"That dates back to fifteen years ago, when I first inherited the family."
A month ago, the Fire Wind State.
A beam of sunlight shined through the iron fence, passing through the dust in the air and illuminating half of the man's face. Gaius Optimis stared at the clock facing him on the wall, recounting the dusty past in his mind.
"The former head of the family, Claudius, died in an assassination, and I was unable to learn the family secrets from him. So after calming down the situation, I immediately started sorting out Claudius's belongings, hoping to find out the secrets he had hidden, so that I could Take complete control of the power of this ancient family.”
"But the information I actually obtained exceeded my imagination."
Click, click, the second hand of the clock sounds, recording the progress of time with the same interval. It was so quiet in the cell that not even the pen of the recorder made a sound. Gaius paused, as if the next words had the weight of a mountain, and even a man like him needed to be prepared before he could say them.
"I saw Claudius's correspondence records. Letters, summons ceremonies, virtual images, the time and place of each communication were recorded in detail by him, and they were closely guarded in the secret room of the family headquarters. Correspondence came from all over the world, from all over the world. There are traces of his interactions with certain people from the capitals of great countries to the wilderness areas where civilization has not been established. He left no communication content, but I immediately thought of his intentions..."
"I found the arms business ledger of the Ultimus family and compared it with the communication time. The results are clear at a glance. Before and after nearly two-thirds of the communications ended, the family would have completed a large arms transaction, or Intercepting newly developed finished products from other countries. This is obviously him communicating with business partners around the world.
But nearly one-third of the communications have not been decrypted. I compared every expenditure of the family, but could not find any connection between them. Those times always made me feel inexplicably familiar. I went back and looked through my diary to find the source of the familiarity, and that’s when I discovered the obvious truth. Those were the events in which I personally participated in most of the events - the 'operations' corresponding to these communication points were the large-scale conflicts between the United States and the Empire on the Northern Front. "
"One-third of the communications come from Yongguang Imperial Capital."
The recorder's fingers trembled unconsciously, and the tip of the pen rested on the paper for a long time, producing ugly ink stains. Gaius remained as calm as ever. He listened to the sound of the pointer and continued to recall indifferently.
"At that moment, I realized that the so-called 'Secret War' was by no means as simple as I understood. I realized that there were secrets hidden behind this war that even Claudius was unable to control. He recorded these communications Not to pass it on to successors, but to regard it as 'evidence' to protect my life. At the same time, I decided to forget all this, abandon my conjecture, and pretend to be an incompetent family head who did not discover the secret until someone far away in the imperial capital revealed it. Hezhong’s past is forgotten.”
Gaius slowly closed his eyes.
"However," he said, "shortly after discovering the truth, I received a strange communication. That communication came from Yongguang Imperial Capital, and its initiator claimed that he was...
"The Red Emperor Royal Family."
The pen fell to the ground, and dark blue ink stained the cracks in the stone. The recorder gasped in panic and did not notice that the clock on the wall was malfunctioning at this time. The second hand that should be moving forward stopped in the middle, as if a cold machine was cutting time.
·
Now, Yongguang Imperial Capital, ritual ceremony hall.
"Within 15 minutes, a total of 214 cases of abnormal space-time fluctuations occurred in 16 provinces across the country. Multiple caves and paradises appeared at the same time. Local manpower was severely lacking!"
"Take my seal and ribbon to send an order to the Imperial Academy. The outer disciples will form temporary partners with the second-level disciples, and they will go to the formation center in pairs to provide support."
"Kong Tong Province and Maoshan Province have sent early warning signals of dragon disasters. In fact, the stability of the realm has been shaken acutely. It is expected that a dragon disaster will come within 5 to 20 minutes..."
"Invite headquarters B3 and B5 to bring the elite Yaoguang Guards to rush for reinforcements. All An Yushi and A-level travelers are on standby at any time. Inform the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Rites to prepare for emergencies. The results of the divination are average. I'm afraid tonight will be a long night."
