From outside, the great hall looked pitch-black. Ye Chen could only make out what was inside once he stepped through its doors.
He saw the emperor seated on the Dragon Throne. The moment Ye Chen laid eyes on him, he couldn't help but stare. The emperor's gaze seemed to shoot two beams of light straight at him.
But Ye Chen knew the emperor wasn't looking at him. He was gazing out at the sky, surveying the realm he had conquered and the world now under his rule.
"What are you looking at? Keep moving." When the coachman realized he could no longer hear Ye Chen's footsteps, he hurriedly glanced back and found Ye Chen staring at the emperor, transfixed. He quickly reminded him in a low voice.
"Oh, right." Ye Chen snapped back to his senses. Staring at the emperor like that was deeply disrespectful. If the emperor chose to hold him accountable, Ye Chen might already have lost his head.
Fortunately, the emperor hadn't noticed Ye Chen—or perhaps he simply didn't care to make an issue of it.
Ye Chen lowered his head slightly. From the corner of his eye, he spotted a bald monk in the hall. The monk must have held a very special status. Ye Chen didn't know the ranks of Buddhist monks, but the monk's kasaya clearly wasn't ordinary.
Apart from those two, no one else was in the hall. It was already past noon, after all. Unless the emperor had urgent business to announce or a minister had something to report, there would be no other officials there.
The coachman led Ye Chen to a spot about five or six meters in front of the emperor. He clasped his hands and bowed toward him, while Ye Chen, not knowing what else to do, dropped