Chapter 70: Past

Jiang Changbai hadn't imagined that this sigil was so powerful; her heart suddenly sank, but her face didn't show it, and she asked, "Then if it were your shifu, how much would it take to fill a piece of clothing with Hun Locking Sigils?"

Qin Anhe pondered it for a bit, and then, biting her lip, said, "Shifu is a lot more powerful than I am, but she's far from that. To fill a piece of clothing with Hun Locking Sigils, it would take a month's time regardless, and that's for the past few years. Now she's grown old, and her might isn't what it was before, so it would probably have to be a bit slower."

Jiang Changbai nodded, not speaking. The enigma in her mind was deep-rooted, but the closer she grew to it, the more she went to touch it, the larger that enigma grew.

Right now, it was just the start of spring, and the anxious birds had already flown back. They hovered about the branches of the trees that had yet to put out new leaves, and beat their wings. This side hall was quite silent, only the sound of breathing audible.

Suddenly, Qin Anhe thought of something, and a sort of buzzing rise in her ears. Scared near witless, she said, "The energy the Hun Locking Sigil consumes is massive, but the efficacy is also quite powerful. If you wanted to lock an average person's soul into a body that wasn't theirs, at most, you'd only need three of them. If this subject may be so bold as to ask Bixia, where did this come from?"

Jiang Changbai didn't bat an eyelid. "It was discovered when investigating the state treasury; they couldn't recognise what it was, but felt that something placed in the treasury must be something unusual, and so they couldn't make a decision. So, it was passed upwards like that, layer upon layer, and thus it came to Us. We only thought of it on seeing you today, and so asked in passing."

Qin Anhe pursed her lips; she knew Jiang Changbai wasn't telling her the truth. Though the marks on this piece of cloth had long since dried, and had suffered some wear and tear, the traces on the raw edge clearly proclaimed its time, and had only recently been torn off of someone's clothing.

But her majesty had already said all this, and Qin Anhe, as an official, couldn't very well press the subject. Of course, she couldn't put it out of her mind, and so, after thinking a bit, she said, "The person who could wear this sort of clothes is no small figure; if Bixia were to meet them, you must be careful."

Jiang Changbai raised her gaze to look at her, and promptly questioned, "Why?"

The earnestness in Qin Anhe's gaze increased. "Leaving aside where the clothing came from, and who it was who drew the Hun Locking Sigil, I'll only talk about the efficacy of the sigil. Though the Hun Locking Sigil can restrain one person's soul in another's body, there's a natural order, and, after all, as an outsider, this soul will, at all times, feel a pain like being pierced by needles. So, for this person to act ordinarily, then they must have great willpower."

"How could it be reduced?"

"There's no way to reduce it; only close-fitting clothing made of the yuma plant can alleviate it slightly. But the yuma plant is hard to find, and making clothes of it is easier said than done."

As if something had suddenly broken her mind open, Jiang Changbai suddenly thought of things from before. Everything was strung together, and it was as if she'd captured something illusory. But there was no way she could say anything about it, so she only nodded. "We understand; you'd best go back—and don't let anyone else know of anything from today."

"Understood." Qin Anhe nodded earnestly, and turned to leave. But once she returned to her residence, her expression grew grave. Feng Puzhi had always told her not to involve herself in others' fates, and only attend to what was before her, to be less inquisitive. As a result, though she was proficient in divination, she rarely divined about anything; but today's matter, it really was out of the ordinary. In the past, she'd always thought that, in this world, the most powerful cultivator was Feng Puzhi. But today, what Jiang Changbai had taken out had clearly not come from Feng Puzhi's hand, and this person's might was most certainly above Feng Puzhi's.

She truly wanted to know who this person was. Just this once, Qin Anhe secretly consoled herself, I'll divine it just this once. The copper coin turned in the air as it fell, and Qin Anhe spat out a mouthful of blood, but, to her shock, she found that the coin was standing upright on the table. She couldn't divine it—or, perhaps that was to say, the Supreme Yuanhe wouldn't allow her to divine it. But even so, her heart had an answer.

