Dressed as the last nine-tailed fox

Chapter 370 It's Calculated
"All wells and springs have dried up. The people have dug dozens of feet into the ground, yet they see no water, only dry earth. All places that once held water have long since exhausted themselves, and even the last vestiges of muddy water have solidified. The villagers have nowhere to draw water." An official from the north knelt in the imperial study. His wrinkled robes and weary face revealed the hardship of his journey. Upon seeing the Crown Prince, his tired eyes finally brightened. "Looking at this scene," he said, "the earth's veins seem to have dried up, life has ceased, and the people are crying out for food. Such a severe drought, if not addressed quickly, could lead to a peasant uprising. I implore Your Highness to make a swift decision, to dispatch provisions and officials to provide relief, to save the people of the north from this calamity!"

The official's last words made the Crown Prince frown slightly. "Why plead? How could I not distribute grain to relieve the people?" The Crown Prince helped the kneeling official up. "Tell me more about the situation in the north. Did the rivers really dry up overnight? Did the drought really begin overnight?"

Upon hearing this, the official nodded, then shook his head. "Rather than overnight, I think... it was more like an instant. Without any warning, the rivers dried up instantly, the blooming flowers withered instantly, and the people of the north had no time to react before they ran out of water."

The official paused, then continued, "Before I came to the capital, I consulted historical records, hoping to find ways our ancestors dealt with such a disaster, but there is no record of such a sudden natural calamity in the historical books..." The official's expression gradually turned serious. "This drought came suddenly, it doesn't seem to be caused by the weather, it's more like..."

"Divine retribution." Seeing the officials' hesitation and fear, Gao Weiche spoke up understandingly, saying what the officials from the North dared not say.

The official glanced at Gao Weiche with some surprise, then nodded. "Yes, divine retribution. I really can't think of any other reason besides divine retribution."

The Crown Prince took a deep breath. "Lord Gao, what can I do to save the people of the North? To save humanity?"

The Crown Prince's gaze was too intense; he looked at Gao Weiche as if he were looking at a lifeline. Having almost no other options, he placed all his hopes on Gao Weiche.

"I..." Gao Weiche said honestly, "I don't have complete confidence, but I will try my best. For the sake of the people, no matter how slim the hope, I will never give up."

The Crown Prince was not discouraged by Gao Weiche's words; his eyes remained burning with passion. "Lord Gao, go for it. Even if it costs me my life, don't be afraid, and don't back down."

Gao Weiche hadn't expected the Crown Prince to say these words: "I never thought that good bamboo shoots could actually grow from bad bamboo."

The Crown Prince didn't understand Gao Weiche's meaning and paused for a moment before asking, "Is it... that you need bamboo shoots?"

The northern official standing nearby understood what was happening and was shocked, his eyes widening in disbelief. He hadn't expected Gao Weiche to be so audacious, repeatedly challenging the imperial authority.

“No need.” Gao Weiche denied with a serious expression. “We should go and see the black umbrella, that character ‘North’… The disaster came because of the black umbrella, and perhaps the solution is also related to the black umbrella.”

……

The Imperial Guards had already surrounded the black umbrella, but by this time, the news that there was a man-eating black umbrella at the Observatory had spread throughout the streets and alleys of the capital, and the people all kept their distance and no one approached.

Upon seeing this, the Crown Prince breathed a slight sigh of relief. After confirming that the people of the capital would not be in danger in the short term, the Crown Prince turned his gaze to the black umbrella. The first thing that caught his eye was the character 'North' that occupied most of the umbrella surface.

"Your Highness," the Imperial Guard leader strode up to the Crown Prince and bowed, "you need to take a look at this."

Seeing the solemn face of the Imperial Guard leader, the Crown Prince's heart sank. What he saw next made his heart sink even further – on the other side of the umbrella, there were strokes, though not clear, that could be guessed to form the character "西" (Xi, meaning west) if written.

"West..." The prince stared intently at the still-unfinished character "West," "If this character 'West' is completed, will disaster also descend upon the west? What kind of disaster will it be this time? Earth demons? Yellow mist? Or the Heavenly Eye?"

The escalating disaster caused the crown prince to clench his fists. "How can we stop it?"

Everyone present had a somber expression, but no one responded.

"I ask..." The Crown Prince's eyes were bloodshot, his refined and amiable demeanor completely gone, "How can this be stopped!"

