In the Great Li Capital City's imperial palace, Emperor Song He summoned the Five Sacred Mountains Lords of an entire continent to discuss matters in the Imperial Study.
They had assumed the Southern Sacred Mountain Woman Lord would find an excuse to decline, yet Fan Junmao had unexpectedly come as well.
Of Treasure Bottle Continent's Five Mountains, the four great peaks other than the Southern Sacred Mountain still lay within Great Li Dynasty territory, so in name they remained under the jurisdiction of the Great Li Song Clan.
In truth, according to the alliance agreement National Teacher Cui Chan had established back then, Great Li territory was to withdraw north of the Qi Du after the war. Yet the ancestral mountain of the Eastern Sacred Mountain, Qishan Mountain, actually lay south of the Great Ditch. This was much like the matter of stone steles erected before the Patriarch Halls of southern immortal residences: over the years, there had been various arguments and small maneuvers. Once the Zhengyang Mountain ceremony concluded, however, the objections quieted down on their own.
There were roughly two quarters of an hour left until the appointed time. Today's morning court had not yet adjourned, and Emperor His Majesty had yet to appear. Discussions in the Imperial Study generally constituted the second session, with fewer attendees, and were also known as a "small court assembly."
The first to arrive today was not Wei Bo, the Northern Sacred Mountain Lord who had the advantage of being near the water, but Jin Qing, the Central Sacred Mountain Lord.
Next came the Eastern and Western Mountain Lords, arriving together: Meng Rong of Qishan Mountain and Tong Wenchang of Ganzhou Mountain.
Meng Rong wore golden armor and a sword like a military general. Tong Wenchang was barefoot in hemp clothes, resembling