Generally speaking, according to the rules of the Dragon Emperor Pavilion, no one was allowed to remain in the Dragon Emperor's study except when it was being cleaned or inspected.
But Zhang Tie was an exception to that rule. In the entire Dragon Emperor Pavilion, Zhang Tie was the highest authority, so naturally he enjoyed certain privileges. Moreover, the Dragon Emperor, who had been missing for over nine hundred years, had gradually become a symbolic figure within the Dragon Emperor Temple. Though no one was willing to admit it openly, everyone understood in their hearts that the Dragon Emperor had almost certainly met with misfortune. Under such circumstances, the air of majesty that had once shrouded the Dragon Emperor Pavilion had naturally faded considerably. Especially after the Dragon Emperor Temple's forces had completely withdrawn into the Dragon Emperor Domain, the so-called Dragon Emperor Pavilion had already become something of a "memorial hall." No one believed the Dragon Emperor would ever return.
Under such circumstances, even if Zhang Tie stayed in the Dragon Emperor's study all day, no one would say a word.
For an entire day, Zhang Tie was immersed in the four characters the Dragon Emperor had left behind before his death. Even after he had finished checking the items in the Dragon Emperor's study, he had no mind to inspect anywhere else. After dismissing Hong Yukun, he remained alone in the Dragon Emperor's study, sitting in the chair the Dragon Emperor had once occupied, staring at those four characters as his thoughts surged like the tide.
—I die, the clan lives.
Before seeing those four characters, Zhang Tie had not dared to be certain. But after seeing them, he became convinced that the Star of God and the Great Cataclysm had been the Dragon Emperor's desperate, all-or-nothing gamble.