The Night of the Great Desolation

"Not… Qing Shan Town, what do you mean by that!?"

"Do you mean that the Privy Council is lying to us?"

"Since you said this is not Qing Shan Town, what's this place named?"

This statement caused everyone to clamor, and even Xia Fan was surprised. But he quickly thought of something. He knew about Qing Shan Town from the Privy Council. He also did not arrive here by himself, but first arrived at Jianglin City according to the road guide, and then was transported here by official carriage after meeting with some of the candidates.

In other words, he did not have the opportunity to verify whether there was really a place called "Qing Shan Town".

Of course, this had nothing to do with oversight. At this time, the chart — that was, the map — was a first-class confidential document. Ordinary people simply couldn't touch it. The speed of information dissemination was limited, and it was normal for the residents of a town not to know how many villages were around them. Without special guidance, most of the candidates would have difficulty in finding the examination hall, which was located between the mountains, on time.

"Of course I know, that's why I suggested to you all to come back after three years!" Luo Qingqing's aura didn't lose any ground in the face of the boisterous crowd. "In fact, the real name of this place is 'Tilting Mountain Formation'!"

"Tilting Mountain Formation? No way…" Wei Wushuang's face changed dramatically.

"Uh, is there any difference between the two?" Xia Fan, on the other hand, was dumbfounded and once again felt the embarrassment that came from having shallow knowledge.

Why didn't his cheap master teach more common sense related to spells!

All he taught him was how to kick the crotch, drug people, and take advantage of them.

"You haven't even heard of this?" Wei Wushuang was surprised. "It's said that it is the source of the Yong Country's destruction."

Finally, something that could be understood. "Yong Country… that was the previous dynasty, right?"

"That's right. The Emperor of Yong lived extremely extravagantly. In the palace, his gold and jewelry were countless. The local government pandered to him and expropriated a large number of people to mine. On the thirty-first year of Yongxing, this action provoked the wrath of the heavens, triggering a night of great desolation, making the Yong Country quickly decline and completely disintegrate in less than ten years." Wei Wushuang patiently explained, "And rumor has it that the place of origin of that fierce night is the Tilting Mountain mining area."

"What's the Great Night of Desolation… again?"

"Um… I'm not too sure of the specifics." Wei Wushuang scratched his head. "After all, this is what I heard when I followed my father to do business. I only know that it's a kind of bad omen caused by many grievances. Whichever areas it sweeps, the living dies and the dead come back to life. Not to mention ordinary people, even mystics caught in it are unlikely to survive. I heard that the Yong Country spent a great deal of money to eliminate this bad omen. The Privy Council also only became independent of the six departments of the government after that."

Xia Fan sucked in a cold breath. If Luo Qingqing was correct, didn't that mean they were in the center of the extremely fierce land?

The originally noisy crowd also fell silent.

Obviously, such shocking information needed time to digest.

"Do you have any proof?" "Brother Yan" once again questioned loudly, "To say that this is not Qing Shan Town, but the Tilting Mountain mining area, there must be real evidence to do so!

"That's right, who knows if your family is coaxing us so that we can voluntarily get eliminated!"

Luo Qingqing showed a look that she knew it would be like this. Then, she made a gesture, and two Luo family members under the stage put something dusty on the table.

"This is the evidence. Everyone can come forward to check it out."

Someone in the front row was puzzled. "Is this the… pottery mold used for refining?"

"Not bad. I found it on the back mountain." Luo Qingqing nodded and then briefly recounted her experience of going up the mountain, finding the wooden track and the pile of corpses. "After seeing the scene in the valley, I searched for nearly a mile towards the top of the mountain before I found this broken pottery mold. The reason it was made in the shape of a long bar was apparently only to hold the molten metal.

"The key that made me sure this place is the Tilting Mountain is the words on the pottery mold," she said in a clear and pleasant voice. "Yongxing, Year 28, supervised by Taihu Gold Manufacturing Bureau!"

"That… was indeed the year number used by Yong Country."

"Taihu Gold Manufacturing Bureau? I think I've heard of it somewhere."

The crowd immediately started discussing it.

"Can you explain in detail for us?"

"The Gold Manufacturing Bureau was established in the ninth year of Yongchang, the same year as the discovery of the gold mine in Qing Shan. These events are recorded in the 'Taihu Chronicle Chapter' and the 'Yongchang Record'. I think some people present have read these two books." Luo Qingqing said methodically, "After the establishment of the Taihu Gold Manufacturing Bureau, its main supply place was the Tilting Mountain mine. If this is not the Tilting Mountain, why is there a pottery mold of this Gold Manufacturing Bureau here?"

Xia Fan pondered for a while before he understood that the so-called "pottery mold" was a mold made of clay.

The other party then said, "In addition, there's more than one confirmation with the book. According to the 'Taihu Chronicle Chapter', in order to increase production, the Gold Manufacturing Bureau forcibly conscripted a large number of residents to the mines to the point that many villages and towns became empty and couldn't fully recover even after the collapse of the Yong Country. Numerous men were sent to the Tilting Mountains, but none of them ever managed to return. And now we know where these people are. This point also explains why they needed to build a special wooden track to transport the remains — because there were simply too many."

"So, so… awesome," Wei Wushuang muttered.

