Within Xuanming Hall, the statue of Xuanming Heavenly Venerable wore a Fish Tail Crown and a blue-gold Daoist robe embroidered with dragon patterns. Seated cross-legged upon a lotus throne, his lowered gaze carried a touch of lofty detachment from the mortal world.
The statue stood a full hundred zhang tall, towering like a mountain with an extraordinary presence.
Fortunately, Xuanming Hall was vast and immense. Its dome rose nearly two hundred zhang high, paved with clear, translucent azure glazed tiles that reflected the celestial phenomena above the Ninth Heaven, making the hall's field of view exceptionally broad.
On the first day of the first lunar month, hundreds of thousands of the sect's true disciples gathered in Xuanming Hall. Led by Zhenyi Dao Lord, master of Heavenly Treasure Hall, they worshiped Xuanming Heavenly Venerable together.
This was also the sect's annual routine sacrificial ceremony, conducted on a grand scale. Any member of the sect's upper ranks who had the time would attend.
As one of the foremost experts among the Nascent Soul True Lords, with Zhenying Dao Lord behind her, Taining ranked very highly and stood just behind several God Transmutation Dao Lords.
Fan Qingyuan stood beside Taining. As the chief steward of the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion, he was the sect's God of Wealth, so his status was naturally very high as well.
In truth, Taining knew that she could stand so far at the front because she had benefited from Gao Xian's favor. As Gao Xian's girlfriend in name, she had received much consideration within the sect.
Even Zhenying Dao Lord could not give her that. After all, Zhenying Dao Lord had many disciples and could not possibly give all her resources to Taining alone.
But Gao Xian was hers alone—or at least, that was how everyone in the