Time Travel: The Best Doctor in Ancient Times

Chapter 360: Chapter 234: Female Star of the Occupation Room Battles Against Rushing Hook Chen Chapter 360: Chapter 234: Female Star of the Occupation Room Battles Against Rushing Hook Chen The autumn air was crisp, and the night sky seemed even more vast and clear.

The boundless night sky, dotted with stars, was embellished with mottled brilliance; a round moon hung in the sky, appearing both full and waning. The Milky Way stretched across the horizon, its faint halo dispersing, further enhancing the night sky’s immensity and mystery, making it difficult for anyone to discern its unpredictable changes.

Little Monk Bu Jie stared at the night sky with utter concentration, the stars that flickered on and off reflected in his eyes, making them appear equally distant and mysterious.

Zhou Mu stood next to Little Monk Bu Jie, holding his breath and concentrating. The two of them, one tall and one short, both had serious expressions on their faces.

At that same moment, Gu Changsheng called out to his foster father Mr. Ban Shan outside the door. After receiving permission to enter, he held a large stack of military treatises in one arm and slowly pushed open the door to Mr. Ban Shan’s room with the other hand.

“It appeared!”

Little Monk Bu Jie suddenly pointed towards the northern night sky and exclaimed.

Zhou Mu followed the direction pointed out by Little Monk Bu Jie towards the Big Dipper and indeed, unbeknownst to them, a new star of dazzling light had emerged in the heavens, its radiance outshining half of the night sky, and had already surpassed the brightness of the Big Dipper.

“This is…” Zhou Mu furrowed her brows, her crimson lips tightly shut; her face, as beautiful as an Exiled Immortal, was filled with a grave expression as she slowly asked two words.

“Female Star of the Occupation Room!” Little Monk Bu Jie, shrouded in the hazy starlight, seemed all the more inscrutable. He stared at the northern night sky unwaveringly, focusing on the new star that outshone all others, his eyes as if they contained the profound depth of the universe, “Among the Eighty-Eight Constellations, the Eastern Azure Dragon has the Female Star of the Occupation Room as its principal star. But this star behaves unusually, suddenly appearing beside the Big Dipper’s stars, its brilliance eclipsing the Big Dipper’s edge…”

“This is the will of Heaven! The will of Heaven!”

Zhou Mu looked at the glowing, peculiar star in the night sky, her expressions unpredictable, finally resolving into a deep worry, “What does the sudden rise of this star signify?”

Little Monk Bu Jie kept gazing at that star without moving his eyes even slightly, and replied hesitantly, “Master once said that over a decade ago, before I was born, the Planet of Bewilderment had already thrown the Big Dipper into chaos, foreshadowing inevitable turmoil within twenty years. The star that destiny should favor would naturally emerge in due course, but now with the Female Star of the Occupation Room pointing its brilliance at the Big Dipper, contending with Hook Chen, this omen is…”

Little Monk Bu Jie paused there, and Zhou Mu’s body instantly tensed, as if an arrow strung on a bow.

“Whoever obtains the Female Star of the Occupation Room rules the world!”

In Zhou Mu’s extreme tension, Little Monk Bu Jie took a deep breath and slowly uttered nine words.

These nine words left Zhou Mu frozen in an instant.

The night sky remained vast and infinite, with stars winking as if they embraced all phenomena, seemingly looking down on the various states of the human world, proud and unpredictable.

The autumn breeze was slightly cool, blowing over the two of them.

Yet neither reacted at all, both simultaneously caught in a state of petrification.

In a momentary eerie stagnation of time, just in a few breaths, the radiance of the prominent Female Star of the Occupation Room faded as suddenly as it had appeared.

Zhou Mu stared at the Female Star of the Occupation Room, which now seemed just like any other ordinary star, with fluctuating expressions on her face.

Little Monk Bu Jie finally shifted his gaze from the night sky, looking towards the petrified Zhou Mu, and began to speak slowly, “Benefactor, this Female Star of the Occupation Room is none other than Benefactor Changsheng’s Life Star. Do you understand the implications here?”

