Zhu Sheng knocked his head to the ground again and again, pleading bitterly. "Your Majesty, please ease your heart for the moment. Perhaps another path to survival can still be found to break this perilous deadlock!" King Zhou's face changed sharply. "The danger is already licking at our brows! If the Vassal Lords smash through the Meridian Gate and storm into the Inner Court, and I am captured, your crime will weigh heavier than mountains!" Zhu Sheng wept bitterly and withdrew. He raced down from the tower, gathered firewood and carried kindling, piling it high around the tower's base.
After seeing him leave, King Zhou straightened his robes and set his crown in place. He put on an imperial robe embroidered with the Twelve Emblems, donned a ceremonial crown with hanging pearl tassels, and gripped a blue-green jade gu in his hand. Pearls and pendants chimed all over his body as he sat upright in the center of the tower and waited calmly. Once Zhu Sheng had finished piling the wood, he turned back and made a long bow, tears streaming like rain. Only then did he set the fire to the kindling and howl toward the sky.
Blazing flames surged up. Dry wood crackled and burst, while thick smoke rushed straight into the clouds. Gale winds whipped the fire; the fire borrowed the wind force, and in an instant the flames engulfed the entire tower. Cries erupted throughout the six palaces. The heavens and earth lost their color; sun and moon gave no light. Ghosts howled, gods wept, and the imperial throne crumbled. Watching the Star-Picking Tower churn within the sea of fire, Zhu Sheng cried out in anguish several times, then suddenly tore open the front of his robe and shouted, "Your Majesty! This servant comes to follow