Leaving an eternal name,

Love never forgets you.

Surrounded by mountains and water,

Yiren gifted navel oranges.

Standing in front of the White Emperor City in Fengjie, looking at the inscriptions with flying dragons and dancing phoenixes, I vaguely heard the sound of jade seals lightly tapping from the Purple Weiyuan. Those with celestial signs are also marked by stars. Holding the jade seal without being modest, holding the talisman without being arrogant, like a spring stream moistening everything silently. When Kong Ming first started out, he was just a scholar who was “more resolute than Guan Zhong”, but he was tempered and refined in the flames of the Red Cliff. He held the Prime Minister’s Seal personally bestowed by the Empress, as if holding the entire Shu Han kingdom. The person who sits on the celestial star knows the weight of “seal” the most – it is not a symbol of power, but a mark of responsibility. So when the late emperor Bai Di entrusted himself to the city, he knew that Liu Shan was “not worthy of assistance”, but still took the heavy jade seal and wrote the oath of “dedicating oneself to the cause until death” in the “Leaving the Teacher’s Table”.

The night fell over the beacon tower five zhang away, and Zhuge Liang gazed at the map of the Northern Expedition for the last time. He coughed and lit the plain candle on his desk. In the flickering flames, the clear glow of the celestial stars penetrated the gaps in the tent and landed on the folds of his blue shirt. This beam of starlight from Zhongtian Ziweiyuan, crossing through thousands of years of dust, quietly connects the fate of this Shu prime minister with the most gentle star in the Ziwei Doushu.

The Tianxiang Star is the left auxiliary of Ziwei Yuan, like the holding balance of a prime minister. It is recorded in history that Kong Ming personally bowed to every detail, and even personally inquired about cases where he was punished with more than 20 sticks in the military. This seemingly cumbersome style is actually the ultimate embodiment of the “thoughtful” characteristic of the Tianxiang Star. He is like the impartial seal in the Purple Weiyuan, and every decision needs to be weighed repeatedly in the delicate balance of fairness and efficiency. The grain and forage from Qishan, the grace of capturing Meng Huo seven times, and the mystery of the Eight Formation Diagram are all the shining wisdom of the Tianxiang Star’s “light of the sun and moon”.

Tianxiang Star also has the drawback of “whitewashing peace”. When Zhao Yun strongly advised against attacking Wu, and when Wei Yan invited troops to Ziwu Valley, did Kong Ming not know the value of these admonitions? But he is more aware that the radiance of celestial stars requires the illumination of purple primary stars. Liu Chan’s cowardice and the barrenness of Shu are like the dark clouds of taboo in the destiny chart, forcing this prime minister to move forward with a “punishment taboo” attitude, struggling between ideals and reality. He went out of Qishan six times but was on the verge of success, just like a celestial star caught in the grip of a malevolent star. He had only the ambition to assist, but was unable to showcase his talents in latitude and longitude.

It is precisely this persistence of “knowing what is impossible but doing it” that has caused the Tianxiang Star to burst out with a light beyond its destiny. On the last night of Wuzhangyuan, Kong Ming was observing the stars with a strong branch of illness. He saw his own star fall, but could not see the celestial stars transforming into eternity in the Milky Way. What he left for future generations is not only the ingenuity of wooden oxen and flowing horses, the mystery of the Eight Formation Diagram, but also the spiritual monument of Tianxiang Star’s “loyalty and duty”. When Jiang Wei raised the banner of Prime Minister in the Sword Pavilion, and when Deng Ai sneaked into Yinping but was blocked by celestial phenomena, people suddenly realized: the afterglow of the fallen general star had already turned into a clear and bright sky, guarding Ji Han’s sky.

The Tianxiang Star, with its warm and firm radiance, interprets the true meaning of “dedicating oneself wholeheartedly” – not a tragic sacrifice, but a steadfast commitment to wisdom; It’s not the helplessness of fate, but the sense of responsibility. As Kong Ming said in his “Book of Admonitions to Confucius”: “Without detachment, there can be no clear aspirations; without tranquility, there can be no far-reaching goals.

Wen/Xingchen Mountain People