At this time, Jiang Changbai had already returned to the imperial study and was reading through memorials, and that piece of cloth with the Hun Locking Sigils had been hidden back in its original spot.

She'd torn it off of Song Juguang. At the time, she'd only just succeeded the throne, and the two had gone together to bring He Leyong out of the mountains and into an official position, and had run into a wild bear along the way. In a panic, Jiang Changbai had involuntarily grabbed at Song Juguang, and had, in her haste, torn off a corner of her sleeve. By curious coincidence, Jiang Changbai had brought it back, and had preserved it properly since. A few days before, she had, by chance, received a badly-damaged, ancient book, and had discovered that the talisman drawn atop it was similar to the sigils drawn on the piece of fabric, and so had taken it out, intending to find someone who could identify it.

"Who on earth are you?" Jiang Changbai muttered to the empty air before her.

But Song Juguang wasn't aware of this; at this moment, she was in the Regent's residence, concentrating all her attention to draw something at the table. The residence didn't have many servants, and in this wing, Song Juguang was entirely alone. The wind blew, and the candle flames flickered, but Song Juguang's hand didn't even tremble. She grasped the brush tightly, the veins on the back of her hand raised, as if she was feeding some sort of strength into the cloth through the brush. But if Qin Anhe were to see it, she'd most certainly recognise what Song Juguang was drawing at this moment—the Hun Locking Sigil. And, the article of clothing laid out on the table was of material made from the yuma plant.

Song Juguang wasn't someone from this world. To explain it more carefully, her soul wasn't from here; she came from the Heavens.

The Kongqing Sect was responsible for countless smaller worlds, and countless disciples all had to descend to mortal worlds to endure a tribulation. Song Juguang was this generation's eldest shijie, who had cultivated for many years, and this time, had, on receiving her master's orders, descended to this world—firstly, to assist an enlightened sovereign and protect the common people so they could live in peace, and secondly, to pass a tribulation, and advance her cultivation another step. Even the Supreme Yuanhe so many commoners in the Great Li believed in was first Kongqing Sect disciple who'd come to this world. The magic countless generations of Kongqing disciples practised was of the same origin, and everything the disciples who came to this world after her did was to make the common people of the Great Li believe in the Supreme Yuanhe even more.

Considering carefully, Yuanhe could be counted as Song Juguang's sect's venerable ancestor.

As Song Juguang's cultivation was too high, she could only come to this world as a soul. In the process of transmitting her soul, she'd been distracted by a careless shimei, and so a deviation had occurred, and so she'd fallen into the body of a girl in a group of refugees who'd been about to die, and part of her memories had been sealed. Only thus had the first few years at Prince Ling's residence occurred. Afterwards, her memories had gradually returned, and so she'd realised that Jiang Changbai was that brightest Emperor Star^[1] that she'd deduced countless times while in her sect.

The small world was deficient in spiritual power, and this body's cultivation skills couldn't be counted as proficient; even if Song Juguang were to have countless years' experience, she could only barely reach one ten-thousandth of her original might. She knew that she couldn't be of much aid by stubbornly remaining at Prince Ling's residence, and so she'd availed herself of the chaos to leave. When they'd met once more, it had been that day the city walls had been breached.

At the start, she hadn't been able to use the Hun Locking sigil. Though there was natural order, and alien soul would struggle to remain in another's body, all the natural laws in this world were ones that her shijies and shimeis protected, and her soul carried the Kongqing Sect's unique brand, so naturally she could do things that others weren't able to. But lately, there'd been more and more abnormalities, and Song Juguang had been forced to rely on the Hun Locking Sigil in order to maintain her current condition. But the might of her soul was far too powerful, and so the number used for the average person could absolutely not control her soul, and so she could only fill her clothes with Hun Locking Sigils, and thus remain here a bit longer.

