#384 - Dew drops on the ground
What is the Heavenly Dao?
The *Tao Te Ching* says, 'There is a thing formed, before Heaven and Earth were born. Silent and void, it stands alone and does not change; it revolves without danger. It may be considered the mother of all things under Heaven. I do not know its name; I call it Tao; I am forced to name it Great.'
To put it simply, the Heavenly Dao is the natural order, or the universal laws, that can never be fully understood but truly exist.
As 'people' endowed with the power of these rules, the Sons of Heavenly Dao are more than just lucky compared to ordinary people.
They rightfully possess a power that, in at least one aspect, can infinitely approach the 'rules'.
For example, Yun Lian, who could summon heavenly lightning and destroy the Tianluo Sect's mountain gate overnight.
Perhaps that is why he had been neglecting such a 'variable'.
Of course, whether Wei Changtian neglected it or not, he could not have guessed Ning Yongnian's trump card.
And honestly, he had already done everything he could in the matters of Yanluo and Yuanzhou.
However, under the current circumstances, it was difficult for Wei Changtian to change what was about to happen.
No item in the system could allow him to reach Yuanzhou City, tens of thousands of miles away, within six hours.
Nor was there any item that could break the 'wall' blocking the path of life for millions of people.
If it were Xiao Feng, he might still be able to expect a 'turnaround by the Heavenly Dao' that would likely occur.
But now...
Si hour (9-11 AM).
After continuously bombarding the 'Locking Dragon Formation' for half an hour from various angles, Meng Shi finally received the latest order from Fengyuan—
Completely block the news of the 'city slaughter', spare no expense to search for Bai Youheng in the city, and execute him immediately.
Wu hour (11 AM-1 PM).
All members of the Same Boat Society in the Great Ning capital simultaneously received an order that shocked them to the core—
Use all possible means and power to attempt to assassinate Ning Yongnian before midnight tonight.
Wei hour (1-3 PM).
Without any warning, the 400,000 troops stationed in Feng County received a military order directly issued by the commander, Wu Ding—
The entire army will prepare their weapons and set off westward immediately.
Li Qi, Wei Changtian, and Ning Yongnian had all done everything they could.
As for the result...
Shen hour (3-5 PM).
After an hour of preparation, the 400,000 Great Ning troops finally left Feng County after more than a month, advancing towards Yuanzhou City like a flood.
Most of the soldiers in the army only thought that they were going to counterattack Yuanzhou City, not knowing that their goal was far more than just one city.
Their ultimate destination was Fengyuan.
You hour (5-7 PM).
Including the regional commanders, deputy generals, and military supervisors, a total of twelve high-ranking officials in the Great Ning army who secretly pledged allegiance to different 'big figures' had received the order to assassinate Ning Yongnian.
However, although everyone knew that the latter was currently in Yuanzhou, no one knew exactly where Ning Yongnian was.
Without knowing where he was, there was no way to carry out the assassination.
Xu hour (7-9 PM).
The chaos in Yuanzhou City had lasted for a whole day.
Ordinary people did not know what was happening, and even most of the Great Feng soldiers were the same.
They were just holding Bai Youheng's portrait and turning Yuanzhou City upside down.
In the process, the number of people who were wrongly killed simply because they looked somewhat like Bai Youheng had reached hundreds, but the person himself had not been found.
And as the night grew darker, the difficulty would only increase.
Until there was no hope at all.
Hai hour (9-11 PM).
Only one hour left until July 15th.
The eleventh secret report from Yuanzhou City today, also the last one, was sent to Li Qi's hand.
Outside Fengyuan City.
The night was as usual, and the evening breeze was refreshing.
Nearly a thousand Imperial Guards holding long halberds guarded dozens of temporary tents, and the faintly visible banner with the character 'Feng' attracted frequent glances from the 'refugees' not far away.
According to the original plan, Li Qi and Wei Changtian and others should have gone to the imperial villa dozens of miles away for one night after leaving the city.
But now that something had happened in Yuanzhou, I am afraid that no one would be in the mood to go to the imperial villa to 'enjoy life'.
"Sigh."
Looking at Li Qi, who was holding the secret letter and trembling non-stop, Wei Changtian sighed deeply, knowing that the content of this letter should not be much different from the previous ones.
Killing Bai Youheng or Ning Yongnian before midnight was the only way to break the situation.
However, until this moment, neither of these two things could be done.
"Your Majesty, how is the situation?"
Although he had already guessed the result, Wei Changtian still asked unwillingly.
Li Qi was silent, slowly sitting on a wooden chair carved with a pattern of a soaring dragon.
This was the first time Wei Changtian had seen him sit down from this morning until now.
"..."
Shaking his head and walking closer, he bent down to pick up the secret letter that had fallen on the ground.
As expected, Bai Youheng had still not been found.
However, this time at the end of the letter, Meng Shi did not ask if there were any other methods as before, but asked another question—
Should we continue to conceal the truth of their impending death from the 2.5 million people in Yuanzhou City?
"..."
Looking at this last question, Wei Changtian was silent for a long time.
At this time, Li Qi also slowly closed his eyes.
He seemed to be very tired, so tired that he was unwilling to think about anything anymore.
"Young Master Wei, you make the decision on this matter."
"I want to rest for a while."
"..."
Taking a deep look at Li Qi, Wei Changtian nodded slightly.
Turning around and walking out of the tent, he stopped in front of the messenger who had been waiting outside.
The night sky was dotted with stars, and broken clouds passed by slowly.
Wei Changtian hesitated for a long time.
If he were to start from a "humanitarian" point of view, he should let everyone know what they were about to face... even if it was death.
At least that way they would still have some time to say goodbye to their families, or take another look at the world.
But...
"Tell General Meng to continue blocking the news until everything is over."
"..."
"Yes."
Uttering a word with great difficulty, the messenger quickly turned and ran away.
Wei Changtian stood there for a while, not going back to the tent to disturb Li Qi, but slowly walking towards Chu Xianping, Li Wutong and others who were gathered not far away.
"Young Master!!!"
Li Wutong, who was already crying, stumbled over, and her tears instantly soaked Wei Changtian's lapel.
From the latter's expression, she had already seen the result.
"Young, Young Master, why..."
"Why..."
"..."
It was hard to say what Li Wutong was asking at this moment.
Was she asking why Ning Yongnian would be so unscrupulous?
Or was she asking why she and Li Qi couldn't stop all this from happening?
Wei Changtian didn't know, and couldn't give an answer.
Gently patting her constantly trembling back, he raised his eyes to look at Chu Xianping.
The latter didn't speak, just shook his head silently, indicating that the Same Boat Society had made no progress either.
It could be seen that Chu Xianping's mood was also very low at this time.
Although he had helped Wei Changtian solve countless problems, this time he was ultimately powerless.
"..."
"Caw!"
"Caw! Caw!"
In the distance, the cries of crows sounded faintly.
The osmanthus flowers outside Fengyuan City seemed to be blooming a little early this year, and a gust of wind brought a faint fragrance of osmanthus.
Overhead, the vast and boundless sky and countless stars shone with infinite mystery and reverie. They did not pay attention to each other, did not look at each other, but only rose when they should rise, and fell when they should fall.
Then, a drop of dew fell to the ground.
Zi hour (11 PM-1 AM) arrived.
