Chapter 40: We Shall Meet Again Some Day

QiZi, the great master of yin yang, was a hermit who lived in the mountains and forests all year round. If it wasn't for the Queen's accidental acquaintance with him when she was young, even if it was for the Yuan royal family, he would have disdained using astrology to divine for them.

This was the first time in several years that the eldest princess would be going in place of the Queen to Qizi’s secluded place. In order to reach the destination as soon as possible, DuYan only brought 100 imperial guards, disguised himself as a businessman and set off from the capital in a swift carriage.

Since ChengYu was a hostage from Cheng-guo, according to common sense he should not have taken a step out of Yuan-guo’s capital. But DuYan had always been unreasonable and said that he had to be served by ChengYu.

Recently, King Yuan had been wanting to appease the Wu Family in order to avoid any problems when he ordered the general to come back from the frontiers. In addition, with 100 imperial guards at DuYan’s side, the hostage from Cheng-guo alone wouldn’t be able to cause any trouble anyway.

Now that five days had passed, they were going to arrive within two more days of travel.

Sitting in the carriage, DuYan felt the speed suddenly slowed down a lot, and there was also the faint sound of gurgling water.

He thought that they had already arrived at the location, so he opened the partition of the side window and looked out.

Soldiers were stationed at both sides of the horse drawn carriage. When they saw DuYan lifting the curtain, they bent down slightly and said, “Eldest Princess, this is not the capital. Please don’t look around at will.”

After saying that, without giving DuYan any face, he directly reached out and closed the side curtain of the carriage.

"Where did this boorish man come from! When we go back, I’m going to fix you up!”

An angry voice came from inside the carriage, and the guards outside didn’t even squint. They were already used to the unruly and domineering behavior of the eldest princess.

But in fact, inside the carriage, DuYan's expression was calm and indifferent. He bent down slightly, picked up the note that the soldier had just thrown into the carriage, and began to examine it.

"There are a hundred guards, and more than ten are under YuanJue. When the time comes, this subordinate will try to move them away from the carriage in order to easily take action.”

DuYan’s spy that he had placed by YuanJue had already told Concubine Hui of his actions, and DuYan knew they would start moving at this spot when they returned.

YuanJue had sent a message to the local bandits, saying that in a few days, there would be merchants passing by here, and that the merchants had brought valuable goods. Of course those bandits wouldn’t be able to deal with these elite soldiers.

But all YuanJue needed was for these bandits to cause a riot. Then the people he had placed would take the opportunity to startle the eldest princess' horse. Once the horses were frightened, maybe it would drive the carriage into the deep stream, or maybe the carriage would be crushed under the mountain wall. Either way, she would be dead or disabled.

Whether it was death by stream or by being crushed, YuanJue felt that he would be able to release his mouthful of anger. Even if the Wu family wanted to pursue the matter, they would only be able to vent their anger on the bandits.

With YuanJue's ability to plan, there was no way he was able to think of killing someone with a borrowed knife. In actuality, this was DuYan’s idea, and all he had to do was send his spy to YuanJue.

The matter of offering sacrifices to the heavens and praying for blessings was related to the country’s fortune, so even a fool like YuanJue knew that he couldn’t make problems before DuYan arrived. Thus he arranged the accident during DuYan’s return trip.

The terrain here was narrow, with high mountain walls on the left and a deep stream on the right. It was the perfect ambush place for the bandits.

While DuYan was thinking about it, he heard a soft knock on the carriage door.

He opened a gap, and saw ChengYu sitting at the front of the carriage looking back, "Princess, are you bored?

DuYan glanced at him, "What do you think? I've been stuck in this narrow carriage for all of the five days. It's not like you, who can glance at the scenery on the road."

ChengYu spoke in a low voice, "I’ve already prepared things for you. I’ve placed them in the hidden compartment under the seat.”

