Conscious of the help the villagers had offered her earlier on, Qiao Xueying rushed over to help them put out the fire and transport the casualties. From time to time, she would even use her powers to prop up collapsing roofs.

Unexpectedly, Zu An didn’t step up to help her, but headed out to the fields instead. Qiao Xueying wanted to call him over to aid her, but as she watched his departing silhouette, she clicked her tongue in annoyance. 

What a petty man he is. Is he still holding a grudge against the villagers over what happened earlier on?

Zu An headed toward the brightest spot in the field, wanting to verify something from his own memories. 

The earlier meteor had shattered into many pieces, and the largest one had fallen about half a kilometer away from the village, smashing a huge crater into the ground. Even from a distance away, Zu An could already feel the heat radiating out toward him, forcing him to channel his ki in order to keep it at bay.

Even so, he was still unable to approach the center of the crater due to the limitations of his cultivation. Burning embers littered the ground, preventing him from approaching any closer. Nevertheless, he managed to find what he was looking for.

A line of words was inscribed on the largest meteor, leaving a bizarre expression on Zu An’s face. He lifted his gaze to the stars above, wondering if heaven really was a sentient existence.

He returned to the village with a heavy heart. Qiao Xueying immediately went to him and dragged him over. “Where did you go earlier? Since you’re back, you should lend the village a helping hand.”

However, Zu An shook his head and replied, “What’s the use? We can’t change the outcome. It’ll all be in vain.”

Qiao Xueying immediately lost her cool. “How could you say that? Yes, they treated you badly earlier on, but you should know that it’s the result of this country’s strict laws. What happened afterwards showed that they have kindness in their hearts. In the end, they still offered us water and medicine, no?”

“To you, that is,” corrected Zu An.

Qiao Xueying was stunned. “You can’t really be holding a grudge over that, are you? You’re a man. Can you stop being so petty?”

“That’s not the issue here. It’s just that all your efforts will be in vain. You’ll know soon enough,” replied Zu An. “Let me give you a word of advice—don’t bother wasting your strength here either.”

“I can’t be bothered with you!” with a cold snort, Qiao Xueying went back to aiding the villagers.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for 11… 11… 11… 

Zu An couldn’t help but let out a chuckle upon seeing the Rage points he was receiving. She really is holding a grudge against me, huh?

Some time later, from a distance away came the pounding of horse hooves. A platoon of soldiers soon arrived, led by an official. 

An uneasy rustle spread through the villagers. After all, in this era, encountering an official was almost never a good thing. The village chief quickly rushed forward and humbly greeted the official. “Lord Wang, what brings you here?”

“How could I not make my way here after the earlier meteor shower? I need to report this matter to the imperial court right away!” Paying no heed to the village chief, Lord Wang ordered his subordinates to search the area with a wave of his hand. 

The village chief hesitated for a moment before asking, “Lord Wang, you see… Our village has suffered a huge calamity, and almost every single family is struggling with some form of loss. Is it possible for the magistrate to spare some money to tide us through this crisis…?”

Before he could finish, Lord Wang interjected, “The imperial court is tight in terms of finances at the moment. We’re fighting the foreign races up at the northern border, and the construction of the palaces and the imperial mausoleum require money as well. You should be able to resolve something as simple as this by yourselves. Don’t trouble the imperial court over mere trivialities!”

The village chief grew more agitated as he replied, “But this year’s harvest is lean, and many of our houses have been burned down…”

A soldier suddenly rushed over anxiously and interrupted him with an urgent report. “Bad news, Lord Wang!”

Lord Wang angrily kicked the soldier and bellowed, “Show some propriety!”

The indignant soldier rubbed himself where he had been kicked, while pointing in the direction of the fallen meteor fragments. “Over… Over there! T-there are words on the meteor!”

“Words?” Lord Wang’s eyes lit up. He immediately made his way over to where the soldier was pointing.

If it’s an auspicious omen and I report it upwards, His Majesty might just promote me in a moment of joy! 

