Winter Solstice Sacrifice to Heaven II

By rights, the winter solstice sacrifice to Heaven should have been held atop the Divine Mountain.

However, after a discussion between the Empress and the young Priest, they ultimately abandoned their previous decision.

They moved the location to the inner court of the imperial palace.

Southern Xinjiang also had Taoist temples, where Heaven and Earth were worshiped from time to time.

Not to mention the most honored place in Southern Xinjiang—the imperial palace.

The young Priest carried out every step of the ceremony with effortless grace. Before the guests had waited too long in the biting wind, the sacrifice was already nearing its end.

More importantly, the offerings chosen for today's sacrifice were extraordinary.

The white-stone altar had long been covered with rare treasures presented by the various tribes of Southern Xinjiang. Among them were even several thousand-year-old spirit medicines.

One could imagine what efforts the entire Barbarian Tribe had made for the sacrificial rites of the Empress's coronation ceremony.

Yet what none of the guests could have imagined was that the final offering today—the most unbelievable one of all—was a map.

A map from a thousand years ago, when the Barbarian Tribe had been cast into Southern Xinjiang by the Heavenly Dao; a map of the land they had yearned for with all their hearts.

For this thousand-year dream, the Grand General of the Light Cavalry and the Deputy Marshal had led a hundred thousand armored riders northward along the coast.

From the South Sea, across the East Sea, to attack the imperial city of Jinling.

Although the snow had stopped falling from the sky, the chill in the wind had frozen the entire altar solid.

Even so, none of the guests cared in the slightest.

Because Her Majesty the Empress was also standing quietly in the biting wind,