Ye Han pushed the door open and entered. He saw Zhou Chunfeng standing by the desk, gazing out the window with his profile to him, and started walking forward as he usually would.
"Just stand by the door," Zhou Chunfeng said, his raspy voice like falling drops of cold rain.
"Yes, sir." Ye Han stood in place and lowered his head, a flicker in his eyes.
"Our Night Guard has two branches: one in the light, one in the shadows. The branch in the light monitors all civil and military officials and disposes of Demon Fiends and grotesqueries. The branch in the shadows is spread throughout the nation, lurking everywhere like a great net cast over the world. In this Divine Capital City, there are things that can be hidden from the Cabinet Elders, and things that can be hidden from All Kings, but very little can be hidden from the Night Guard," Zhou Chunfeng said slowly.
Ye Han gritted his teeth, his knees buckled, and he dropped to the ground with a THUD.
"Lord Zhou, I am guilty! The Heir of Prince Yuann used the fact that his father, Prince Yuann, once did my father a favor. He also threatened me, so I was forced to conspire with them. But I swear to the heavens, the Heir of Prince Yuann only said he wanted to make Li Qingxian lose face and teach him a harsh lesson! He never said anything about taking his life. I only found out later that he actually wanted to kill Li Qingxian."
"You are Ungraded, your position not yet official. How dare you refer to yourself as a subordinate?" Zhou Chunfeng said, still gazing out the window, his voice soft.
Ye Han’s entire body went cold.
"You know, I once had high hopes for you," said Zhou Chunfeng.
"I understand. If not for you, sir, whether at the Marquis Mansion or in the Night Guard, I would have been constantly walking on thin ice. If I had known about your history with Li Qingxian, I would have never agreed to the Heir of Prince Yuann’s proposal, even on pain of death. Truly. I’m willing to swear on anything, even on an Evil God." A bitter taste filled Ye Han’s mouth.
Zhou Chunfeng gritted his teeth. His right hand clenched into a fist, then slowly relaxed. Finally, he let out a soft sigh.
"You should be thankful that Qingxian is still alive. I hear you’ve had a string of good fortune recently. Find a chance to apologize to Qingxian properly," said Zhou Chunfeng.
Ye Han’s head snapped up. He said excitedly, "Thank you for your mercy, Lord Zhou! I’ll find a way to make amends immediately! Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to make things right with Qingxian. I won’t let you down."
"You’re dismissed."
Ye Han got to his feet and left, thanking him profusely.
In the study, Zhou Chunfeng heaved a long sigh. ’To think that Ye Han, the one my dearest friend entrusted to me, would be so disappointing. And I was planning to carefully mentor him.’
"Old friend, my debt to you is now repaid. From this day forward, I have nothing more to do with Ye Han."
Zhou Chunfeng gazed blankly out the window, his eyes filled with a bleak emptiness.
Li Qingxian walked out of Zhou Chunfeng’s study and slowed his pace, carefully mulling over and refining the plan forming in his mind.
’This can’t be the end of it!’
With a cold smirk, Li Qingxian walked slowly toward the Street Patrol Room’s dormitories.
After rounding a long corridor, he came to a large courtyard outside the dormitories. In its center, an old locust tree stood like a giant umbrella, its canopy covering nearly half the yard.
"Don’t tell me you don’t believe it! I was right there, only an inch from Lord Zhou Henn’s horse’s hoof! When it kicked up, the aura of a Fourth Grade master shot into the sky! The world went dark, a furious wind howled, the tattered strips of my clothes flapped like crazy, and that Pang Mingjing was scared witless..."
Li Qingxian heard Zheng Hui’s familiar voice and looked in its direction.
There, under the great locust tree, surrounded by a crowd of Night Guards holding torches and oil lamps, was Zheng Hui, in high spirits and spraying spittle as he spoke with wild enthusiasm.
Every so often, he would tug at his torn clothes with his right hand, as if showing off a medal of valor.
Li Qingxian shook his head and smiled. He couldn’t believe Zheng Hui still hadn’t changed. He took a few steps and leaned against a nearby decorative rockery, listening to Zheng Hui’s boasting.
DING...
A peculiar sound, like jade striking against jade, rang out. It was followed by a deafening roar, like a colossal boulder grinding across the earth. Li Qingxian’s vision flashed from black to white.
A faint light flickered in the void.
At the edge of the universe, a colossal object resembling a Celestial Sphere descended from the starry void, blotting out the sky.
Atop a silver-gray pedestal supported by four dragons sat twelve interlocking rings of brass with black markings, forming a great disk.
The colossal object shuddered. The disk expanded, its constituent rings beginning to rotate.
It resembled a Celestial Sphere.
The twelve rings let out a thunderous rumble, like stars grinding against the void.
Li Qingxian looked at the characters on the base. He could only make out the two words "Fate Instrument." Before them, a mess of intersecting scratches seemed to have effaced whatever was there.
’I’ve seen this thing in my dreams before. It’s called the Celestial Destiny Instrument.’
A stream of milky white mist descended from the heavens, landing upon the Celestial Destiny Instrument.
The surface of the Celestial Destiny Instrument began to glow, and its rings spun faster.
