Xu Ji's icy voice echoed across the plaza. The panicked crowd finally, slowly, quieted down.
Only then did Xu Ji turn to the pale-faced Emperor beside him and gently remind him, "Your Majesty..."
"Mm." Emperor Huangfu Haoran had been on the throne for twenty years. A capable and diligent sovereign, he had always striven for effective rule. Although he had lost his composure moments ago, he had now regained his senses.
Huangfu Haoran cleared his throat and declared in a heavy voice, "My Cangqiong Kingdom... has a million battle-hardened, elite soldiers! It has the Grand General of National Guardian, Xu Ji! It has the Champion Marquis, Xu Zhongtian! It has countless outstanding civil and military officials! And it has tens of millions of loyal subjects!"
Gazing at the now completely silent plaza below, Huangfu Haoran gave one last, sharp cry, "And I am still here! The heavens... will not fall!"
The Grand Ceremony Officer forced himself to remain calm and shouted in a trembling voice, "May the heavens bless Cangqiong!"
The stunned crowd in the plaza instinctively followed the Grand Ceremony Officer's lead, shouting, "May the heavens bless Cangqiong!"
But in their hearts, every one of them was wondering: 'Will the heavens... truly continue to protect Cangqiong?'
The centennial grand ceremony, ruined in an instant... How could something like this have happened?
The ancestors of the Cangqiong Kingdom's Royal Family had passed down a saying: 'When the seven stars shine, Cangqiong prospers.' Now, however, the seven great stars had fallen at once. Anyone could see this was a deeply inauspicious omen!
As a capable, middle-aged Emperor, Huangfu Haoran knew in his heart that this matter had nothing to do with the Xu Family's boy.
Yet, as his gaze fell upon the youth who had fainted before the drum, the fear and fury in his chest churned violently.
"Useless!!!"
'The centennial ceremony only happens once every hundred years. How fortunate must one be for that chance to fall to them?'
'And now he's gone and completely ruined it!'
Huangfu Haoran was furious. He wanted to kill someone!
Looking at the Grand General of National Guardian, Xu Ji, who stood beside him with a worried expression fixed on his son, he couldn't help but say, "The Xu Family has been loyal for generations, all passionate valor and martial might, but it seems you're about to produce a Civil Servant. Those Civil Servants in the court... I fear they're all in danger of losing their jobs. One wrong move, and their rice bowls might get snatched away."
The few other officials accompanying the Emperor also wore stiff expressions. They looked at Xu Ji with faint, mocking smiles, barely concealing their schadenfreude.
When Xu Luo had first been given the role of Drummer, he had been the target of no small amount of jealousy.
'Snatching a Civil Servant's Rice Bowl?'
Xu Ji was stunned by Huangfu Haoran's words. While it was true he was a Military General, he was no mere reckless brute. Of course he could hear the deep dissatisfaction toward Xu Luo in the Emperor's voice.
'Failure is failure, and Xu Luo is certainly a bit of a letdown. But this failure had nothing to do with him fainting... What right does he have to say such a thing?'
'And now this talk of snatching a Civil Servant's Rice Bowl. If he could really take those jobs from that flock of Civil Servants, I'd be overjoyed! I can't stand the sight of those posturing scholars who do nothing but squabble for fame and fortune all day...'
Though Xu Ji grumbled inwardly, he of course said nothing aloud.
The Xu Family had been loyal for generations. Xu Ji's own military record was magnificent; he guarded the Empire's frontiers, and his reputation was known in all corners of the land. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to have secured the role of Drummer for Xu Luo.
Although he understood that the Emperor was only taking out his displeasure on Xu Luo with those mocking words, Xu Ji still felt a deep sense of bitterness.
His heart ached as he looked at his son, collapsed before the drum. With a sigh, Xu Ji slowly walked toward the frail young man.
...
The impact of the failed Star Festival spread rapidly. Although Emperor Huangfu Haoran had managed to turn the tide and placate the people to some degree, the matter of the seven falling stars was too immense to be smoothed over with just a few words.
And so, thanks to the Emperor's displaced anger, the sarcastic phrase he had used—"Civil Servant's Rice Bowl"—was attached to Xu Luo, the Star Sacrifice Drummer. The words spread through the Imperial Capital with incredible speed.
The poor boy, still unconscious, had no idea that he had just earned a new nickname: "Civil Servant's Rice Bowl."
Those who had long been jealous of him for obtaining the role of Drummer, and had already found him disagreeable, were especially relentless with their mockery.
In just half a day, several jokes about the "Civil Servant's Rice Bowl" were already making the rounds in the Imperial Capital...
"Careful, the Civil Servant's Rice Bowl is out and about on Vermilion Bird Avenue! All ministers, please take a detour and make way, don't let your rice bowls get snatched!"
Not only did the Empire's high-ranking Military Generals reside on Vermilion Bird Avenue, but so did many of the court's most influential ministers.
"Two Civil Servants are enjoying tea in a teahouse, quoting the classics and discussing worldly affairs, having a grand time. Suddenly, someone shouts, 'Here comes the Civil Servant's Rice Bowl!' The two officials, casting aside all decorum, flee for their lives..."
"A group of Military Generals are training, full of vim and vigor, sparring boisterously. Someone shouts, 'The Civil Servant's Rice Bowl is here!' and the generals turn tail and run... Why would the Military Generals run? They're afraid it's contagious, of course!"
...
Xu Luo remained completely oblivious. After "sickly weakling," "walking pharmacy," and "good-for-nothing," he had now acquired a new title—Civil Servant's Rice Bowl.
