for favor.

But these were all minor details; the Sword Saint didn't have time to care about them now.

At this moment,

What he was thinking was,

What a loss, what a loss,

He used to think that Zheng Fan had arranged his home next to the Earl's mansion partly to please him and partly to ask him to help take care of the Earl's mansion.

But now,

The Sword Saint suddenly felt,

Did Zheng Fan really do too many bad things and really foresee that the heavens might drop a stone to kill him,

So he deliberately tied the two families together?

If the falling star was going to hit the Earl's mansion, then his little home would certainly not be spared.

So,

He had no choice now.

He hated this feeling of being bound,

Even though he knew,

Zheng Fan could not have predicted that one day a star would really fall and hit his home.

The sword,

Was right beside him,

The Sword Saint was silently gathering his energy,

In fact, he understood,

If it were himself in his prime, he might have been able to block that blazing thing, but the current himself probably didn't have that ability.

Moreover, no matter what, he probably wouldn't survive.

This was the might of heaven and earth, terrifyingly so.

Furthermore,

If that presence in the neighboring house that occasionally emanated a gloomy aura hadn't gone into hibernation, and he had his help, the odds of winning might be greater, at least, he could slightly deflect the trajectory of the falling star.

As long as it didn't hit the Earl's mansion.

As for whether there would be civilian casualties as a result, that didn't matter.

Although the Sword Saint's name had the word "Saint" in it, it really had nothing to do with true compassion and not harming the lives of ants. When he needed to be decisive, he could be decisive.

He was just a little sentimental,

The other day, he conveniently stole a pig,

Taking a pig's head from Earl Pingye,

Today,

He might have to return it several times over.

What a loss,

What a loss.

However,

Things are unpredictable,

The speed of the falling star in the sky was very fast, so fast that the Sword Saint's thoughts only flashed for a moment. At the same time, because of its unpredictable nature, it directly gave people a truly "leaving it to fate" feeling.

Fate,

Was not bad.

Earl Pingye's fate was not bad,

Although he was not at home now, if the Earl's mansion was flattened by the falling star, and the young marquis died inside, then...

Xuehai Pass's fate was also not bad,

Because the angle of the falling star was slightly inclined. When it was in the extremely high sky, it did look like it was going to hit your head, but when it fell quickly, even a little bit of angle could magnify into a long distance.

"Boom!"

The falling star finally landed in a location two *li* (approximately 1 kilometer) away from the north city wall of Xuehai Pass, but it also made a huge noise.

The Sword Saint breathed a sigh of relief,

Sat down,

The previous scene,

Even the Sword Saint was frightened into a cold sweat,

Sometimes, one's own life and death could be insignificant, but once it involved the people one cared about, this burden became very heavy.

He reached out and picked up Long Yuan next to him,

Put a piece of firewood on the block,

Raised Long Yuan,

With a "swish" sound,

He cut it.

After chopping several more pieces of firewood in a row, the Sword Saint finally recovered.

At the same time, the loud noise caused great attention, and the north gate of Xuehai Pass was opened wide, with teams of cavalry rushing out.

Liang Cheng was the first to arrive at the location of the falling star, where white smoke was still rising. Liang Cheng immediately ordered his men to spread out and be responsible for guarding, and at the same time, he sent someone to inform the Hailan tribe, which was closest to here, to not panic.

Just after issuing these orders, Liang Cheng saw Fan Li running over with the Blind Man on his back.

"Did a meteorite fall?" the Blind Man asked.

Liang Cheng nodded and said, "It's right ahead."

"Okay, let's go take a look," the Blind Man said.

"There might be radiation."

"Tsk..." The Blind Man hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "You two go ahead and take a look."

Liang Cheng was a zombie, and Fan Li also had Barbarian God bloodline, so these two were not afraid of radiation, and even occasional strong radiation might stimulate their bloodline changes and improvements.

The Blind Man was different; his body was already weak. If something went wrong under strong radiation, he would really have to lie in bed for the rest of his life.

Liang Cheng and Fan Li dismounted and walked to the location where the meteorite had landed. At the moment, the white smoke had not completely dissipated, and the meteorite crater was actually not large, only about half the size of a basketball court, with scorched marks all around.

Moreover, the crater was so big, but the real meteorite was actually smaller.

Fan Li jumped down first. He was thick-skinned and heat-resistant, but after walking to the meteorite, he didn't dare to reach out and touch it.

Liang Cheng stood beside him, carefully observing.

Over here, the Blind Man secretly moved a distance closer, and conveyed through the mental link:

"I say, can you tell what it is?"

"Haven't you seen a meteorite before?" Liang Cheng asked back, "If you want to see it, just put your mental power over here and take a look."

"Do you really think my mental power is all-pervasive?"

"It's either iron or stone, or stony-iron; meteorites are just these few types."

"Wouldn't it be so ordinary?"

"What do you want? Glacial Xuan Iron?"

"It's not impossible."

"Your imagination is too rich."

"You're a zombie, and you're telling me I have a rich imagination?"

