Chapter 56

The next morning, Yu Xi ordered the Temple of Heaven to be opened, and the current high priest Ji Yunlou presided over the prayer.

Atop a five-foot marble platform, Ji Yunlou stood before an altar, the incense burner already half-burned. Civil and military officials stood guard beneath the platform, arrayed in a regular pattern, as if attending court. Inside and out, the imperial guards rigorously guarded the place, creating an atmosphere of exceptional solemnity.

Ji Yunlou placed the Bagua plate in the magic circle he had set up in advance, and threw it casually. Four paper talismans fell into the golden bowl. He lit a fire in the golden bowl, and the flames shot up into the sky, bursting out with golden light.

Just as the incense was about to burn out, four palace servants ascended the rooftop, carrying brocade trays. Each tray held four offerings: a white porcelain dish containing the pearl and green grass he had found, a jade dish containing the sword tassel used by Yu Xi, a glazed bowl containing the blood Ling Huanchen had secretly sent, and finally a celadon bowl containing the blood he had drawn from his wrist the night before.

Under the gaze of everyone, Ji Yunlou placed the four offerings into the golden bowl. Suddenly, the flames became even stronger than before.

Ji Yunlou sat cross-legged within the formation, sword in hand, the Bagua disk spinning rapidly. Suddenly, the incense burned out. Looking at Ji Yunlou again, his eyes were tightly closed, his brows slightly furrowed, and he was muttering something. A golden halo shone around him, and the Bagua disk suddenly stopped spinning, pointing in one direction.

The ministers had never seen such a spectacular sight before. They all stared with their eyes wide open, staring intently.

When the flames went out and the halo disappeared, everything returned to calm. The sky was still as gloomy as before, without any change, as if nothing had happened.

The rain was slow to fall, and the ministers looked at each other in confusion, with whispers coming from below from time to time.

"Why is there no movement?"

"It's not that easy to pray for rain. Remember more than a decade ago? The high priest prayed for countless times, but in the end... the drought still lasted for a year."

Just as everyone was stretching their necks waiting for the sky to change, Ji Yunlou suddenly opened his eyes, and at this moment, a tiny drop of water fell on the tip of his nose.

"It's raining! It's raining!"

No one knew who shouted, but the ministers all reached out to catch the rain. The raindrops became more and more dense. Suddenly, a loud thunder sounded in the sky, and suddenly heavy rain poured down.

However, no one had time to hide from the rain. Some people even looked up to feel the long-lost moisture as if they were being baptized.

Ji Yunlou returned to Yu Xi and kowtowed, saying, "I am honored to have fulfilled your mission."

Yu Xi held out his hand to help him up, "Yunlou is a hero of Youcheng. This king will definitely remember this and fulfill his previous promise."

The rain fell continuously for a whole day and night in Youcheng. Those who had fainted recovered without medicine, and the nearly dry rivers and ponds suddenly came back to life. The cracks in the earth disappeared, and the withered grass and trees sprouted new leaves.

According to Ji Yunlou, he was not praying for rain, but actually just breaking the original magic circle to let Youcheng return to the right track.

After several months, the people of Youcheng finally regained their lives, shouting, "The King's grace is immense, and Heaven blesses Youcheng!" Ji Yunlou, the newly appointed High Priest, had been appointed in a time of crisis. He quickly achieved success and fame, earning him the respect of the people. This was especially true compared to a decade earlier. Ji Yunlou's achievements were a century-long unprecedented achievement in Youcheng, earning him a certain respect from the court.

After the rain stopped, a rainbow appeared over the city, spanning the north and south sides, bright and dazzling. When the people saw it, they bowed down and made wishes.

Ling Huanchen watched the rainbow for a long time at the entrance of the palace. It was strange that the rainbow usually disappeared after a while after the rain, but this time the rainbow appeared and hung in the sky for a whole day.

As he was looking, he suddenly found a cloak on his body. He turned around and met Yu Xi's concerned gaze.

"Your Majesty, today's rainbow is particularly beautiful."

Yu Xi embraced the person and looked into the distance together, "After great disaster, there will be great blessings."

Ling Huanchen smiled and nodded, silently repeating the words "danger lurks on every side" in his mind. They were truly trying to survive in danger this time.

Seeing that he was wearing so little and had been standing at the door for so long, Yu Xi dragged him into the bedroom without saying anything. Both of them had been preoccupied with their relationship for the past few days, and it had been a long time since they had felt so relaxed.

When a person is stretched to the limit, even exhaustion will drive them to persevere. Once the string loosens, fatigue will bite back. Therefore, even though it rained all night last night, it didn't disturb the two people's sleep.

Yu Xi was halfway through helping Ling Huanchen dress when he suddenly stopped. Ling Huanchen looked up at him, caught off guard by the familiar hue in his eyes, and immediately understood what he was thinking.

"Your Majesty, it would be better for you to recuperate for a while." Why did his king think about this just after he had relaxed?

Yu Xi agreed, but her eyes could not move away. The hand that was originally tying the belt inexplicably turned into untying the belt.

Ling Huanchen hurriedly held down his hand, "It's broad daylight, Your Majesty, please don't make an announcement in broad daylight..." He was not suitable to do that kind of thing now.

"What is Bairi Xuan?"

Yu Xi deliberately asked, he knew Ling Huanchen was too shy to speak, so he took advantage of the hesitation and brought him to the bed. Now he didn't put on the outer robe, and the inner robe was also leaving him.

Ling Huanchen held on to his clothes and would never take them off even though they were hanging loosely on his body.

"Huanchen, I want you."

Ling Huanchen raised his head, taking in Yu Xi's passion. He sighed inwardly. He wanted to, but if this continued, the truth he had hidden would be revealed.