"Your Highness, please calm down..." The imperial guards and eunuchs knelt on the ground.

"Your Highness, please calm down," Gao Weiche advised.

"How can I remain calm? How can you expect me to remain calm!" the Crown Prince almost roared. "The people of the North are suffering from a drought unlike any they've seen in a thousand years. All usable water has dried up, and I have no way to save them. Now that there are omens, am I supposed to just stand by and watch the people of the West face divine retribution without doing anything?"

“They…are all my people.” The crown prince’s face was ashen, filled with unbearable sorrow. “From birth, I have enjoyed the honor of being looked up to by all people and the taxes from my fief. I should have protected them, but I can do nothing!”

"Lord Gao..." The Crown Prince suddenly bent his knees and knelt down in front of Gao Weiche with a thud, his head almost touching the ground, pleading, "Please, save the people."

“Your Highness…” Gao Weiche had not expected the Crown Prince to kneel before him. After a moment of stunned silence, he reached out his hand. “Get up quickly. Why do you have to go to such lengths? As a human, I will do my best to save humanity.”

Gao Weiche paused, then tightened his grip on the Crown Prince's hand slightly, promising, "I would give my life for it."

"Give me some time, give me some more time..." Gao Weiche's gaze shifted to the blurry character 'Xi' on the umbrella. He clearly saw that as time passed, the character 'Xi' became clearer. Gao Weiche dared not delay any longer, so he took out a tattered felt mat from his pocket and sat down on the ground.

Gao Weiche took out a handful of sand and casually scattered it on the ground. Then he took out a black twig and drew crisscrossing patterns on the ground, as if he were playing a game of chess.

The wind swirled fallen leaves past his clothes, but he was oblivious, his gaze fixed on the lines. Branches moved across the chessboard, sometimes pausing, sometimes darting across. The sand on the ground was constantly gathered and dispersed by Gao Weiche. Time passed second by second, and the character 'Xi' gradually became clearer. The only thing that remained unchanged was Gao Weiche's perpetually furrowed brow.

Those present had more or less heard that the sudden drought in the north was inextricably linked to the character '北' (north) on the black umbrella, so as they watched the character '西' (west) gradually become clearer, a gloom settled over their faces.

Seeing that Gao Weiche had not made any further move for a long time, and the sand on the ground had been repeatedly disturbed and reformed without any progress, someone couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, are you really going to place all your hopes on him alone? Since it's divine retribution, perhaps it's not too late to kneel and pray before the Creator Ancestor..."

The Crown Prince raised his hand, signaling the speaker to stop. His gaze remained fixed on the crisscrossing patterns Gao Weiche had drawn. "Give him some more time." "But Your Highness..."

The prince shook his head. “If there is really no progress, I will bathe and burn incense, and personally kowtow up the ninety-nine steps to pray that the Creator Ancestor can save humanity, and let me bear all the sins of humanity alone.”

……

From the Star Gazing Tower onwards, Yi Changle and Kaitian had been secretly following Gao Weiche, witnessing everything that happened. Kaitian was shocked by the Crown Prince's act of kneeling. "It is said that a man's knees are worth gold. Kneeling in public like this is a matter of face. I'm afraid even ordinary people can't do it, let alone a Crown Prince who is second only to the Emperor."

Looking at the Crown Prince's lifeless face, Kaitian couldn't help but sigh, "If it weren't for the fact that it concerns the entire Three Realms, I would really like to spare his life."

"His life and death are decided by himself." Yi Changle sat cross-legged on the black umbrella, his face expressionless. "Aren't those who die at our hands always the ones who deserve to die?"

“That’s true. Those who committed heinous crimes died so easily, it’s actually a good thing for them.” Kaitian looked westward with deep eyes. “It seems we should get the Earth Demons to act quickly.”

As the words were spoken, the character "西" (West) on the surface of the black umbrella took shape. At the same time, a horizontal line appeared faintly on the other side of the black umbrella, which was the first stroke of the character "南" (South).

"This...this..." The crowd surrounding the black umbrella began to stir, discussing among themselves, "Has the black umbrella grown even faster now?"

"Now that the character 'West' is finished, does that mean... disaster has befallen the west just like it has the north?"

"What kind of disaster will this be? Is it another drought?"

"Look over there..." While everyone's attention was drawn to the character "西" (xi, meaning west), someone noticed the character "南" (nan, meaning south) which only had one horizontal line. "That's the unfinished character '南'!"

