Chapter 38: Observing the Stars at Jianmu, Fan Xiang frankly admits...
Jianmu Platform, early morning.
This place has been crowded with people since late at night, and it remains so to this day.
Under the star curtain inside the building.
The Second Prince, Yan Xuanci, looked coldly at Lin Fengzhi, who remained silent.
“Grand Preceptor, I respect you as the Grand Preceptor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. I know your cultivation is special. I have stood here all night, and now that it is dawn, my cousin is here to help you regulate your breathing.”
"If the Grand Preceptor still can't say anything, I'm afraid you'll have no choice but to come with me."
During the previous dynasty, treacherous officials held power, and the court was in chaos. The spiritual cultivators of the Lin clan foresaw the decline of the nation's fortunes and the suffering of the people. To avoid further casualties, the spiritual cultivators of the Lin clan left the mountains. The fearless youths sought out their ancestors and followed them to conquer the Zhou dynasty. It can be said that this act saved many people at the time, but it also placed endless shackles on the Lin clan later on.
The will of Heaven is mysterious. If it is truly a matter of great importance concerning the fate of the nation, and Lin Fengzhi cannot explain it, then his position as the Imperial Advisor will likely be in jeopardy.
After the Second Prince finished speaking, the atmosphere immediately became heavier.
Lin Fengzhi looked up at the Second Prince, who was dressed in noble red robes and spoke with a threatening tone. His eyes were indifferent. It wasn't that he didn't want to speak, but that he couldn't say it.
He turned his head and looked at his daughter.
Lin Fanxiang's eyes were slightly red. Where no one could see, the girl tightly clenched her hands and looked up at the Second Prince.
"Last night, the Imperial Advisor calculated the star charts, attempting to speculate on the will of Heaven, and was therefore punished by Heaven. Now, he has already broken his word."
"There is no cure, no one to help."
"As a medical practitioner of the Lin family, I hereby state this clearly."
The atmosphere instantly turned icy, and Wuqing glanced at the Grand Preceptor beneath the starry sky, who remained calm and composed.
Zhang Xuan looked at Lin Fanxiang with concern. Even the Second Prince didn't know what to say. At this moment, Wuqing suddenly spoke up.
"Then write it down. I'll have someone get paper and pen."
Zhang Xuan replied instinctively, "It was because of the forced calculation that the Grand Preceptor lost his voice. If it had been forcibly written down, who knows what would have happened?"
The second prince also reacted instantly, and Yan Xuanci said apologetically with a cold laugh, "How dare you, mere children, interrupt matters of national destiny?"
He paused, then looked at Lin Fengzhi and Lin Fanxiang.
"Besides, we'll only know what will happen after we do it."
Lin Fanxiang: "The will of Heaven is unpredictable, but can it be changed by human effort? Why are you and the Lord of the Ruthless Pavilion in such a hurry?"
Her eyes remained indifferent, and her words were merciless: "Now that the Imperial Preceptor can no longer speak, he has to rely on paper and pen to communicate. It is Princess Ling'an who is impatient."
Lin Fanxiang curled her lips into a smile. The girl looked gentle and aloof, but her words were equally uncompromising. "What the Lord of the Ruthless Pavilion said makes sense. However, as a medical cultivator, I have to worry about the patients' physical condition."
"My diagnosis is that the Imperial Preceptor needs to rest at the moment."
"The results you want will take time."
The second prince raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. One night of rest wasn't enough; what should be done?
He and Wuqing exchanged a glance, and instantly they had an idea.
Zhang Xuan stood silently in front of Lin Fanxiang, knife in hand. The young man looked at them, and instantly, the atmosphere became tense.
Beneath the starry sky, four people confront each other—
Just then, there was a knocking sound outside the door.
Princess Jinning has arrived.
...
Jin Ning refused Xue Ying's help and slowly walked into the building alone.
The woman smiled as she looked at the scene before her, "I've come at the perfect time."
The Second Prince and Wuqing instantly lost their imposing manner, especially the Second Prince, who bowed to the Eldest Princess, saying, "Aunt, why have you come in person?"
Jin Ning accepted her nephew's greeting with a slight bow. She looked at Lin Fengzhi, who was sitting cross-legged in the center, and said with a slight parting of her red lips, "Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, so I've come to visit an old friend."
