Xiao Heng’s steel whip cleaved through the palace pillar, revealing a hidden gold box. An imperial decree from the third year of Yonghui lay clearly before them: "Bestow the name 'Tian Gong' upon the Shen family to secretly investigate the whereabouts of the ordnance..." Beside the vermilion imperial seal sat the personal seal of Shen’s father.
As the Japanese envoy suddenly lunged, the Pear Blossom Rain Needle hidden at Shen Xitang’s wrist was fully discharged. The tips of the needles were quenched in Ryukyu poison, and upon contact with blood, they revealed the words "Pacify the Seas." Amidst the chaotic struggle, she knocked over a bronze crane incense burner; as the sandalwood ash settled on the brocade, it revealed her father’s handwriting: "Wokou pose as merchants, crossbows hidden in brocade."
When Xiao Heng’s steel whip ensnared the leader of the Japanese spies, Shen Xitang was busy embedding the last Xuanji Jade Pearl Lock into the floor tiles of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
Amidst the roar of the mechanism activating, three thousand crossbows emerged from the subterranean river channel. The scrolling branch patterns on the trigger mechanisms matched Xiao Heng’s wrist guards perfectly.
As twilight stained the palace walls red, Shen Xitang knelt to receive the Imperial Merchant’s Golden Seal. Xiao Heng’s cloak brushed across the back of her hand, dropping a piece of mulberry paper inscribed with: "Dragons battle in the wild, their blood is dark and yellow. When the Xuanji star shines again, I shall await you on the sea frontier."
She looked toward the flying eaves of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, where dew condensed on the glazed tiles to reflect a new nautical chart—the location of the main Japanese island was marked with a vivid, vermilion circle. The river breeze brought the salty, fishy scent of the open ocean, mixed with the smoldering embers of saltpeter, tasting exactly like that rain from the start of the story.
The dragon-coiled pillars of the Hall of Supreme Harmony caught the purple-gold luster of Ryukyu. The Imperial Merchant’s Golden Seal in Shen Xitang’s palm suddenly grew searing hot. The broken blade of the Japanese envoy stopped just three inches from her throat; the blade reflected the rotating Xuanji star map in Xiao Heng’s pupils—it was unmistakably the "Great Shift of Stars Array," the missing final page of the *Tian Gong Textile Annals*.
"Clang!"
The moment the Pear Blossom Rain Needle deflected the blade, Shen Xitang spun and tore open her brocade mantle. The Ice Silkworm Silk expanded in the wind into a star-curtain a fathom wide, shrouding the Japanese envoy. Arc-like sparks suddenly erupted from the warp and weft of the curtain—a closer look revealed it to be a thunder-fire net modified from a jacquard loom.
"This is a map of the Great Ming territories." Her fingertips traced the curtain, and the arcs of electricity followed her movement, tracing out the coastline. "Would the Japanese envoy like to take a closer look at the position of the Diaoyu Islands?"
Indigo flames suddenly ignited on a spot of the Ice Silkworm Silk, revealing a string of Japanese characters—the very secret code from the Ryukyu King’s private letter.
As Xiao Heng’s steel whip entangled the Japanese envoy’s ankles, Shen Xitang caught the faint, lingering scent of saltpeter on him. It was identical to the smell from the Jia Armory explosion three days prior. She suddenly remembered the night her father died; her study had been filled with this same scent of bitter almonds.
"Take him alive!" the Minister of War suddenly bellowed.
It was too late.
Black blood sprayed from the envoy’s mouth onto the star-curtain, corroding a hole in the shape of the Big Dipper. The red mark on Shen Xitang’s wrist suddenly burned with pain; seven vermilion moles exuded gold powder, condensing in the air into the character "Tang."
The court was in an uproar. This was clearly the personal seal of the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, whose entire clan had been executed twenty years prior.
Xiao Heng’s cloak swept around her as they rushed out of the hall; the torrential rain hitting the glazed tiles raised a veil of green smoke.
Inside the jolting carriage, Shen Xitang unfolded the blood-stained star-curtain. As the electric arcs danced, a new pattern emerged—it was the maritime defense map from her father’s secret study compartment, only now it was covered in dozens of vermilion annotations.
"Does your lordship know of the sea ban in the third year of Yonghui?" She laid the curtain over Xiao Heng’s wrist guards. "The so-called sea ban was actually a cover to track down the three thousand missing crossbows."
Electricity flowed along the scrolling branch patterns, and the wrist guard split open to reveal half a Tiger Tally, engraved with the secret script of the Ministry of Works.
The carriage stopped abruptly, and Shen Xitang tumbled into Xiao Heng’s arms. His collar fell open, revealing a tattoo over his heart—a miniature Xuanji star map. The star positions aligned perfectly with the red mark on Shen Xitang’s wrist. At the handle of the Big Dipper was tattooed the name "Xiao Jing"—the very supervising official mentioned in the preface of the *Tian Gong Textile Annals*.
"My father is Xiao Yuanshan, who served as the Junior Minister of the Directorate for Palace Buildings in the twenty-third year of Zhenguan." Xiao Heng suddenly gripped her wrist, the gold powder from the Big Dipper mole staining his fingertips red. "The leader of the sea pirates who stole the crossbows back then also had three vermilion moles on his arm."
A crack of thunder split the clouds. In the lightning, Shen Xitang saw the scene outside the carriage: the investigators of the Ministry of Punishments were encircling the Shen residence, torches illuminating the plaque above the door that read: "Exploitation of the Works of Nature."
