Chapter 0307: Crucial Plot Must Be Interrupted, The True Ti Ling of the Directorate of Celestial Observation
Zhang Yuheng tilted his head to examine Xie Chengze’s condition, silently apologizing in his heart before reaching out to lift Xie Chengze’s eyelids.
Everything looked normal…
It seemed he had simply been startled and was now spacing out.
Zhang Yuheng shot Su Qinghe a reassuring look, then pressed his thumb hard against the philtrum of Xie Chengze’s forehead.
“Ah!” Xie Chengze instantly snapped back to reality, pounding Su Qinghe’s shoulder in pain as a tear welled in the corner of his eye.
Su Qinghe immediately glared at Zhang Yuheng with displeasure. “Why use so much force! His Highness is so delicate!”
Zhang Yuheng looked down at his fingers, wondering if he had actually used excessive strength.
After recovering for a moment, Xie Chengze gazed thoughtfully at the Heavenly Decree on the altar, his philtrum still burning bright red.
The threads had all retracted back into the book, as if tempting someone to open it. After hesitating briefly, Xie Chengze finally reached out his hand.
This time, without the barrier of his sleeve, the moment his fingertips touched the cover, his soul seemed to suddenly detach from his body. Darkness enveloped his vision again, but his sense of smell and hearing became increasingly sharp.
“The patient is hemorrhaging heavily, blood pressure dropping rapidly. Establish IV access immediately, rapid infusion of normal saline and hydroxyethyl starch, 1000ml each to start. Prepare for blood transfusion – 4 units of O-negative packed red blood cells and 600ml plasma, stat!”
“Doctor! The patient’s gone into cardiac arrest!”
“Begin CPR immediately, anesthesiologist prepare for intubation… Administer 1mg epinephrine IV, repeat every 3 minutes until pulse returns! Prepare defibrillator, set to 200 joules, defibrillate immediately if V-fib occurs!”
“…Clear!”
The moment the electric pulse surged through his body, Xie Chengze felt a tremendous force push him out of his original form. His vision cleared abruptly, and he found himself back at the altar.
This time, he was absolutely certain.
In the modern world, he was being resuscitated by doctors in an operating room.
Xie Chengze lowered his head and counted on his fingers, calculating the time difference between the two worlds.
Assuming that after he was hit by the car, a kind passerby called 120 for help, with ambulance response time plus transport to the hospital taking about 40 minutes, and another 20 minutes to get him into the OR for initial treatment…
That meant one year passed here for every hour that passed there.
If he lived to 60 here, less than two days would have passed in the modern world?
Xie Chengze couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Naturally he wanted to return, but… if he went back, what would happen to Xie Jinyu? What would happen to Shen Yuan?
Shen Yuan at least had the Shen family, but Xie Jinyu had nothing – he only had him. Moreover, if he didn’t stay here to suppress Xie Jinyu’s tyrannical personality, it would only bring suffering to Shen Yuan and the common people.
The significant time difference between the two worlds made him feel immensely grateful, as it gave him more time to ponder what secrets the Heavenly Decree might hold.
“Your Highness, is there something wrong with this Heavenly Decree?” Su Qinghe asked cautiously while supporting Xie Chengze, worried he might fall and injure himself while distracted.
“There’s something odd about this.” Xie Chengze nodded. “It nearly sucked my soul out.”
Su Qinghe looked bewildered.
“Bring your toolbox,” Xie Chengze instructed, then pulled out two tools from Su Qinghe’s toolbox, using them like chopsticks to try and flip open the Heavenly Decree.
But each time he touched it, his vision would darken, and he’d smell disinfectant.
“Your Highness, let me try.” Seeing Xie Chengze alternating between dazed confusion and frustrated stomping, Su Qinghe gently restrained him and reached for the Heavenly Decree.
“Wait!” Xie Chengze urgently tried to stop him, fearing something might happen, but he was too late.