The purpose of this trip was to worship heaven and earth in order to bless Yuan-guo. Naturally, he had to be sincere, and to not indulge in enjoyment. Thus in the bags they brought, apart from the food that were to be sacrificed to heaven, and the necessary food and clothing, there was nothing else.

As the venerable princess, for DuYan’s safety, he couldn’t ride a horse unless they were setting up camp. Even though DuYan wasn’t one with a restless disposition, he still felt suffocated and unbearable.

He closed the door, reached out and touched the hidden compartment under the seat. There, he found a small wooden box with exquisite carvings. After opening it, there were some preserved fruits and a few books.

As he read the book to pass the time, DuYan suddenly felt a bit melancholic. After spending such a long time with Chengyu, he could say that he was actually quite pleased with him.

When DuYan thought about how they were going to separate, and then become enemies in the future when they meet again, he felt he would be a bit unaccustomed to it.

It's just that ChengYu would become the emperor and rule the world, so how could he always stay a servant. Perhaps in the future, when ChengYu thought of this time, he would even stab him to death with a sword.

DuYan picked up the preserved fruit and put it into his mouth, sighing in his heart, "It's really not easy to have a meal."

A few days later, the group arrived at the place where QiZi lived in seclusion.

The guards brought by the eldest princess were all stationed outside the valley, and only the eldest princess was allowed to enter.

Inside the camp, DuYan was taking a bath and burning incense in preparation of the solemn prayer. After putting on the ceremonial dress, he walked out of the tent slowly.

The eldest princess had always been active and never liked wearing accessories. So her clothing had always been simple and light. This was the first time ChengYu had seen her in such a grand dress.

The ceremonial dress was a black brocade robe with bright red embroidery. Red silk threads bordered the dark patterns of a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix, and the black hair was casually tied up with a jade hairpin.

Apart from the jade hairpin and the accessories around his waist, there was no gold or silver. QiZi was a person who was detached from the common world. When DuYan entered his residence, he naturally couldn’t wear such vulgar things such as gold and silver.

ChengYu looked at his back, and suddenly there was an illusion in his heart that the person in front of him was going to go to some unknown place and never return.

This sense of being left behind, brought about a sense of panic, making him take a step forward, stopping in front of DuYan.

DuYan was not used to this ceremonial dress. The layers on layers were making his shoulders ache, and his pace a little slow.

Due to concentrating on his feet, so as not to accidentally trip over the skirt or make it dirty. When suddenly, a dark shadow entered his eyesight.

DuYan looked up and saw ChengYu standing in front of him with an unfathomable expression, looking at him attentively.

He thought that the other party had something to say, and so he waited for a moment, but saw that ChengYu was just staring at him blankly without saying a word.

DuYan frowned slightly, "ChengYu, what are you doing?”

ChengYu seemed to have just regained his thoughts and said, "Princess, be careful on the road."

"Of course," DuYan glanced at him and moved on.

DuYan walked all the way into the center of the valley, and soon, it became bright open. In the valley, the birds were singing, the flowers were blooming, and the streams were gurgling.

Above the central clearing, there was a high stone altar. Next to the stream was a simple bamboo house, in which the sound of the qin was coming from.

DuYan stood outside the bamboo house without making a sound, just quietly listening to the sound of the qin.

A moment later, the song ended, and an old voice came from inside the bamboo house.

"Is it Prince Yan?”

"Yes." DuYan bowed.

The door of the bamboo house opened with a creak, and an old man in a gray robe came out.

With a bit of preparation, the two boarded the star-gazing platform and began the long ritual of offering sacrifices to heaven. The ritual did not come to an end until the night was getting darker and darker, and all the stars had ascended to the sky.

DuYan's shoulders were sore because of the heavy dress on his body. He sighed in his heart and felt fortunate that the queen was a tigress in a family of generals, and had practiced martial arts before she got married. Otherwise, after this long ritual of offering sacrifices to heaven, he was afraid that she would have gotten ill for a few days.