Qingxing rushed out from a side gate, clutching a gilded box that suddenly exploded, spilling dozens of sulfur-gold pellets engraved with Japanese characters.
"Miss, run! The underground palace... the Jade Guanyin in the underground palace has come to life!"
Shen Xitang flicked the Ice Silkworm Silk from her sleeve, hooking a beast-head ornament on the wall, and used the momentum to vault into the ancestral hall. The ground was littered with fragments of broken Jade Guanyin statues. The one her mother had worshipped most often had shifted on its own; beneath the lotus pedestal lay half a scorched manuscript, the handwriting identical to her father’s last testament.
"The seventh day of the seventh lunar month in the year of Guiyou, saw Xiao family sea ships at Ghost Head Reef..." She touched the dates chewed by moths. "The Xuanwu statue on the prow had eyes inlaid with Ryukyu purple-gold..." The remnant page suddenly ignited, and a blurry figure emerged from the green smoke; the python-patterned hem of his robe was indistinguishable from what Shen Yanzhou had worn that day.
From deep within the underground palace came the muffled sound of gears turning. Shen Xitang embedded the Xuanji Jade Pearl Lock into the mechanism.
The stone wall groaned and swung open. Twenty refined iron crossbows were submerged in sulfur water. The Ice Silkworm Silk remnants on the triggers were slowly writhing, looking exactly like the "Tian Gong Living Thread" described in her mother’s notes.
"Third Miss has a keen eye."
Shen Yanzhou’s voice came from behind the crossbow array. The Wodao Saber in his hand had been replaced by a Madao, the standard issue of the Ministry of Works, its scrolling branch pattern identical to those on Xiao Heng’s wrist guards.
Shen Xitang suddenly understood: the blood-red Big Dipper she had seen during the kiln explosion that day was the mark of the Ministry of Works’ secret guard.
"Does Brother know why these crossbows are soaked in sulfur?" She deliberately kicked over a ceramic jar. The sulfur water flowed over the Madao, causing the blade’s patterns to cast an eerie indigo glow.
"Because the Xiao family mixed Ryukyu purple-gold into the refined iron back then; once it meets sulfur..." Before he could finish, the nearest crossbow exploded, and the flying shrapnel cut a bloody gash across Shen Yanzhou’s face.
As the underground palace began to collapse, Shen Xitang grabbed the dangling Ice Silkworm Silk. The threads pulled taut like steel cables upon hitting the sulfur water, swinging her toward the gunpowder storehouse deep inside.
The walls covered in copies of the *Tian Gong Textile Annals* began to burn. Where the flames licked the pages, new diagrams were revealed—they were assembly drawings of the Frankish Cannon.
"Miss, catch!"
Qingxing threw a gilded bell from a ventilation shaft. Shen Xitang shook the clapper; the sound waves at a specific frequency shattered the secret compartment, revealing crates of malachite powder—the key to making the Ice Silkworm Silk reveal its hidden colors.
She scattered the powder into the sea of fire. In the inferno, a moving naval battle map appeared: twenty years ago, the Xiao family’s warships and the Japanese fleet perished together. The spot where the Xuanwu prow statue sank was exactly the Ghost Head Reef her father had marked.
At the fifth watch, Shen Xitang stood on the deck of the ruined *Cloudweaver*. Xiao Heng’s steel whip wrapped around her waist, the golden dragon head at the tip biting into the red mark on her wrist. "Does Miss Shen know that the Big Dipper Lock requires the bloodline of seven people to open?"
The sea suddenly began to boil, and seven black-sailed ships emerged from the mist. On the prow of each ship stood a Jade Guanyin, their spindles pointing directly at Shen Xitang.
She tore open her collar; the Big Dipper mole below her collarbone exuded gold powder, resonating with the tattoo on Xiao Heng’s heart. The seven Jade Guanyin statues shattered simultaneously, revealing artillery barrels cast from refined iron.
"So the Big Dipper Lock wasn't locking the crossbows..." Shen Xitang pressed the Imperial Merchant’s Golden Seal into the groove on the artillery platform. "It was locking these seven Red-Clad Cannons."
As the morning sun pierced the sea mist, the Ministry of War’s warships had already surrounded the black-sailed ships. Shen Xitang looked at the inscription "Made in the Third Year of Tian Gong" on the cannons, suddenly remembering the rusted cannon remnants she had seen in a museum before she traveled through time.
History recorded that the Red-Clad Cannons appeared suddenly during the Jiajing era; it turned out the cause had been buried at this very moment.
"This commoner is willing to trade these seven divine cannons for the Shen family’s clean name." As she kowtowed, she secretly pinched her palm, sending the gold powder from her Big Dipper mole toward Xiao Heng. "Furthermore, I request the Emperor’s grace to allow this commoner to reopen the Xuanji Bureau of the sea, established during the Yongle era."
Xiao Heng suddenly sliced his palm, and a bead of blood rolled into the cannon barrel. The purple-gold revealed itself upon contact with blood; the surface of the cannon bloomed with a dense list of Japanese spies, the leader of whom was none other than the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites.
Shen Xitang smiled in the salty sea breeze, finally understanding why her mother had written on the title page of the *Tian Gong Textile Annals*:
"On the day the Works of Nature are revealed, the Xuanji shall illuminate the seas."