What was inscribed on the meteor actually wasn’t too important at all. That was where scholars came in. Given their way with words, they could turn even the most ordinary statements into the greatest blessings for the Qin Dynasty! After all, the fact that these words had come from the heavens accorded them great significance.

A group of soldiers quickly trailed after Lord Wang, and some of the curious villagers tagged along as well, everyone eager to have a look. Chen Wei rushed forward to support his father as the two of them trailed behind the procession. He asked softly, “Father, why did you beg that damned official for help? It’s obvious he would never donate any money to us to help us through this crisis! You’re just asking to be humiliated!”

The village chief sighed deeply and said, “It was at least worth a try. For the sake of the other villagers, what does it matter if I give up my pride and honor?”

Chen Wei sighed deeply before glaring at Lord Wang’s back, his eyes filled with hatred.

Lord Wang was still dreaming of being promoted and rising to the peak when he finally saw the words on the meteor. He stiffened immediately. He felt a chill engulfing his entire body, and his legs suddenly grew so wobbly that he could hardly remain standing.

His subordinates had to massage his chest before he finally recovered from the shock.

“W-who carved these words?!” bellowed Lord Wang. He pointed his finger at the villagers and roared furiously, “Whoever it is had better confess to your crime, or else none of you will be making it out alive!”

The village chief was perplexed as to what was going on, so he walked through the crowd to take a look at the meteor, only to see the following words inscribed on it: ‘The Founding Sovereign Emperor shall die, and divided his land will be.’

“This… This…” He began trembling fearfully before suddenly collapsing to the ground. It was fortunate that Chen Wei quickly rushed forward to support him.

“Hah, do you think that this will all be over just because you fainted?” 

Lord Wang was far too infuriated to let this matter rest that easily. Had it been anything else, he could have easily twisted the meaning of the message to turn it into an auspicious omen. However, the inscription on the meteor was clearly a desecration of the emperor. He would never dare to interpret it in any other way, no matter how brazen he was!

“My father has really fainted!” argued Chen Wei.

“I don’t care whether he really fainted or not. You’d better get to the bottom of this matter, or else I’ll make sure every single one of you suffers for this!” 

After saying these words, Lord Wang took out a mirror to report this matter to his superior. 

All this while, Zu An simply stood to the side, looking on calmly. He noticed that the mirror was similar to the video calls in his previous life, and he couldn’t help but marvel once more at how amazing the world of cultivation was. The lack of scientific advancement didn’t hinder them from globalization at all!

Lord Wang bowed subserviently to the man in the mirror as he reported the matter. When he finished his report, he stowed away the mirror before turning to the villagers with a hostile look. “Interrogate every single one of the villagers. If we aren’t able to determine who carved these words, all of you will die for this!”

His words drew a huge uproar. All of them were here just to watch the drama. Who could have expected that they would end up getting implicated in this mess?

“It’s not us! We were all busy trying to extinguish the fire earlier on!”

“We can’t even read, let alone write!”

“We’ve been wronged! Everyone knows that I’m blind!”

… 

The villagers immediately began crying out for mercy.

Qiao Xueying tugged on Zu An’s hand and asked, “Did you see who carved those words? I was so busy trying to put out the fire that I didn’t pay attention to what’s going on elsewhere.”

Zu An shook his head with a heavy heart.

A villager suddenly pointed to Zu An and exclaimed, “I think I saw that man walking toward the meteor earlier on!” 

“Indeed! Those two people seem rather suspicious. They must be the ones who did it!”

There was a chorus of agreement from the other villagers. With their lives at stake, they were desperate to blame anyone they could. 

… 

Qiao Xueying was stunned. She had helped them out of goodwill earlier on, but they had now repaid her in such a manner!

“This is just human nature. Treat it as a lesson,” remarked Zu An.

Qiao Xueying shot a peculiar glance at Zu An. “Hmph, you speak as though you’ve already reached enlightenment. You aren’t even that old yet.”

