Chương 25: The Star of Salvation

When Gu Zhao was escorted out of the imperial prison, the sun stood directly overhead, its glare sharp enough to sting the eyes. The heavy cangue weighed down his shoulders slightly, yet there was not a trace of defeat in him. People packed both sides of the long street. There were his former subordinates from the Bureau of Astronomy, students from the Imperial Academy, and, in far greater number, commoners he had once saved. They followed him from outside the prison gates all the way to the execution ground.

Again and again, the imperial guards leveled their spears and forced back the surging crowd, to little effect. Gu Zhao raised his head. He saw a couple standing at the front of the crowd. The woman held the hand of a boy about five years old. The child did not understand what was happening. He knew only that the prisoner before him was the one who had once saved him from a cell. A red rain had fallen on the night of his birth, and an adept had branded him a baleful star for it.

Gu Zhao had been the one who cleared his name. Not far away, The Vice Minister of Personnel's third daughter also stood among the crowd. Today, she wore none of her usual bright dresses, only a drab gray cloak. Her eyes were swollen red from crying. The system panel remained open before her, and people on the Forum were still tagging @Greenfeather nonstop. Another player stood at the front of the crowd, his face torn between outrage and anguish. A nearly imperceptible light glimmered across his palm.

Perhaps he looked too much like someone about to charge forward and break the prisoner free. Even the imperial guards noticed him. They shot him warning looks and shoved him hard back into the crowd. The commotion drew Gu Zhao's gaze. He looked at the man and gently shook his head. All at once, the courage the man had gathered for so long seemed to drain out of him.

He crouched down, covered his face, and broke into uncontrollable sobs, as if he hated himself for his powerlessness, or was pained by what Gu Zhao's response meant. Even the execution overseer at the execution ground looked shaken. Never had he seen so many people come to bid farewell to a condemned man. Following procedure, he unfurled the execution writ and read out Gu Zhao's crimes. Usually, when he finished pronouncing the sentence, the crowd erupted in cheers. This time, the silence was terrifying.

Wordless grief surged through the crowd like a flood. Gu Zhao looked down the long street once more. Those he had saved crowded around the execution ground, watching him with sorrow in their eyes. The five-year-old boy was still struggling in his mother's arms, as though he wanted just one clearer look at him. Gu Zhao closed his eyes. At least in the final moment of his life, he was not alone. The hour had come. The execution overseer flung the wooden tally into the air.

The wind caught Gu Zhao's plain white prison robe. Then let it fall. Countless cries of grief burst across the execution ground. The grief the people had held back for so long finally burst forth.

That same afternoon, the Yong Emperor issued another edict. Gu Zhao was a chief traitor guilty of rebellion. No one was to hold private rites for him, burn paper offerings in his memory, or raise mourning cries for his spirit. Anyone who privately set up a tablet to honor his spirit would be punished as a fellow conspirator. Large numbers of the Insignia Guard were dispatched to patrol the streets. More than half the shops selling incense, candles, and paper offerings were sealed shut.

The Vice Minister of Personnel's third daughter sat silently in her room for a long time. She could not accept that she was forbidden even to burn a few paper offerings for Gu Zhao's spirit. After nightfall, she secretly climbed onto the low wall around the rear courtyard and released a sky lantern into the darkness. Nothing was written on its surface. There was no name. No word of mourning. Yet everyone who saw it knew whom it had been lit for.

At first, the lantern wobbled through the air and nearly struck the eaves. In the end, it cleared the ward wall and slowly rose into the deep blue vault of the sky. The Insignia Guard on night patrol soon arrived, shouting questions as they searched everywhere. By then, a second lantern had already risen from the neighboring ward. Then one rose in the south of the city. Then in West Market. In an unnoticed alley in Yongning Ward, someone released an even larger lantern.

A faint light also drifted up from the rear lane of the Bureau of Astronomy, casting its glow above the stargazing terrace. When questioned, the astronomer on duty merely waved a hand and said he had seen no one release a lantern. The Insignia Guard raced futilely along the broad streets, chasing "suspects" who left no trace. Whenever they looked up, all they could see was one nameless light after another rising into the night.

