"Senior, mind the steps!"
"..."
The few old Half-Venerables who reacted fastest hurried half a step forward, turning slightly to guide the way with utmost deference, even carrying a touch of cautious ingratiation.
The remaining Nascent Soul elders immediately crowded around as well, like stars surrounding the moon, escorting Cheng Buzheng at the center toward the grand main hall known as the "Sea Suppressing Hall."
Along the way...
All Sea Suppressing Alliance disciples had long since been dispersed, or else were holding their breath as they knelt by the roadside, not daring even to raise their heads for a glance.
The Sea Suppressing Hall rose over a hundred zhang high, its entire structure forged from "Sea Suppressing Mystic Crystal," a material capable of blocking Divine Sense.
Above its gates, the three ancient runic characters—"Sea Suppressing Hall"—gave off a faint Spirit Light, their color unfaded despite tens of thousands of years of wind and rain.
This was where the Sea Suppressing Alliance deliberated, made decisions, and held its highest ceremonies, a symbol of power and glory.
The crowd escorted Cheng Buzheng into the great hall.
The hall's interior was extraordinarily vast. Its floor shone like a mirror, while seventy-two golden pillars coiled with dragons held up a vaulted ceiling painted with the stars of the Celestial Cycle and the waves of the Four Seas.
At the very end stood a flight of nine jade steps. Above them rested a broad, ancient black throne carved with divine beasts capable of overturning rivers and seas—
—the Alliance Leader's seat.
Ordinarily, even when Half-Venerable elders convened to deliberate, no one dared casually take that seat.
Yet!
As though he had not seen the unspoken rules and symbolism within it, Cheng Buzheng did not slow his steps. He walked straight up the jade stairs
and,