Chapter 69: Gong Zixian

“‘Shallow waters trap the flood-drake, a once-in-five-hundred-years wind rises and clouds surge’? Teacher, what does this sentence mean?”

“Do you mean there will be a prodigy in the coming chaos who will save the Great Qian Dynasty from the brink of collapse?”

In the capital, Gong Zixian gave a rudimentary interpretation of the Grand Astrologer’s admonition.

The Grand Astrologer nodded, then shook his head:

“The stars will not tell us everything. All we could do was pluck a thread or two of omen from the heavens that might be of use to us.”

“I did, however, find the owners of that admonition.”

“I did not know whether they could truly become saints who would give the Great Qian Dynasty another hundred years of life, or whether they would become powerful hands who would topple the Great Qian and remold a new world.”

“But there was no doubt they would exert a tremendous influence on the great upheaval of the world.”

Gong Zixian was somewhat puzzled:

“They? Teacher, the admonition you mentioned — isn’t it about a single person?”

The Grand Astrologer nodded slowly:

“This time I left my seclusion because I sensed that the time had arrived.”

“I needed you to bring them from shallow waters into the capital, into the Great Qian Dynasty’s deepest, widest ocean, to see whether they truly bore the visage of flood-drakes for the next century, as the admonition said.”

Gong Zixian nodded:

“Teacher, I understand. I will go in person. But where are those flood-drakes? How many are there?”

The Grand Astrologer looked up at the sky, as if reading omens from the clear air:

“They were two of the triplets born to the wife of an ordinary snake-catcher, Hong Tianfeng, in a village called Hongjia Village beside Ningjiang County in Yongzhou.”

“Two of the triplets?”

Gong Zixian was surprised:

“Teacher, among triplets, there were actually two with the visage of flood-drakes? What about the other one?”

The Grand Astrologer sighed:

“No. There were originally three, but the stars sixteen years ago told me that the eldest of the triplets — the one who should have had the most draconic aura — would die prematurely.”

“His dragon qi would be split into three, inherited by three people.”

“I once tried to change that fate, but I failed. Instead, my forcible intervention worsened my injuries.”

On hearing this, Gong Zixian’s expression tightened:

“Teacher, if I go and fetch them, wouldn’t that also alter their fate?”

The Grand Astrologer shook his head:

“No. The stars told me the time had come; you could go and bring them to the capital.”

He sighed suddenly as he spoke:

“Only, what you bring to the capital might be two flood-drakes, or perhaps only one.”

……

Gong Zixian replayed the conversation with the Grand Astrologer from a few days earlier in his mind as he descended slowly, and he said to the young man before him:

“Let me introduce myself. I was a Daoist of the Bureau of Heaven Monitoring of the Great Qian Dynasty. My name was Gong Zixian. I had come to seek the children of the snake-catcher Hong Tianfeng from Hongjia Village.”

Gong Zixian looked around the altar and frowned — there was demonic aura.

If that demonic beast had intended to hide its aura, Gong Zixian might not have detected it after several days.

But the beast had displayed its aura shamelessly here; as a scion of the Bureau of Heaven Monitoring, Gong Zixian had easily picked it up.

Coupled with the lack of living human breath in the whole of Hongjia Village, and the shocking amount of blood and scattered limbs on the altar, Gong Zixian immediately pieced together most of what had happened here.

The hand behind this unknown demonic beast surprised Gong Zixian; he could not help frowning.

Although the Bureau of Heaven Monitoring had been short-staffed lately, for a demon to dare slaughter an entire village showed an utter disregard for the Bureau.

What were the demon-hunters of Yongzhou’s Heaven Monitoring division even doing?

Could they not detect a demon capable of slaughtering a village?

Hong Sheng was struck by the celestial gravitas of Gong Zixian’s sudden descent and instinctively said:

“I am Hong Tianfeng’s son Hong Sheng. May I ask who you are?”

Gong Zixian temporarily set aside the matter of the demonic beast and replied with pleasure:

“You are the one the Grand Astrologer mentioned as the… ”

Gong Zixian suddenly stopped.

“The…?”

Hong Sheng apparently did not understand why the celestial man’s choice of measure word had been so peculiar.

Gong Zixian waved his hand to indicate the boy need not mind, and then turned his gaze toward Hong Yu, who was running rapidly away in the distance:

“The one ahead should be your full sister, right?”

