Nearly ten years had passed in the blink of an eye, and the Grand Emperor had finally come to the Divine Capital. The reason was that his heavenly lifespan was nearly exhausted.
When a man was about to die, it was only natural for an old man to want to see his children. If his children avoided seeing him, it would undoubtedly be the height of filial impiety.
And this matter undoubtedly stirred up a storm within the court.
It was now the twentieth year of Heaven-Answering. Zhao Cheng had not emerged from seclusion for five years. About half a year ago, rumors had begun circulating anew in certain parts of the realm. Their content was nothing more than the same old claims—that the Eldest Princess had imprisoned the Founding Emperor, that a hen was crowing at dawn, and the like.
The first half was one thing, but the latter half being able to spread showed that the work of promoting equality between men and women still had a long and arduous road ahead.
As early as the first year of Heaven-Answering, when Great New possessed only the Southern Wasteland, this work had already begun. Yet twenty years later, many still believed that women were inferior to men.
Of course, these claims circulated only among the common folk. The court and the military remained as steady as ever.
Take the civil and military officials at court, or the generals in the army—which one of them did not know that Zhao Cheng's Dao arts were like those of a demon god? More than a decade ago, he had already ridden the void and commanded the wind, charging through enemy formations alone, unmatched beneath heaven. After so many more years, he could only have grown stronger.
If he had been an ordinary