By midnight, the sky above the capital had been illuminated by this vast act of mourning, like a silent meteor shower. Enraged, the Yong Emperor ordered the guards to shoot down several sky lanterns that had drifted into the imperial city. Arrows pierced their canopies. Burning paper frames spun into the darkness. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Throughout the city, more windows were quietly opening.

Gu Zhao was denied even a memorial tablet to honor his spirit. But that night, the entire capital filled with sky lanterns escorting his spirit home. Oliver leaned against the palace wall, watching those mortal sparks kindle across the city, and remembered the clear, unwavering eyes he had seen in the imperial prison.

Far from the capital, in a relay station beside the road, Gu Zhiwei had gone nearly two days without closing her eyes. She sat at a wooden table, peeling the sweat-soaked cloth from her wounded hands. It had stuck to the raw skin, tearing at it as she pulled it free, but her brow did not so much as twitch. Outside the relay station, an attendant led over a fresh horse. But she no longer had any reason to set out again. Matt stood in the doorway with his arms folded, blocking her path.

"You need to rest now. Whatever else there is, we can talk after you've slept." She tried to speak, but her vision suddenly went black. Gu Zhiwei reached out and braced herself against the edge of the table. At last, she decided to sleep for a while. The relay station smelled damp and moldy, and the bed frame was alarmingly flimsy, creaking at the slightest turn. She thought she wouldn't be able to sleep, but fell asleep almost the instant she closed her eyes.

In a haze, she found herself standing outside of the Gu residence. Lamps glowed beneath the covered walkway. Gu Zhao sat inside in his usual blue-green robe, reading a book. He had left food waiting for her on the table. At the sound of the door, he looked up from his book, a fond, exasperated look in his eyes.

"Close the door, quickly. You're letting all the cold wind in." Everything was exactly as it had been on New Year's Eve. Gu Zhiwei stood motionless. She knew this was a dream. She also knew he was dead. Yet the porridge inside was still steaming. Slivers of lightly stir-fried bamboo shoots lay on a white porcelain plate, and beside them sat the milk custard she had eaten on the night she returned from the palace banquet. Gu Zhao pulled out a chair for her.

"Haven't you been traveling for ages? Come sit down and eat." She walked over and sat. The two of them ate quietly for a while. Gu Zhao refilled her bowl with porridge and handed it back. She took it quietly.

"Brother."

"Mm?" Gu Zhiwei gripped the rim of the bowl. At last, tears slipped soundlessly down her face.

"Thank you for letting me call you that, even though I came to you as a stranger." Gu Zhao's hand stilled.

"Thank you for leaving food for me. For answering my questions. I used the Gu family's name to do so many things, and you never asked me anything. You simply gave me every bit of support you could." She paused for a long time, fighting desperately to keep the sob from her voice.

"There was so much more. I never got to... tell you." She didn't know why she was having this dream. Perhaps all she wanted was a proper goodbye. Gu Zhao set down his chopsticks and rested a hand on the crown of her head. His palm was warm, just as it had been the day they first met.

"Zhiwei," he called softly.

"How fortunate I have been, to have you as my sister." Her vision blurred.

"Family doesn't always have to be bound by blood." Gu Zhao brushed a fallen strand of hair behind her ear.

"You and I weren't. Neither are the friends who stand behind you." She looked back. There was no one outside the door, only the long covered walkway vanishing into the night. Yet she knew Matt, who had ridden with her the entire way, was resting in the room next door. Aglaya was still waiting for her in Shuozhou. Chen Li, Oliver, and Wang Pu were all in the group chat, ready at any moment to help however they could. When she turned back, Gu Zhao was gone. Only the empty seat remained across the table.

Gu Zhiwei woke with the side of her face cold with tears. She had no idea how long she had been asleep. Just then, Matt walked in and set a bowl of warm noodle soup before her.

"Awake? Eat something. You've basically lived on dry bread for the last two days." Gu Zhiwei sat up and accepted the bowl.

"I'm sorry. I've dragged you through all this with me these past few days." She knew that calling it a journey was generous. In truth, she had only been trying to vent the emotions she had nowhere else to put. Matt sat down beside her.

