Within the Imperial Palace of Heaven Worship, the Sealed Lord and his ministers traveled on different roads; even the directions they took held their own significance.
When the Sealed Lord left the palace, he took the road called the "Entering the Mortal Realm Path." When he returned to the palace, he took the "Returning to Position Path."
Along both sides of these roads stood ornamental pillar statues, with all beasts submitting and all things bowing in worship.
After entering the palace, ministers took the "Azure Cloud Path," paved with carved jade and stone, engraved with auspicious clouds, immortal cranes, and white deer.
Zhou You walked along the Azure Cloud Path, as though he were soaring step by step into the clouds as he entered the very heart of the Fifty Provinces.
As his feet alternated forward, every piece of jade beneath them was worth a fortune, bearing the painstaking labor of countless master craftsmen.
Before the operation, Lian Feihong had warned him that guards from the Eight Lords' faction would be waiting inside the palace to receive him and bring him to meet the commander of the imperial guards.
The commander of the imperial guards was also surnamed Zhou, but his was not the Zhou Clan of the Left Residence. Rather, it was the Zhonglang Zhou Clan, which had guarded the imperial guards for generations.
For generation after generation, the male descendants of the Zhonglang Zhou Clan had protected the Sealed Lord within the Imperial Palace of Heaven Worship. Their fame was known throughout the world.
Moreover, every successive highest commander of the imperial guards, the "General," shared one identical name... Zhou Mou.
That was right, Zhou Mou. It was not a placeholder—his actual name was Zhou Mou!
Zhou Mou was the leader of the eight thousand guards in the