Of course he was happy. So when the First-Rank Venerable, smiling amiably, directed him and several other boys and girls to stand on the formation's central points, he put on an innocent, bewildered expression and asked, "Uncle Venerable, why do we have to stand like this? I saw the other uncles lining up in two rows beside the road." ... "Now, the Heaven Worship Ceremony begins. I hereby declare..." But what he didn't know was that among the two hundred boys and girls below, there was a little boy grinning even more brightly than he was. When they left the Venerable Mansion, a line of carriages already stretched like a dragon along the main road outside its gates. Shangxuan Kingdom's cavalry rode alongside as escorts. The Venerables led the two hundred children into the carriages, and the imposing procession set off for the Imperial Mausoleum ahead of the Emperor. "Your Highness the Princess, please be patient." From afar, the procession outside the Imperial Mausoleum appeared beneath bright yellow canopies and banners, stretching like a dragon for two or three li. Tang Ruowei lowered her head and said nothing. Tang Zhouxie grinned even more happily. The Grand Princess wore a stern expression today, her eyes darting about. She didn't seem to be in a good mood, and appeared to be brooding over and worrying about something. Following the Emperor of Shangxuan Kingdom and the Imperial Advisor, she was led by Sima Yingbo around the ranks of boys and girls and up to the altar. After speaking, the Emperor fell silent for a moment. He took three sticks of incense from the Imperial Advisor, bowed toward the Imperial Mausoleum, then planted them in the great bronze vessel before it. He didn't know where those officials had found so many children. All he could say was that under pressure from the Emperor and the Imperial Advisor, these usually useless parasites had proved remarkably efficient. If you'd been a tiger's accomplice and felt guilty about it, why had you done such a thing in the first place? "What's going on?" Once they reached the prepared altar, the Imperial Advisor lit three sticks of incense, thin wisps of smoke curling into the air, while the Emperor of Shangxuan turned to face the officials and assembled troops below. "Take their living blood to console our ancestors' spirits." But no one answered her. Tang Ruowei looked around and saw that her Father Emperor, the Imperial Advisor, her younger brother, and the generals, soldiers, and officials below the platform all wore vacant expressions. Bai Qiuran obediently stood where he was told and turned his head away, a cold smile appearing on his face. There were many other children in the courtyard. Bai Qiuran counted them: exactly one hundred boys and one hundred girls, two hundred children in total. Tang Ruowei, standing nearby, cried out in alarm, "Father Emperor, Imperial Advisor, what are you saying?!" After returning to the Venerable Mansion, he switched places with his material clone and then went to bed. The night passed without incident. At dawn the next morning, while the sky was still barely light, two Venerables of Shangxuan Kingdom at the fifth level of the Qi Refining Stage came in and took him to the mansion's courtyard. "Don't say a word in a moment. The ceremony will be over soon." The Emperor of Shangxuan suddenly paused strangely, then continued, "Soldiers, take the blood of two hundred boys and girls and invite our ancestor to emerge from his tomb!" Sima Yingbo and the other Venerables bowed their heads even lower, while Tang Ruowei stared at the young man, frozen in place. "Are you happy to see me?" A cloud drifted over, obscuring part of the sunlight and dimming the sky, but the Emperor of Shangxuan and the Imperial Advisor paid it no heed and continued their ritual on the altar. "All right." "Wait!" Sima Yingbo avoided answering and pushed Bai Qiuran into his designated place. "Shangxuan! I have returned!" She compared him to the portrait she had once seen in the ancestral hall, swallowed, and said with difficulty, "The Martial Emperor, Tang Zhouxie." A visible mist of blood poured from the crack in the Imperial Mausoleum. Then, amid a burst of wild laughter, a figure in a yellow imperial robe stepped out of the tomb. "Happy, of course I'm happy." The figure emerged from the blood mist and came into view outside the mausoleum. He was a young, dark-haired boy with an eerie air about him. He strolled between the two rows of Venerables. As the children were arranged, Bai Qiuran kept an eye on Sima Yingbo's expression. Seeing no sign that he was being controlled, Bai Qiuran understood. The Imperial Advisor also chimed in, "I, Fu Qianqiu, humbly invite... the former Emperor to emerge from his tomb!" By the time the sun had climbed high in the sky, the Emperor's procession had finally arrived. Tang Ruowei was both shocked and furious. Just then, the First-Rank Venerable Sima Yingbo led a group of Venerables onto the altar. Coming before the Imperial Mausoleum, he said to Tang Ruowei, "The Heaven Worship Ceremony is about to begin. Please meet your ancestor." By custom, the Emperor of Shangxuan Kingdom was to set out for the Heaven Worship Ceremony at around seven in the morning and reach the Imperial Mausoleum by nine. The Venerable Mansion had to prepare the boys and girls and make all the other arrangements for the rite beforehand. Tang Ruowei, the Grand Princess, was among the procession. At that moment, she and her younger brother, the Crown Prince of Shangxuan Kingdom, walked on either side of the Emperor, following him and the Imperial Advisor toward the Imperial Mausoleum. Under the direction of the First-Rank Venerable Sima Yingbo, the two hundred children formed a strange pattern before the altar. It was a formation used by the demonic cultivators of the Blood God Sect. "Our ancestor, the True Ancestor." "We humbly invite our honored master to emerge from his tomb!" As he spoke, he tried his hardest to make himself look even more childlike and adorable, gazing up at Sima Yingbo. After they had waited in the courtyard for a while, the First-Rank Venerable Sima Yingbo appeared with the other Venerables. Smiling amiably, the handsome young Venerable explained where the children needed to stand during the Heaven Worship Ceremony. He also warned them not to wander off, then told the other Venerables to keep a close eye on them. At last, he directed everyone to set out for the Imperial Mausoleum. "Sima Yingbo?" "Uh..." Not only that, but formations had been concealed beneath those points to restrain the children and keep them from running around. Bai Qiuran continued, "Was it the Emperor or the Imperial Advisor who told you to do this?" "You!" As the words left his mouth, dark clouds roiled across the sky, blotting out the sunlight completely. A bolt of purple lightning fell from the heavens and split the Imperial Mausoleum of Shangxuan in two. Sima Yingbo seemed to hesitate for a moment. Then he smiled kindly, ruffled Bai Qiuran's hair, and said, "I don't know either. The people above told us where to stand, and we have to do as they say." "Do you have to listen to them too, Uncle?" Bai Qiuran lowered his head and murmured to himself with a smile, "I've finally caught you, you demonic fiend." Sima Yingbo ignored her. Leading the Venerables, he bowed toward the Imperial Mausoleum and said, "We disciples humbly invite our honored master to emerge from his tomb!" He narrowed his eyes. When he saw several Venerables looking his way, he hid his expression and waited patiently for the Heaven Worship Ceremony to begin. A cold smile appeared on the young man's face.
Before you continue