Chapter 62 Concealing the Blade within the Plum Blossom

Within the bronze wheat fields of the subterranean palace in Yecheng, Zhang He’s blood meandered upward along the wheat stalks. Wang Wu cradled the fractured bronze ruler, his voice trembling: "General, this ruler... it is drinking your blood!"
"It is not drinking blood," Zhang He’s fingertips brushed across the golden patterns rising on the ruler’s surface. "It is reading blood." He suddenly slashed his other palm, and droplets of blood splattered upon the "Jingyuan" inscription. The bronze ruler abruptly extended three cubits of green light, reflecting the real-time stellar map of the Southern Palace in Luoyang. A certain flickering red dot overlapped precisely with the location of Liu Xie’s bedchamber.
The veteran soldier dropped abruptly to his knees: "This... this is witchcraft!"
"It is the resonance of the Mohist bloodline." Zhang He tore off his blood-stained bracer. "Back then, when Empress Yin prolonged Emperor Guangwu's life, what she used was..." His words were interrupted by the frantic neighing of a galloping horse; a relay courier's feathered arrow pierced a wheat ear, and the blood-letter tied to the arrow's tail unfurled: "The Emperor is dying, return swiftly!"

The blue smoke of the Southern Palace in Luoyang was intertwined with the fragrance of medicine as Sun Ru used silver needles to seal Liu Xie’s vital heart meridian. Jia Xu’s silver spoon suddenly dropped to the floor: "This needle technique... is it the Mohist 'Seven Stars Life-Prolonging'?"
"It is the version modified by Empress Yin." Sun Ru’s fingertips brushed across the plum-blossom brand on Liu Xie’s chest. "Back then, she used her own heart's blood to carve these seven destiny stars for Emperor Guangwu." She suddenly pulled back her collar; an identical brand on her own heart was oozing blood. "If Your Majesty dies, these seven stars will..."
"Will transfer to you." Liu Xie suddenly opened his eyes and grasped her wrist. "When you assassinated Us back then, the sword's edge veered by three parts... cough, cough... it was not a blunder, but rather a twist of fate that led you to accept this brand, wasn't it?"
Sun Ru’s silver needle froze in mid-air: "Your Majesty knew all along?"
"From the moment you saw Uncle Fu in the cellar." Liu Xie’s fingertips traced across her heart. "The blood of Empress Yin’s lineage can sense Mohist mechanisms..." He suddenly coughed violently, and bloody foam spattered onto the green- calyx plum branch at the head of the bed. The fifteenth flower bud bloomed in response, its pistil turning out to be a bronze key.

Amidst the torrential rain at the River God Temple in Yizhou, Liu Xun was using the bronze key to unlock the Heavenly Vessel’s secret chamber. The old priest's tortoise shell gleamed with a greenish hue under the flash of lightning: "Inspector! The divination hexagram shows 'Dragons fighting in the wild, their blood dark yellow'!"
"It is not dragon blood." Liu Xun inserted the key into the bulkhead. "It is the subterranean pulse marrow of the Mohists." Amidst the roar of turning gears, three thousand scrolls of the *Mohist Canon* poured out from a hidden compartment. The bamboo slips on the topmost layer suddenly spontaneously combusted, and an illusory figure of Empress Yin emerged from the flames: "Future generations who obtain this canon shall know that weapons will ultimately transform into plows and sickles..."
River water suddenly rushed backward into the cabin, extinguishing the flames into water-script characters that read "Peace Across Mountains and Rivers." Liu Xun grabbed the soaked *Chapter on Agriculture and War*, and the ink rearranged itself upon contact with water into a new chapter: "So the true secret technique is..."
"Inspector! Urgent dispatch from Luoyang!" The courier's shout mixed with the sound of thunder. "General Gan Ning has ignited the subterranean earth-fire, intending to burn down the eight-hundred-li encampment!"

The subterranean fire at Hulao Pass had turned half the horizon red. Gan Ning stood upon the scorched earth platform, Yuan Shao's golden helmet filled with boiling black oil: "Lads! Back then the Emperor used this helmet to hold wine and reward the army, today we..." His single eye suddenly caught a strange movement within the firelight—the burning patterns of the earth-pulse unexpectedly formed a Mohist warning: "Fire passing three passes shall devour its master!"

The deputy general suddenly grabbed him: "General! The fire front has moved toward Xishui Pass!"
Gan Ning’s golden helmet slammed heavily against the ground: "Fetch the plowshares!" When three hundred curved-beam plows were driven into the scorched earth, the burning black oil suddenly split its current, branding a massive plowing diagram onto the pass walls. Gazing at the outline of mountains and rivers within the diagram, he burst into laughter: "So Your Majesty had foreseen this step long ago!"
A swift horse burst out from the sea of fire, its rider’s armor stained with gold dust: "General! Urgent missive from Yecheng!" The unfurled silk scroll bore Zhang He’s blood-written words: "Wheat ears produce stars, protect the Polaris swiftly!"
The green-calyx plum blossoms in the Southern Palace bedchamber suddenly withered, and the fifteenth flower fell into the medicine cauldron. Watching the pistil-key dissolve within the medicinal decoction, Jia Xu suddenly burst into tears of old age: "Your Majesty... this is Empress Yin's..."
"Wenhe, fetch Us the Zhanlu Sword." Liu Xie suddenly sat upright, the seven-star brand on his chest glowing with golden light, "Lady Sun, would you be willing to stage 'Assassinating the Emperor' with Us once more?"
Sun Ru’s gold-plated dagger was already pressed against his throat: "This time it won't veer." Her tattoos suddenly surfaced from her skin, piecing together with Liu Xie’s brand to form a complete stellar map. Jia Xu’s hands holding the sword trembled violently—the cloud patterns on the scabbard coincided with the trajectory of the stellar map.
"Back then Empress Yin used the Zhanlu Sword to sever the Mohist curse..." Liu Xie suddenly guided the sword to pierce his own heart. "What We intend to sever today is the shackles of this imperial destiny!"
The instant the sword's edge pierced through their two hearts, the withered roots of the green-calyx plum burst forth with violent growth. The branches pierced through the palace walls, blooming into a stellar map covering Luoyang in the night sky, every star transformed into a bronze plum blossom.

