Legend of the Embroiderer

The palace, shrouded in darkness, is like a sleeping giant, quiet and profound.

The moonlight shines through the window lattice into the study, dyeing everything with a layer of silver gauze.

Li Zhao and Su Mengyao sat opposite each other. The mountains of ancient books and manuscripts on the desk exuded an old atmosphere, as if telling the vicissitudes of time.

They have been searching here for a long time, reading through countless volumes of information, just to uncover the truth hidden behind the mysterious symbols.

Su Mengyao's slender fingers gently turned the pages of the "Book of Changes" in her hand. The rustling sound of the paper friction was particularly clear in the silent night.

Her eyes, bright as stars, were now staring intently at the Bagua symbols in the book, not missing any details, trying to find the key clues to solve the mystery from these ancient and profound patterns.

"Your Highness, in my opinion, these symbols may have evolved based on the principles of the 'Eight Trigrams'."

Su Mengyao suddenly broke the silence, her voice soft but unable to conceal her inner excitement.

As she spoke, she handed the book in her hand to Li Zhao and pointed her finger at one of the symbols.

"You see, although the order of these symbols is different from the traditional Bagua, its basic structure and the meaning it implies seem to have been preserved."

Li Zhao nodded slightly to show his agreement. He reached out and carefully took the book handed to him by Su Mengyao, moved closer to the candlelight, and looked at it carefully.

The symbols were intricately intertwined like stars, seemingly without any clue. However, after careful observation, Li Zhao discovered that there seemed to be some underlying pattern.

"That's right, Sister Yao is absolutely right." Li Zhao frowned slightly, lost in thought. "Although the combination of these symbols is complex and difficult to understand, if we analyze them using the Eight Trigrams method, we might be able to find their inherent logical connection."

After saying that, he raised his head and looked into Su Mengyao's eyes. When their eyes met, they revealed their firm determination to explore the unknown mystery.

Su Mengyao frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and then said, "However, the arrangement of these symbols has obviously been carefully designed and may contain some special meaning. We cannot simply interpret them according to the traditional Bagua."

Li Zhao frowned slightly, supported his chin with his hand, and thought silently.

Time passed minute by minute, and finally, he raised his head, a hint of determination flashed in his eyes, and he said:

"Yao'er, in my opinion, we might as well start from here. Look, these strange symbols appeared in one place in the dense woods outside the palace walls, and in another place in the academy. This distribution is probably no coincidence."

Su Mengyao, who was standing aside, bit her lips lightly, frowned slightly, nodded thoughtfully, and replied softly:

"Well, Brother Li, what you said is absolutely right. I believe these places and the meanings contained in the symbols must be inextricably linked. Why don't we try to connect these symbols with their locations? Perhaps we can find some clues from them."

Li Zhao and Su Mengyao started to act without hesitation.

They quickly classified and sorted the symbols they had discovered before according to the places where they appeared, and carefully and attentively studied the specific arrangement of each symbol and the surrounding environment.

In this way, the two of them worked tirelessly for a long time.

Hard work pays off. After a lot of arduous efforts, they unexpectedly discovered a jaw-dropping pattern.

It turns out that the arrangement of these symbols seems to have an indescribable and extremely mysterious intrinsic connection with the specific places where they appear!

"Yao'er, come look here!" Li Zhao pointed solemnly at the spread-out map on the table. It was densely marked with locations where mysterious symbols had been discovered. His finger slowly traced the markings, as if searching for some hidden secret.

Su Mengyao hurried over upon hearing the sound, her eyes falling on the map, her brows furrowed slightly. She carefully observed the distribution of the symbols, pondering silently in her heart.

"You see, the arrangement of these symbols seems to be inextricably linked to the locations where they appear."

Li Zhao gestured as he spoke, "For example, the symbols outside the palace walls are arranged quite intricately, as if they were carefully arranged. Meanwhile, the symbols inside the school seem relatively simple."

Su Mengyao nodded slightly in agreement, a subtle hint of excitement flashing in her beautiful eyes:

"Yes, that's right. I think the symbols outside the palace walls are likely some kind of warning or instruction. After all, there's a lot of people coming and going there, so it's easy to attract attention. As for the symbols in the academy, perhaps they're part of a plan. Let's try to decipher the hidden meanings behind these mysterious symbols by considering the characteristics of these locations."

The two were concentrating on studying the map, trying to find clues from it, when suddenly, a burst of hurried footsteps came from afar.

They couldn't help but look up at the same time and look towards the door.

I saw a eunuch running into the room, looking panicked and breathless. Before he could even stand still, he shouted:

"Your Highness, Miss Su...Su, no...something bad has happened! Someone just discovered many new symbols in another forest outside the palace walls, and...and there are some strange traces in that forest!"

Li Zhao and Su Mengyao exchanged a glance, each seeing a hint of shock in the other's eyes. This sudden situation made their hearts hang in the balance, and an ominous premonition surged in their hearts.

Li Zhao did not dare to delay for a moment. He immediately ordered, "Quick, take us over there to see what happened!" His voice was filled with urgency and majesty.

Everyone hurried towards the mysterious woods. Moonlight streamed down through the trees like water, adding a touch of eerie and gloom to the scene.

The eunuchs held lanterns and carefully searched for clues in the forest.

Finally, after a long search, they made a major discovery in an extremely hidden corner.

All I saw was that the place was densely engraved with all kinds of strange and bizarre symbols, and there were some equally puzzling traces scattered around.

These symbols are strikingly similar to those seen before, but their arrangement is very different, as if hiding some unknown deeper meaning.

"Your Highness, look here. There's some soil that's clearly been disturbed. In my humble opinion, someone must have stayed here briefly."

A sharp-eyed eunuch pointed at the traces on the ground and reported his discovery to Li Zhao and Su Mengyao.

Hearing this, Li Zhao and Su Mengyao hurriedly squatted down and came closer to carefully observe the symbols and traces.

At this moment, Su Mengyao's mind flashed with inspiration, and she exclaimed in surprise, "Wait, I think I noticed something! Why is the arrangement of these symbols so similar to the patterns on the embroidery supplies we found in the school? Yet, there seem to be some subtle differences..."

"Your Highness! Look at the arrangement of these symbols. They're exactly the same as the patterns on the embroidery we found in the academy! However, if you look closely, you can still detect some subtle differences. In my opinion, this is most likely a secret code in a state of flux."

Su Mengyao lowered her voice, as if afraid of disturbing something. As she spoke, she gently tapped the mysterious symbols with her fingers. Her bright eyes were flashing with an excitement that was hard to conceal.

After hearing this, Li Zhao first stared at the symbols, then slowly nodded slightly, indicating his agreement with Su Mengyao's point of view.

His deep gaze seemed to be able to penetrate the secrets hidden behind these symbols. After pondering for a moment, he spoke:

"Yes, Sister Yao, you're absolutely right. Judging from the current situation, these symbols are most likely encrypted texts used to transmit dynamic information. If we want to understand their true intentions, the most urgent task is to quickly decipher the deeper meaning contained in these symbols."