Seeing Zhou Mu still fixated on the star without responding, Little Monk Bu Jie continued unhurriedly, “I’ve said it before; it’s the will of Heaven, unavoidable, and one cannot prevent it in advance. The Four Kingdoms’ Royal Family all have their share of capable people, and with the Female Star of the Occupation Room struggling against Hook Chen, they likely already know that there’s a daughter in the Liuzhou Region who, if obtained, could rule the world… Sigh.”

Little Monk Bu Jie said up to that point and let out a low sigh.

When the world is thrown into chaos, the strong vie for supremacy, and the capable rise to the top, yet this portent suddenly emerges, bestowing the destiny of the world upon one single girl!

Benefactor Changsheng, she…

Little Monk Bu Jie, with these thoughts, couldn’t help but shake his head repeatedly.

“No!” Zhou Mu snapped back to reality, shouting blankly, grasping the railing with both hands, her fingers digging in deeply, “With a million-strong army engaged in a bitter battle with the Japanese pirates, the earliest they could return to court would be next spring, after the pirates had been fully subdued and the dust had settled. If this were to unsettle the Four Kingdoms before then, this prince would also…”

If the Four Kingdoms’ Royal Families spared no effort to obtain his Changsheng, with his mere few thousand stationed troops, what could he possibly do?

No! He did not want this!

There must be another way!

“Crack!”

A crisp sound was exceptionally clear in the quiet of the night, as the railing of the Observation Deck turned to ash under Zhou Mu’s hands and scattered downwards, quickly dissipating into dust.

No matter what, he would not let his Changsheng face danger!

“`

“When the Female Star of the Occupation Room clashes with Hook Chen, can others discern the person to whom this star belongs?” Zhou Mu peered into the endless night sky, his deep-set eyes slightly narrowing.

Little Monk Bu Jie slowly shook his head, “The secrets of heaven are difficult to predict, and any revelation is but a momentary glimpse. It was only because I noticed an anomaly in the heavenly patterns last night that I meticulously observed Benefactor Changsheng today. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to detect the subtle visage of the Star of Life and Fate emerging between her eyebrows.”

“Does this mean that even if all the talented and extraordinary people from the Four Kingdoms were to gather in the Liuzhou Region, they still wouldn’t be able to determine whose Star of Life and Fate the Female Star of the Occupation Room is?” Zhou Mu’s eyes flickered with a glint of light as he hastily asked.

The heart of Little Monk Bu Jie was pure and unstained; how could he know what was on Zhou Mu’s mind? He shook his head slowly and told the truth, “The Female Star of the Occupation Room emerges in accord with destiny, undoubtedly indicating that the girl it signifies is extraordinary. Nowadays in the Liuzhou Region, there is no one who doesn’t know about Medicine God Changsheng. Benefactor Changsheng has revitalized the practice of medicine on her own, freely sharing precious prescriptions for the good of all, fostering beneficent connections everywhere. Her fame is truly prominent; what need is there for talented or extraordinary figures to observe? Even ordinary people would know that Benefactor Changsheng is the person the Female Star of the Occupation Room signifies…”

Zhou Mu listened intently to Little Monk Bu Jie, his brows knitting together slightly, a spark in his eyes disappearing as quickly as it came, and he called out softly, “San Cunding!”

The next instant, a dwarf no taller than two feet quietly appeared from the shadows backlit by light, his voice shrill like a child’s but oddly unsettling to listen to. If one looked closely, they would notice the skin around his eyes, visible out of his night clothes, was already wrinkled with age. The Secret Guard known as San Cunding asked puzzledly, “My lord?”

Zhou Mu glanced at Little Monk Bu Jie, who was a little taller than San Cunding, then slightly lowered his gaze, his lips moving silently as he gave orders in a hushed tone.

After a few moments, understanding Zhou Mu’s command, San Cunding bowed in acknowledgement. Like a bubble, his form merged into the night in an instant.

