The Grand Shaman’s fear and worry about death suddenly vanished when Wei Zhong confined him to the remote dungeon used to imprison palace servants who had made mistakes… If the Great Zhou Emperor wanted to kill him, why would she bother imprisoning him?
But the Grand Shaman began to worry again that Bai Qingyan wanted to take him into her service. If he refused to comply, would he be subjected to cruel torture? This worry persisted until Bai Qingyan personally came to the dungeon.
The two young eunuchs behind Wei Zhong placed a chair outside the prison cell. After Wei Zhong wiped it clean with a handkerchief, he respectfully invited Bai Qingyan to take a seat.
Bai Qingyan gazed at the Tianfeng Kingdom’s Grand Shaman, who knelt with lowered eyes and bowed head, then sat down. With her elbow resting on the chair’s armrest, she smiled and spoke: “I heard that after you were brought in, you weren’t anxious or agitated, but simply sat cross-legged here. Did you think… that confining you here meant Great Zhou wanted to take you into our service?”
Having his thoughts guessed correctly, the Grand Shaman’s entire body stiffened, and he dared not raise his head even more: “This foreign minister dares not!”
“I heard that you, Grand Shaman, have never been wrong in your divinations. After coming in, Grand Shaman… did you perhaps divine for yourself to see how I intend to deal with you?”
Hearing Bai Qingyan’s cold, clear voice, the Grand Shaman buried his head even lower: “The Grand Shaman cannot divine for himself…”
“Oh…” Bai Qingyan nodded slightly. “Then have you ever divined for Tianfeng Kingdom, divining that… Tianfeng Kingdom’s future is either to be locked away by Great Zhou in that patch of sandy land, or to be incorporated into Great Zhou’s territory?”
Upon hearing these words, the Grand Shaman suddenly raised his head, his eyes wide as he looked at Bai Qingyan. He saw that young emperor sitting in the chair, wearing casual robes with dark cloud patterns, the flickering firelight from the wall casting shadows on that female emperor’s exquisite features, her entire being radiating an ineffable majesty.
Seeing the Grand Shaman’s expression, Bai Qingyan turned to Wei Zhong and said, “Have people guard outside.”
“Yes!” Wei Zhong responded and withdrew with his men.
Now that this Grand Shaman was confined in the dungeon, having been searched before being brought in with no hidden weapons on his person, and with the prison bars between them, Wei Zhong naturally wasn’t worried about the Grand Shaman harming Bai Qingyan.
She leaned forward slightly: “Keeping you alive is only to have you resolve a confusion for me. Tell me… how can time be made to flow backward?”
Hearing Bai Qingyan ask this question, the Grand Shaman knew that the jade cicada was indeed in Bai Qingyan’s possession.
Seeing the Grand Shaman remain silent, Bai Qingyan smiled and asked again: “Do you need me to have our Great Zhou’s Minister of Justice come personally to question you?”
The Grand Shaman’s palms tightened as he said: “When the male jade cicada and female jade cicada unite as one, with life as sacrifice, time can flow backward.”
“Not honest enough…”
As soon as the Grand Shaman finished speaking, Bai Qingyan said he wasn’t being honest, clearly having everything under control. The Grand Shaman couldn’t be sure, and repeatedly kowtowed: “The previous Grand Shaman told me this.”
When Bai Qingyan was reborn, she didn’t have the female jade cicada that was in Sa’er Khan’s hands when she died – only the one Xiao Rongyan had given her.
“Is the time of the backward flow determined by a person’s intentions?” Bai Qingyan didn’t continue pursuing that line of questioning, but changed to another question. After asking, she smiled and said, “Think carefully before answering. I also have a copy of your Tianfeng Kingdom’s ‘National Chronicle’ here.”
Bai Qingyan didn’t have the ‘National Chronicle,’ but there was a story about giant elephants recorded in the ‘National Chronicle’ that Bai Jintong knew about. She had good relations with Tianfeng Kingdom’s nobles and had heard nobles mention it. So when she initially spoke with Bai Qingyan about giant elephants, she had also written down this story and sent it back.