She couldn't leave yet. Though Jiang Changbai had now already ascended to the most revered position, there were still many people in the court and amongst the common people whose intentions were treacherous, and the position of sage ruler wasn't yet stable, so how could she be willing to return? She wanted to keep remaining her, to keep staying by Jiang Changbai's side a bit longer. And, more than that, there was still a tribulation she would have to pass; even now, Song Juguang had yet to have the slightest omen of a tribulation.

But, after all, the Hun Locking Sigil still hurt. Even if her soul's might surpassed an ordinary person's by far, and her endurance was very great, with so many sigils on her at all times, even if she were made of iron, it would still be hard to endure. It was only because of this that she'd strenuously sought out the yuma plant to attempt to alleviate it a degree.

Finally, the article of clothing had been filled fully with them, and Song Juguang could only feel a deep exhaustion. It was already deep in the night by now, and the moon had already passed the greater half of its trajectory, and there weren't even any birds outside the window. Song Juguang couldn't pay this any mind, and, setting the brush and clothes aside, fell into a deep sleep.

During morning court the next day, Jiang Changbai didn't see Song Juguang. She didn't pay it any mind, either; not only because Song Juguang often didn't attend, but more than that, because an extra figure who ought not to be there had appeared in court.

Everyone waited for how the Emperor would handle it.

Jiang Changbai knew this as well, and she didn't hesitate in the slightest, and having just sat, she berated the imperial guard. "What on earth are you doing? You even dare to let idlers into morning court—hurry up and take him away!"

The guard startled, her gaze at a loss. How could she recognise all these ministers? More than that, every day, the ministers came in groups of three or four, and even that singular unfamiliar one was crowded around by others. All these ministers were acquainted with each other—how could there be any idlers?

Jiang Changbai's expression darkened, and she chided, "What are you doing dazed there? Do you want Us to take him away?"

The guard's heart hammered, but she gathered up her courage and walked in the direction of the only unfamiliar face. But she hadn't expected that, before she drew close, she was obstructed by the Minister of War, Wu Dongmu. "Young lady, what are you doing?"

The guard merely saw a plump figure blocking her. She'd never liked Wu Dongmu, and now that he was obstructing her, she flicked her gaze, thinking of avenging private wrongs through public actions. "Carrying out her majesty's orders; Wu-daren, please don't harry this one."

She'd just spoken when she raised a hand to push Wu Dongmu aside. The motion was very quick, and though he evaded it in time, he was still struck. Wu Dongmu's expression was somewhat ugly. "Open your dog's eyes and look clearly—this is Prince Yu's Shizi!"

Jiang Changbai had been watching the situation the entire time, and hearing this, she said coldly, "Wu-daren's speaking nonsense; Prince Yu's Shizi has long since died. Princess Yu cultivated this imposter by her side out of her longing for her son. If she wants to cultivate him, let her; We aren't incapable of understanding a mother's emotions. But he can never truly replace Prince Yu's Shizi—hurry up and remove him!"

The last sentence was aimed at the imperial guard. The imperial guard made a sound of acquiescence, and reached out to snatch Jiang Mingyou's arm, as if grabbing a young chick, and headed outwards. But she'd barely taken a few steps when she discovered the oath in front of her had been blocked by ministers who'd lined up into a human wall. Helplessly, she turned her head to look at Jiang Changbai.

Jiang Changbai called out sternly, "You rebel—drag anyone else who dares to keep obstructing out with him!"

"Bixia," the Minister of Appointments, Liu Zihe, emerged from within the crowd, and knelt in the middle of the hall. "This minister will use his own neck as a guarantee—this person truly is the genuine Prince Yu's Shizi."

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Translator's notes:

[1]: Also known as Polaris in the West; the actual name is 紫微星 (ziweixing). Historically, astrologers would create charts for emperors, as their fates were seen to have bearing on their empires.