AUBTN -Chapter 397 Stargazing City

In order to get to the bottom of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, over the past few days they had split into three groups, attempting to dig up some “dirt” on the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion among the common people.

In Shen Jue and Lu Yan’s eyes, any powerful martial-world organization with such immense influence was bound to have plenty of skeletons in its closet. Bullying ordinary people and extorting protection fees should be nothing out of the ordinary for an organization like this.

But the result left everyone completely dumbfounded.

There was no coercion or plundering. No oppression of the local populace.

On the contrary, the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion had established branches in various towns. They did not collect offerings or incense money. Instead, they regularly “interpreted people’s destinies” and offered guidance to those who were lost, mediated disputes, and even provided free medical treatment and medicine.

What shocked Su He-Wan the most was what she discovered in the farmland outside the town.

It was noon that day.

Su He-Wan stood at the edge of the field, staring at the farming implement an old farmer was pushing. Her eyes grew wider and wider, and even her breathing became rapid.

“Wanwan, what’s wrong? It’s just a harrow for plowing a field. What’s so interesting about it?”

Yu Qing came over while munching on a freshly bought sesame flatbread, asking in confusion.

“No, this isn’t an ordinary harrow! This is an improved dual-wheel, dual-action seeder! And that waterwheel over there for irrigation—it completely violates the principles of mechanics behind ancient woodworking!”

The more Su He-Wan thought about it, the more something seemed wrong. She suddenly crouched down and grabbed a handful of the crops that had just begun to sprout.

“What exactly is going on?”

Seeing how shocked she was, Yu Qing also crouched down and grabbed a handful.

“Isn’t this just ordinary wheat?” Yu Qing asked, puzzled.

“No… This isn’t ordinary wheat. Look at the shape of these leaves and the thickness of the roots. This seems to be drought-resistant wheat cultivated through advanced-generation hybridization! With technology like this, let alone in this fictional dynasty—even in the late Qing Dynasty of my era, it would have been impossible for it to exist!”

“What does that mean? Could there be someone else like me—a modern person? And not just any modern person, but some kind of engineering genius who specializes in farming?”

As soon as she said this, Yu Qing and Su He-Wan exchanged a glance.

They could both see the same incredulity in each other’s eyes.

Night fell.

Inside a secluded inn in Wujiang Prefecture, the four of them sat around a table beneath the dim, flickering candlelight. The atmosphere was heavy.

Spread across the table were the agricultural tool blueprints Su He-Wan had secretly sketched after taking advantage of the opportunity to observe the farmers during the day, along with several grains of what were supposedly “divine seeds.”

A rare trace of wariness appeared on Lu Yan’s normally icy face.

“The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion is far more sophisticated than the imperial court when it comes to winning people’s hearts.”

“When the imperial court provides disaster relief, all it gives people is a few bowls of watery gruel mixed with sand. It may save them for a while, but it cannot save them for a lifetime. But the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion gives them livelihoods, hope, and a way to keep this land producing food year after year.”

He turned toward Shen Jue, his gaze sharp and piercing.

“Shen Jue, you’re someone who has also made waves in the imperial court. You should understand what it means when the hearts of the people have been won over to this extent. In these three provinces of Jiangnan, I’m afraid the words of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion’s master carry ten thousand times more weight than even the Emperor’s imperial edicts!”

“The Emperor?”

Shen Jue let out a cold laugh. His pale fingertips toyed with the grain of wheat, while the curve of his lips carried three parts sinister intent and seven parts mockery.

“You’re still too bound by that whole act of yours about being loyal to the sovereign and devoted to the country.”

With a sharp smack, Shen Jue slapped the grain of wheat onto the table.

He slowly leaned forward. His deep, unfathomable eyes swept over everyone before finally settling on the complicated gear blueprint.

“Have you still not figured it out? The most terrifying thing isn’t their methods of winning people’s hearts.”

Shen Jue’s voice was quiet, yet it carried a chill that made one’s hair stand on end.

“It’s these things.”

His long fingers tapped the blueprint.

“In all the years I’ve been in charge of the Eastern Depot, I’ve encountered countless ingenious inventions and unusual mechanisms. I’ve also met many master craftsmen from the Imperial Institute of Engineering. But the mechanisms shown in these blueprints, and these grain varieties that appeared out of nowhere… there is absolutely no trace of where they came from.”

