The night was deep. Xuanyuan Hill, atop Star-Picking Tower in the Imperial Palace...
Draped in a long robe, Xuanyuan Changying stood atop the more than two-hundred-meter-high Star-Picking Tower, hands clasped behind his back, gazing up at the stars that filled the sky. For a full two hours, he did not move.
Only when the footsteps of his trusted guard sounded behind him, and the man softly announced, "Your Highness, Mister Fang has arrived...," did Xuanyuan Changying let out a long breath. He abruptly turned around without a word and strode toward the study behind him...
The blue-robed scholar was already waiting in the study. Xuanyuan Changying lifted the door curtain, sending its pearl and jade beads clattering like rain striking banana leaves, then strode in with the wind at the hem of his robes. "Sir..."
"Your Highness is destined to be the ruler of Great Xia, to lead the human race and command heaven and earth. A ruler must remain unflinching even if Mount Tai collapses before him. Yet Your Highness has lost his composure over the Iron Dragon Sect's Sect Black Post. This is a great taboo for a ruler. The greater the matter, the more calm and composed one must be..." The blue-robed scholar looked at Xuanyuan Changying with an unusually solemn gaze, and there was even a trace of sternness in his eyes that had never been there before.
"Changying knows his error. But this matter is as urgent as fire racing over ten thousand li, and I had no choice but to summon you back from Cang Province overnight to discuss a countermeasure..." Xuanyuan Changying said, giving the man a deep bow.
"I came by flying boat all the way, for four or five hours straight, and am already rather hungry and thirsty. I heard that