Chapter 362: Thickness of the Sky
Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem
Activating Sunshot Divine Cannon required the jade plate in Qin Mu's hand. Since the battery was too large, it wasn't easy to control, so Qin Mu had created a tool to interact with it. The jade plate could then have the huge divine cannon shoot wherever he pointed.
It was the central control of Sunshot Divine Cannon.
Qin Mu taught Emperor Yanfeng how to use the jade plate, which was simple to learn and use. As a great master in forging, Qin Mu could simplify the most complicated things, and with just this point, he surpassed other great masters of forging by leaps and bounds.
Emperor Yanfeng put away the circular plate. After a while, he took it out to play with it before putting it back again. Some time later, he took it out once more to fiddle with it again.
Qin Mu said kindly, "Your Majesty can try firing one shot."
Emperor Yanfeng looked at him, then said unpleasantly, "One shot and the treasury will be emptied! I'm not like you, spending money like flowing water."
"Hasn't the crown prince come back from the snow plains? He should have brought back quite a lot of treasure," Qin Mu said.
"But also I also can't shoot randomly! The money in the imperial treasury can't be touched carelessly. There are many things to be done in the empire, and which of them don't need money?"
Emperor Yanfeng put away the jade plate, but after a moment, Qin Mu saw him taking it out again sneakily. He couldn't help shaking his head. If Emperor Yanfeng never fired a shot, he would definitely be unable to have a pleasant sleep. He would just keep thinking of doing it.
However, his rationality would tell him that he couldn't misuse Sunshot Divine Cannon so he would end up at a loss.
'Let him be,' Qin Mu thought to himself.
Suddenly, a couple officials from the Department of Sky Supervision carried over some thick scrolls. In their lead was Huo Shanling who greeted Qin Mu and said, "Supervisor Qin, we at the Sky Supervision Platform have noticed some peculiarity when you shot at the sky earlier. Supervisor has many algebra experts here, so I would like to invite Supervisor to help us calculate it."
"What peculiarity?" Qin Mu asked with bewilderment.
"When the sky was torn, there was a change in the astronomical phenomenon."
Huo Jingling of Department of Sky Supervision who was at the side then added, "The sky split open and the astronomical phenomenon in the sky shifted, returning back to normal only after the tear was healed. We recorded the shift in angles, but since our attainments in algebra aren't high, it's hard for us to calculate what happened. Lord Qin, please take a look, these are the previous star charts."
He flipped open the star charts and went through them page by page. Qin Mu observed that the celestial bodies that Department of Sky Supervision had recorded each year had a regular pattern. Their changes were very minute.
"This is the star chart after Lord Qin fired that cannon."
Huo Jingling flipped to the last page and pointed at the star chart. "After that cannon, the sky turned dark for an instant, and the armillary sphere recorded the celestial bodies in the sky. The sun had shifted an inch and three quarters at the time, but when the tear recovered, the sun moved back. During the darkness, the other stars had also shifted. Meanwhile, at the location of the tear, there had been no stars at all. This is definitely not normal. In the tear, there should have been a hundred and seven stars!"
Qin Mu was still puzzled. "Would it be because the power of the divine cannon was too strong, causing distortion in vision which resulted in what looked like the shifting of celestial bodies?"
"There's this possibility," Huo Jingling said. "However, Department of Sky Supervision uses an armillary sphere, which is a spirit weapon as well as a heavy spirit treasure. Our vision can be distorted, but the armillary sphere couldn't be tricked like that. The star chart on the armillary sphere moves together with the celestial bodies in the sky. If the star chart on the armillary sphere moved, it means that the stars in the sky had really moved. But the most crucial thing is why were there no stars at the location of the tear?"
Qin Mu's heart stirred slightly, and he probed, "What you mean is?"
The people looked at one another, and Hu Shanling coughed lightly. "Before doing any calculations, we at the Department of Sky Supervision don't dare to make any guesses and can't be responsible for anyone else's guesses. Please forgive us, Lord Qin."
'These fellows are mysterious.'
Qin Mu frowned and said, "The experts with me are mostly algebra experts of Dao Sect and Little Jade Capital. They are currently planning to leave and return to Dao Sect and Little Jade Capital. I don't dare to say if I can ask them to stay."
Xu Shenghua walked up and said with excitement, "I also have some attainments in algebra."
Qin Mu smiled and said, "It's naturally good for Brother Xu to come and help. I will go invite Dao Master Lin Xuan and Wang Muran."
Jin Yan immediately said, "Since my young master is helping, the thousand coins that we owed…"
"Even if you don't help I have no lack of algebra experts here!" Qin Mu replied without even turning his head.
Jing Yan's expression instantly turned black. "Miser!"
"Yan'zi, don't be angry. Actually, I would also like to know what had happened to the sky after Cult Master Qin fired off that shot. What he said isn't wrong as well, with or without our help, it changes nothing for him, it's just a matter of time," Xu Shenghua said.
Qin Mu found Dao Master Lin Xuan, Mu Qingdai, and the rest of the young experts. After gathering everyone, Wang Muran asked, "What is Cult Master calculating this time?"
Qin Mu looked at Huo Jingling of Department of Sky Supervision whose gaze was sparkling as he said, "An astronomical phenomenon."
Dao Master Lin Xuan smiled and said, "Astronomical phenomenon? Cult Master Qin had cultivated our Dao Sect's Dao Sword and the fourth writing of Dao Sword is nothing else but an astronomical phenomenon. With him around, what use are we?"
