Chapter 227 A Big Fireball Falls from the Sky
The night is getting deeper and deeper.
When the night watchman outside the window rang the gong for the third watch, Chu Xuanyi, who had been silent all the time, suddenly raised his head.
His eyes fell on Ajiu, and an extremely bold idea suddenly formed in his mind.
"Your Highness," he began, "perhaps... we are all thinking in the wrong direction."
Xiao Yu stopped and looked at him, "Xuan Yi, what do you think?"
"All our previous strategies were based on 'acting in secret' and 'sneaking around'. But since the Yun family father and daughter dared to commit such a heinous act, they must have blocked all the hidden avenues we could think of. The last thing they fear is us playing dirty with them."
"So, we can't take the secret passage anymore."
"Then why leave?" Xiao Yu frowned.
The corners of Chu Xuanyi's mouth curled up slightly, but there was a hint of madness in his eyes.
"Take the Yangguan Road."
He looked at the stunned Xiao Yu and Ajiu and continued, "We must create a huge 'chaos', a chaos that they will never expect, a chaos that they will not be able to openly reject even if they see through our intentions."
"Only when the water is completely muddied, so muddy that no one can see the direction, will we have a chance to take advantage of the chaos and catch that...only living fish in the muddy water."
In the next few days, the atmosphere in the palace became extremely strange.
Xiao Yu still went to court every day to handle government affairs, as if nothing had happened.
Ajiu was ordered to stay in the mansion and not go out. Every day, apart from practicing, he would stare at the koi in the pond.
Chu Xuanyi locked himself in the secret room of the observatory and did not come out for three days and three nights.
Even the Taoist boy who brought food was blocked outside the door. Xiao Yu sent people to guard outside the secret room and strictly prohibited anyone from disturbing it.
Until the fourth night.
At midnight, everything is quiet.
An extremely bright silver-white light fell straight down into the depths of the imperial city without any warning.
"What...what is that?"
The soldiers on guard on the city wall widened their eyes in horror, pointed at the sky and their voices trembled.
"Meteor, it's a meteor."
"Oh my God, how could... how could it fall towards the palace?"
Countless people in the capital opened their windows and rushed to the streets, staring in amazement at this rare phenomenon in the sky and earth that had not been seen for a century.
The burning "star" fell squarely on the west side of the imperial palace.
"Boom—"
A deafening roar followed.
Immediately afterwards, a huge ball of fire shot up into the sky, illuminating half of the night sky as if it were daytime.
The palace was on fire.
"Heavenly fire, it's heavenly fire."
"This is a warning from heaven. It's definitely a bad omen."
"I was saying I'd been feeling restless lately, but it turns out something big was going to happen!"
The people were talking about it in a panic, and rumors spread throughout the streets and alleys of the capital overnight.
Everyone called this bizarre fire "Heavenly Fire Warning".
Regent's Palace.
Ajiu lay on the windowsill with his mouth wide open, staring at the fire in the direction of the palace for a long time without closing it.
"Wow, what a... what a big fireball."
Xiao Yu stood with his hands behind his back, no emotion visible in his deep eyes.
The door of the study was pushed open with a creak.
Chu Xuanyi walked in.
He changed out of his Taoist robe and put on a simple green gown, but his handsome face was pale without a trace of blood, his lips were slightly bluish, and his steps were unsteady.
"grown ups."
Ah Jiu immediately jumped down from the windowsill and supported him. "Your face is so pale. Are you exhausted from pulling the stars down from the sky?"
Her words were innocent and direct, but they revealed the truth.
Upon hearing this, Chu Xuanyi finally forced a weak smile onto his pale face.
He ruffled Ajiu's hair and said in a hoarse voice, "Little clever boy, you are the smart one."
"Xuan Yi." Xiao Yu turned around and quickly stepped forward to support his other arm, his brows furrowed tightly. "How are you? Why are you expending so much energy?"
"It's okay." Chu Xuanyi waved his hand and sat down on the chair. He picked up the teacup and took a sip before he breathed a sigh of relief.
"If not, how could we conceal this from the world? How could we make everyone believe that this... was truly God's will?"
