Chapter 5: The Imperial Astrology of Unification

Chapter 5: The Imperial Star Omen of Unification

Soon, thick smoke filled the room. Yun Ran walked over and opened a side window a crack.

Before long, panicked shouts erupted outside.

"Fire! Save the Regent! His Highness is still inside!"

"What's all this racket! I'm burning paper offerings with my imperial uncle to honor the late Emperor. Scram! Your ugly mugs are pissing me off! Who picked these people? The one in charge is sent to the laundry pits!"

The eunuch who had been shouting flushed red and quickly bowed his head, retreating far away.

Xiao Lianhua, who'd brought the wine, came back in, tray in hand.

"Alright, you're dismissed."

Yun Ran grabbed the whole jug, not bothering with the cup, and turned to head back inside.

Xiao Lianhua, though full of doubts, could only bow and retreat.

"Whoosh!"

She poured out a whole jug of strong liquor.

The already blazing fire, fueled by the high-proof firewater, quickly burned the bodies to black char.

The two were almost unrecognizable now; within half a day, they'd be ash.

No zombie comeback—not in this lifetime.

Yun Ran stared into the flames, thoughtful.

"This is indeed an offering. Dan Junlin, I hope this sacrifice is to your liking."

The only response was silence, broken by the fire's crackling and popping.

She didn't bother cleaning up and just walked out the door.

No joke—she'd been holding it in since she woke up.

Before leaving, she ordered the attendants not to enter the room, lest they disturb the late Emperor who'd come for his offerings. She also warned them to beware of dreams.

Yun Ran spun her tale vividly, and the ancients, being superstitious by nature, wished they could retreat a hundred yards away, terrified the late Emperor might come find them for a chat.

The scissors were still tucked in her sleeve. The sky was still dark, not yet light.

In the hazy night, if one looked closely,

they could vaguely make out a tall figure striding along, snipping off the braids of anyone in her path.

All over the palace, eunuchs were wailing and carrying on as if the world was ending...

The emperor cut their hair? Who would believe that?

I literally can't even.

————

Dan Junlin did have a trusted confidant—

a loyal man his father, the late Emperor, had left him. But now, that confidant was nothing more than a low-ranking eunuch with no standing or connections.

Going by memory, Yun Ran returned to the Hall of Mental Cultivation. At the entrance stood an old eunuch, hunched over, sweeping the ground.

"Chang Yuan, get over here."

The old eunuch froze. In all these years, the emperor had never once spoken to him.

To avoid suspicion, he had always kept his distance and hidden who he really was.

Whenever the emperor was on the verge of starving, he would sneak him food and medicine.

He had even castrated himself, all to keep the vow he'd made to the late Emperor: to protect Dan Junlin with his life.

A great general could not protect the emperor, but a scar-faced sweeping eunuch could.

"Your Majesty."

Chang Yuan, now in his fifties, had tears welling in his eyes. How he'd wanted to talk to the emperor.

This child—the late Emperor had personally entrusted him to Chang Yuan's care when he was just a swaddled baby.

"I need to use the restroom. Where is it?"

"Huh?"

Yun Ran's constipated expression truly startled Chang Yuan, who was still lost in thought. He snapped out of it and quickly pointed the way.

"This way, Your Majesty, mind your step! I'll lead the way!"

Yun Ran followed him closely and arrived at a... surprising restroom...

"What? Just this bucket!"

Yun Ran stared at the ornate, carved little bucket, which could be considered luxurious,

and almost choked on air.

"I need to take a dump! What am I supposed to do with this bucket?!"

Yun Ran stared in disbelief at the old eunuch before her.

"Your Majesty, if this isn't to your liking, the storeroom has rosewood buckets, red sandalwood buckets, ebony and agarwood buckets... I'll fetch them right away."

The old eunuch before her smiled, his face creased with wrinkles, looking like a man with a wealth of chamber pots, inviting her to take her pick.

What kind of messed-up situation is this?

I,

a stunningly beautiful 28-year-old female spy, just trying to use the bathroom.

And you, an old eunuch, holding a piece of silk and grinning beside me—what's that about?

What are you doing? Something's wrong here! Don't come near me!

...

Chang Yuan grinned, his face a map of wrinkles.

"Here, you go on ahead—this old servant will attend to you."

Chang Yuan stood there, stock-still, as if he meant to stand guard over her while she did her business!

At this point, Yun Ran's last shred of composure shattered!

I really have wound up in this godforsaken ancient era.

Everyone's gotta go.

For the first time in her life, Yun Ran had to use a toilet that required someone else to wipe her, and her inner anguish was off the charts.

"Chang Yuan, I'm not too happy with this whole shitting setup. Tomorrow, have someone rebuild it the way I like."

She clasped her hands behind her back and let out a long, heavy sigh.

If she wanted to change her living situation, the first order of business was to clean out that rotten bunch throughout the whole palace.

Back in the main hall, with Chang Yuan trailing behind her,

Yun Ran carefully sorted through her thoughts, trying to figure out how to put it.

People back then all believed in ghosts and gods.