Of course, even if he had known, Xu Luo would have simply walked away in silence. Growing up, his frail body—a complete departure from the generations of courageous Xu Family children—had earned him the ridicule of countless people. He was so weak that he would even faint at times.
Starless nights were always when Xu Luo was at his weakest. If a stretch of overcast, rainy days continued for too long, he could become weak enough to pass out.
The entire Xu Family had tried everything they could think of. They had hired countless renowned physicians and sought out all kinds of Spirit Medicine, yet no one could diagnose the cause of Xu Luo's weakness, and no Spirit Medicine ever had any effect.
This was how he'd earned the nicknames "walking pharmacy" and "sickly weakling."
Although they called him a good-for-nothing, Xu Luo's meridians and Dantian were, in fact, perfectly normal.
A powerful Martial Artist who had once examined him concluded that Xu Luo's meridians and Dantian were even stronger than those of an average person. Were it not for his habit of mysteriously fainting during overcast and rainy weather, he could have trained to become a formidable Martial Artist!
...
Xu Luo slowly opened his eyes. His memory ended the moment he fainted in front of the drum at the Star Hall's entrance last night. The time since he passed out was a complete blank.
After taking a moment to clear his head, a bitter smile touched the young man's lips.
He didn't need to guess; he had brought immense shame upon himself this time. His father had gone through untold hardships to win him the role of Drummer, a once-in-a-century chance to undergo a "Washing Marrow and Peeling Fur" and perhaps change his constitution.
Who would have thought that something so bizarre and strange would happen? The Star Festival failed, the seven stars fell... Nothing like it had ever occurred since the founding of the Cangqiong Kingdom.
"Looks like I've brought trouble on the family this time. The mockery and ridicule are one thing, but the real problem is that people will take their anger out on the Xu Family, won't they? I... I really am a good-for-nothing. I even managed to knock myself unconscious just by beating a drum!"
Xu Luo's expression was dejected as he stared at the ceiling beams and muttered to himself.
Although the sixteen-year-old's life experience wasn't extensive, his childhood had forced him to mature far beyond others his age.
"Huh... Wait a second."
Xu Luo's eyes were fixed on a mahogany ceiling beam, one as thick as a dinner plate. The light in that corner was so dim that even if someone happened to look, they wouldn't be able to see anything clearly.
Yet Xu Luo could clearly see a spider, no bigger than a grain of rice, resting motionless upon it...
"My eyesight... When did it get this good?"
Xu Luo stared at the beam in astonishment, thinking he must be hallucinating. He shifted his gaze higher, toward the roof itself.
The Xu Family was a great and powerful clan with profound resources.
Their buildings weren't ostentatious, but the materials used were of the finest quality. The glazed roof tiles sparkled under the sunlight, looking translucent and beautiful.
But that wasn't what truly astonished Xu Luo. It was the fact that his gaze... was actually piercing through the glazed tiles of the roof to see two birds flying in the sky outside!
They were just two ordinary birds, chirping and playing in the sky.
Xu Luo, however, looked as if he had seen a ghost. He leaped out of bed, threw open the door, and rushed into the courtyard, tilting his head back to stare at the sky.
Startled by Xu Luo's sudden appearance in the courtyard, the two cheerfully playing birds chirped and flew away.
Xu Luo, however, remained rooted to the spot, his face a mask of utter shock. After standing stunned for a long moment, he lowered his gaze to the flagstones beneath his feet.
A few ants crawled past his feet. In Xu Luo's vision, the tiny hairs on their legs and the antennae on their heads were rendered in perfect detail!
As his gaze passed through the ants, he saw something a foot deep in the earth beneath them: several slowly wriggling earthworms. The sight left Xu Luo completely stupefied.
After a long while, Xu Luo's shocked face was still numb with disbelief. He muttered to himself, "What in the world is going on? How did my eyesight suddenly get more than ten times better? I can see through roof tiles into the sky, and I can even see through the ground to the creatures living in the soil... Why... why is this happening?"
As he spoke, Xu Luo squatted down in the courtyard and tried to force his vision deeper into the ground.
Using all his effort, Xu Luo could see at most about two feet into the ground. When he tried to push his vision any deeper, his eyes began to sting, and tears started to well up.
Wearing only his sleeping clothes, his hair a mess, Xu Luo squatted in his small courtyard, staring blankly at the flagstones.
This was the scene that greeted the Grand General of National Guardian, Xu Ji, as he walked into the courtyard.
A pang of sorrow hit the battle-hardened general. He stood at the entrance and coughed lightly. He saw his son look up, his expression dazed, with what looked like tears of grievance in his eyes...
A wave of emotion washed over Xu Ji. He took a deep breath, looked at Xu Luo, and said, "Son, don't be afraid. If the heavens fall, your father will be here to hold them up for you!"
Xu Luo reached up to rub his eyes, the corner of his mouth twitching. 'I was crying because I was straining my eyes!' he desperately wanted to explain.
But seeing his father's grave expression, Xu Luo felt a sense of helplessness mixed with deep gratitude. He could only nod forcefully and say, "I know."
Xu Ji walked over and patted Xu Luo lightly on the shoulder. "You're a boy, and men shed blood, not tears. Don't cry so easily in the future. No matter what happens, your father will handle it for you!"
"..."
"Alright, as long as you're okay. Rest quietly for a few days. If you can... try not to go out." With that, Xu Ji gave Xu Luo a look full of fatherly love, then turned and walked away.
Faced with his loving father, Xu Luo was tempted several times to tell him about the changes he was experiencing, but in the end, he held his tongue.
Because he had a gut feeling—his sudden fainting spell last night, and the miraculous ability that had appeared today, seemed... to have some kind of mysterious connection to those seven Beidou Stars.