Chapter 363 — How Thick Is the Vault of Heaven?
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Activating the Sun-Shooting Divine Cannon required the jade disc in Shen Mu's grasp. The cannon itself was far too vast for easy movement or control, so Shen Mu had forged a separate jade disc to resonate with it; through the disc, this colossus of a cannon could be directed at will, striking wherever it was pointed. The jade disc was the cannon's very brain. Shen Mu taught Emperor Yanfeng the art of wielding the disc; it was simple to learn and simpler still to use, for as a master forger Shen Mu could reduce the most troublesome business to the barest minimum—in this alone he surpassed other master forgers beyond all reckoning.
Emperor Yanfeng put the disc away, then after a moment brought it out again to turn it over in his hands, then stowed it away once more, then took it out yet again to play with it.
With good intentions Shen Mu said, "Your Majesty might fire one shot to try it out. " The Emperor shot him a fierce glare and answered with no good humor: "One roar from that cannon and the treasury is emptied! I am not like you, throwing money about with both hands. " Shen Mu said, "Has the Crown Prince not returned from the snowfields?
He should have brought back a fair amount of wealth. " "Even so, one does not casually fire the cannon!
The money in the treasury cannot be touched at whim; the nation is rebuilding from the ashes—where could it not use funds?
" Emperor Yanfeng put the disc away again; a moment later Shen Mu noticed the Emperor secretly take it out once more, and could not help shaking his head. Never having fired a single shot himself, the Emperor would surely find no savor in his food and no rest in his sleep; in heart and in dreams he would be thinking of nothing but loosing one satisfying blast.
Yet his reason would tell him the Sun-Shooting Divine Cannon could not be idly employed, and so the Emperor would keep on agonizing.
"Let him be," Shen Mu thought. Then, suddenly, several officials of the Bureau of Celestial Observation came forward bearing thick ledger volumes; at their head was the Fire-Mountain Commandant, who saluted Shen Mu and said: "Supervisor Shen, the shot you fired at the sky just now—when we of the Observatory Tower examined the heavens, certain strange things appeared.
Your Excellency has many numerological masters at hand, and so we would ask you to help us with the calculations. " Surprised, Shen Mu asked, "What strange things? " "When the sky broke, the celestial signs shifted. " The Fire-Well Commandant of the Bureau added from the side: "When the sky split apart, the celestial configurations were displaced, and only when the sky closed again did they return to normal.
We have recorded the angles of displacement, but our own command of the numerological arts is shallow, and we find it very hard to compute what actually occurred. Pray look, Lord Shen—these are the star charts of successive generations.
" He opened the charts and turned page after page; Shen Mu observed that the Bureau recorded the sky's configurations year by year, each year's chart following a regular order, the changes exceedingly slight.
"This is the chart from after your Excellency's shot. " The Fire-Well Commandant opened the final page and pointed: "After that shot, the sky darkened for an instant, and the armillary sphere at the Observatory Tower recorded the stars of heaven. The sun star shifted by one inch and seven fen; when the crack healed, the sun star came back. The other stars that appeared during the darkness were all displaced as well, some more, some less. But at the site of the crack there was not a single star—that is absolutely abnormal.
Within that crack there should originally have been a hundred and seven stars!
" Still perplexed, Shen Mu said, "Could it be that the divine cannon's power was so immense that it tore through space, warping one's vision and producing the displacements?