Shen Jue narrowed his eyes slightly and voiced the conclusion that made Su He-Wan’s heart pound violently:

“Their methods are fundamentally unlike anything that should exist in this era. It’s as though… they suddenly fell from the heavens.”

The moment those words were spoken, the temperature in the room seemed to plunge to freezing point.

Lu Yan’s pupils trembled violently, while Yu Qing was so frightened that she immediately grabbed hold of Su He-Wan’s arm.

Su He-Wan bit down hard on her lower lip, forcibly suppressing the turbulent waves crashing through her heart. Yet on the surface, she maintained her usual cool and composed expression.

She had never expected that Shen Jue could deduce, from nothing more than a few farming tools and a handful of clues, that these things had actually crossed the boundaries of time!

Shen Jue seemed to have made up his mind.

“Since the influence of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion has already penetrated this deeply, continuing to investigate these peripheral branches would simply be a waste of time. We might as well send our people out to investigate.”

Lu Yan also stood up and grabbed the Xiuchun Saber from the table, gripping it tightly in his hand.

“Exactly. Although we’ve lost quite a few men, we still have enough people to gather intelligence.”

“This force absolutely cannot be allowed to grow unchecked. Whether this Pavilion Master is a god or a ghost, we have to drag him out into the open and see what cards he’s holding.”

“Where are you going?”

Tang Lingyue pushed open the door and entered from outside, a bag of freshly purchased dry rations still in her hand.

Shen Jue and Lu Yan’s gazes collided briefly in midair before both simultaneously looked away.

The two spoke in unison.

“Star Observatory City.”

That was where the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion’s headquarters was located.

It was also a sacred place in the hearts of its believers.

The night wind was as dark as ink, and the watchman’s drum in Wujiang Prefecture had just struck three times.

In order to determine the true strength of their enemy’s forces before heading to Star Observatory City, Shen Jue and Lu Yan changed into black night clothes and silently made their way toward the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion’s branch in Wujiang Prefecture.

It was located in an octagonal tower in the northern part of the town. Its upturned eaves and hooked corners seemed particularly eerie beneath the cold, pale moonlight.

“Lu Yan, if your blade gets chipped later, don’t expect me to grow a conscience and turn around to save you.”

In the shadows of a dark alley, Shen Jue kept one hand behind his back. His long, narrow, slightly upturned eyes swept casually over Lu Yan beside him.

His lowered voice carried its usual hint of mockery.

Lu Yan wore a cold expression and did not even look at him. He merely spat out a few icy words:

“Worry about yourself, you old fox!”

Shen Jue chuckled softly.

Before his words had even faded, the two men had already leaped forward like ghosts. Their toes lightly touched the backs of the blue-gray tiled roofs, without disturbing even a single broken tile.

With the level of martial arts possessed by the two of them, there were only a handful of experts throughout the entire Great Wei Dynasty who could fight them on equal terms.

Sneaking into the branch of a mere martial arts sect should have been as easy as reaching into a pocket for something.

However, just as they vaulted over the high wall and their feet were about to land in a blind corner of the courtyard—

The two guards who had already reached the end of the corridor and were seemingly about to hand over their posts suddenly turned back without warning!

Two torches narrowly swept past Lu Yan’s black night clothes.

Lu Yan frowned. While still in midair, he abruptly altered the trajectory of his descent and slid into the shadows beside a red-lacquered wooden pillar.

On the other side, Shen Jue had just been about to leap from the eaves toward the window lattice on the second floor when, behind the window that had originally been tightly shut, a patrol team wielding strange repeating crossbows suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

“Click—”

The sound of the crossbows being cocked was exceptionally piercing in the silent night.

The arrowheads were aimed with absolute precision at the empty space where Shen Jue was about to land!

Shen Jue’s pupils contracted sharply.

A coincidence?

One occurrence could be dismissed as coincidence, but at every step, with every movement they made, their opponents seemed to possess the ability to predict the future.

They had been able to set up traps in every blind spot the two men were about to pass through in advance!

“Clang—!”

Lu Yan stopped hiding his presence. His Xiuchun Saber flashed out of its sheath, and its dazzling blade light shot directly toward the suddenly appearing sentries.

Yet the people wearing long robes embroidered with astrological totems showed not the slightest hint of panic in the face of Lu Yan’s surprise attack.

Instead of retreating, they advanced.

Three formed a small formation, while nine formed a larger one, their footsteps weaving together according to some strange rhythm.

Lu Yan’s seemingly unstoppable strike actually cleaved through nothing but an afterimage!