“What does wisdom have to do with age? There are people who have lived for decades, only to remain as fools,” replied Zu An as he kept a lookout for the movements of the soldiers. He was ready to break out of their encirclement if required.

Hearing the testimony of the villagers, Lord Wang immediately turned his attention to the two of them. His troops moved outwards as well, encircling the area to prevent them from getting away.

Just as Zu An was about to make a pre-emptive move to create an opening for the two of them, a hint of uncertainty suddenly flickered across Lord Wang’s eyes before he burst into laughter. “Ah, Lord Censor! I’ve spent the last few days looking for you! I never thought that you would actually be here!”

“Lord Censor?” Zu An was dumbfounded. He thought that Lord Wang was spouting nonsense so as to catch them off-guard, but it quickly occurred to him that that couldn’t possibly be the case. There was no reason for the other party to spout such a meaningless lie.

Having played plenty of games in his previous life, he soon figured that this mission was like an RPG, and he had taken on an alternate identity for the sake of progressing the storyline.

Lord Wang glared at the villagers who had spoken up earlier on and spat, “What nonsense are you spouting? This man over here is a censor of the imperial court. How could he inscribe such defamatory words on the meteor? Watch your mouths before you speak!”

After berating the villagers, he turned to Zu An and said, “Lord Censor, the imperial court ordered us to find the culprit within a day, or else we would be stripped of our positions and sentenced to death. Since you are the most senior one here, I’ll defer command to you.”

Zu An knew that the other party was basically dumping the responsibility on him, but he figured that this was the crux to overcoming the Heaven Seal, so he accepted the role. “Very well, I’ll take responsibility for this matter. Interrogate every household individually, lest they collude on their testimonies!”

“Yes, Lord Censor!” With a wave of his hand, Lord Wang ordered his soldiers to split up and interrogate the villagers separately.

After relaying the instructions, he turned a fawning smile on Zu An, only to be cast away as an annoyance. “Why are you still dawdling? Can’t you see that there’s a lack of manpower? Hurry up and get to work!”

“Y-y-yes!” Lord Wang nodded, bowing deeply and respectfully. 

Despite being treated like an underling, he was still glad that he had managed to dump this matter on someone else. Even if something went wrong later on, the Lord Censor would be the one to bear the brunt of the impact.

Once Lord Wang had withdrawn, Qiao Xueying couldn’t hold back her curiosity any longer and asked, “When did you become a censor here?”

“This is the role the Heaven Seal has allocated to me. We most likely have to find the culprits who inscribed those words in order to clear this trial,” replied Zu An.

Qiao Xueying heaved a sigh of relief. “Hm? That sounds quite easy. It doesn’t seem as dangerous as the Human Seal or the Earth Seal.” 

“You’re letting your guard down too soon. If we fail to solve this crime, it’s very likely that we’ll be put to death, under the Qin Dynasty’s laws. Lord Wang is only serving as an assistant at the moment, so as punishment, he would only be stripped of his position at most. Why else do you think he would be so happy to see me here?” replied Zu An.

“But that’s the worst-case scenario, right? This case doesn’t seem too difficult, since there are only so few people in the village. Besides, there are plenty of skilled interrogators amongst the constables, and they should have no trouble drawing out some information,” replied Qiao Xueying. “I’m able to absolve some people of guilt as well. Those who were trying to put out the fire with me earlier on shouldn’t have had the time to approach that meteor fragment to carve those words.”

“If only it were that easy… There’s actually no solution to this problem.” Zu An heaved a deep sigh.

He finally understood why this was the Heaven Seal. It had something to do with the stars in the sky, and it was a trial that would lead to certain death.

“Why?” Qiao Xueying was perplexed. “If I remember correctly, you headed in the direction of this meteor earlier on. You should have been able to see who it was that approached the meteor!”

“That’s the very reason why I’m saying that there’s no solution to this problem…” Zu An paused for a moment before continuing. “The words were already inscribed on this meteor when it fell from the sky.”