Chapter 1 Hiding Fire

The Ji Xiang in the Longde Hall must die, and the hall must be left unattended, for the plan to proceed smoothly.

After all, that hall was originally built to enshrine the Zhenwu Great Emperor, and its original name was Xuanji Treasure Hall.

Although the statue of Zhenwu is no longer in the hall, replaced by wooden and clay sculptures of the Three Pure Ones, the hall still has the ability to suppress the chaos of gods and ghosts. As long as someone offers sacrifices and cleans it, the hall can generate divine power.

After all, this hall is the only place of worship established in the Forbidden City, and it is an important facility built during the reign of Emperor Jiajing... Of course, Emperor Longqing later seemed to think that this treasure hall had no use, so he abandoned it.

The man in the crimson robe made a final guarantee to Zhu Changluo that this time, no matter what, this little Taoist priest would die.

Because tonight, the Lord of Fire, the Fire Deity who first met Zhu Changluo, would appear in the Fire God Temple in the inner city.

Zhu Changluo was a little surprised: "She will come?"

The man in the crimson robe nodded: "For your great cause, how could our Lord not come?"

Zhu Changluo looked at the man in the crimson robe and frowned:

"The Fire God Temple is in the inner city. Although the emperor repaired it, the Fire God enshrined in it is not your Lord, right?"

"You little Fire Gods, Fire Spirits, and Fire Monsters... all relied on the emperor's repair of the Fire God Temple, and had people sacrifice to the Great and Small Ten Directions Fire Gods. So you took this opportunity to usurp the nest and gained the recognition of the national prestige, so you can move freely in this Forbidden City."

"But the main deity enshrined in the Shichahai Fire God Temple is, after all, the Fire Virtue True Lord. Allowing you little Fire Gods to steal incense, obtain sacrifices, can it also allow your Lord to come and steal incense and do bad things?"

Zhu Changluo let out a strange laugh: "Although the gods are all wooden and clay sculptures, they also have spirituality under the incense and sacrifices. These merits and positions cannot replace the divine positions of these great gods without the approval of the main god of the temple, or matching strength, they can only be locked up."

"And if she can replace them, unless... she has already obtained the position of the Fire Virtue True Lord, rightfully."

"The incense of the people, can your Lord bear it? Even if she appears in the inner city, how does she enter the imperial city, and how does she enter the Forbidden City?"

The man in the crimson robe shook his head: "You should still remember the first time the Lord met you. At that time, how did the Lord come in? Haven't you thought about it?"

Zhu Changluo's eyes solidified, staring at the tea cup in front of him, without blinking: "At that time, I thought it was my sincere prayer that summoned her. I originally thought she was a righteous god, but I didn't expect that she didn't seem to be."

The man in the crimson robe smiled: "Actually, at that time, she was indeed a righteous god. Precisely because she is a righteous god, and the most righteous god among righteous gods, she could appear in front of you in the Forbidden City."

"The incense of the people, of course she can bear it."

"It's just that there was no temple to worship the Fire God here at that time. When the Fire Deity came here, it was like duckweed without roots, and could not be manifested here for a long time. It was purely a coincidence that she was summoned by your sacrifice."

"But perhaps, it was already destined by fate?"

"In this imperial city, there are many righteous god positions, but as you said, no one goes to become a god. These positions, these merits of the gods, placed here, are all wood carvings and clay sculptures, or they have spirituality, but they are not true gods after all."

"Dead things act stiffly and rigidly."

The man in the crimson robe looked sideways at the window. He and Zhu Changluo had talked a lot. At this time, the sun was gradually setting, and it was almost time to act.

"The Taiyin gives birth to light, illuminating the holy fire."

...

The 19th day of the sixth month of the 25th year of Wanli, the first quarter of Xu time, the first watch.

A night is divided into five watches, and each watch has five points, and each point is equivalent to twenty-four minutes.

In the four cities of Shuntian Prefecture, countless "watchmen" appeared.

