Chapter 1 The Star Totems
As for the changing of dynasties, it was a natural trend that a dynasty could not last forever.
But nobody guessed that the flourishing Tang Dynasty would soon enter into a stage of decline.
At this point in time, the nobles and sages who cared about the world had possessed and shared with the civilians their understanding of what the Star Totems meant for 400 years.
Since the ancient Shang Dynasty, people considered the spread of stars that specked the sky like pieces of a chessboard to be akin to words from the heavenly divine.
Dynasties came and went, but the stars remained the same.
Later, people discovered that were better off not praying for changes in the starry sky.
Any change was portending chaos on earth.
However, the royal family of the ancient Han Dynasty wanted to rule forever, so they summoned many people of peculiar talents and sent then to a mountain unknown to the people, called Kunlun. The emperor hoped they could predict the fortune of the dynasty through watching the stars.
After some time, the Kunlun Servants, the most mysterious of organizations, which possessed almost all the wisdom known to China, predicted the disasters that would occur in the coming decades, or even centuries.
Naturally, they also predicted the end of the Han Dynasty.
The more they saw, the more the wise men became frightened.
Someone died after telling outsiders about the prediction that foretold the end of the Han Dynasty, which was deemed a “heavenly secret,” and was not allowed to be shared with ordinary people. The listener also died from extensive bleeding from the seven sense organs, which included the five facial organs, as well as the palms and soles of the feet.
When it was foretold that a northern nation of barbarians would conquer the rich Central Plains and extinguish its civilization, the leader, who was the second master of the organization and later founder of the Kunxu Clan, ordered the predictions to cease.
If they couldn’t settle this disaster of losing control of the Central Plains, any further predictions would be meaningless. It was then that the Kunxu Clan appeared, choosing to enter into civil society rather than continue their secretive existence within Mount Kunlun.
After 600 years, the Tang Dynasty ended when the seventh star named Pojun slightly changed its position, and the star named Huoying ran westward.
After the end of Tang, many dynasties sprung up and fizzled out, each playing out in routine but dramatic showings of powerful people grappling for the throne.
Rather than the music of Chinese instruments, the sounds of weaponry became a familiar tune.
Nobody lived a peaceful life. Everyone trembled inside their houses.
Every now and then, some of the surviving old ladies would bring food offerings to memorialize their young sons or even grandsons who were lost to the fighting.
The stars also testified to the chaos in the civil world. Their appearances and actions began to change in ways that bespoke heresy. Mars covered the sun, and comets, which indicated disaster in China, frequently streaked the heavens. Sometimes, they were even brighter than the moon.
Mars stayed by the side of Antarctica, which meant a big mistake had occurred within the royal family, and for that, the heavens would punish the world. Meanwhile, Polaris turned dim.
Mount Weizhu.
This mountain, which was on the boundary between two new countries named Southern Han and New Tang, was green and vast, and approached the sky with its height. Its top was buried in the clouds, which made it seem like a step toward the heavens.
The mountain road was very risky, so people seldom came here to climb; they would only stand at the foot of the mountain and stare up at its breathtaking scenery.
A legend spoke of many magnificent palaces atop the mountains, and said the immortals lived a happy life.
But nowadays, this mountain had already become a military fortress.
The endless fighting had found its way even here, halfway up the mountain, but no army dared venture any higher.
At the peak of the mountains, the air was rather thin, which resulted in it being an isolated place.
If those admirers were to visit the top, they would be disappointed.
The only thing to be found there was a shabby, dilapidated room, which seemed likely to fall prey to the wind at any moment.
A middle-aged man was standing at the edge of the mountain, looking downward.
“Ancestor, the fighting is rather lively below,” said the man, who was dressed in a loose Dao robe.
He was watching the battle as if he were an outsider to the world below. But the odd thing was that there was only one human being standing there. Who was he talking to?
“Ling Nuoyi, Don’t feel that this world had no relationship to you. I taught you so many ways; you should at least use them to save the world in the future.”
The voice came from a dark cave behind the dilapidated room. After reverberating against the walls of the cave, the sound was distorted.
He had imagined the ancestor’s appearance thousands of times. In his daydreams, the elder with long white hair and a broad Dao robe, like an immortal, stepped out from the cave and toward him.
“Ancestor, doesn’t our Kunxu Clan pursue the way of immortality and the gains of outside the world? I don’t understand what you mean.”
“In some aspects, you are right. But as for yourself, you are wrong. If you were an ordinary person, pursuing immortality is good, but you aren’t, so if you don’t fulfill your destiny of saving the world, it is against the very will of the heavens itself.”
Hearing this, Ling Nuoyi brought out a chessboard and chess pieces, along with a teapot. He sat on a stone chair and arranged the board and pieces in preparation for playing a game with the ancestor.
“Ancestor, I’ve finished setting up the board. You first,” Ling Nuoyi called toward the cave.
As usual, the ancestor didn’t want to go out; instead, he gave his orders from inside. “Move the cannon from the second row to the fifth row.”
Ling Nuoyi took a red cannon, intending to move it to the position the ancestor ordered. But at that moment, a mischievous thought occurred to him.
The ancestor doesn’t want to see me face to face, so I always place the chess pieces according to his instructions. But if he is as powerful as the master mentioned, he should know if I move it to the wrong position, right?
He formulated this test without noticing the tiny ache emanating from the pinkie of his left hand.
With this move, the killing cannon became a normal one.
“You have moved the piece two steps further than what I ordered,” a cold voice bellowed from the cave, startling him. Now, he felt the huge pain in his pinkie. He was sitting there, with his hand holding the stone chair, cold sweat quickly turning his robe damp.
Though he was in disarray, he finally managed to compose himself.
This was the second time he felt this strong strength hitting him. The first time was thirty years ago, in the dusk of the disaster.
And this time?
Before he could figure out how to answer, about ten sharp stone stalactites as thick as the branches of a large tree flew out from the cave toward him.
The man in the cave was not trying to kill him, but merely teach him a lesson.