The bronze wheat ears in the subterranean palace of Yecheng burst collectively. Zhang He watched the gold dust condense into Liu Xie’s illusory figure in mid-air: "Zhang Junyi, with mountains and rivers as our chessboard, how about playing a game against the Dao of Heaven?"
"This minister is willing to act as a pawn!" Zhang He’s sabre plunged into the Tianshu position of the stellar map. The gold dust abruptly turned into a torrential downpour, extinguishing the earth-fire at Hulao Pass. Amidst the burning scorched earth, countless tender shoots broke through the soil, and the watermarks of "Jingyuan" on their leaf veins were clearly visible under the moonlight.
Wang Wu suddenly pointed at the wheat fields and cried out in astonishment: "General, look!" Inside the cracked wheat husks, bronze gears were automatically assembling into miniature seed drills. When the first wheat seed was dropped into the subterranean palace’s water channel, the ground of the entire Yecheng began to tremble—three thousand Mohist tombs buried deep underground opened simultaneously, and thousands of bronze farming implements broke through the earth.

In the middle of the river in Yizhou, Liu Xun stood on the deck of the Heavenly Vessel, the *Chapter on Agriculture and War* in his hands suddenly glowing with a bloody light. "Inspector! The river water is flowing backward!" The old priest’s tortoise shell floated to the surface, its cracks forming the two characters "The Throne is in Danger."
"It is not flowing backward." Liu Xun inserted the bronze key into the ship's helm. "It is the Mohist mechanisms resetting the mountains and rivers." As the key turned, three hundred and sixty colossal bronze statues rose from the riverbed, each holding a different farming implement. On the hillside of the opposite bank, the Jingyuan plow monument cast spontaneously by the common people suddenly erupted with golden light, resonating with the plows and sickles in the hands of the giant statues.
The relay courier's swift horse came thundering across the waves: "My Lord! The Emperor... His Majesty has passed away!"

Liu Xun’s key suddenly snapped off inside the keyhole: "Bring me my carpenter's square!" He slashed his palm and smeared his blood onto the square. "Empress Yin could use her bloodline to activate the mechanisms, and I too can use the blood of the people to sustain the mountains and rivers!"

Amidst the ruins of the Southern Palace, Sun Ru cradled the gradually chilling corpse. Jia Xu suddenly pointed at the green-calyx plum and screamed: "The flowers... they are blooming again!" On the fractured plum branch, the sixteenth flower bud was unfolding, and resting within its pistil was a bronze plum fruit.
Sun Ru’s tears dripped onto the fruit, and it suddenly split open, revealing a miniature armillary sphere. When she placed the instrument upon Liu Xie’s heart, three hundred rays of golden light shot forth from Mohist tombs across all regions. The root system of the green-calyx plum suddenly grew wildly, wrapping the corpse into a cocoon-like shape.
"His Majesty said back then in the cellar of Marquis Yue's estate..." Sun Ru’s dagger plunged into her own heart, "The most dangerous mechanism must be kept for oneself."
The blood-stained plum cocoon suddenly burst open, and Liu Xie stepped forth amidst golden light, the seven-star brand on his chest transformed into a bronze plum blossom. He reached out to help Sun Ru to her feet: "We promised to take you to see a true era of peace and prosperity."

Morning light pierced through the storm clouds, and cries like roaring seas echoed from outside the city of Luoyang. The common people pushed bronze seed drills laden with newly harvested grain, their wheel tracks pressing grooves into the ground that spelled out "Jingyuan Prospers Eternally." Gan Ning rode over on horseback, his golden helmet brimming with new grain wine: "Your Majesty! This first cup of new brew..."
"Pour it for the heroes who died in battle." Liu Xie abruptly snatched the golden helmet and flung the liquor toward Hulao Pass. The moment the wine touched the ground, ten thousand mu of golden flowers burst into bloom amidst the scorched earth, every stamen a miniature Jingyuan Tongbao coin.
Zhang He’s swift horse broke into the plaza at this moment, the bronze wheat ears bound to its back suddenly bursting apart, and the gold dust gathered in mid-air to form the illusory figure of Empress Yin. The jade ruler in her hand pointed toward the east, where twelve colossal bronze warships were rising from the horizon.
"Your Majesty, the Mohist covenant of sea-farming..." Sun Ru’s tattoos suddenly burned with pain, "It is time to set sail."
Liu Xie stroked the bronze plum blossom on his chest, its petals suddenly unfolding into a navigational compass: "Then let this plum blossom fleet carry the three-thousand-year dream of the Mohists..."