Seeing the inverted relationship, with the subject above and the sovereign below, the officials suddenly understood what Fang Yun had meant earlier by dispensing with elaborate formalities.
It was not that Fang Yun did not want to bow to the officials and the sovereign, but that he did not want them to bow to him.
Every official was considering the same question: if Fang Yun insisted on bowing, would the Jing Lord be the first to drop to his knees?
In a solemn court assembly, only Fang Yun dared lecture the ruler of a kingdom. Everyone knew this violated the Confucian School's grand rites governing sovereign and subject, yet not one member of the Left Prime Minister's faction dared step forward to condemn Fang Yun.
Fang Yun alone could bear down upon an entire kingdom.
The officials watched Fang Yun, their gazes growing ever more complicated.
Had Left Prime Minister Liu Shan not been Saint Zong's Dao Bearer, Fang Yun would likely have razed the Liu Residence long ago and made Liu Shan get out of the Jing Kingdom.
Fang Yun's gaze swept over the curtain behind the Jing Lord, then over the officials, before finally settling on Grand Marshal Chen Zhixu.
The Jing Kingdom's Grand Marshal Chen Zhixu had already advanced to Great Scholar. He should have left to travel and broaden his experience, but because the Grass Barbarians had launched a massive invasion, the Sacred Academy had granted him special permission to postpone his journey through the Ancient Lands until after this war.
After achieving success and renown, Chen Zhixu had lived in seclusion and rarely appeared in public. The empress dowager and the Jing Lord were the ones who truly controlled the Grand Marshal's Office. Only the collapse of the entire Three Frontiers defensive line had forced