Cultivation Begins with Caring for Sister-in-law

Chapter 849 - 855, - 856: Receiving the Mandate, Declaring Himself Emperor

August 6th.The Mao Hour had just passed, and it was now the Chen Hour.

By rights, at this time in August the sky should already be turning pale with the first light of dawn, but at this moment heaven and earth were still shrouded in darkness.

In the main bedchamber of Prince Wei’s Mansion.

This was the coolest time of day, the temperature pleasantly comfortable, yet on the bed surrounded by curtains, the scene was one of sultry fragrance and a tangle of bare white limbs.

One jade-like arm and beautiful leg after another were draped together in a jumble, and the thin quilt that had originally covered the people on the bed had long since been kicked to the floor in their sleep, no one knew by whom.

He did not know how much time had passed before Chen Mo slowly woke. Seeing the room still dark and the outside not much brighter, he thought dawn had not yet come. He glanced left and right at the still-sleeping Xingyao, Lin Xuelan, Yu Zhu, and Chu Juan, then reached out to pull the nearest Yu Zhu into his arms. Feeling that warm, soft jade-like body, he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

It was not until half an hour later that Chen Mo opened his eyes again. Glancing beyond the bed, he saw there was still only a faint glimmer of light.

Chen Mo sensed something was wrong. By his internal clock, when he woke up earlier, the sky should already have been bright.

He called toward the outside of the room, "What Hour is it?"

For someone like him, there were always maids waiting just outside the main bedchamber. As soon as Chen Mo’s voice fell, a slightly panicked female voice came from outside: "Prince, it is already the Chen Hour. The... the sun is black."

Chen Mo’s heart jolted. He knew a solar eclipse had occurred. He hadn’t expected Xu Zheng’s calculations to be so precise, that it would be today, and that the eclipse would happen this early.

"Prince, what is it?" Lin Xuelan was woken by the noise. She raised a hand to gently rub her eyes and spoke drowsily.

Lin Xuelan was sleeping on the inside of the bed, with Xingyao between them. Chen Mo reached out and pinched her cheek. "Did I wake you?"

"I have rested almost enough anyway," Lin Xuelan said softly.

Chen Mo nodded. "Xuelan, there’s a solar eclipse outside."

A solar eclipse, which the common folk called the Heavenly Dog Eating the Sun, was an ominous omen.

The official term in Great Song, however, was "Rishi."

"Solar eclipse?"

Yu Zhu, who was nestled in Chen Mo’s arms, also woke up. Because her chest was being measured by Chen Mo’s palm, she couldn’t help but let out a soft, coquettish hum the moment she woke, and a rosy blush rose on both cheeks.

She was more or less used to this by now. While feeling shy and annoyed, she looked toward the window and saw that outside was only faintly bright.

"Prince, I want to go out and take a look." Yu Zhu had never seen a solar eclipse since she was little; she had only read about it in books and heard the elders describe it, so she was very curious.

"Everyone get up. I have to go to morning Court as well. Today is going to be busy."

...

In Great Song, the common people were very superstitious. Especially since this world actually had cultivating Martial Artists, and Cultivation Techniques and Martial Arts often mentioned ghosts and gods and the like, they were particularly sensitive to any unusual celestial phenomena.

Like the solar eclipse happening today.

Even Prince Wei’s Mansion had fallen into some disorder.

The servants and maids were all discussing how this was an ominous sign and feeling that some great event was about to occur, silently praying in their hearts.

"Mother, is it that the sky has gone dark, or that dawn just hasn’t come yet?"

"Mother, is that the sun? Why is today’s sun black?"

In the rear courtyard, Chen Nuo and Chen You, one on each side of Xia Zhiqing, stood by their mother’s side, their big upturned eyes full of doubt as they looked at the sky.

Xia Zhiqing said, "This is a solar eclipse."

"Solar eclipse?" The two children didn’t understand and hurriedly asked Xia Zhiqing what a solar eclipse was.

This clearly touched on Xia Zhiqing’s own knowledge blind spot. After all, she only knew it was called a solar eclipse. How it was produced, why it happened—she couldn’t make sense of the principle. But seeing the eager curiosity in the two children’s eyes, Xia Zhiqing could only explain it using a folk tale: "A solar eclipse is when the Heavenly Dog eats the sun."

"What is the Heavenly Dog?" Chen Nuo asked again.

"Little brother, you’re so silly. The Heavenly Dog is the dog in the sky," Chen You said with a perfectly serious face.

"Mother, is what Sister said true?" Chen Nuo asked.

Xia Zhiqing: "..."

...

"Husband, is the reason the abdication ceremony was set for tomorrow related to this solar eclipse?"

Elsewhere, Chen Mo ran into Wu Mi, who asked about the situation.

Chen Mo had not yet told Wu Mi about this, but she faintly felt that tomorrow’s abdication ceremony was closely connected to today’s solar eclipse.

Chen Mo nodded. "Very few people know about this. Don’t spread it around."

Chen Mo looked up at the sky. This wasn’t an ordinary solar eclipse; it was a total solar eclipse. The entire sun was almost completely obscured, with only a ring of white light around the edge, plunging heaven and earth into gloom.

...

If even the people in Prince Wei’s Mansion were losing their heads, let alone the ordinary commoners in the city.

A solar eclipse was a relatively rare sight to begin with.

If an ordinary person was lucky, they might see it three to five times in their life.

And what they usually saw were partial eclipses.

To the eye, it looked like the sun had had a bite taken out of it by a dog, and thus came the saying of the Heavenly Dog Eating the Sun.

A phenomenon that appeared only once in a decade like this naturally stirred the imagination. Add to that the unique air of mystery and significance that certain people deliberately attached to it, plus all kinds of folk tales, and as time went on, its appearance often came accompanied by a measure of panic and heated discussion.

On the streets, there were especially many people praying. In front of some shops and houses, incense had been stuck in the ground, and gods’ images were pasted on the doors, making the atmosphere feel quite oppressive.

Compared to the city’s common folk, the Ministers at Court were particularly excited when they saw this scene.

Just as Geng Songfu stepped out of his residence, he looked up at the darkened sky, stroked his beard, and muttered to himself, "It seems today’s plan should be carried out very smoothly."

Long before this, Geng Songfu had, in the name of the Court, notified officials in almost every region of the country, telling them that if they saw a solar eclipse today, they were to act according to the plan.