After speaking, the woman slightly raised her chin, her expression gentle yet carrying an undeniable power.
"Go back and tell your father that I also want to have a reunion with my family during the Mid-Autumn Festival."
The second prince hesitated for a moment. His aunt meant that no one should touch the Lin family before the Mid-Autumn Festival.
He looked at his aunt, hesitated for a moment, this matter concerned his father...
For a moment, everyone looked at the Princess, except for Lin Fengzhi, who was sitting quietly in meditation. Jin Ning, however, did not give her gaze to anyone else; the princess was only looking at the person who was not looking at her.
As a junior, he couldn't disobey his aunt's words.
After a moment of silence, the Second Prince agreed. He and Wuqing exchanged a glance, and the two walked out of the Jianmu Platform. The group had come in a grand manner and was leaving in a grand manner.
The chaotic standoff that lasted all night ended with a single sentence from Jin Ning.
Lin Fanxiang looked at her father and mother in silence. Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for family reunion. What's so great about reunion?
"Never mind," the young woman frowned, then left. As she passed the princess, her voice was soft.
"Father could no longer speak."
Jin Ning stood there, stunned. Her usual elegant and noble demeanor had finally cracked for a moment, but what followed was a faint laugh that revealed no emotion.
...
Lin Fanxiang and Zhang Xuan walked out of Jianmu Platform, where Qingyu and the other two were waiting for them at the entrance.
They arrived early, only to see Princess Jinning go inside. Shortly after, the group from the Demon Suppression Pavilion also left.
Lin Fanxiang unconsciously curled the corners of her lips, but the smile was somewhat weak. After a night of hard work, she finally realized how tired she was.
As soon as Qingyu saw them come out, she ran towards her. The girl held her hand tightly, and they walked together.
Wen Chuan noticed that Zhang Xuan had been silent and looked somewhat disappointed. He and Qin Tianshu exchanged a glance, and Qin Tianshu put his arm around Zhang Xuan's shoulder and led him forward.
Zhang Xuan forced a smile at them, and Qin Tianshu patted him on the shoulder, "Come back with us first, we'll talk about it when we get back."
Wen Chuan followed them at the very back. The morning breeze, still carrying mist, gently blew against the backs of the boys, who were walking arm in arm, gradually dispelling the anxiety of the night.
They went home together.
...
Orange Garden.
Under the orange trees dotted with orange blossoms, Lin Fanxiang sat on a stone bench, the girl silently watching Zhang Xuan explain the situation to everyone.
Qingyu: "What if the Grand Preceptor still can't explain it clearly in the end?"
Zhang Xuan paused for a moment, then hesitated before speaking, "It depends on what the Emperor thinks. For so many years, the Lin family's Word Spirit cultivators have been working for the Great Zhou..."
Qin Tianshu frowned, and even the ever-smiling young man lowered his voice, "Ancient books record that the Lin family's Daoist ability to discern the will of Heaven may be hidden deep in the mountains or concealed in the world..."
Throughout history, even if the Lin family appeared in a certain dynasty, they would eventually disappear into the torrent of time. Such a family is both an accident of heaven and a scheme of fate.
During the reign of the Zhou ancestors, the Lin family originally hid in the deep mountains, where time was lonely. The first young national advisor who followed the Zhou ancestors to conquer the world insisted on coming out of the mountains, partly for the sake of the common people and partly for the sake of freedom.
For the next hundred years, every generation of gifted individuals in the Lin family would spend their days calculating the will of Heaven within the Jianmu Platform. Most of them died before the age of thirty. How much of their destiny was for the common people, and how much for freedom?
Everyone remained silent. Finally, Lin Fanxiang looked at Qingyu. As their eyes met, Qingyu knelt down, took Fanxiang's hand, and asked her with her eyes what was wrong.
Lin Fanxiang leaned close to her ear and whispered a few words.
Qingyu understood. She stood up, formed a hand seal, and a spiritual energy that was extremely difficult to see gradually seeped from where the boys were standing. Underground, this spiritual energy spread deep and wide, covering the entire Orange Courtyard.
Finally, a small, pale purple flower grew in a corner of the orange grove. It was tiny, silent, and easily overlooked—it was a whole-leafed Malan flower.
