Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 2(2)
The young man was dressed in armor and looked exceptionally heroic. However, it didn’t give him the air of a warrior, of blood and battle. Rather, it gave him an air of royal nobility, candid and radiant.
Xie Lian froze mid-step and stared at the young man. The two in front sensed his gaze and turned back to face him. When the junior official saw who it was, his face dropped immediately. Xie Lian lightly inclined his head and smiled at him.
“Greetings, Your Highness.”
The other crown prince was obviously the type who didn’t mind the everyday details and didn’t recognize his face, so when he saw someone greeting him, he immediately returned the sentiment with a brilliant smile. He shouted back, “Greetings!”
The junior official beside him gave him a subtle push. “Come on, Your Highness, let’s go. We still need to get to the Palace of Divine Might.”
The young man, completely oblivious, could not understand why his subordinate would shove him so suddenly. He wondered aloud, “Why are you pushing me?”
Xie Lian puffed out a laugh and that junior official pushed even harder, urging, “The Emperor is probably already waiting for us. Please, let’s go, Your Highness!”
The other crown prince could only give Xie Lian a confused look before turning to leave.
Xie Lian stayed where he was as they walked away, and soon, distant whispers from lower-ranking officials floated to his ears.
“…Well, that was awkward. The world is such a small place.”
“They’re both officials in the heavens, it was only a matter of time that they met. If you ask me, General Nan Yang bumping into General Xuan Zhen is a more exciting affair.”
“Ha ha, what’s the rush? They’ll all be coming face-to-face soon! Everyone’s gathering at the Palace of Divine Might, aren’t they?”
Suddenly, someone commented, “It’s not just a small world—take a look at those two. I don’t like to make the comparison, but even though they’re both crown princes, His Highness Tai Hua is truly noble. He would never do anything shameful like that, even if he fell from grace.”
“The Kingdom of Yong’an was more prosperous than the Kingdom of Xianle, so of course the Crown Prince of Yong’an is stronger than that of Xianle. How the grass grows depends on the land it grew on. Simple logic.”
The martial god who watched over the north was Pei Ming of the Palace of Ming Guang. The Martial God of the West was Quan Yizhen of the Palace of Qi Ying. The Martial God of the Southeast was Feng Xin of the Palace of Nan Yang, and the Martial God of the Southwest was Mu Qing of the Palace of Xuan Zhen.
And the martial god watching over the east was Lang Qianqiu of the Palace of Tai Hua.
When Lang Qianqiu was still mortal, he was a crown prince like Xie Lian. Not just that—he was the Crown Prince of Yong’an. The Kingdom of Yong’an was the country that overtook Xianle after its fall, and the founder of Yong’an was the rebel general who successfully overthrew the imperial capital of Xianle.
While Xie Lian drifted in the Mortal Realm, he had also visited the east, so naturally he knew that the Crown Prince of Yong’an had ascended. As heavenly officials, it was inevitable that they would run into each other, so he didn’t think much of it. Those gossiping junior officials, while they were supposedly whispering, weren’t particularly quiet. If their prattling had been about anyone else, they might have been more wary of being overheard, but since this was Xie Lian, they spoke without fear of him hearing. Perhaps they even found the prospect exciting. So Xie Lian pretended to have heard nothing and casually walked away.
Just then, another voice came from behind and called out, “Your Highness!”
Not again, Xie Lian thought. But this time when he turned his head, it was someone who really was addressing him.
Ling Wen, with dark-circled eyes and arms full of scrolls, approached him. “Everyone has gone to the Palace of Divine Might for the meeting. Be mindful once you reach the hall.”
Of course Xie Lian was aware of the situation. “What do you think General Pei Junior’s sentence will be?”
“Exile, probably,” Ling Wen replied.
That’s actually not too bad. Not too severe, Xie Lian thought.
Exile was considered a temporary banishment for officials who had committed crimes, meaning the length of punishment was negotiable, and there might still be the opportunity to resume their duty. If they were found to be on their best behavior, they might one day get fished back up; maybe in thirty to fifty years, maybe in a hundred or two hundred years. But to Xie Lian, this “not too bad” was of course based on his own standards. To General Pei, it would be a completely different story.
Xie Lian remembered another thing. “Oh yeah. Ling Wen, how goes the search for the boy with the Human Face Disease from Mount Yujun, the one I told you about last time? Do you have any news?”
“I’m very sorry, Your Highness. I don’t have anything at the moment. We’ll work harder on it,” Ling Wen replied.
Even for a heavenly official, finding a single person in such a vast world was not an easy task. Although the heavens might make faster work of it than mortals, it was still more like ten years for the Mortal Realm versus one year for the heavens.
Xie Lian thus said, “Thank you for your hard work.”
By this point, they reached the end of the avenue, and a majestic palace came into view before them.