HomeZhang Sheng JueSi Ming - Chapter 36: The Book of Fate

Si Ming – Chapter 36: The Book of Fate

In the Ninth Heaven, at Chang Sheng Heaven, within the War God’s Manor.

The red plum blossoms in the ten-li plum forest outside the War God’s Manor were in full bloom, their fragrance overwhelming in the sunlight. A woman in white cotton clothes lounged lazily under a plum tree, casually flipping through a book of fate patterns while clicking her tongue: “Tsk tsk, the Fate Star-Lord is truly an extremely harsh woman. Look at this register—such a loving pair of simpletons, yet she makes one of them fall to demonic ways. The aftermath will surely be utterly tragic…”

She held the next page between her fingers, about to turn it, when a gentle call came from afar: “San Sheng.”

Her attention was immediately drawn away. She looked up to see her husband—the War God Mo Xi.

San Sheng carelessly tossed the fate book on the ground, stood up, patted her bottom, and walked over, asking as she went: “Did the Heavenly Emperor wake up today?”

Mo Xi nodded: “He’s awake, but still can’t really get up and move around. Wounds from an ancient divine dragon are not easy to heal.” He helped brush fallen petals from San Sheng’s hair and asked with a smile, “Not reviewing fate patterns today?”

“I went to the Fate Star Lord’s chambers for a look around and stole a few fate books to read. I meant to study them for reference, but got lost in reading and forgot about time.” Speaking of this, San Sheng grew animated. She took Mo Xi’s arm and, walking toward the house, said, “The book on her desk was the most fascinating. The Fate Star-Lord lives up to her thousands of years of experience—her writing is truly ruthless.” She vividly recounted the story she had read today to Mo Xi.

After listening, Mo Xi was stunned for a long while before asking seriously: “That woman is going to fall to demonic ways?”

“She probably already has,” San Sheng said, spreading her hands.

Mo Xi rubbed his forehead: “If I’m not mistaken, that should be the Fate Star Lord’s fate pattern after she descended to the mortal realm. Once demonic nature enters the heart, it’s difficult to eliminate—even reincarnation cannot dissolve it. Now that the woman called Er Sheng has fallen to demonic ways, it means that even when the Fate Star-Lord returns to her position, she will harbor demonic nature. Worse still, she might fall from divinity to demon.”

San Sheng was startled: “Hearing it like this, the Fate Star-Lord seems even more heartless, dealing such a black hand to herself! I’m in awe!”

Mo Xi shook his head: “Though the Fate Star Lord lives freely, she wouldn’t joke about such matters. This is quite suspicious… Let me see that fate book.”

San Sheng nodded, but looking at her hands, she saw no trace of the book: “Uh…” She patted herself all over, cold sweat breaking out on her forehead. She looked back at the distant plum forest, where every tree looked familiar. San Sheng scratched her head and laughed, “Just now, I seem to have thrown the book under a plum tree.”

Mo Xi was speechless.

“I accidentally… forgot which plum tree it was. Haha…”

Mo Xi let out a long sigh.

San Sheng’s smile crumpled. She tugged at Mo Xi’s sleeve, tears welling up as she looked at him pitifully: “If something happens to the Fate Star Lord down there, will she come to kill me when she returns to her position?”

“The fate book was written beforehand, everything will follow what’s written there. We just can’t predict what will happen afterward,” Mo Xi thought for a moment and said, “We should tell the Heavenly Emperor about this, after all, it involves the ancient divine dragon.”

At this mention, San Sheng suddenly asked: “Does the Heavenly Emperor love the Fate Star-Lord?”

“He rejected the Fate Star-Lord for over a thousand years, so he probably doesn’t.”

“But I feel like the Heavenly Emperor’s current behavior seems like he’s jealous.” San Sheng narrowed her eyes and said, “The Fate Star Lord’s descent to the mortal realm should be a big deal. The gods have lived so long they’re all bored to tears, they wouldn’t miss such juicy gossip. But after all this time, no one has mentioned it. Obviously, except for us two, perhaps no one knows about this. They might even think that after being rejected by the Heavenly Emperor last time, the Fate Star-Lord was heartbroken, drank too much celestial wine, and is still drunk.”