"Yes!" "Yes!" "Yes!"
It was almost evening, but the semi-circular hall was still busy. Paper documents were flying like snowflakes, short and powerful reports sounded, and people in official uniforms walked in and out of the semicircular hall, without any hesitation in their actions, like worker ants entering and exiting a huge and complex hive.
The leader who has complete control over this lair sits at the top of the hall, and the huge organization operates smoothly under his network of meticulous thoughts. He faced the national map occupying the front wall, which was a piece of natural jade as black as ink. Ancient craftsmen used their chisel hammers with uncanny skills to carve eternal mountains and rivers on jade. The Mountain and River Map monitors the entire empire, and any changes will be faithfully displayed, turning into pure white "false spots" in the dark mountains and rivers.
In the past, when Liu Zhongwu was sitting firmly in the command room, he could erase the white with just a few words. Everyone looked at the great rivers and mountains in the dark and felt deeply at peace. However, today is different from the past. Hundreds of emergencies broke out at the same time across the country as scheduled, and nearly half of the entire mountain and river map was dyed white. The Yongguang Empire is not a mess. Even if we look forward three hundred years, there will never be such a mess. Even the most senior An Yushi can't help but be frightened. At this time, Taichang Qing, who is giving orders from a high place, is everyone's reassurance. Master Liu is as stable as Mount Tai, and nothing big will happen to Jiangshan Sheji.
Liu Zhongwu is indeed in a stable state of mind. He has experienced so many storms and waves over the years, so this situation is not his turn to be frightened. While giving orders, he was also asking for fortune-telling: "The public security in the imperial capital must be stabilized first. Has the Qin family been contacted?"
The young man with tied hair on one side replied: "A small group of people in the martial arts world want to wait for an opportunity to cause trouble, and have been subdued by the Yaoguang Guards led by the Qin family. But Mr. Qin An is not in the city, and it is difficult to suppress some old-fashioned people with strong political habits..."
"It doesn't matter, someone will naturally convince them later. Where is Mr. Qin?"
The young deputy paused and whispered: "...still no contact."
Liu Zhongwu looked at the night sky through the window. The moonlight was bright tonight, and the moon was as full as a jade plate. He knew that Qin An was in the Jade Plate at this moment, assisting His Majesty in stabilizing the overall situation. Qin An's lack of reply means that there is still no news from His Majesty, and the oldest country in the world still cannot contact its hero. And this is not the worst situation. The busy people in the ceremony hall cannot notice it. Only Liu Zhongwu's eyes are looking at the sky:
The outline of the moon was becoming hazy, and the moonlight was so grand that it was counterintuitive, as if two bright moons were overlapped and hung in the same sky.
"We need to speed up..." Liu Zhongwu said to himself.
At this time, the divination results came out, and Taichang Qing and his young deputy went to see them at the same time. In the four-pillar divine compass is the astrological array arranged by Mr. Xuanzhi himself, with stars filling the sky to correspond to the destiny of the empire. At this moment, the stars in the astrolabe are dim, and the stars in the north are dim and dim, forming a faint dragon shape. A dark star is dragging a long tail and swaying in the north, emitting an ominous red light.
The young deputy's voice trembled unconsciously: "Yinghuo Shouxin, attacking the dragon energy... Shenjing is very dangerous!"
He loved divination when he was in Imperial College, and now he can know the predictions of the stars at a glance. The darkness in the north means that the emperor is unknown, the lingering shadows indicate a bad omen of weapons and weapons, and the starlight company with dragon aura is a sign of an impending dragon disaster. However, the dragon's spirit has a shape but no eyes and lacks specific information. Mr. Xuanzhi will never be able to calculate such an ambiguous result. Then there is only one possibility. The number of impending dragon disasters is so great that the astrolabe cannot summarize the commonalities, only the general dragon aura corresponds!
"It's a good look. I haven't missed any basic skills." Liu Zhongwu slowly picked up the tea cup and said, "Inform all personnel around the imperial capital to be on standby and not to act rashly."
