102: Chapter 102 That thing is bigger than the manor!

The imperial capital of the Great Xia Dynasty, the palace square.

The Marquis of Beiliang, Shen Yuan Shan, stood on the vermilion steps in his dragon robe. Behind him, civil and military officials were neatly arranged in six rows.

He hadn't slept last night.

It wasn't excitement, it was fear.

Chen Chaoyang had said the Lingxiao Heavenly Palace would arrive today and ordered him to bring all the court officials out to welcome it.

"Your Majesty, the officials are all assembled," the Chief Eunuch approached and reported.

Shen Yuan Shan gave a slight nod, tugging at the collar of his dragon robe. His neck was slick with sweat.

He glanced back at the ministers behind him.

Each one was hunching their shoulders like quails, not daring to make a sound.

Three days ago, Chen Chaoyang had delivered the message: the Saint's conveyance would arrive today, and the Emperor of Great Xia was to lead all civil and military officials in kneeling to welcome it at the palace square.

Kneeling to welcome it.

The dignified ruler of a nation, kneeling on the ground with his entire court to wait for a carriage.

In the past, Shen Yuan Shan wouldn't have dared to imagine such a thing. But he knew better than anyone how he had come by this throne.

"Father."

Shen Jingzhe's voice came from the side.

Shen Yuan Shan turned his head and saw his daughter, who had changed into a plain-colored long dress. Her hair was simply tied up in a bun, adorned only with that white jade magnolia hairpin.

Chen Yao followed half a step behind her, holding a sandalwood box in her hands.

"Jingzhe, are you nervous?"

"I'm alright."

Shen Jingzhe stood next to Shen Yuan Shan and looked up at the sky.

It was azure and clear, without a single cloud.

...

Outside the imperial city, on Chang'an Street.

The teahouses lining the street were packed. The windows of the private rooms on the second floor were all pushed open, with heads craning out to look up at the sky.

"Have you heard? The Saint of the Daoxuan Immortal Sect has sent his conveyance to pick up Miss Shen!"

"Nonsense, it's all over the street. Who hasn't heard?"

In a corner, a middle-aged man in a silk robe fanned himself with a folding fan, looking like someone who had seen the world.

"Do you know what's coming?"

Several other tea drinkers nearby gathered around.

"What?"

"The Lingxiao Heavenly Palace."

The middle-aged man snapped his fan shut and lowered his voice.

"A Quasi-Sacred Artifact of the Daoxuan Immortal Sect! It floats in the air and flies, made entirely of white jade."

"How big is it?"

The middle-aged man held up two fingers, making a gesture.

"According to a distant cousin of mine who works as a servant at the Qingyun Sword Sect, this Lingxiao Heavenly Palace can hold two to three hundred people, about the size of a manor."

The nearby tea drinkers gasped.

"Good heavens, that must be huge."

"Exactly," the middle-aged man said, crossing his legs and fanning himself.

"To see it with my own eyes today, this lifetime is worth it."

No sooner had the words left his mouth.

The window frames of the teahouse vibrated.

Ripples formed in the tea inside the cups.

The middle-aged man's fan froze mid-air.

Everyone turned to look out the window at the same time.

On the northern horizon, a ball of white light was rapidly growing larger.

"It's here! It's here, it's here!"

People in the teahouse scrambled to their feet, knocking over seven or eight chairs.

The white light grew larger.

And larger.

As the thing pressed in from the horizon, the middle-aged man's fan clattered to the floor.

His mouth hung open, his jaw nearly dislocated.

That was not a manor.

That was a damn island.

The Lingxiao Heavenly Palace hovered over the imperial capital of Great Xia, blotting out half the sky.

It emanated a soft, milky-white glow. Clouds churned beneath it, and layers upon layers of palaces and pavilions rose from its surface. A waterfall cascaded from the edge of the palace city, disappearing into the clouds below.

The entire capital darkened.

It wasn't nightfall; the shadow of the Lingxiao Heavenly Palace was simply too vast, blocking out the sun.

The middle-aged man leaned against the window frame, his legs trembling. His mouth opened and closed several times.

"This... this thing is bigger than the imperial city..."

