"Popularity" was a word that sounded familiar at first, yet was difficult to pin down, and so seemed somewhat insubstantial,
but it did exist.
When the Qi Emperor asked the people, Jiang Wuxie had said, "There is not enough human vitality, and the essence of the world is lacking. Under a state's system, human vitality is also the source of officialdom's vitality. This is the root of the rival states' struggle to seize and plunder populations."
The first sentence referred to the influence of living beings' vitality on the world's essence. The second spoke of the connection between human vitality and a state's system.
The Spirit Shrine of the Marquis of Nine Returns was a place with very little human vitality.
Though he was enshrined in the Hall of Protecting the State, and people often came to sweep and tend the place, it still seemed desolate.
Jiang Wang entered the shrine.
It was still morning.
Most of Linzi City was already bustling.
Only here was solemn and peaceful.
Cool morning light fell from some unknown place.
A figure stood with his back to Jiang Wang, bathed in the morning light.
He was someone familiar.
Perhaps hearing footsteps, he slowly turned his head to look at Jiang Wang.
When he saw Jiang Wang, he didn't seem surprised. He simply turned back, placed the Heavenly Will Incense in his hand into the burner, then turned around completely to face Jiang Wang.
"Long time no see, Jiang Green Sheep," he said.
The Heavenly Will Incense was green, like a curtain draped across the Azure Heaven.
Its smoke was so faint it was almost invisible, yet it truly existed, rising indistinctly behind him.
The smoke drifted past him, curling before the towering statue of the First Marquis of Nine Returns--
The statue was life-sized,