The so-called "shooting star" is not a real star.
Instead, he spent three whole days and three nights concentrating his energy, using his own spiritual power to activate the ancient formation under the observatory, forcibly reversing the trajectory of a piece of meteorite, making it fall precisely at the preset location - near the armory on the west side of the palace.
The armory is a vital place, and a fire is a heinous crime.
But the coming of heavenly fire is not the fault of war.
This completely shut down the Yun family's attempts to characterize the incident as an "accident" or "man-made".
"The bait has been cast." Chu Xuanyi looked at Xiao Yu, "Now it depends on whether they...will bite the hook."
The next day, the Golden Palace.
The atmosphere at the morning court was terribly depressing.
All the civil and military officials were silent, not daring to breathe. Everyone's eyes glanced intentionally or unintentionally at Prime Minister Yun, who stood at the head of all the officials.
Yun Wende's face was so gloomy that water seemed to drip out of it.
After being awakened last night, he immediately sent someone to investigate. They reported heavy losses in the armory, with a large amount of weapons and armor burned. However, the cause of the fire was the bizarre meteorite.
He knew there must be something fishy going on, but it happened in full view of all the people in the capital, so he couldn't suppress it even if he wanted to.
"emperor."
One of his trusted imperial censors stepped forward and bowed, reporting, "Your Majesty, a meteorite struck the palace last night, setting off a fire. This is truly a rare natural phenomenon, rarely seen in a million years. Although the armory was damaged, the Imperial Guards were able to put out the fire in a timely manner, preventing a major disaster. I believe this was a mere coincidence. Your Majesty, please do not worry, and do not believe the rumors of 'heavenly fire warnings' that may unsettle public opinion."
"Oh, by chance?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a clear voice rang out.
Chu Xuanyi walked out slowly. He was still wearing a black robe today. Although his face was still pale, it added a bit of compassionate air to it.
He bowed deeply to the "fake emperor" on the dragon throne and said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, I have a memorial to make!"
"What does the Imperial Master have to say?" the puppet on the dragon throne asked in a hoarse voice.
"What I want to say is that the fire from the sky last night was definitely not accidental," Chu Xuanyi's voice suddenly rose. "This was a warning from heaven, a true sign of divine punishment."
"Master Imperial Master," the Imperial Censor immediately retorted, "You're exaggerating. It's just a rock falling from the sky. How can it be considered a sign of divine punishment?"
"Stone?" Chu Xuanyi sneered and turned to look at him. "Does your Excellency the Imperial Censor know why that meteorite fell squarely within the Imperial Palace? And why did it fall right above the armory, which is associated with the element 'metal' and is responsible for killing?"
"That's because the evil spirit in the palace has gotten out of control. The Yin evil energy is too strong, and the Yang energy is weak, causing the country's destiny to be unstable. This has attracted the Geng metal energy from the nine heavens and transformed into heavenly fire, which directly hits our Dajing killing ground. This is the heavens warning us. If we don't find a way to suppress the dragon energy that is attracting the country's destiny and restore order, what will befall us will probably not be a piece of meteorite, but a catastrophic disaster that will overthrow our country."
The officials in the court were already terrified by the visions of the previous night, and after hearing his explanation, it suddenly seemed to make sense. Their faces turned pale with fear, and they whispered to each other, discussing the matter.
The corner of Yun Wende's eyes twitched violently.
"That's nonsense," he finally couldn't help but shouted coldly, "The Imperial Master is just speculating out of thin air. What evidence do you have?"
"Evidence?" Chu Xuanyi turned around and faced Yun Wende. "The celestial phenomena are the greatest evidence. If you don't believe me, Prime Minister, you can wait until the disaster strikes and then ask me for evidence."
"You," Yun Wende was choked and speechless.
"Your Majesty," Chu Xuanyi ignored him and bowed once more to the throne, pleading passionately, "To protect our country and the people of Dajing, and to ensure the health of Your Majesty, I implore Your Majesty to immediately issue a decree to hold a 'National Defense and Disaster Relief Ceremony' of unprecedented scale."
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