The Son of Heaven on the imperial throne remained silent.
The civil and military officials throughout the hall each guarded their hearts and held themselves in check, every one of them staring at the tips of their shoes.
In the vast Sanqing Xuandu Supreme Palace, there was not a second sound.
Lüqiu Wenyue's hands, which had once placed pieces across the realm, slowly sank. As though unable to bear the weight of that roster, she was bent at the waist beneath it. "This minister was selected and elevated by Your Majesty, entrusted by the realm, and thought myself gifted in strategy, wishing to fill the Cang Sea. Yet even by mustering the strength of the Central Empire, I could not bring the task to completion; even by exhausting the state treasury, I could not preserve the whole board. Thus elite troops and famed generals were lost in a single night, and a century of accumulation swallowed by raging waves. This is this minister's crime!"
Today's grand court assembly was an exceedingly rare occasion, with all four great Celestial Masters present.
Eastern Celestial Master Song Huai, Southern Celestial Master Ying Jianghong, Western Celestial Master Yu Xi, and Northern Heavenly Master Wu Daoyou had seats apart from the hundred officials. Each occupied a place upon the Milky Way Golden Bridges on either side of the great hall, seated upright to signify their supervision of court affairs—and their detachment from them.
Celestial Masters instructed the Son of Heaven and guarded the Heaven Gate for the realm!
Ever since the rise of the Daoist Sect, they had borne responsibility for The Present World and stood in eminence across all lands.
Though things were no longer as they had once been—beyond the Daoist state lay many kingdoms, and beyond the Daoist Sect lay many other