Zhou Mu watched as San Cunding disappeared, his noble brow still tightly furrowed.

“I have inadvertently divulged the secrets of heaven. Alas! I fear I might lose some of my life span because of this…” Seeing Zhou Mu like this, Little Monk Bu Jie did not ask any further questions. He murmured this sentence and, holding his Little Wooden Fish, walked back into the building. Just as he was stepping onto the stairs, he turned back to Zhou Mu, “Benefactor, if Benefactor Changsheng asks tomorrow why the railings of the Observation Deck have vanished, I hope you will tell her the truth and not involve this poor monk.”

Zhou Mu kept his gaze on the vast expanse of the night sky, not turning his head as he spoke in a deep voice, “The matters of tonight’s star alignment must not be known to her, to avoid adding to her troubles.”

Little Monk Bu Jie struck his Wooden Fish, walking back while lightly responding, “The secrets of heaven must not be divulged. This poor monk has already conceded some of his lifespan, and I will not hasten to lose more. I still hope one day to penetrate the essence of Buddha and transcend this world…”

Zhou Mu ignored Little Monk Bu Jie’s prattling. He stood tall and solitary on the edge of the Observation Deck without railings, his form like that of a stalwart pine, surrounded by unsettling Malevolent Qi.

“What does it matter if one with grave sins does not meet a good end? I have said before that I would rather let down the whole world than fail her. Even if it increases my sins, I will ensure her safety at all costs!”

…

Blissfully unaware of the night’s events, Gu Changsheng at this moment was smirking as she watched her Foster Father become distressed.

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. Next is to disrupt their alliances, then to attack their forces, and the least favorable is to besiege their cities!”

Mr. Ban Shan, trembling all over, clutched a scroll of military strategies, turning the pages absently as he muttered, “Appear where they do not expect, strike where they are unprepared, this is the essence of deception. Thus, the expert in battle moves the enemy and is not moved by others… ”

“… Fast as the wind, quiet as the forest, aggressive as fire, immovable as a mountain…”

“… In the morning they are sharp, at noon they falter, and in the evening they return. Thus, the skilled in warfare avoid the sharp and strike the weary and returning…”

“… Corner them in desperate ground, then they will survive; trap them in deadly ground, then they will live…”

“…”

Gu Changsheng watched her elderly Foster Father lose his usual refined and otherworldly demeanor with each recited phrase, the light in his eyes blazing brighter, as she covered her mouth to muffle her laughter.

She had said it before; this era was terribly backward, lacking even a systematic treatise on warfare!

Now they had one, hadn’t they?

She had assimilated the essence of China’s five-thousand-year history of military strategy, discarding the chaff and condensing it into something practical and concise.

“Foster Father?” Gu Changsheng called out softly.

Mr. Ban Shan, utterly absorbed in the military scroll and as if immersed in the book itself, waved his hand impatiently.

Gu Changsheng watched as her Foster Father became engrossed with the military treatise, stepped lightly out of the room, and carefully closed the door behind her.

“Kun Nu, guard my Foster Father, and have Ning Er follow me,” Gu Changsheng softly instructed the unseen Kun Nu outside the door.

“As you command,” came the uniquely hoarse voice of Kun Nu.

Gu Changsheng chuckled again as she glanced back at her Foster Father’s room door. Let him immerse himself in those military treatises for a while longer…

In the shadowy courtyard, with its pavilions and towers, Gu Changsheng stood within her mansion’s grounds, the autumn breeze gently lifting her blood-red dress. The hem of her dress fluttering in the wind gave her an ethereal, transcendent aura.

Gu Changsheng stood upright and alone, looking up at the vast sea of stars. She, Gu Changsheng, would survive in this time and space, even if her actions disrupted the natural course of this era’s development, at all costs.

In the northern night sky, the normally inconspicuous Female Star of the Occupation Room suddenly blazed brightly before returning to normal so quickly that it was nearly imperceptible to the naked eye…

“`