Only then did Hong Sheng recover from the shock of Gong Zixian’s appearance, and he hurriedly said:

“Sorry, Daozhang Zixian, I have to chase after my sister first!”

“There might be a great demon nearby; Daozhang, please be very careful yourself.”

Watching the Hong siblings run off, Gong Zixian stroked his chin:

“A great demon?”

What great demon? How strong could it be? Stronger than a Heaven-born flood-drake who had advanced from postnatal to innate? And he himself needed to be careful?

Still, Gong Zixian surveyed the altar and tacitly agreed with Hong Sheng’s “great demon” remark.

If it weren’t a great demon, the altar would not have been left in such a state, nor could its aura still be detectable days later.

He intended to search the vicinity later to see whether the demon that had slaughtered the village still lingered nearby; if he encountered it, he would make it regret committing such an atrocious deed.

Before that…

Gong Zixian silently followed Hong Sheng and Hong Yu.

After all, these two had been personally named by the Grand Astrologer as bearers of the visage of flood-drakes; there could be no mistakes.

Returning home with his sister in pursuit, Hong Sheng stopped and looked at Hong Yu, who was leaning against a doorpost sobbing, his gaze softening.

“Actually I already knew they would not come back.”

Hong Yu said through sobs:

“But it was all too sudden. I really could not accept it.”

“I did not even know who the enemies were; I did not even have a target to seek vengeance for my brother, my mother, Uncle Yun, and the others.”

Hatred, hatred — always hatred.

Was his family fated to be trapped by hatred forever?

Would Hong Yu, like the eldest brother, be forever circled by hatred?

Although Hong Sheng was deeply grieved by his family’s deaths, he cared more for the one before him:

“Sister, one must look forward. Do not let hatred blind you. Even if our eldest were alive, he would not want you to… ”

“No!”

Hong Yu spun around, eyes full of hatred:

“If our eldest were still alive, he would definitely support my revenge, because that was what he would do!”

Hong Sheng looked at the pile of snake-catching equipment left by Hong Wen in silence.

Gong Zixian, having overheard the siblings’ conversation, reflected inwardly.

It appeared that, as the Grand Astrologer had said, the eldest of the triplets — the one with the greatest dragon qi — had died early.

The whole village had been buried with him?

And it had happened recently?

Gong Zixian’s expression turned serious.

If what the Grand Astrologer had said was true — that the eldest’s dragon qi had been split into three upon his death — then the most likely receivers of his dragon qi would be the first to arrive at Hongjia Village: the siblings Hong Sheng and Hong Yu, who were closest to the eldest, and the great demon that had slain the eldest.

If the great demon had gained the eldest’s dragon qi, it would likely wreak havoc in the world in the future.

This could not be delayed; the demon hunt could not wait.

He must search now.

But given how much time had passed since the village massacre, he did not know whether the demon still lingered.

After thinking briefly, Gong Zixian said:

“You two, I was born into the Bureau of Heaven Monitoring and had once been a demon-hunter, so I was particularly sensitive to demonic aura. There had indeed been a great demon lingering at the altar for a considerable time three days ago, and it had acted.”

With those words he plainly told Hong Sheng and Hong Yu — the people of Hongjia Village had indeed died at the hands of a great demon.

Hong Yu’s face paled, and the hatred in his eyes surged even higher.

“If my guess was not wrong, your relatives had indeed fallen into a great demon’s hands… please accept my condolences.”

Gong Zixian’s expression was solemn:

“A great demon terrorized the world. As a scion of the Bureau of Heaven Monitoring, slaying demons was my duty. I planned to search around Hongjia Village to see whether I could capture the demon that had brought disaster to your village.”

Hong Sheng’s expression brightened.

If this Daozhang could capture the demon that had ravaged Hongjia Village, it would avenge his eldest brother and mother, and his sister would not be trapped in hatred — that would be extremely good.

“Do you think it will be dangerous?”

“It did not matter. With my strength, even an innate demon I could fend for myself against.”

“You could first tidy up the village a bit — for example… set up a clothes-and-grave mound for them.”

“I would go search for the demon nearby, and see if there were any survivors… When I returned to the village, there would be more to tell you two.”

Though he did not understand what an innate demon was, Hong Sheng, sensing Gong Zixian’s likely considerable strength, straightened his sleeve and bowed to him:

“Thank you, Daozhang.”