“Think about it—who besides the Heavenly Emperor could have the ability to suppress news of the Fate Star Lord’s descent?” At this point, San Sheng frowned, somewhat confused, “But if he wanted to protect the Fate Star-Lord, why would he go down to oppose her? Wait! Let me think…”

San Sheng stroked her chin and said: “Could it be that because the Fate Star-Lord has always loved him, her devotion made him think being loved by her was natural, and rejecting her was also natural? But one day he suddenly realized that the Fate Star Lord wasn’t exclusively his, and a sense of loss arose naturally. Someone like the Heavenly Emperor, who has always stood at the heights, would be even more displeased.”

“The Fate Star Lord descended, and soon after the divine dragon escaped from the Ten Thousand Heavens Void, and then the Heavenly Emperor followed down. The Heavenly Emperor protects the Fate Star-Lord in the heavenly court while going down to punish her reincarnation. Even more scandalously, he returned covered in blood from the divine dragon’s attack. Even after regaining consciousness, he hasn’t ordered the celestial army to capture the divine dragon… Mo Xi, doesn’t this look like the story of a husband who knows his wife ran away with someone, secretly nursing his heartbreak while maintaining appearances at home, trying to win his wife back, but ending up badly beaten by his wife’s lover, yet still unwilling to let his family seek revenge for him to save his wife’s face… that kind of drama?”

Mo Xi was stunned for a moment, then shook his head with a slight smile: “Last time you said the Heavenly Emperor and the divine dragon had unspeakable feelings, and now you make such comparisons. The Heavenly Emperor will beat you if he hears this.”

“He’s the Heavenly Emperor, you’re the War God. He’s scholarly, he can’t beat you who’s martial. I’m not afraid.” San Sheng spoke righteously, making Mo Xi laugh helplessly. She ignored him and continued her reasoning, “For someone as rigid as the Heavenly Emperor to swallow the shame of being beaten without sending people to fight back, he must have his concerns. He must be afraid that sending the celestial army to capture the divine dragon would expose the Fate Star Lord’s descent to the mortal realm…”

“The more you think about it, the stranger it gets,” Mo Xi smiled. “The Fate Star-Lord might act recklessly, but the Heavenly Emperor won’t. In recent days, there’s been word that demon realm remnants are stirring again. If war breaks out, who would have time to worry about the divine dragon? Besides, there haven’t been any heavenly disturbances in all the days since he escaped the Ten Thousand Heavens Void.”

San Sheng sighed in disappointment: “What an uninteresting reason.”

Mo Xi laughed: “The celestial army is kept to fight enemies, not to catch lovers.”

“But I still feel there’s some unspeakable passion between these three. There must be something we don’t know.”

“San Sheng indeed doesn’t know,” Mo Xi said. “Today when I saw the Heavenly Emperor, I caught a glimpse of a spell mark on his palm. Now hearing what you say, I think the Heavenly Emperor must have placed that spell on the Fate Star Lord. Though I don’t know what spell it is, just looking at the complex spell pattern, I can tell it’s nothing good. If the Heavenly Emperor truly loved the Fate Star-Lord, how could he bear to put a spell on her?”

“A spell?” San Sheng was shocked, “But that fate book didn’t mention Er Sheng being under a spell… Ah, could it be the legendary punishment?”

One day in heaven equals one year on earth. This punishment was set by the Heavenly Emperor, so during his unconsciousness, Er Sheng safely passed three years, but now that the Heavenly Emperor has awakened, the spell mark will surely have its effect. But what exactly does this spell mark do?

San Sheng complained: “This feeling of not being able to finish the story is uncomfortable! I should go back and look for it.”

Mo Xi nodded in agreement: “This fate book is indeed written strangely, we should find it and look.”

“Speaking of strange, the handwriting in that fate book was also very odd,” San Sheng said. “I’ve studied many of the Fate Star Lord’s fate patterns, and none of them were written so precisely and squarely. Only the four characters at the very beginning had the Fate Star Lord’s style.”

Mo Xi frowned: “What were those four characters?”

“Um, they seemed to be… Heaven Earth Dragon Return.”

Heaven Earth Dragon Return.

Mo Xi’s expression grew serious, “If that’s the case, I fear the writer of that fate book wasn’t human at all.”

San Sheng blinked and thought for a moment: “Naturally, the Fate Star-Lord has been the Fate Star-Lord for thousands of years, how could she be human?”

“I mean, the Fate Star Lord wrote her fate pattern, she wanted to use ‘Er Sheng’s’ life to achieve the goal of ‘Heaven Earth Dragon Return,’ but how to achieve this goal wasn’t written at all.”

