The news that Hong Jin and Princess Longji had been married by the Heavenly Dao and had surrendered to Xiqi swept out like wildfire before the wind, spreading in an instant through the four lands and eight wastes, across the Immortal and Mortal Realms.
Yin Shang had lost general after general, its qi damaged, its passes broken, its army's morale shaken, and court and countryside alike were thrown into panic; Xiqi, meanwhile, saw its momentum surge, its qi rising like a rainbow.
For days on end, auspicious qi streamed through the Xiqi camp in a thousand strands, with layered banks of lucky clouds. After subduing fierce generals one after another, gaining the blessing of a Heavenly Dao marriage, and joining with the Dao affinity of a Heavenly Court Immortal Maiden, it had now thoroughly secured the righteous name of Subjugating Shang.
The great trend had been set, and there was no more hesitation.
Martial King Ji Fa saw that the timing of Heaven, the advantage of terrain, and the harmony of the people had all returned to Zhou, and so he resolved to formally launch the eastern expedition, to comfort the people and punish the guilty.
Outside Xiqi City, on ten li of level plain, the Martial King personally ordered artisans to raise earth and build an altar, piling jade and laying gold until they completed a ten-thousand-zhang Golden Terrace.
The high platform towered in majesty, with the Heaven and Earth Dragon Banner hanging above it and the veins of mountains and rivers suppressed below it. To either side stood ritual music and honor guards, civil and military officials, and cultivators of the immortal sects.
On the Golden Terrace, rosy light coiled and auspicious mist circled. Faintly, Human Race Royal Dao Qi rose and fell, flowed and turned, solemn and