"Get someone to fetch some water, let Ali pour it on it, and let's transport it back sooner rather than later, lest the news spreads too widely during the day and the impact is bad."

In this era, meteorites and shooting stars were often great omens of misfortune. Even the Demon Kings believed in science, but the common people and soldiers didn't have such high qualities.

"Let Ali pour water to cool it down first, and then I'll check to see if the radiation is strong. If there are no problems, we'll quickly transport it back."

Soon, soldiers brought water buckets. Without letting others get close, Fan Li carried the buckets one after another and poured them on the meteorite to cool it down.

After several times, the meteorite's temperature did drop. Fan Li tried to touch it with his hand and responded:

"It's not hot anymore."

The Blind Man then walked up, muttering to himself:

"It seems the radiation isn't strong."

Liang Cheng was a little surprised and said, "You detected it so quickly?"

"If the radiation was strong, Ali would have transformed into the Hulk."

"It's not funny to make such jokes at this time."

"Just trying to liven up the atmosphere." As he spoke, the Blind Man took out an orange, ate it, and jumped into the meteorite crater;

After observing carefully,

The Blind Man said:

"On the outside, it looks like silicate. When we take it back, we'll find a way to cut it open and see if there's anything good inside.

Come on, Ali, carry it home."

...

Lord Zheng returned to Xuehai Pass at noon the next day. Because there was no longer the burden of the princess's carriage on the way back, and because the Jingnan Marquis had issued a military order requiring him to hurry back to start preparing, everyone was rushing back without stopping, so the speed was naturally fast.

When he returned to the mansion,

Zheng Fan learned of the meteorite fall last night,

And was immediately surprised:

"What?"

...

Lord Zheng couldn't help but be surprised. Although the meteorite crater was two *li* away from the north city wall, it was only a thousand meters in total. At the same time, his own Pingye Earl's mansion was extremely close to the north city wall.

In other words, if the meteorite's butterfly wings had flapped just a little bit more, his home would likely have been gone.

This was truly frightening.

The meteorite was transported back by Fan Li and placed in the dungeon.

There were three secret rooms underground, each of which was large enough. One of the reasons why it took so long to build the Pingye Earl's mansion back then was because of this.

Right now,

In the easternmost secret room lay the slumbering Shatuo Queshi, in the middle was the Barbarian King, and now the westernmost one held the meteorite.

So, the Barbarian King was indeed pitiful, with one neighbor being a zombie and the other being highly radioactive;

Zheng Fan came to the secret room and looked at the round, edgeless meteorite.

"So, has it been cut open?" Zheng Fan asked.

"Not yet, waiting for Xue San to do it," the Blind Man said.

Xue San was also excited to go forward and touch it, saying, "It doesn't matter if we cut it or not, it should just be a lump of stone and iron."

As he spoke,

Xue San joked again:

"Unless we carve words on it, something like 'Great Prosperity, Zheng Fan King'."

"San'er."

"Master."

"Can we cut it open today?"

"Sure, no problem. I'll work on it all night tonight. Although there probably won't be any big surprises, I also enjoy the process. Tomorrow I'll organize the group I trained, and the day after tomorrow we'll set off to scout the way for you, Master."

"Thank you for your hard work."

"Master, look at what you're saying."

Zheng Fan and the Blind Man walked out of the basement side by side. After coming up, Zheng Fan patted his clothes. He had just returned and hadn't had time to take a bath. Under the dust and wind, he felt a little sticky.

The Blind Man then said, "Master, the Jingnan Marquis's order this time is not easy. However, the difficulty is one aspect, and at the same time, the Jingnan Marquis's emphasis on and cultivation of you, Master, is also obvious."

"Actually, I don't want to take risks anymore. It would be nice to slowly cultivate and develop."

"This is just what you think now. As the saying goes, when you're full and warm, you start thinking about desire. Maybe when you lead the army into the territory of Chu, you'll feel extremely excited.

Just like when you led three hundred Barbarian cavalry directly into Qian without saying hello."

"Perhaps."

The Blind Man was best at seeing people's hearts, and Zheng Fan did not directly refute it, because people's eyes, most of the time, did not actually look at themselves.

"The preparations this time must be done well," Zheng Fan instructed.

"Master, don't worry. It's just sending out a thousand soldiers, even with Xue San's hundred or so people, our logistics will have no pressure at all."

This scale of dispatching troops was indeed much lower than previously expected.

Dispatching a thousand soldiers and dispatching fifteen thousand soldiers, the logistics pressure was not just fifteen times as much. At the same time, these thousand soldiers were also to bring enough food and supplies, without the need for subsequent supplements.

Small units going deep into enemy territory would definitely forage from the enemy, no doubt.

"Xue San said that you're staying behind to guard the home this time."

"Master, don't worry, I will definitely guard the home well."

"Mm."

"By the way, Master, about this meteorite matter, do we need to send a memorial up?"

"Send one to Fengxin City," Zheng Fan said.

Whether or not to send it to the imperial court was up to the Jingnan Marquis to decide.

