Chapter 1716: Offering Ceremony
Soon after, w.a.n.g Wuxie led a group of disciples out to welcome the imperial procession.
Zu An carefully observed what was happening. He saw that apart from w.a.n.g Wuxie, the Righteous Sun Sect’s peak masters had all come too, clearly afraid of showing even the slightest bit of disrespect. However, the daoist sects’ other eight sect leaders weren’t there; whether it was because they had already left, or some other reason, was unclear. With so many people watching, Zu An couldn"t really ask about that either.
When he saw w.a.n.g Wuxie, Zhao Han acted extremely amicably. After all, w.a.n.g Wuxie was the State Teacher and someone from the daoist sects. The two of them had shared a friendship for several years.
Soon after, w.a.n.g Wuxie brought the group to Guidance Palace, located halfway up the mountain. Then, he informed the emperor that the altar had already been properly arranged on Golden Peak.
Zhao Han nodded in satisfaction. Then, he ordered the others to wait at Guidance Palace while he went on to conduct the offering to the heavens.
The offering to the heavens was a process of connecting with the heavens. In theory, only the emperor and empress had that right. The presence of other subjects would only ‘defile’ the divinity of the ceremony.
Of course, the main reason was that he didn’t want King Qi to have any part of that divinity, lest the people thought King Qi also had the right to the mandate of heaven or something like that.
However, Bi Qi immediately expressed his concern. “Your majesty, won’t this be a bit dangerous?”
Zhao Han said with a laugh, “There are civil and military officials on the mountain and below the mountain. What kinds of hidden dangers could there be? Furthermore, I will even have the State Teacher with me.”
Now, the Armed Escort Army’s Zhang Zijiang and w.a.n.g Bolin also wanted some credit. They reported, “This general has already investigated the areas of Golden Peak. Everything is normal!”
The others then looked at w.a.n.g Wuxie. This man was still rather deferential to the court, and he was a famous expert, so they couldn"t really say too much.
Shortly after, Zhao Han followed w.a.n.g Wuxie to Golden Peak. Of course, even though there weren’t any important ministers with him, he still had Eunuch Wen and Zhuxie Chixin, as well as a group of Embroidered Envoys and personal Imperial Guards.
…
When they left, Zu An finally found Xie Daoyun in a corner. He secretly approached her to ask about what had happened since he left.
Xie Daoyun clearly sighed in relief when she saw him return safely. She knew what he wanted to ask about and quietly replied, “I don’t know what’s going on, but the secret dungeon hasn’t opened up again according to the set time. Meanwhile, his majesty’s arrival date was also moved up. The daoist sects were worried that they would be suspected of ulterior motives if they remained on Violet Mountain, so they left first. Now, only the Righteous Sun Sect’s people are left on Violet Mountain.”
Zu An asked in surprise, “The daoist sects’ secret dungeon still hasn’t opened?”
Normally, time flowed quite differently inside a secret dungeon compared to the outside world. It was typically much faster. In some of them, many years could pa.s.s inside, despite only a few months pa.s.sing outside. Chu Chuyan and the others had also been inside the dungeon for many days already, and were supposed to have emerged already.
“Don’t worry, big brother Zu. Miss Chu and Miss Pei both have high cultivation and they have always been extremely intelligent. They’ll definitely be fine,” Xie Daoyun said to comfort him.
Zu An forced a smile, but he was still full of worry.
…
Meanwhile, Zhao Han followed w.a.n.g Wuxie up to Golden Peak. The two chatted with each other along the way, but the emperor couldn"t help but sigh when he saw that w.a.n.g Wuxie was simply being a yes-man. He remarked, “Haven’t you become a lot more taciturn recently? The two of us fought side by side in the past, yet now, it feels like we’ve become a bit estranged.”
w.a.n.g Wuxie replied, “The ruler is the ruler, while a subject is a subject. Your majesty will definitely be above everyone else alone.”
Zhao Han seemed to be a bit shaken by those words. After a sigh, he didn’t say anything else.
Soon after, they arrived at Golden Peak. A tall platform had been built there, with everything needed for the offering to the heavens prepared beforehand.
Zhuxie Chixin swept his gaze over the area and saw that Golden Peak had already practically been cleared out. Apart from a few Righteous Sun Sect disciples who were in charge of the ceremony, there weren’t any other random people. He sighed in relief. However, he still stationed some Imperial Guards and Embroidered Envoys at various key points around Golden Peak, protecting the emperor at the center.