The Celestial Destiny Instrument conveyed a message to him: the white mist was Qi Fortune.
Li Qingxian slowly began to recall some knowledge about Fate Skills.
The field of Astrology was as vast and nebulous as an ocean. Mainstream Fate Skills centered on the Life Mansion, supplemented by Qi Fortune.
Fate Masters believed that within every person’s body existed an invisible, intangible Life Mansion. Everything about a person was determined by the components within this mansion: the Life Land, Life Pillars, Destiny Stars, Life Gods, Life Formations, and so on.
At birth, the majority of a person’s Life Mansion was already set and was difficult to alter.
The process by which Fate Masters used the Life Mansion to determine a person’s destiny was known as Divination.
Divination was generally divided into three categories: All Fate, Time Fate, and Flowing Years.
All Fate was the Inference of a person’s entire life journey; anyone capable of this was, without exception, a Great Fate Master.
Time Fate involved using the Life Mansion, the Four Pillars, and other factors to assess a person’s current situation. It was also the most common form of Divination.
Flowing Years was different. Although it also relied on the Life Mansion, it placed greater emphasis on external factors like one’s environment, the time of year, and current events.
Flowing Years only concerned itself with the fortunes of the coming year, and it was known for being extremely volatile.
The greatest influence on one’s Flowing Years was Qi Fortune.
Fate Skills had a very strict system for classifying the stages of Qi Fortune, known as the Twelve Longevity.
These were divided into the Four Auspicious, the Four Ominous, and the Four Neutral.
Longevity, Crown and Sash, Approaching Officer, and Emperor’s Prosperity were the Four Auspicious.
Failure, Death, Grave, and Extinction were the Four Ominous.
Decline, Sickness, Conception, and Nurturing were the Four Neutral.
Each stage was further divided into three sub-stages, and it was also possible for one’s fortune to turn at any point.
Li Qingxian suddenly remembered how, earlier that morning, he had used Observing Qi on Dong Ying and had seen a withered tree.
’I didn’t understand what it meant then, but I do now.’
’That withered tree represented "Decline," one of the Four Neutral stages.’
’Decline meant that Dong Ying’s Qi Fortune was slowly weakening over the course of the year, like a person reaching old age and their body beginning to fail. It was a natural phenomenon, which was why it was classified as Neutral.’
Leaning against the rockery, Li Qingxian slowly contemplated the nature of Fate Skills and that white Qi Fortune.
’That white Qi Fortune is clearly a good thing. It brought the Celestial Destiny Instrument to life. But where did it come from?’
As he was pondering this, someone suddenly shouted, "Isn’t that Li Qingxian?"
Li Qingxian looked toward the voice and saw the crowd surrounding Zheng Hui turn their heads as one to stare at him. They were a dark, dense mass, almost blending in with the canopy of the great locust tree in the night.
"Qingxian!" Zheng Hui excitedly pushed through the crowd and hurried over.
Han Anbo and Yu Ping were right behind him, with the rest of the Night Guards trailing eagerly.
"I heard Lord Zhou kept you for dinner and you two talked all day. How’d it go?" Zheng Hui asked loudly.
Li Qingxian smiled. "Lord Zhou felt my workload was a bit too light, so he decided to add to it. He arranged for me to take on a position as a clerk in the Imperial Prison Department."
"What about Pang Mingjing?" Zheng Hui asked.
Li Qingxian said, "It’s an official matter, to be handled by the book. As a Night Guard who betrayed the Night Guard, he will be punished severely."
"Good!" Zheng Hui breathed a sigh of relief.
Just then, a deep, rough voice boomed, "Qingxian, you weren’t hurt, were you?"
The hubbub died down. Everyone turned respectfully toward the source of the voice and bowed in unison.
"Greetings, Room Leader He!"
Behind him, two Night Guards held up a pair of crackling torches. The leaping flames cast flickering shadows across his face.
Author’s Note 1: The term "Longevity" in the Twelve Longevity stages is based on a word meaning "growth," not the "longevity" that means immortality. This is due to a nuance in the original language.
Author’s Note 2: I made up my version of the Twelve Longevity. I haven’t seriously studied classic texts like *The True Interpretation of Zhiping*, the *Yuanhai Ziping*, or *Essence of Heaven’s Drops*. Those books say the Twelve Longevity is part of real-world Astrology, but here it’s about Qi Fortune in a fantasy setting. It’s a completely different system and not actual superstition, so please keep that in mind. (Cross-Eyed Dog Head emoji).
Author’s Note 3: Please be aware that the lore in this book is specific to this story and will likely differ from other works. Everything in this book is just stuff I made up on the spot after listening to old folks gossip under the village locust tree. It’s just a fantasy novel and has nothing to do with real-world superstitions.
Author’s Note 4: This book isn’t in the "Qi Fortune" subgenre. It’s a new style, which I’m tentatively calling the "Fate Skill" subgenre. "Fate" and "Fortune" are completely different concepts. Personally, I’ve yet to see a web novel that truly explores "Fate"; they either focus on "Fortune" (like Qi Fortune) or just use game-like attributes.
I will not repeat myself.