"What are you apologizing for? Did you hold a knife to my throat and force me to come?" She still looked like she was swallowing every emotion before it could show. Matt frowned.

"Tell me, why is it that whenever you're hurting, you act like it's some contest to see who notices first, and you have to make sure no one ever does?" Gu Zhiwei froze. For a moment, she had no idea how to answer.

"Listen, Gu Zhao wasn't just a good brother. He was a man worthy of respect. If any of us were in your place, none of us would stand by and tell you to let it go." Matt got up to fetch her some water.

"Of course you dropped everything and tried to get back to him. That's the kind of person you are." He paused, then added, "That's why we trust you. And why we're willing to form a party with you. Isn't it?" Outside the door, the sky was slowly brightening. Faint insect song drifted from the distant fields. Gu Zhiwei lifted the cup and took a sip. As she lowered her head, a salty tear fell into the cup. At last, she allowed herself to be weak for a while. Seeing this, Matt finally relaxed.

He pulled the door shut behind him, leaving the space entirely to her. A long while later, a message from Oliver appeared on her panel. Oliver: Last night, the people of the capital defied the Yong Emperor's orders and released sky lanterns until they covered the heavens. It was quite a sight. Perhaps the spark he hoped for has already been lit. Gu Zhiwei stared at the message for a long time. Oliver then sent her a new edict from the Yong Emperor. It had already left the palace and was now speeding north.

The traitor Gu Zhao has paid for his crimes with his life. His younger sister, Gu Zhiwei, should by rights be punished as well. In light of her service investigating the baleful star, she is ordered to continue the investigation and report by the appointed deadline. Gu Zhiwei stared at the message, struck by its sheer absurdity. Had the Yong Emperor lost his damned mind? He had slaughtered her whole family, and he still expected her to work obediently for him.

The brutality and arrogance of imperial power were horrifying to behold. Without realizing it, she had wandered beyond the relay station and out into the open wilderness. The night wind blew against her face. There were no lights across the wilderness, and so the river of stars shone with extraordinary clarity. The guest star the Bureau of Astronomy had been observing for nearly two years still hung on the horizon, cold and bright, as if all the joys and sorrows of the mortal world meant nothing to it.

Scene after scene since her descent into Great Yong slowly rose before her eyes. She remembered the gold and silver cups at the Winding Stream Banquet, and the nobles in their splendid robes. The wild greens and rough flatbreads the people of Yunzhou had stuffed into her carriage. The villagers who had not dared to evacuate even with the flood upon them. The farmers in the Jizhou mountain hollow who had taken up laundry poles as weapons and charged the soldiers.

She remembered the numb, bewildered eyes of the people of Linhe County as they set down their empty jars. The living hell at the northern frontier, where even Wang Pu had been driven onto the battlefield. Last of all, she remembered Gu Zhao. She remembered his silent sigh when he heard that she had saved a child outside the palace. She remembered the final words he had left with Oliver in prison, and the bright, clear look in his eyes that she had only heard about.

Gu Zhiwei raised her head and looked at the guest star that signified calamity.

"Since you yearn so desperately for your baleful star," she said softly, each word clear and resolute.

"Then I'll give you one. I, Gu Zhiwei, will strip you of your power, overthrow your rule, and become your baleful star!" In that instant, Gu Zhiwei's Spirit power spread soundlessly between heaven and earth. Somewhere in deep space, an indescribable force seemed to meet her vow, forming a covenant no one perceived. A vast power swept across Gu Zhiwei's soul. In a daze, she seemed to see her father, Gu Yaozhi. He was in that familiar study, writing something beneath the dim light of an oil lamp.

Gu Zhiwei moved closer without thinking and discovered the very prophecy she had found in On the Precession, the one that had been half burned away. Now, at last, the full sentence appeared before her eyes.

"If this age must call down a baleful star, then let it be... a star of salvation." In a corner she had not noticed, the system panel quietly lit up. This time, it stayed lit longer than it ever had before, as though performing an extraordinarily complex calculation. The next instant, the quest interface that had lain dormant for nearly two years suddenly refreshed: 【Main Quest: Find the Baleful Star. 】 【Player Greenfeather has unlocked a critical quest path. 】 【Current Progress: 0% → 1%. 】