East Mountain Park.
The first stage of the Public Memorial Ceremony, "all attendees salute the victims," lasted only fifteen seconds before ending.
The second stage followed: mourning by the families and the distribution of compensation.
The families, in groups of fifty, all dressed in black and stood in orderly lines, placing a lit Soul Summoning Candle before the memorial monument.
The scene was filled with weeping, enough to cast a pall over anyone's heart.
The so-called "Soul Summoning Candle" was a custom of this world.
This type of candle had inner and outer layers. The outer wax was red, representing flesh and blood, while the inner wax was yellow, representing the soul.
As the candle burned, white smoke drifted into the sky, symbolizing that "the soul shall return to Divine Banyan Peak."
As an aside.
The batch of Soul Summoning Candles used by the families had been sponsored free of charge by a Merchant Guild, which had also donated one hundred Gold Coins. This counted as "naming rights advertising fees."
Among the crowd at the foot of the mountain.
Many people spontaneously began murmuring a phrase.
"May your souls return to Divine Banyan Peak!"
The phrase was repeated again and again.
Until more than ten thousand people chanted it in unison, gathering into a massive wave of sound that carried far into the distance.
Quite a few people were overcome with emotion, even shedding tears.
Cheng Han stood atop the mountain, listening as the sound washed over him, and could not help feeling moved.
This was unexpected.
But it happened to prove one thing—the Public Memorial Ceremony had truly bound the hearts of these ten thousand-plus people into a single rope.
Parliament Building.
Grand Governor Bai Yichuan was presiding over a meeting.
Recently, this lord had been under immense