The princess was ordained by Heaven.

Chapter 192 Sacrifice

It's not surprising that he stepped forward, because he had a Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue under his command.

Although he rarely attended court due to his poor health, his presence was never insignificant.

The emperor disliked the Imperial Observatory, so he delegated the tasks that were normally required of the Imperial Observatory to this Left Vice Minister.

Aside from Zheng Xun, this man is the most capable of serving as the Imperial Preceptor.

This Left Vice Minister was also a relative of the Minister of Rites.

So it's not surprising that he jumped out to question it.

Master Fu and Lady Xun were suspected by others, but they did not panic at all.

"Speak plainly how you wish to test me, sir."

[The elderly couple were quite calm. Before they entered the palace, I hadn't told them that I was going to promote them to the position of Imperial Preceptor, but after they were brought to the court, they didn't show the slightest sign of panic.]

The couple, who were initially calm, became completely flustered after hearing Zheng Xun's thoughts.

The Minister of Rites, who was closest to them, paused for a moment, but still took on the responsibility of explaining it to them.

A moment later, the two were even more puzzled.

Given the princess's abilities, who else but her could be the imperial advisor?

Why did she put them in those positions in the first place?!

They are somewhat capable, but there are always people more capable than them, and there's always something beyond their reach. They aren't confident enough to think they are fully competent for this position.

Instead of letting Master Fu and Madam Xun face the Minister of Rites' questions alone, Zheng Xun stepped forward and drew all the questioning gazes to himself.

“These two made the same prophecy as me, and you are also aware of this prophecy.”

What else could the prophecy they all know be but the fall of the kingdom and the brown kingdom?

Zheng Xun looked at Master Fu and Madam Xun: "Won't you two take out that book you've been keeping close to your hearts and take a look?"

Both of them were somewhat surprised. They had only heard that Princess Yuanjia was omniscient and had a brilliant mind, but they never expected her to be this knowledgeable.

Master Fu took out a thin booklet from his heart.

After being inspected by Li Xiaojun, the booklet was handed to the emperor.

The emperor opened the booklet and glanced at it, his expression somewhat inscrutable.

The people in the hall couldn't help but wonder what was written in the booklet.

Zheng Xun chuckled softly.

[Father is just pretending.]

He couldn't understand the contents at all, because it involved matters of national subjugation. Master Fu knew that writing it down would be a weakness, so he used his own coded language. It would be strange if the Emperor could understand it at a glance.

The emperor, suddenly exposed: ...

The minister who couldn't help but laugh out loud: ...

The crown prince, who had just been punished by the emperor for several days, laughed the most heartily, showing off his big white teeth without any restraint, which made the emperor grit his teeth and glare at him several times.

The emperor, with a cold expression, returned the booklet.

What's written inside?

Master Fu and Madam Xun hesitated, seemingly unsure how to begin.

Zheng Xun said she wouldn't let them worry, and since they couldn't say it themselves, she naturally spoke up for them: "This contains a method of sacrifice."

The emperor's brow furrowed slightly: "What sacrificial ritual?"

"A sacrificial ritual that gathers the strength of tens of thousands of people to reverse time and seize a sliver of hope."

What is this? They've never heard of it before.

Is this the real world? Not some world with gods and ghosts, right? Why is it getting stranger and stranger?

Although they were confident that they had never heard of any sacrificial rituals, they felt a strange sense of familiarity with them.

Why is it?

[So there was some kind of connection after all, wasn't there?]

After all, without this sacrificial ritual, I wouldn't have arrived, and I wouldn't have been able to return to the Great Yong of ten years ago.

After the fall of the Great Yong Kingdom, its people lived in extreme hardship.

Everyone is reminiscing about the Great Yong Dynasty that can never be returned to.

Then, a woman named He Niang saved a dying old woman. Before dying, the old woman solemnly handed her a booklet.

The words on the booklet were strange, which is why it escaped the search by the Brown People.

For some reason, He Niang had a gut feeling that this booklet was very important. She could read, so she tried to decipher the strange symbols on it.

At first, everyone laughed at her, but perhaps because life as slaves was too boring, they also began to study those symbols.

After a period of research, they finally discovered the pattern in the top characters.

It turns out that this thin booklet actually records a ritual procedure.

The booklet says that this method has the power to reverse time and space.

Anyone would find that laughable.

Some people say, "If this lousy ritual could work, it's only because they're all dreaming."

But the pain they are experiencing now is so real, how could it be a dream?

[Because the people who had gathered around the characters scattered, only He Niang persisted.]

He Niang firmly believed this method would work, because she had saved her child using a sacrificial ritual...

Upon hearing this, Le Zhenghong began to tremble all over.

He murmured, "It's that child..."

During this time, the news that the princess had given a child to Le Zhenghong for adoption had already spread among his colleagues.

After all, the princess's strange behavior at the inn made those who heard it a little suspicious.

But things seem to have become a closed loop here.

That child...

Could it be He Niang's child?

[No matter which branch of the world she was in, He Niang could not survive, but she passed on the ritual method.]

Perhaps the days of living under the rule of the Brown Kingdom were too unbearable, and more and more Dayong people lost hope, so some began to believe in those so-called gods.

[He Niang and her booklet have once again come into the public eye]

Perhaps it was because He Niang was too persistent that more and more people began to see the booklet as their lifeline.

Unbeknownst to many, He Niang, an "ordinary" woman, had somehow gathered tens of thousands of survivors.

It wasn't easy to evade the surveillance of the Brown Kingdom people, but fortunately, the long silence of the Dayong people had lowered their guard.

These survivors, though located in different places, managed to contact each other privately through various methods.

[He Niang chose the best day and, together with her compatriots from different places, held a grand sacrificial ceremony with her own life.]

In the book, I didn't see whether the sacrifice was successful or not. It wasn't until I saw He Niang that I vaguely realized they had succeeded.

Before the sacrificial ceremony began, they recited the incantations in this book year after year, almost engraving the idea of ​​the Great Yong's rebirth into their very bones.

Their efforts and sacrifices have proven to be worthwhile.

What does it mean that water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it? When the Emperor was alive, he did not let down the people of Dayong, and most of the court officials did not let down the people of Dayong, so the people did not let down Dayong either. They used their last remaining light to exchange for a chance to start over.

But can these ministers, my father, truly live up to their sacrifices?