San Sheng’s expression also turned serious: “That fate book, is it Heaven’s Will?”

Heaven’s Will—no one can predict what will happen.

“To achieve Heaven Earth Dragon Return, one must break the Ten Thousand Heavens Void’s restraint on the divine dragon. Perhaps even the Fate Star-Lord doesn’t know how to do this, so she simply left it to heaven, letting Heaven’s Will arrange it.”

But Heaven’s Will has always been fickle.

The wind swayed through the ten-li plum forest outside the War God’s Manor, bringing down petals and shaking branches. Under a plum tree, a blue-covered book was blown open page by page, stopping in the middle where there were no more words written. As the wind stopped, the pages stopped turning.

Slowly, on a blank page, a line of text gradually appeared—Wu Fang Immortal Mountain, besieged from both front and back.

When Er Sheng and Chang Yuan arrived at Wu Fang, the battle between Wu Fang disciples and lesser demons was in full swing. Many elders and masters hadn’t shown themselves, seemingly wanting to use this opportunity to train their disciples.

Seeing this situation, Er Sheng knew Wu Fang’s condition was far better than the outside rumors suggested. Riding on Chang Yuan’s dragon horns, she circled the immortal mountain once. Suddenly, she saw Chen Zhu in the forest below, fighting intensely with a black bear demon. He seemed somewhat overdrained, struggling to cope.

Er Sheng quickly called out to Chang Yuan several times.

Chang Yuan had no fondness for Chen Zhu and swished his tail rather unwillingly. Seeing that Chen Zhu truly couldn’t hold on, Er Sheng anxiously patted Chang Yuan’s dragon horn again.

Chang Yuan snorted unhappily but finally couldn’t resist Er Sheng. He descended through the clouds, and suddenly a deafening dragon roar echoed across Wu Fang’s sky. Below, the Wu Fang disciples and lesser demons fighting in chaos were all frightened weak-kneed by this dragon’s cry. Soon after, the demons scattered like birds and beasts, fleeing clean away.

The sudden roar not only scared the lesser demons but also startled the Wu Fang people. But when they looked up to search, there was no trace of the dragon in the sky.

Er Sheng had always thought Chang Yuan was a low-key person and never imagined he would do something so high-profile. Back in their courtyard, Er Sheng opened her mouth, but before she could ask, Chang Yuan answered: “This way is more convenient, and saves time.”

Er Sheng pouted, wanting to say he was clearly showing his temper earlier, but before she could speak, there was a creaking sound as Ji Ling’s door opened. She stood in the doorway wearing her robes, looking over both Er Sheng and Chang Yuan. Her expression was as cold as ever, but her eyes couldn’t hide her joy.

The days away from Wu Fang had felt like hundreds of years to Er Sheng. The moment she saw Ji Ling again, her lips trembled uncontrollably, and she buried her head as she rushed over. Hugging Ji Ling, she nuzzled for a long while without saying a word.

Ji Ling was usually most inept at dealing with Er Sheng’s displays of affection, typically coldly telling her to let go, but today she was stunned for a moment. After pondering for a long while, she somewhat awkwardly placed her hand on Er Sheng’s back and patted it gently, saying: “It’s good that you’re back.”

Hearing these words, Er Sheng’s eyes instantly reddened: “Senior Sister…”

“Little Ears, did you calculate that Master would buy roast chicken today?” Along with this laughing voice from outside the courtyard, an oil-paper-wrapped roast chicken fell from the sky. Ji Ling reached out to catch it before it could hit Er Sheng’s head but ended up with a handful of oil. Ji Ling’s mouth twitched as she said coldly: “Master!”

Shen Zui walked into the courtyard with large strides while picking his ears, “Don’t nag, we have a guest.” Shen Zui smiled as he looked over Chang Yuan, “Little Ears, who is this?”

Er Sheng was still nuzzling against Ji Ling, ignoring Shen Zui. Chang Yuan pondered for a moment, then, imitating mortal etiquette, clasped his hands and said:

“Greetings, Father-in-law.”

The scene fell silent for a moment. Ji Ling lowered her eyelids, hiding the laughter in her eyes. A vein popped on Shen Zui’s forehead as he held his head and sighed: “Truly has the same foolish nature as Er Sheng.”

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