The Grand Shaman’s pupils shifted, and he swallowed back the words he had originally intended to deceive Bai Qingyan with.
Originally, the Grand Shaman had prepared to tell Bai Qingyan that it could indeed be determined by a person’s intentions, making Bai Qingyan go find Sa’er Khan for the female jade cicada. This way, Sa’er Khan would know that the male jade cicada was in Bai Qingyan’s hands. But if Bai Qingyan had the ‘National Chronicle,’ she probably already knew.
“Since Your Majesty has our Tianfeng Kingdom’s ‘National Chronicle,’ why come to ask me?” The Grand Shaman straightened his spine and looked at Bai Qingyan.
“State affairs are numerous, and I haven’t finished reading them yet. I only read that giant elephants were originally divine steeds of the heavenly gods, who were exiled to become servants of Tianfeng Kingdom’s people as punishment for their transgressions, so I came to ask you.”
The Grand Shaman pondered for a moment. Hearing Bai Qingyan mention the contents of the ‘National Chronicle,’ he felt that Bai Qingyan probably wasn’t lying. After all, the ‘National Chronicle’ was only possessed by a few noble families in Tianfeng Kingdom, and they were all enshrined in their homes. Ordinary nobles and commoners had no access to it at all.
At this moment, the Tianfeng Kingdom’s Grand Shaman had begun to suspect whether some of those nobles with the ‘National Chronicle’ in their homes had already betrayed their homeland and joined forces with Great Zhou.
“The ‘National Chronicle’ is written in Tianfeng Kingdom script. Can Your Majesty… understand it?”
“Your Tianfeng Kingdom people have learned our Great Zhou’s script and language quite well, too!” Bai Qingyan said, showing an impatient expression. “I came to ask you because I don’t want to waste time, not to spend my time idling here with you.”
Seeing Bai Qingyan’s impatient expression, the Grand Shaman recalled her words in the great hall about having him calculate how many of the Bai family were still alive from the Southern Border war, and that she would take his head if he calculated incorrectly. He felt that Bai Qingyan probably wasn’t the enlightened ruler and sage lord that outside rumors claimed, but merely a tyrant with the support of worthy ministers.
His heart panicked, and he kowtowed truthfully: “According to Tianfeng Kingdom’s records, the time of backward flow is not determined by people, nor does it follow any pattern. Sometimes it might be twenty years, thirty years… even fifty years. Sometimes it might be one day, or even a few hours. It all depends on how old the person holding the male cicada is – it will be within the lifetime of the person holding the male cicada. However, according to records left by the queen who once used the jade cicada, as long as one prays sincerely to the heavenly gods… there’s still a great possibility of returning to the time the person holding the male cicada wishes to return to. However, during the backward flow… each time point of regression should not exceed the date of the previous regression.”
The Tianfeng Kingdom’s Grand Shaman felt that even if he told Bai Qingyan about this matter, it wouldn’t matter much. If Bai Qingyan knew about this and wanted to join forces with Sa’er Khan to regress to before Great Zhou’s Southern Border war to save her relatives, then regress to before her imperial consort’s death to save her imperial consort, there would be no conflict in the timeline sequence.
Hearing these words, Bai Qingyan’s tightly clenched hands gradually relaxed instead.
She said in a low voice: “Let me guess – the female jade cicada is important, but not as important as the male jade cicada. What can cause time to flow backward is the male jade cicada, and under what circumstances would the male jade cicada cause time to flow backward…”
Bai Qingyan squinted at the Grand Shaman: “Based on the legend, I’d guess it should be when the treasured object or person is destroyed or disappears – breaking the female jade cicada?”
Bai Qingyan pondered for a long time, wondering if her death and resurrection were merely a coincidence – the female jade cicada shattered, and the male jade cicada happened to be in her hands, so when time flowed backward… she retained her memories.