His earlier claim about it holding two to three hundred people and being the size of a manor now sounded like utter nonsense.

The people of the Great Xia Dynasty had never witnessed such a spectacle. They were all frozen in place, terrified.

A vegetable seller's carrying pole clattered to the ground. A wonton stall's pot overturned, spilling hot water everywhere. The stall owner didn't even cry out from the scalding, just craned his neck to look up at the sky.

Some people simply knelt down.

"Immortals! The immortals have manifested!"

Those tea drinkers in the teahouse, their legs giving way, thudded to their knees on the floorboards.

The middle-aged man, leaning on the window frame, did not kneel. Not because he didn't want to, but because his legs were no longer obeying him.

...

On the palace square, Shen Yuan Shan looked up at the sky-obscuring Heavenly Palace, the back of his dragon robe soaked through.

Having been a Marquis for most of his life, the largest Magical Artifact he had ever seen was a thirty-foot-long spirit boat from the Qingyun Sword Sect.

The thing before him now completely shattered his understanding of the word "big."

The civil and military officials behind him were already kneeling en masse. A few of the more timid ones lay prostrate on the ground, trembling.

Shen Jingzhe stood beside him, her head tilted back, her lips pressed into a thin line.

Suddenly, the clouds beneath the Lingxiao Heavenly Palace parted. A rainbow-colored bridge of light extended from the main gate of the Heavenly Palace, pierced through the clouds, and landed squarely three zhang in front of the palace's main gate.

The moment the bridge of light touched the ground, the blue bricks of the square hummed with the vibration of spiritual power.

A man in black descended the bridge of light.

Gu Yi.

He wore dark-patterned black armor, a long sword at his waist, his face expressionless.

Behind him followed two hundred armored guards and one hundred maids in white, their formation precise, their footsteps sounding as one.

Gu Yi walked to the end of the bridge of light. His gaze swept over the kneeling rows of officials before finally settling on Shen Jingzhe.

He lifted the hem of his garment and knelt on one knee.

The three hundred people behind him knelt in unison, the sound of clashing armor ringing out.

"Gu Yi, Commander of the Daoxuan Immortal Sect's Saint's personal guard, by order of the Saint, respectfully welcomes Miss Shen to the sect."

Gu Yi retrieved a brocade box from his chest and presented it with both hands held above his head.

"The Saint ordered this subordinate to deliver this item. Please accept it, Miss."

Shen Jingzhe took two steps forward and accepted the brocade box.

She opened it.

Inside lay a white jade bracelet, its surface warm and smooth, with spiritual light swirling within.

Behind her, Chen Yao drew a sharp breath.

"The Thousand Mechanisms Jade Marrow Bracelet... a top-grade Dao Artifact..."

Shen Jingzhe closed the brocade box and tucked it into her sleeve.

She looked at the three hundred people kneeling before her, then raised her head to look at the Lingxiao Heavenly Palace blotting out half the sky above.

A month ago, she was still huddled in the east courtyard of the Beiliang Marquis Manor, drinking silver ear soup.

Shen Yuan Shan stood behind her, his mouth agape.

He suddenly felt that throne of his truly meant nothing.

...

At the end of Chang'an Street, on the second floor of an inconspicuous inn.

Song Heng stood by the window.

He wanted to see.

Just one look.

The shadow of the Lingxiao Heavenly Palace enveloped the entire inn in darkness.

Song Heng looked toward the palace, at that rainbow bridge of light, at the three hundred people kneeling uniformly before Shen Jingzhe.

He lowered his head and looked at his own sleeve.

Inside his sleeve were those pair of red-gold bracelets, engraved with the characters "Heng" and "Zhe."

He took the bracelets out and placed them on the windowsill.

The candlelight illuminated the characters on the bracelets. Compared to the spiritual light emanating from the Heavenly Palace opposite, they looked pathetically dim.

Song Heng stared at the bracelets for a long time.

He reached out, picked them up from the windowsill, and stuffed them into a corner of the drawer beneath the windowsill.

A soft sigh escaped him.

"Such is fate, such is destiny..."

Perhaps this was the best outcome...