At this point in time, it was time for the first watch (7:00 PM), also known as the beginning of the watch. The watchmen in the city beat the copper gong, held up lanterns, and the sound of the gong was slow and fast, beating three times in a row.

"Dong!——Dong!"

Repeating this three times, Shuntian Prefecture under this night was no longer a place where ordinary people could walk.

In the outer city, there were seventy-two red posts, each post had ten official soldiers. During the night patrol, there were a total of seventy-six copper bells.

From the inner city to the imperial city, there were forty red posts, each post had ten banner soldiers, guarding day and night, with a total of twenty-eight copper bells.

Each day, a commander would take the post in turn, including a Jinyiwei commander or centurion with a saber, holding the Shenzi No. 17 token, on duty in the imperial city, and counting the gate guards.

The sky suddenly darkened.

Dong dong dong dong... A drum sound that was even louder than the sound of gongs and drums appeared.

All four cities of Shuntian could hear it clearly.

This was the evening drum.

The sound of copper gongs and drums.

After that, what appeared was a crisp and eerie ringing of bells.

"Ding ling ling..."

The eerie bright sound of the copper bells shaking violently made the surrounding people close their doors and windows, and lock their gates.

At this moment, whether it was eunuchs, gentry, or women, men, or prostitutes, respectable women, or beggars, merchants... or local people, actors, doctors, medicine sellers, literati, or warriors.

Those who could avoid it would avoid it, those who could leave would leave, and those who could hide would hide. Even those places of entertainment that opened their doors for business closed their doors, but the lights were still bright inside.

Outside Zhengyang Gate, Zhengxi Ward.

"The bell is starting to be passed, hurry, come in, close the door."

From this moment on, Shuntian Prefecture, this huge four-layered city, seemed to have turned into an ancient ferocious beast with bared fangs and claws. Suddenly, stars twinkled in the sky, and ten thousand starlights hung down above the Forbidden City.

"Why so hurry?"

The owner of the inn hurriedly let the foreign guests enter the inn, and then closed the gate tightly.

Some of these guests came from remote areas to do business, while others were people from small places who had never seen a curfew. After all, curfews were not implemented everywhere. The places where they were strictly enforced, apart from the capital, were only important border towns.

Many systems of the Ming Dynasty had already been abandoned.

The owner of the inn smiled and said to the foreign guests: "Night ban! The evening drum is sounded at the first watch to prohibit going out; the ban is only lifted after the morning bell is sounded at the fifth watch!"

"Those who walk on the streets during the second, third, and fourth watches will be beaten fifty times; those who violate the night ban shortly after the first watch and before the opening of the fifth watch will be beaten forty times!"

"Except for the critically ill dying, pregnant women giving birth, and truly dead people going to funerals, no one is allowed to go out during the night curfew!"

Those guests were immediately amazed: "Wow, is Shuntian so strict?"

Someone chimed in: "Those who go out after this watch are either looking for fun or going to steal."

"What is passing the bell?"

Someone asked.

But the person who answered did not have a standard Mandarin accent. Looking at his clothes, he was actually a Korean.

"In the outer city, at the beginning of each watch, seeing the intersection of the inner and outer cities, which is the Youmen of Chang'an, the first post sends out the bell, and the soldier carries a bell and shakes it to the second post, out of Zhengyang Gate, and thus passes it on to the first post of Zuomen of Chang'an, from northwest to southeast, around the outer circle of the inner city."

"Korean?"

"What about Korean?"

This Korean wore a red military uniform, a pheasant feather brimmed hat, and had a beautiful mustache.

The inn owner's laughter interrupted the guests' conversation, and he said to the Korean: "Korean official, why are you wearing a military uniform out here? Aren't you resting in the Ministry of Rites at night?"

This Korean smiled, his small mustache twitching: "I came to the inn just to wait for the passing of the bell. Sleeping in the Ministry of Rites in the imperial city, I can't see the sight of the passing of the bell."