In bed, Yu Xi always had the habit of grabbing his wrist, and this time was no exception. Ling Huanchen was secretly startled and tried to dodge, but it was too late.

He made a muffled sound, and all of Yu Xi's movements came to a halt.

Ling Huanchen closed his eyes. It was over. He still couldn’t get away with it.

Yu Xi lifted up his sleeve, and the red gauze on his wrist came into view.

"This is……"

If he said now that he had accidentally scratched himself, even he wouldn't believe it.

"Your Majesty, it's alright."

Yu Xi remembered that Ji Yunlou had poured two bowls of blood into the golden bowl during the sacrifice, and immediately understood everything.

The person next to him suddenly turned over and got off the bed. Ling Huanchen stood up with him, but was ordered not to move. He waited in bed for a while, and heard footsteps outside. After a moment's silence, Yu Xi came in with a porcelain bottle and gauze, and without saying a word, she started to remove the cloth from his wrist.

Ling Huanchen obediently allowed him to change the dressing and re-bandage the wound. At this critical moment, it would be best for him to keep his mouth shut.

After changing the medicine, Yu Xi still held his injured hand tightly, "Does it hurt?"

Ling Huanchen wanted to say it didn't hurt, but seeing Yu Xi's obvious distress, he changed his words and said, "It hurts." He then smiled, "But with the king here, it doesn't hurt anymore."

Yu Xi didn't say anything to Ling Huanchen to stop doing such things, because he knew in his heart that he would do the same thing if they were in a different place. So he didn't say a word, just gently kissed her wrist.

The original plan was to hold a celebration banquet in Yougan Hall, but it was eventually changed to a smaller banquet in Yuluan Hall. Ji Yunlou was the only one invited to the banquet, and there was one more person at the table: Yu Zhao, who had come to eat for free. The four of them sat across from each other for a drink. Because Ling Huanchen was injured, Yu Xi allowed him one drink, but then stopped him, offering him more food.

Ji Yunlou picked up the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp, revealing the wound on his wrist, but no one cared that he didn't want to drink. Ji Yunlou looked up and saw that the wine cup in front of Ling Huanchen had been replaced with a teacup. He smiled to himself and continued to drink happily.

Yu Zhao was carefree and ate with the greatest joy. He saw Ji Yunlou pouring himself a drink and hurried over to him, "My brother is just like that. He only has eyes for my wife. I'm used to it. After spending more time with them, you, Lord Ji, will get used to it too. Lord Ji, don't drink alone. Let's drink together."

There were only four people in the hall, and Yu Zhao was particularly noisy. Ji Yunlou smiled and raised his glass, "Cheers to the Prince." He didn't want to get used to it.

At this time, Fu Changshi walked up quietly and whispered a few words to Yu Xi.

"Bring it up."

Immediately afterwards, two guards took a palace servant to the hall and pushed him to the ground.

"Your Majesty, this person is sneaking around and trying to escape from the palace."

The little palace attendant raised his head tremblingly, and it seemed that he was the person who was responsible for carrying the sacrificial offerings on the day of the sacrifice.

"Your Majesty, spare my life! Your Majesty, spare my life!"

Yu Xi focused on serving Ling Huanchen the food and casually asked, "What did you do wrong?"

The palace attendant looked at the four of them and said tremblingly, "Slave, I didn't mean it. I accidentally broke the celadon bowl that the high priest asked me to look after. I didn't dare to say anything, so I filled it with pig's blood instead. Xiaoliu, who was beside me, saw it and threatened to report me, so... I really didn't mean it."

Upon hearing this, Ji Yunlou suddenly stood up, banging the dishes on the table and making them clink. "You said there's pig's blood in the celadon bowl?"

The palace servant was so frightened that he prostrated himself on the ground, "This slave deserves to die, this slave deserves to die."

Ling Huanchen also heard something wrong. Ji Yunlou had clearly said that all four sacrifices were indispensable. If Ji Yunlou's blood was replaced with pig blood and there was no blood of the Fengming clan, how could the sacrifice be successful?

He and Ji Yunlou looked at each other in confusion.

"Someone come."

Yu Xi waved her hand, and the palace attendant was dragged away by the guards, crying and yelling. In order not to disturb the king, the palace attendant was gagged as soon as she was dragged out of the palace gate, and she immediately stopped making any sound.

Ji Yunlou returned to his seat, doubting the magic he had been studying. Could it be that the blood of the Fengming Clan wasn't important? Could the sacrifice still be successful without it?

"It's not easy to achieve such results in Yunlou's first opening ceremony. Don't push yourself too much." Ling Huanchen tried to comfort him.

However, Ji Yunlou was not relieved at all. While others were looking for a partner who would stay together till old age, he was just looking to bring the Fengming clan back on the right track. He did not expect that the magic circle he had studied for half a day would still have such a flaw. Even if he succeeded, it would be hard for him to be happy.

All affairs in Youcheng were back on track, and crops were being cultivated once again. It was time for the annual spring hunt. If the drought had persisted, the hunt would have been canceled, but now that the weather was favorable and the people were safe and sound, the hunt would naturally proceed as usual.

Ling Huanchen recalled that during the spring hunts in his previous life, he mostly hid in the tent and turned a deaf ear to what was happening outside the window. This time, he wanted to take a good look.

The spring hunting ground was located on Yunyou Mountain, east of Youcheng, and the carriage could travel there in just one day.

He remembered that in every spring hunt, the winner was the one who captured the most prey, and no one could surpass Yu Xi.

The author has something to say:

Thank you "Gu Huaiyi" for the nutrient solution encouragement!