The young deputy gave the order immediately, and then asked uneasily: "Sir, do you want...?"
Liu Zhongwu took a sip of tea, smacked his lips, and realized that the tea was already cold: "Bring me two throat lozenges."
The young deputy was dumbfounded for a moment. Mr. Xuanzhi had been famous for a long time, but he had never heard of using any magical power of sound wave transmission. Since when does fortune telling have anything to do with your voice? Could it be that Master Liu secretly practiced the lion's roar technique during his three years in Cangdu?
He frightenedly took two candies and turned his head to stare at the movement above the imperial capital. Just when he raised his eyes, the sky above the imperial capital was filled with stars. The young deputy reported the situation immediately: "The signs of dragon disaster, the number is expected to be more than 20!"
"I saw it." Mr. Liu was still slowly holding the candy in his mouth.
At this time, the unknown starlights merged into one, and in an instant, a gap like a huge mouth opened in the realm of reality. A total of 21 starlights representing dragon disasters swayed from the other side of the world. The young deputy's voice was surprisingly high-pitched due to nervousness: "Mr. Liu... aren't you still yelling?"
Mr. Liu laughed dumbly: "What are you thinking about? I moisturized my throat to rest."
rest? Do you want to rest when you see that the emperor is about to die? ! The young deputy almost didn't catch his breath and almost wanted to fly up to fight the dragon.
His breath stopped and he couldn't believe his eyes. Those 21 starlights disappeared at the same moment, and the originally bright and dazzling light was all extinguished in an instant, as if an invisible god stretched out a giant hand to grab the stars. The cracks in the real realm closed, and in the blink of an eye, the sky above the imperial capital became calm as usual. Suddenly, there were repeated exclamations from below the two people. The young deputy subconsciously heard the sound and moved away, realizing that the white dots on the mountain and river map were disappearing.
Centered around the imperial capital where everyone is located, an invisible "circle" is expanding at an unimaginable speed, sweeping across the vast territory of the Yongguang Empire. Wherever the invisible circle goes, all errors are destroyed. In the blink of an eye, there is no trace of white on the jade, and the empire's mountains and rivers return to the dark night!
"...Yes, Master Yan took action?" The shocked young deputy could not think of other possibilities.
Old Liu poured the herbal tea, poured another cup, and blew on the tea stems standing up on the water.
"The dimness of the stars is not necessarily ominous. When a strong person is born, he will naturally not see the light of others. When the light is confused, evil spirits appear, which means that disaster is coming. Murderous intentions are everywhere. They are also protected by swords and evil stars are patrolling. The dragon spirit is obvious but not spiritual. You have seen the number of dragon disasters. I'm not sure, why don't I stop thinking about whether this Qi refers to a dragon?" Old Liu said slowly, "A good prediction means a 'no mistake'. The most important thing to avoid in divination is an impulsive attitude, impulsiveness, and a lack of clarity on the overall situation. .”
"You mean...!"
The young deputy suddenly woke up after listening to the adult's explanation. He clenched his hands in excitement, and he thought of another possibility besides Lord Yan, that world-famous legend.
Old Liu put down his tea cup and said with a smile: "Yes, reinforcements have arrived."
There was a gray-haired young man in the Silent Ceremony Hall, wearing ordinary casual clothes and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. An Yu's scholars and passers-by all looked at him with admiration and awe. Everyone in the world had heard of his reputation and legend. Killing four dragons with a fierce sword alone, breaking into Lingdao to suppress Hezhong. A battle in the sky conquered the filthy sun, and the theater was destroyed to eliminate the evil god. The star that annihilates the source of evil, the star of invisible killing!
Gongsun Ce nodded to everyone in return. He pushed up his glasses habitually: "I took care of some chores on the way back. I hope it will make everyone's work easier... Good evening, Mr. Liu, I am Gongsun Ce. I don't have Are you late?"
Old Liu smiled amiably: "You came at just the right time!"