Then, w.a.n.g Wuxie led Zhao Han to a giant furnace. Zhao Han tossed a torch inside to ignite it. Placed inside were all sorts of precious ki stones, medicinal ingredients, ores, and other such things.
Strands of smoke carrying a rich fragrance slowly rose and condensed in one area in the sky. This was how the sincerity of the human world was to be conveyed to the heavens.
Then, Zhao Han bowed in front of various memorial tablets of the deities to express his respect. Even though he was already unmatched, he was still full of reverence toward such matters related to the heavens. After all, there had always been legends of immortals throughout history. Even though no one had seen any true immortals for thousands of years, he still carried that longing. He hoped that one day, he would also be able to ascend to the immortal realm.
Once he began to kneel, no one on Golden Peak dared to remain standing. All of them also kneeled down in respect.
Then, some Righteous Sun Sect disciples carried over a jade plate with clear mountain spring water inside. After Zhan Han used the water to freshen up, he wiped away the remaining water and received some incense from the side. He bowed to an ancestral tablet on the altar three times. Then, he took some jade silk and other precious articles that w.a.n.g Wuxie had prepared and walked up the stage step by step. During the whole process, he was full of respect toward the ancestral tablet.
The platform was incredibly holy and divine. In the entire world, only he alone had the right to be there. Everyone else remained where they were, far away.
Zhuxie Chixin looked all around him. For some reason, he just felt a bit nervous somehow, and yet he couldn"t exactly pinpoint why either. He could only silently pray that nothing bad would happen.
Sometimes, however, one’s worst fears were precisely what came true. Suddenly, there was a deafening explosion. The entire platform was engulfed in fiery light as a huge mushroom cloud rose. Several explosions rang out all across Golden Peak. The Embroidered Envoys and Imperial Guards were all caught off guard and suffered severe casualties.
“Your majesty!” Zhuxie Chixin cried in horror. The center of the explosion was none other than the elevated stage the emperor was on! In that instant, the emperor was devoured by flames, and Zhuxie Chixin couldn"t sense the slightest trace of his aura anymore.
Even though his majesty’s cultivation is high, how can it be certain that nothing happened if he’s at the very center of the explosion?
…
Meanwhile, halfway up the mountain, the other subjects remained respectfully. But since the emperor wasn’t there anymore, they had begun slacking off a bit and secretly chatting with each other through ki.
Suddenly, the world trembled, and even the tiles of Guidance Palace began to tumble down piece by piece. Smoke and dust flew everywhere. Many people instinctively cried out. Zu An struck aside a few pieces of falling tile to protect Xie Daoyun, who was next to him.
A while later, they all finally managed to get away from Guidance Palace. They looked in the direction of the explosion. They saw flames rush into the heavens where Golden Peak had been. Smoke surged and covered everything. Their expressions all changed.
“Your majesty!” Bi Qi cried as he took the lead in rushing to the mountaintop, and others followed him.
Zu An observed the scene that was taking place on Golden Peak. He suddenly thought of something. Yun Jianyue had mentioned that Golden Token Seven noticed a batch of gunpowder disappearing near Violet Mountain, and that it might have very well been stored away by a certain Righteous Sun Sect individual. So this was what they had been planning to use it for!
The previously happy and excited Zhang Zijiang and w.a.n.g Bolin’s faces turned deathly pale. They muttered to themselves, “We’re done for, we’re done for!”
They had been in charge of eliminating any potential dangers on Violet Mountain, and yet this huge oversight had occurred. Their entire families would be executed for this!
Furious rebukes suddenly filled the air nearby. As it turned out, Bi Qi and the other ministers had been stopped by a formation barring their way. They had begun berating the Righteous Sun Sect disciples and asking them what they were doing.
However, the Righteous Sun Sect disciples didn’t say anything in response. They disappeared after activating the formation.
Xie Daoyun cried out in alarm. She said with great frustration, “Huh? This is the Righteous Sun Sect’s great formation that protects the entire mountain. I did notice it before, but I didn’t think it would be used like this…”
Zu An patted her shoulder to make her feel better. This wasn’t her fault. Who would be able to imagine that the renowned Righteous Sun Sect would use their greatest defense formation to separate the emperor from his officials?
He looked in Golden Peak’s direction and thought, No wonder w.a.n.g Wuxie seemed so strange. So he planned to face the emperor here.
But no matter how daring he was and how high his cultivation was, w.a.n.g Wuxie was facing Zhao Han as his opponent. Zu An wondered who else was involved in this matter. There was also the huge amount of gunpowder to consider. Would it be enough to blast that old b.a.s.t.a.r.d Zhao Han to death?