The incessant chatter reached the Crown Prince's ears without missing a word. "Your Highness..." the person who had spoken earlier said again, "'West' is complete, and 'South' has also emerged. How much longer are we going to wait?"

Before the crown prince could answer, a guard rushed up to him, "Report! Urgent news from the west: a sudden earthquake has struck. At the time of the incident, the sky spun, houses collapsed, cities crumbled, and mountains and rivers changed shape. The people were caught off guard and many were injured or killed. The old and young cried out, their grief echoing across the fields. Fields cracked open, springs gushed forth, roads were blocked, and supplies were scarce."

"First came the drought, then the earth demons... There are four directions in total, east, west, south, and north. Doesn't that mean the disasters that will come will be more and more severe... Your Highness, please forgive me." Before the guard could finish speaking, he felt a sharp gaze fall on him and immediately shut his mouth.

The Crown Prince withdrew his gaze. The guard was merely stating the truth; how could he possibly blame someone for speaking the truth? There was still no progress on Gao Weiche's side. The Crown Prince quickly made a decision. He looked around and pointed at the guard who had spoken earlier, saying, "You stay here. If he makes any progress, report back to me immediately. Everyone else... except for the Imperial Guards guarding the Black Umbrella, come with me. We will go together to the statue of the Creator Ancestor and pray for a glimmer of hope for humanity."

The Crown Prince left in a grand procession. Despite the commotion, Gao Weiche never raised his eyes. He knew that the most important thing right now was to calculate a possibility for the human world and to determine the location of that possibility.

Those who remained breathed softly, each one cautious, afraid of disturbing Gao Weiche. But... Gao Weiche calculated thousands of times but couldn't find a clue. Just as he was completely bewildered, he heard the faint sound of bells drifting in the wind.

The intermittent, light tinkling of silver bells sounded exceptionally clear in the quiet atmosphere. Gao Weiche followed the sound and looked towards the distance, where a purple hue slowly appeared—a woman was walking slowly, her skirt swaying gently with each step, and the silver bells on her ankles rang out with a crisp sound with every movement.

The woman approached as the bells rang. The imperial guards were initially surprised, then immediately tried to stop her, but no one could stop her. A group of imperial guards surrounded her, but they couldn't even touch the hem of her clothes. She walked right up to Gao Weiche.

"Who are you?" Gao Weiche had to admit that this was an extremely beautiful woman, so beautiful that she seemed otherworldly. After seeing that there was no malice on her face, Gao Weiche felt a little relieved.

The woman waved the worn tortoise shell in her hand at Gao Weiche, "I am the person you are looking for." After saying that, the woman threw the tortoise shell at the chessboard of heaven and earth drawn by Gao Weiche.

Before Gao Weiche could stop them, the five worn-out tortoise shells had already landed steadily on the chessboard.

"This is..." The placement of the tortoise shells made Gao Weiche's eyes light up with excitement, "The hope of mankind... It's been calculated, it's been calculated! The hope of mankind has been calculated!"

"Who exactly are you?" Gao Weiche hadn't expected the woman in front of him to be so powerful, casually tossing something away and resolving his predicament—no, the predicament of the human world.

"Didn't I tell you? I'm the person you're looking for."

“But…” Gao Weiche said cautiously, “The chessboard points to the hope of humanity, and you are not among these five positions.”

“These five directions are precisely east, south, west, north… and the capital city.” The woman smiled. “How do you know I am not the hope of humanity? Aren’t I right here in the capital city?”

"You said east, west, south, and north?" Gao Weiche had been too excited to look carefully before, and hurriedly lowered his head to examine it closely. "It really is east, west, south, and north... Isn't this... Isn't this..."

"Just like the black umbrella, right?" the woman said casually. "The Star Gazing Tower is in the center of the capital, and the capital is in the center of the human world. The black umbrella appeared in the Star Gazing Tower, and the direction of the umbrella was also displayed on its surface, exactly the same as what you calculated."

"Impossible." Gao Weiche denied himself, "This is impossible! Something must have gone wrong."

“The directions are correct,” the woman said. “However, these directions do not point to human hope, but to something that can only be preserved by destruction…”

"Something?" Gao Weiche asked, puzzled. "You mean the same thing? But what can exist in all five locations at the same time?"