The exclamations of his fellow villagers were undoubtedly the thoughts of most of the candidates at the moment, and the scene suddenly became abnormally quiet, with even the questioning voices from before disappearing without a trace.

Obviously, since Luo Qingqing dared to say it, she naturally wasn't afraid of people checking it. Even if the molds could be forged, the tracks on the mountain and the corpses in the valley couldn't. Several key points linked together basically constituted ironclad evidence.

Although Xia Fan hadn't heard of those two books, from their titles, they were obviously not some must-read classics. One was probably a regional customs and historical records, the other was barely half a historical record. In simple and understandable terms, they were extracurricular reading. If you happened to have read it, good. But if you can remember it so well, there would be no other explanation than that you were gifted.

"Have you really not heard about the Luo family from You state, the epitome of the encyclopedia?"

He suddenly remembered what Luo You'er had said.

"Half of the libraries in the country are owned by the Luo family, and our You state mansion has a collection of over ten thousand precious books. Indeed, no one is more knowledgeable than the Luo family."

Now it seemed that Luo Qingqing herself may be considered half a library.

"Please wait." Fei Nian suddenly stood out. "I remember that the Night of Great Desolation is very difficult to be completely eliminated. Every once in a while, it will come back until all the resentful souls are dissipated. That's why the Qi Country set up the Tilting Mountain Formation to limit its harm to a manageable extent. If your deduction is correct, wouldn't that mean…"

Luo Qingqing nodded slightly. "This cycle is not a secret, there's a detailed record in the 'Privy Council Essentials'. It appears once almost every five and a half years. I calculated that the next period of strong Yin is exactly two days later."

… And today was the fifth day of the mystic examination.

In other words, the last day of this examination would see the night of Great Desolation.

After a brief dead silence, the crowd abruptly boiled up—

"No way, how could it be such a coincidence?"

"Where's the invigilator? I want to ask the invigilator for confirmation!"

"Do you think the Privy Council would overlook this point? I'm afraid that's the key to the test."

"Are you kidding me! Either you pass the exam or die? I don't want to gamble with my life in this hellhole."

"Could it be that the locals all evacuated to avoid this disaster as well?"

"Not sure yet. Anyone wants to go to the back of the mountain to confirm?"

"That, that's right… At the moment, we're basing everything on the words of the Luo family alone. We can't let ourselves be led by the nose!"

Candidates obviously panicked, and the center of the square suddenly became a mess.

Just then, a slightly shrill voice overpowered the crowd's chaotic arguments. "There's no need to go, I can prove that what she said is true. In fact, you yourselves can also prove it."

These words immediately drew the attention of the candidates, and everyone unanimously followed the voice and focused their attention on a young man with a somewhat pale face dressed in gray holding a paper fan.

The eight trigrams on his back already indicated his identity — he was none other than a disciple of the Fang family.

"Isn't that… Fang Xiandao?" Wei Wushuang lowered his voice.

"You know him?" Xia Fan asked.

"Well, I didn't plan to pass the exam, anyway. So, I basically stayed in the teahouse these days to gather information and got to know quite a few people." Wei Wushuang nodded. "Although the Fang family is not as powerful as the Fei and Luo families, it has its own unique features and is very proficient in divination and fortune-telling. And I heard that in the new generation of the Fang family, Fang Xiandao is the most skilled disciple of this method."

"Tell me, what do you mean we can also prove it?" someone asked eagerly.

"The trigrams have already explained everything. The matter described by Miss Luo is basically the same as the result of my divination — that is, there will be a great disaster on the last day of the mystic examination, and only those who seize the first opportunity will be able to turn the evil into good fortune." Fang Xiandao opened the paper fan and said unhurriedly, "I know this divination method is extremely profound and not everyone can master it, but the flow of Qi itself is a sign. As Qi sensors, quite a few of you should have already received a warning."

"What kind of… warning?"

"If I remember correctly, two days after the exam just started, many people had nightmares!" Fang Xiandao closed the paper fan with a snap. "Dreams are the manifestation of the consciousness' sense of the Qi of heaven and earth. Although not as accurate as divination, they're sometimes exceptionally specific. Are there more obvious warnings than this nightmare? The red moon dripping with blood, the dead crawling out of the ground, the evil spirits staining living things… What else could this be if not a reference to the Night of Great Desolation?"

"Pfft." Xia Fan couldn't hold back for a moment and spewed out his saliva.

"Why is Brother Xia laughing?" Wei Wushuang looked at him in surprise.

"Cough… nothing." Xia Fan coughed twice and reverted back to his expression as if nothing had happened. If not for the fox demon lying in his room at the moment, he might have really believed this nonsense.

However, the other candidates would not think so.

"This nightmare you mentioned… I've had it!"

"Me too!"

"I see, so the nightmare warned us long ago…"

"I thought at the time that I was the only one who had nightmares."

"There are actually so many people… It seems that the nightmare was no accident!"

In everyone's eyes, the nobility would deceive the scattered clans, but it was always impossible for the scattered clans to unite and deceive themselves. All doubts were dissipated, and in just a little less than a quarter of an hour, the matter of the Tilting Mountain Formation and the Night of Great Desolation had become the consensus of the candidates.