"Don't kneel."
Meng Xizhou's voice echoed through the City of Light and through the hearts of every transcendent watching the broadcast.
The New Sun that had torn through the long night hung high above the city, its radiant glow falling evenly upon every follower of the Church of Light.
Those kneeling on the ground merely raised their heads and looked at the sun before them.
They did not rise.
So Meng Xizhou said it a second time.
"You are forbidden to kneel."
This time, she changed only one word... but the effect was many times greater. The kneeling believers looked troubled, then rose to their feet one by one.
They had devoted their lives to the light.
If the light advised them not to kneel, they would still kneel.
But if it commanded them not to kneel.
Then they could only stand.
The elders of the temple looked at that dazzling, blinding radiance. This time, when the cloudship fleet headed north, Meng Xizhou had taken only a very small number of high-ranking members with her.
As for the temple's council of elders, she had brought only Batu.
Having just gone through the Red Lake incident, the City of Light was severely depleted. If they rashly took more high-ranking members away and something happened in the Old World, they would be utterly destroyed... Thus, most elders and prospective elders had remained in the City of Light, waiting for news from Outside the Great Wall.
They knew.
Not long ago, Red Lake had fired a pillar of light into the heavens, and the aura of that beam had been astonishing.
Though it had been obscured by heavy fog, the more perceptive high-level transcendents had still sensed that something was amiss...
The Goddess leading the fleet north was likely nothing more than a