From this moment on, as long as the flower is there, the cultivators outside will not notice any conversations or actions taking place in this courtyard.
Qingyu nodded to Lin Fanxiang, indicating that the courtyard was safe enough. Lin Fanxiang was silent for a moment, and finally the girl looked up at them. The usually aloof girl's eyes were full of calm and determination, and even some indescribable courage and madness.
"The Lin family has never coveted the position of Grand Preceptor of the Great Zhou Dynasty."
"What happened last night happened too fast."
“I am powerless to help my father in his current condition.”
"As a daughter, I feel guilty and helpless, but I really, really have no other choice... My father is too busy to take care of himself, and my mother can't protect the two Lin family members who are cultivators of the Word Spirit. I have to find a way to survive for myself."
"I must leave Shengjing after the Mid-Autumn Festival."
"I would like to ask you to help me."
"In return,"
"I am willing to speak for you."
A single word stirred up a storm of emotions. In the ensuing silence, the boys pondered many things.
In fact, they were not surprised that Lin Fanxiang was the Word Spirit Master of this generation of the Lin family. The so-called Word Spirit was nothing more than predicting the future. Based on the starlight every night, relying on the omnipresent spiritual energy, they calculated the most likely thread leading to the future in the entanglement of space and time.
Zhang Xuan was poisoned in Danzhou for only three to five days, yet Lin Fanxiang was able to traverse a journey of nearly a month, arriving directly outside Danzhou city.
In June, before Zhang Xuan even arrived in Qingshui, how could Lin Fanxiang have known that Zhang Xuan was going to have trouble in Danzhou?
There is only one explanation for everything—in June in Shengjing, Lin Fanxiang was worried about Zhang Xuan, who was leaving the capital for the first time, and she used her words of power on him.
Zhang Xuan remained silent. The boy's eyes reddened, and large tears suddenly fell from his eyes. He was flustered and in pain.
"...Was it because of me that the royal family realized you possessed the power of words? Was your insistence on leaving the capital due to this...?"
"...It's all because of me..."
Lin Fanxiang smiled and shook her head. "Whether or not this Word of Power event happened, I am still a member of the Lin family. My father is a Word of Power user, and if I am not, my child will be."
"Zhang Xuan, you don't understand, I'm actually very happy."
Lin Fanxiang stood up, looked around, and the girl smiled as she spoke, "When I was young, my father spoke words of wisdom to me, saying that my fate was the same as the fate of the Lin family in the past, and it could not be changed."
“I believed it, I accepted it, but this June, I used the power of words to predict that Zhang Xuan would die in Danzhou.”
“I didn’t want to believe it, so for the first time I defied my mother and rode out of the capital to Danzhou alone. I thought if Zhang Xuan lived, it would mean that the power of words does not represent a certain future. If Zhang Xuan died, I would collect his body and bring him home.”
Lin Fanxiang's voice gradually choked up. Qingyu held her trembling hand tightly. Lin Fanxiang smiled at her, then looked at Zhang Xuan, who was standing between Qin Tianshu and Wen Chuan, stubbornly silent yet bursting into tears.
"That night, I saw you, I saved you, it was me who saved you. Nobody knows how happy I was, Ah Xuan, I'm so happy."
"I think, just like I saved you, I need to save myself."
"I'm going back to Shengjing to see my parents again,"
"Then, I'm going to go my own way."
"I must, I absolutely must leave this place..."
The girl finally shed tears. For seventeen years, she had lived a very tiring life. A dual cultivator of medicine and spiritual power was rare in ancient times, not to mention that her spiritual power could not be known to others. She studied medicine but could not cure patients—her father did not allow her to use spiritual power, and her mother thought her medical skills were useless.
From childhood to adulthood, only Zhang Xuan would climb over the high courtyard wall and come to find her despite the injuries he sustained from being beaten by Zhang Xiang.
The boy always had bruises on his face, his hands covered in blood, and he would smile at her with a silly, somewhat shy expression.
Today, the autumn wind blows across the land.
The girl stood there gently, the wind brushing away her tears.
Zhang Xuan was her first patient and the only person to whom she had ever used her spiritual power.
This is good, she thinks it's really good, very good.
But she wants to do even better in the future.
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