After all, meteorites and the like were very mysterious in the eyes of people in this era, often carrying great omens, but who told Lord Zheng to be born under the red flag? (referring to growing up in a communist China that promotes science)

"Yes, your subordinate understands. However, your subordinate thinks that Master should be a little more mindful."

"Mm? What do you mean?"

"In the original world, a meteorite is just a meteorite. An estimated tens of thousands of tons of meteorites fall on Earth every year, but most of them are worn away in the atmosphere."

"So?"

"But in this world, your subordinate always feels that we can't completely believe in science. Not to mention the warriors, swordsmen, and magic in this world, even the place where you live now and the people who live with you, Master, you shouldn't believe in science too much."

"Blind Man, what are you implying?"

"Your subordinate always feels that something may be about to happen."

...

Yanjing, the Imperial Study.

The Crown Prince and Ji Chengjue sat face to face.

The Crown Prince, having just come out of mourning, was noticeably thinner and more haggard.

In contrast, Ji Chengjue, who was sitting across from him, should be living a very comfortable life after his marriage, and had gained a lot of weight.

The Crown Prince's mourning period was naturally not as long as that of officials. Even if some officials lost both parents, if their positions were very important and the imperial court could not do without them, His Majesty would discretionarily choose to exempt them from their mourning.

After all, the emperor was above parents, and with the emperor's decree, you could have a legal basis for not going into mourning.

Of course, most officials did not want to go into mourning, because there was a fixed position for each official in the imperial court. After finally climbing to this position, going into mourning for three years, it would be hard to say whether you would still have this position when you wanted to come out and be an official again.

Officials were like this, let alone the Crown Prince, who was the foundation of the country.

If the Crown Prince was really allowed to observe mourning for three years, wouldn't that ruin the foundation of the country?

However, although he was out of mourning and could come out to do things, there were still many rules to follow in terms of clothing, food, housing, and transportation. Yan had only stabilized domestically in the last few generations, and the rules had only begun to increase. In the past, there were not so many rules.

It was just that they were always ridiculed by the Qian people as barbarians who didn't understand etiquette. Although they shouted that the Qian people were all useless and often used knives to teach them a lesson, they were still hypocritical and began to gradually establish etiquette and rules.

The Crown Prince seemed to finally have no interest in acting "brotherly and respectful,"

And Ji Chengjue was happy to have some peace.

On the day of his wedding, he had already openly announced that he was going to join the fight for the throne, and his side was in the limelight, revealing all his cards. In contrast, the Crown Prince's side first lost the Empress, then the Princess left the capital, and it looked like this marriage was almost over;

Most importantly,

It had been so long since the Empress's death,

The Jingnan Marquis hadn't even sent up a memorial about the Empress.

There were military situation memorials, but logically speaking, when his own sister died, the younger brother should have sent a memorial to the capital to mourn her. Of course, the Jingnan Marquis's position was definitely indispensable now, and the overall situation of Jin and the Chu were also indispensable to him, so His Majesty and the imperial court would definitely first issue an edict of condolence and then persuade him to abandon his plan to enter the capital for the sake of the overall situation of the country.

This was the process, but the Jingnan Marquis seemed to be completely avoiding this matter, not even willing to go through the process.

Although, whether in the court or in the city, everyone could understand that after he had mercilessly wiped out his own family, why would he be shouting about returning because of the death of a sister? Who was he trying to fool? Was there any need for that?

But the problem was that the current Crown Prince was in dire need of foreign aid to help him hold on to this position of the Eastern Palace. Therefore, the Jingnan Marquis's disregard was almost a kind of indifference to the Crown Prince's position.

Ji Chengjue yawned, holding in his hand the list of customs duties from the North Enclosure County in the past few months. There was also a list of merchants going to Qian, but this could not be a public memorial, and could only be shown to Zhao Jiulang and his father, because now the two sides were in friction on the border, but the merchants' business was still continuing, which would not sound good if it was said out loud.

The two princes just sat there, and no one touched the tea.

As he sat,

Ji Chengjue couldn't help but feel a little suspicious. When he came earlier, Wei Zhonghe said that his father was taking a nap and asked him to wait a while, so he waited, but almost an hour and a half had passed, and his father hadn't woken up yet?

Even if his father hadn't woken up, Wei Zhonghe was also gone. The two princes were waiting in the side hall of the Imperial Study, so what, the chief eunuch was just going to let them wait and ignore them?

Moreover, since he could remember, his father had never had the habit of taking a nap. Leaving aside the cold and cruel side of being a father, he could be described as working diligently and conscientiously on the matter of being an emperor.

At this thought,

Ji Chengjue got up and said to a small eunuch standing beside him:

"Tell Eunuch Wei later that there are still some things to deal with in the Ministry of Revenue, and I will come to pay my respects when Father wakes up."

"Yes, Your Highness, this servant understands."

Just as Ji Chengjue took a step to walk out,

Wei Zhonghe's voice rang out:

"His Majesty has arrived..."

Ji Chengjue stumbled,

His mouth gently made a shape:

Ben? Ben? Ben? Ben? (all these sounds have different meanings)

"Here!"

Sigh!