Tonight was the night of the new moon. The moon was dark and the stars were shining. It was the best night for stargazing.

The old man knelt on the altar and looked up, holding a bone carving knife in his hand.

"The emperor's star is getting brighter, it has reached the middle of the sky, and the world will be united."

Both the queen and QiZi thought that the emperor's star was DuYan. Thus, due to the Yuan King’s suspicions, they could only have DuYan act as a girl. It’s just that they didn’t understand why the star was so dark. So they thought that now was the time to take action. Only by restoring DuYan’s identity as the Yuan Prince, would the emperor’s star be clearer.

However, DuYan knew that the emperor’s Star was referring to ChengYu, the protagonist of Cheng-guo. The emperor’s star was dark, only because ChengYu was a hostage in Yuan-guo, while suffering and wasting time. Now that he was about to return to Cheng-guo to take back the throne and start his journey to rule the world, did the star gradually become clearer.

"This old man made a new discovery a few days ago. A companion star suddenly appeared next to the emperor’s star, and the brilliance is enough to compete with the emperor’s star."

DuYan said, "Is this companion star assisting the emperor star or competing with the emperor’s star to become the star of the world?"

The tortoise shell used for divination had been baked for a long time before, and was full of cracks. QiZi picked up the tortoise shell and looked at it carefully for a long time before he said, "The two stars are fighting for glory, and the situation in the world is unknown. I hope you will pay attention to this matter after you return to the capital."

After that, he raised his hand and used the carving knife to inscribe the words of divination on the turtle shell and handed it to DuYan.

King Yuan would not be seeing this tortoise shell. Since before DuYan set off, he had already prepared forged tortoise shells to deal with him.

He bid farewell to Qizi and returned directly along the same path.

Early the next day, DuYan left with the group to return to the capital.

Two days later, the group reached the dangerous road on the mountainside again, and DuYan was casually flipping through the book in his hand, waiting for the bandits to appear.

Halfway through, the carriage stopped.

DuYan pushed open the door and called out, "What's the matter?"

The soldier stepped forward and replied, "The road ahead is blocked by fallen trees, please wait a moment, princess."

Their eyes met, and DuYan nodded slightly, signaling the soldier to act according to the plan.

"Go and have a look. Don’t let it delay the trip.”

"Understood." The soldier saluted him and then walked away.

DuYan thought for a while, and then ordered, "ChengYu, I feel a bit uneasy. Don’t leave the carriage.”

ChengYu agreed. Since the current situation was unknown, he didn’t intend on leaving the princess even half a step.

Just a moment after the soldier left, rocks came rolling down towards DuYan’s carriage.

The team that was escorting the eldest princess were all experienced people. They knew that the terrain here was dangerous, so they did not walk along the mountain wall. Therefore, the falling rock only scattered the neat team, and did not cause much damage.

The people waiting in ambush were just building momentum with the falling rocks. Their purpose was to rob money. If a falling stone destroyed the property, then it would all be done in vain.

So just after the wave of falling rocks, a figure appeared on the top of the mountain, rushing down shouting to kill.

In the information that the bandits got, they were told that it was only a group of ordinary caravans. Even with some guards, there would not be too many. These bandits thought that after this wave of falling rocks, the people of the caravan would obediently hand over their belongings.

It never occurred to them that these people dressed as ordinary people would draw their weapons and quickly adjust their formation and prepare for battle.

It's just that things had already come to this point, so the bandit had to bite the bullet and fight.

Naturally, these bandits were not the opponents of well-trained soldiers. Most of them were subdued in a short time, and only a few remained stubbornly resisting.

Just as the fighting was about to halt, a stream of arrows flew out during the melee, just between the horses pulling the princess’s carriage that was also being guarded by the group of soldiers.

The arrow was not shot out fast, and the horses were not seriously injured, but they were frightened. Soon, they could see the horses neighing and galloping along the road uncontrollably.