Chapter 17: The Blade of Mingyue

Act One: Blood Oath

The midnight chime of the clepsydra seeped into the side hall of the Shanggong Bureau. Shen Qinghuan's silver needle, dipped in realgar wine, pierced the ninth star of the Nine Palace Flying Stars onto Mingyue's instep. As the needle struck the "Po Jun" star position, the maid suddenly gripped Shen Qinghuan's wrist with startling strength—nothing like the meek, submissive servant she usually appeared to be.

"This servant was seven when Wu Meiniang was still a Zhao Yi." Mingyue tore open her plain skirt, revealing a centipede-shaped scar beneath her collarbone. "On the twenty-third day of the twelfth month in the first year of Shenlong, to suppress the restless spirits of Ganye Temple, she buried my parents alive beneath its foundation."

Moonlight streamed through the carved window, refracting a double reflection in her tear-filled eyes. Shen Qinghuan's compass snake tattoo slithered toward Mingyue's scar, and beneath her skin, golden threads emerged, forming a fragment of The Prophecy of Tui Bei Tu—the fourth omen predicting a woman replacing the Tang dynasty.

"Every night at midnight, Princess Changping burns incense by Taiye Pool to appease the ghosts," Mingyue said, spreading a blood-stained handkerchief on the table. Vermilion ink traced a map of secret tunnels beneath the princess's bedchamber. "The fish-shaped talisman at her waist can unlock Wu Meiniang's private vault, where all the secret files of the Shenlong Coup are hidden."

Act Two: The Game in the Mirror

Three days later, during the Cold Food Festival, the Shangfu Bureau was tasked with tailoring new garments for Princess Changping. As Mingyue carried Shu brocade into the bedchamber, the gilded lozenge-shaped mirror reflected the princess combing her hair—seven peachwood hairpins adorned her chignon, their tips engraved with reversed Bagua symbols.

"Your Highness looks radiant today," Mingyue said, kneeling to present the fabric. Her fingertip subtly brushed the brocade's edge, transferring a specially crafted magnetic powder onto the princess's fingers. In the mirror's reflection, it emitted a faint, imperceptible glow—Shen Qinghuan's enhanced "Heart-Peering Formation," capable of projecting the mirrored person's thoughts onto the back of the bronze mirror.

That midnight, Shen Qinghuan traced the glowing patterns on the mirror's reverse side and let out a cold laugh. "So our princess spends her nights cursing Wu Meiniang with witchcraft." The lingering images revealed Changping burying a straw effigy inscribed with Wu Meiniang's birth details by Taiye Pool, its chest pierced with three gilded needles—the very hairpins Wu Meiniang wore on the day she was named Zhao Yi.

Act Three: Borrowing a Knife to Kill

"Tomorrow, at the third quarter of the Mao hour, the princess will meet a Turkic envoy in secret under the guise of a spring outing," Mingyue reported, rolling the message into a hollow hairpin. "She bought a rare Western poison, 'Beauty's Drunkenness,' from a Hu merchant in the East Market, planning to mix it into Wu Meiniang's hibiscus cakes."

Shen Qinghuan, however, poured the poison into a magnetic powder case. "Such a fine thing should explode where it's meant to." She concealed an enhanced magnetic detonation device in the lining of the princess's favorite Persian rug. "When Changping lifts the rug to confront the merchant—"

The next day at noon, an explosion rocked half of Chang'an. When Wu Meiniang arrived at the East Market, Changping's skirt was shredded by the blast, her fish-shaped talisman missing. More damningly, the straw effigy that fell from her sleeve bore Wu Meiniang's birth details and three curse-inscribed golden needles.

Act Four: The Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell

"Fool! I knew you harbored treachery!" Wu Meiniang slapped Changping across the face in public, her armored nails carving bloody furrows into her skin. Hidden in the crowd, Mingyue exchanged a glance with Shen Qinghuan before slipping into a dark alley.

"Mistress, the fish talisman is ours." Mingyue pulled the hollow hairpin from her chignon, revealing Changping's private seal glinting coldly inside. "Tonight at midnight, Wu Meiniang's vault will be ours too."

Shen Qinghuan pressed her hand down. "Not yet. Let our princess perform one more act—" She scattered a handful of magnetic powder into the wind, the particles clinging to Wu Meiniang's phoenix carriage, leaving a fluorescent trail visible only to her compass in the darkness.

Act Five: The Mantis and the Oriole

At midnight, eerie ripples spread across Taiye Pool. Princess Changping, bound in iron chains, stood on a stone platform at its center. As Wu Meiniang raised a torch to execute her, the water suddenly boiled—Shen Qinghuan's pre-planted magnetic device, triggered by Mingyue, unleashed seven hundred bronze chains that coiled like living snakes around Wu Meiniang's guards.

"Now!" Mingyue leaped forward, snatching the true fish talisman from Changping's waist. But as she touched the door to Wu Meiniang's vault, she froze—the chamber held not secret files, but a life-sized jade statue identical to Shen Qinghuan, its instep inscribed with "Crafted by the Master of Tianji Pavilion."

Wu Meiniang's laughter rang out from behind. "Mingyue, oh Mingyue, did you think I didn't know you were a remnant of the former dynasty?" She lifted the statue's base, revealing the desiccated heads of Mingyue's parents. "I've waited twelve years for you to deliver The Prophecy of Tui Bei Tu fragment right into my trap!"

Mingyue's eyes blazed with fury as the magnetic device in her arms began a countdown—Shen Qinghuan had hidden the detonator in the fish talisman. In a earth-shattering blast, Wu Meiniang's vault erupted into a sea of fire. A hundred meters away, atop the Stargazing Tower, Shen Qinghuan watched, her snake tattoo slithering into the newly acquired secret files. Beside her stood Mingyue, clutching a box containing her parents' heads. "Thank you, Mistress. Now I can finally lay them to rest," she said, kneeling in gratitude.

"Stand up. We still have a long road ahead," Shen Qinghuan replied, stroking the sheepskin scroll detailing the Shenlong Coup as she gazed at Changping struggling in the inferno below.