55th Year of Yuanfeng, May 23.
This day was of great significance.
The Qi Emperor would personally visit the Imperial Ancestral Temple to pay respects to the former emperors.
Then, before the ancestors of the Jiang Imperial Dynasty, he would select the nation's talents, personally encourage them, and send them into battle at the Yellow River Assembly.
The nation's prodigies, too, would have to display their exceptional talents under the gaze of the Son of Heaven and the people of All-Under-Heaven City, proving that they were indeed worthy of representing the Qi State in battle.
By then, all the civil and military officials would be present, along with the members of the imperial clan.
The non-cultivator elders over a hundred years old in Linzi City, as well as the ninety-nine households randomly selected by the Imperial Clan Court, would all attend and observe.
This was known as the "Grand Master Ceremony."
The Grand Master Ceremony was about employing the masses.
When a king set out on a campaign of conquest, the army's formation and conduct were governed by rites and laws. When the Son of Heaven personally led an expedition, the ceremony was even more grand and imposing.
In other words, the Qi State was treating the Yellow River Assembly as a great battle, approaching it with the rites of a national war.
Everything that happened during this ceremony would be recorded by the official historians.
And throughout the "Grand Master Ceremony," the results of each stage—such as who claimed the Inner Palace slots and who edged out whom in the Outer Tower—would be posted by designated officials and spread throughout Linzi, so all under heaven could bear witness.
This would prove that these prodigies were truly acknowledged by the entire Qi State, and could genuinely represent Qi in contending