Chen Ping'an walked out of the room and looked toward the golden-crowned Daoist standing beneath the peach tree, a figure born from the manifestation of Dragon Fortune. "How many peach blossoms are there now?" he asked.
Song Yunjian said, "The count is holding steady at around six hundred and fifty. Eight hundred isn't too far off."
Vast Heaven and Earth was not the Azure Sky World, where every emperor was a Dao Official. For a mortal dynasty, an eight-hundred-year reign was a formidable hurdle. Legend said that crossing it brought about an astonishing transformation, like a fish becoming a dragon.
This concerned the Lord of the Human Way. In the end, all the Sage of Ritual's tireless efforts and careful plans in ancient times, including his establishment of seats for True Persons, had sought to settle one question: should a Lord of the Human Way appear among mortals, one who would break a root of the Great Dao the Sage of Ritual had forged with his own hands—Heaven and Earth Connection severed!
Song Yunjian and the young National Teacher were now allies whose roles as host and guest, principal and subordinate, had been turned on their heads.
Chen Ping'an was the principal and Song Yunjian his support. Yet to the Great Li Dynasty, which was rather like an inn, Chen Ping'an was ultimately only a traveler stopping to rest. Song Yunjian, on the other hand, was bound tightly to the Great Li reign. Put simply, when Great Li flourished, Song Yunjian's Daoist power rose; when Great Li declined, his power diminished.
Chen Ping'an and Cui Dongshan had made an estimate earlier. Song Yunjian was now roughly equivalent to someone on the verge of the Ascension Realm. If Great Li's strength kept growing, he had a chance to reach a weak