After dithering for a long while, she finally spoke up,

"Chang Yuan, when I hit my head last time, I dreamed that my father came to me and said I'm actually a celestial being,"

At this point, Yun Ran nearly burst out laughing herself,

"One strand of my seven spirits and six souls got left behind in another world, so I called on an old celestial up above to fill in my missing memories. Now my soul's whole again, and I'm back."

"Huh?"

Chang Yuan stared at her, utterly dumbfounded.

Meanwhile, the four great nations surrounding Yanchi,

Nanfu, Beixiang, Dongpu, and Xiling—all their grand national masters reported to their sovereigns at the same time,

"Your Majesty, I've been reading the stars at night. The Viper Star in the east has shot up suddenly, five planets are lining up in a row, scattered stars are merging into one—the world is showing signs of a great convergence. We can't ignore this..."

"The east? The east is nothing but small nations scraping by in the cracks. How could there be some heaven-sent figure who could unite the world..."

The four monarchs racked their brains, wondering what great power could possibly be in the east. This celestial sign was seriously overblown.

The national masters' eyes must be playing tricks on them...

"Yanchi Imperial Palace"

"For real?!"

Chang Yuan's eyes lit up. No wonder he'd always felt the emperor's gaze seemed like a different person's—turns out he'd gotten smarter!

By now, Yun Ran had inherited all of Dan Junlin's memories.

This was a dynasty that never existed in history—the Yanchi Dynasty, now in the eighteenth year of Yong'an.

"Your Majesty, this old servant's got a question. Why hasn't that dog of a servant, Eunuch Huang from the Regent's household, been tailing you today?"

Chang Yuan had been dying to ask this for ages and finally couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Him? He's already gone off to be reborn alongside Dan Yanzhi."

What?!

"They're dead. I killed 'em both."

Chang Yuan was stunned for a second—that was two bombshells at once.

Before he could react, Yun Ran had already made her move.

To make Chang Yuan fully buy this story, she had to let him see firsthand just how different Dan Junlin was now.

A fight was the quickest way to prove it!

Chang Yuan truly lived up to his title as the Grand General of the Banner Guard from the previous dynasty—his martial skills were no joke.

In an instant, he blocked Yun Ran's lethal strike.

"Hah!"

Yun Ran smashed the golden nanmu low table with one palm, and Chang Yuan leaned back to dodge!

Then he did a backflip and kicked at Yun Ran's chest!

As they traded blows, they kept moving,

The rosewood table and painted porcelain in the room got caught in the crossfire and shattered to pieces.

Chang Yuan's heart was pounding—

The emperor's martial arts were actually better than his!

And every move was lethal, vicious, and cunning—this wasn't something an ordinary person could handle.

"Hah!"

Yun Ran seized the moment, grabbed his neck with one hand, then let go just as fast.

Even so, a faint red mark had already formed around his neck.

Chang Yuan had lost.

"Your Majesty! Chang Yuan admits defeat!"

Chang Yuan dropped to one knee, deeply moved.

This time, he truly believed the soul story.

If it weren't true, there was no other way to explain the emperor's sudden killer skills.

"Chang Yuan, I know these years haven't been easy for you, but right now, in this whole imperial city, you're the only one I can trust. It's gonna be rough on you for a while. Starting tomorrow, I'm gonna purge these corrupt officials from the court and bring new life to Yanchi!"

Chang Yuan was deeply moved by the emperor's heartfelt speech, and with a thud, he dropped to his knees,

"Chang Yuan is unworthy, but I'll serve Your Majesty with all I've got, till death!"

Seems sincere pep talks really do work—Yun Ran was pretty satisfied.

At this moment, the most important thing was—

"Does Your Majesty still have any secret guards stationed outside the palace?"

Going by the usual novel tropes...

"Yes!"

Chang Yuan lowered his head and continued to report,

"Outside the city, there are a hundred elite soldiers who've been lying low among the common folk for years—they're called the Dragon Scale Guard. The late emperor left them to protect the throne."

As Chang Yuan spoke, he let out a sigh,

"It's just a pity that for the past decade or so, the Regent's been running the court, and Your Majesty's wings haven't fully grown yet. This old servant truly didn't dare reveal them."

"Now that the threat's gone, get them into the palace right away. Tonight at the hour of Hai, I'll raid their households and purge the court!"

Yun Ran clasped his hands behind his back, didn't waste a single word, and gave the order outright.

Chang Yuan suddenly clapped a hand over his mouth, his eyes going wide. It took him a good two or three seconds to snap out of it,

Then a look of sheer ecstasy spread across his face,

"Ah! This old servant will see to it right away!"

Dan Yanzhi, since you've had a stranglehold on the court for all these years,

you must have lined your pockets pretty well. I might as well skim some off you as seed money for my imperial ambitions.

That's only fair, right?

Yun Ran propped his chin on one hand and twirled the brush on the desk with the other, racking his brain to recall every detail of this dynasty...

There were no potatoes, sweet potatoes, or corn here—just wheat and rice, and even those yielded pathetically little.

Huge stretches of saline-alkali land sat barren, with nobody knowing how to farm them, yet taxes and forced labor kept climbing every year.

In nearly every prefecture and county, officials were in cahoots with local rich families and noble clans, leaving the common folk to suffer miserably.

The food here was bland and tasteless too—about the only way they cooked anything was boiling it.

At that thought, Yun Ran's stomach started growling.