The texture under his hand wasn’t like paper at all, but rather like touching cold stone. Feeling no physical discomfort, Su Qinghe attempted to open the Heavenly Decree but found it impossible to pry apart no matter how hard he tried.
He shook his head at Xie Chengze. “Your Highness, it won’t open.”
“Are you sure you’re not feeling unwell anywhere?” Xie Chengze immediately began checking him over, worried his soul might have accidentally flown off to some otherworldly place never to return.
Su Qinghe blushed slightly from the touching. He held Xie Chengze’s wrist and shook his head. “Your Highness, truly, there’s nothing wrong.”
Xie Chengze cupped his chin, falling deep into thought.
Could it be because he wasn’t from this world, or perhaps because he had an amphibious soul, that the soul transfer occurred?
Seeing neither Xie Chengze nor Su Qinghe could open the Heavenly Decree, Zhang Yuheng couldn’t resist giving it a try. He poked Xie Chengze, pointed at the Heavenly Decree, then at himself.
I wanna try too!!!
Xie Chengze stepped aside.
If the kid was curious, why not let him try? He’d surely be like Su Qinghe, unable to op—huh?!
Xie Chengze and Su Qinghe stared in shock as Zhang Yuheng effortlessly opened the Heavenly Decree.
Xie Chengze’s jaw nearly hit the floor. “Why? How is this possible? Are you the chosen one?!”
Zhang Yuheng was equally surprised that opening the Heavenly Decree was as easy as flipping through a notebook. Watching the two young heads instantly crowd in, he couldn’t help but find it amusing, then proceeded to flip through the Heavenly Decree page by page for them.
The first pages were blank until they reached the middle, where the previous Heavenly Decree’s content came into view, with characters resembling burned script:
“Rivers overflow with surging waves, forests break as birds and beasts flee. The eastern earth dragon turns, claiming two hundred thousand lives.”
Turning the page revealed the decree before that:
“Snow tyrannizes, ice seals a thousand miles, homes collapse for ten thousand families. A century’s rare northern frost leaves bones littering spring streets.”
Xie Chengze rubbed his chin and commented, “This is quite a cultured Heavenly Decree.”
Even delivering prophecies requires composing poetry.
Both Su Qinghe and Zhang Yuheng nodded in agreement.
The next page should contain the verse prophesying the Second Prince as a lucky star.
Zhang Yuheng lifted his hand to turn the page.
The next moment, “What are you doing?!”
Guo Tianheng’s startled voice came from the secret door. Zhang Yuheng’s hand jerked, Su Qinghe instantly straightened his posture, while Xie Chengze—already well-versed in the rule that “crucial plot points always get interrupted”—quickly shoved his head into the half-opened book pages.
“Guo… Guo Ti Ling!” Zhang Yuheng couldn’t speak, so Su Qinghe had to steel himself and explain, “We just came in to look around!”
“Do you think I believe that?!”
Guo Tianheng was utterly exasperated. He glanced at the lock hole still dripping with lubricating oil, then looked at Xie Chengze hunched before the altar with his bottom sticking up, and immediately felt his vision darken. “Second Prince! You mustn’t—!”
Oh, wait.
Why was he panicking?
The Second Prince couldn’t possibly open the Heavenly Decree anyway, so naturally he wouldn’t see that poem predicting his…
Before the previous Ti Ling passed away from illness, he had told him that after becoming Ti Ling, one still needed the Heavenly Decree’s recognition. Only those who could turn the pages of the Heavenly Decree were truly the Ti Ling of the Directorate of Celestial Observation in the full sense.
To this day, Guo Tianheng still couldn’t turn the pages of the Heavenly Decree. Every time the Heavenly Decree manifested, the book opened by itself.
So, the Second Prince definitely couldn’t see that page… Huh?!
Guo Tianheng stared at the page lifted in Zhang Yuheng’s hand and Xie Chengze’s head straining to burrow into the book, letting out a sharp, piercing shriek—
“Zhang! Yu! Heng!”
Why can you open the Heavenly Decree—!