Qin Mu shook his head and said, "The fourth writing of Dao Sword calculates a normal astronomical phenomenon. What Department of Sky Supervision wants us to calculate is an abnormal one."
Dao Master Lin Xuan and the other Daoists became bewildered. There was a difference between a normal and an abnormal astronomical phenomenon?
Huo Jingling explained the astronomical phenomenon his department had observed and said, "The stars moving and the stars in the tear disappearing, this kind of astronomical phenomenon is definitely not normal. It's like, it's like…"
"It's like the stars are hanging on a piece of curtain!" Mu Qingdai blurted out.
Huo Jingling clapped his hands and said, "That's right! It's like they are all hanging on a piece of curtain. Lord Qin used the beam to tear apart this curtain, so the sun, moon and the stars split to both sides!"
All of the young people looked at one another with grim expressions.
The astronomical phenomenon was hung in the sky?
Xu Shenghua raised his head to look at the sky while composing himself. He asked, "Cult Master Qin, what do you want us to calculate?"
"According to the shift in stars caused by that beam, we will have to calculate the height and thickness of the sky!" Qin Mu looked at the officials and asked, "Is that your intention?"
The officials of Department of Sky Supervision looked at each other and nodded.
"Lord Qin is wise," Huo Jingling said in a hoarse voice. "In the past, we felt that the sky is boundless, and the thickness of the sky is also boundless. However, that beam from Lord Qin made us realize that there might be a limit to the height of the sky, and its thickness as well. The stars in the sky may not be as far away as we thought, and the sun seemed to also be…"
He didn't dare to continue saying.
Qin Mu looked at everyone and said, "What does everyone feel?"
They were all young people, so even though their origins were different, their inheritances were different, and even their factions and philosophies were different, they were all very curious. Every one of them looked up at the sky.
Dao Master Lin Xuan retracted his gaze and said, "Since Cult Master Qin's beam showed us that the sky has a height and thickness, why can't we calculate it?"
Everyone nodded in acknowledgment.
"We need to know the dates of the stars shifting in order to be able to calculate," Wang Muran said.
"My Department of Sky Supervision has recorded all the stars, including the sun," Huo Jingling said right away.
"This makes it much easier!"
Everyone immediately sprung to action, and after a long time, they calculated the numbers. When they looked at them, their faces became grim and dazed.
"I won't believe it!" A Daoist from Dao Sect suddenly got up and smashed his eight trigrams on the ground, breaking them to pieces. He then again shouted out angrily, "I won't believe it!" When he was done, he left.
The other algebra experts were silent. Long Yu muttered, "This is impossible, we must have calculated wrongly, this is absolutely impossible…"
The minds of the Dao Sect's experts had already crumbled, and they chuckled. "We must have calculated wrongly, the sky cannot be so thin…"
"It's definitely wrong!" Huo Jingling said firmly.
"That's right, it's definitely wrong!" many others chimed in.
Xu Shenghua shook his head and said, "It cannot be that so many of us had calculated wrongly, right? Everyone's numbers are the same, so the result is correct; the sky is this high and this thick."
"It's impossible! Impossible…" Long Yu stumbled away in a daze. He was slightly crazy.
Mu Qingdai was giddy. She squatted down on the ground, then sat down.
Qin Mu looked at the numbers they had calculated and sunk into deep thought. The sky was ten thousand miles high yet the thickness was only a pathetic one thousand yards. This meant that in that thickness of a thousand yards, there was a sun, a moon, a galaxy, and countless other stars!
How was this possible?
"Hehehehe…"
His mind had also slightly crumbled as he chuckled non-stop. He laughed till tears were almost pouring from his eyes as he sat down and slapped his knee repeatedly.
"Cult Master Qin, what are you laughing about?" Dao Master Lin Xuan shouted out while staring at him angrily.
"Abandoned people…" Qin Mu laughed loudly and pointed at his nose, almost crying from laughter. "You are an abandoned person! You are also an abandoned person! And you, you, you, you are all abandoned people!"
Everyone looked at him coldly as his finger pointed at every single one of them. When he finally pointed at Xu Shenghua, his laughter quelled and his face became terrifyingly cold. "You are also an abandoned person!"
Xu Shenghua frowned. The sky was only this high and this thick. Not to say a sun, a moon, and many stars, not even a mountain could be put there.
Yet there was a sun, a moon, and the galaxy above, so there was only one possibility. The resplendent stars, the blazing sun, the bright moon, and the galaxy that was filled with millions and millions of stars like a long river were all fake—they were all painted there!
The sky was like a seal that sealed their world, showing them the sun, moon, stars, constellations, and the galaxy that were all fake.
In Great Ruins, there was God Broken Mountain Range, all around which no sun could be seen. When it came to night time, the darkness invaded, so the stars and moon could never be seen either.
The people of Great Ruins were the people abandoned by gods.
However, the lifeforms in the whole world were the same as the abandoned people of Great Ruins; they were all abandoned people!
Daoist Lin Xuan suddenly shook his sleeves and said coldly, "I'm not an abandoned person! Disciples of Dao Sect, let's go, return to the mountain!" As he walked, tears suddenly filled his face.
"Dao follows the nature… follows the f*cking fake nature!" The young Dao Master strained his throat as he bellowed at the sky, "All my effort in cultivating was used on f*cking fake nature!"