Above Heavenly Abyss City's Cloud Dock, the usual clamor was conspicuously absent that day.
Three days earlier, every merchant alliance flying vessel and rogue cultivator's spirit bird had received strict orders from the Protectorate Prefecture to withdraw.
Across the vast harbor's open skies, only the black banners of the Heavenly Abyss Mystic Guards snapped in the cold wind.
Rumble—
With a deep, thunderous tremor through space, an immense crimson spirit vessel slowly emerged from the depths of the dense sea of clouds.
Over a hundred zhang long, the vessel was carved entirely from ten-thousand-year crimson thunderwood, its hull densely engraved with the Great Zhou Dynasty's auspicious-cloud national destiny array patterns.
At the top of its mast, a golden banner ten zhang long whipped wildly in the wind. Three imposing characters in ancient seal script proclaimed: "Ministry of Rites."
Wherever the vessel passed, fine golden threads of the Great Zhou Law Net flickered faintly in the void, radiating a vast heavenly majesty that towered above every regional lord.
"So this is the national destiny spirit vessel of Great Zhou's legitimate sovereign power..."
On the city wall, Chief Secretary Zhang Cheng gave an almost imperceptible sigh. Though Heavenly Abyss City had flourished over the past decade, the laws and authority of an Immortal Dynasty whose foundations stretched back tens of thousands of years still stirred awe deep within his soul.
"While its lawful succession endures, its majesty remains. Do not neglect your manners."
Before Zhang Cheng stood Chu Bai in a deep-purple Great Zhou royal robe, his expression calm and his voice without a ripple.
Today, he had abandoned his usual casual attire for the most formal ceremonial robes of the Prince Who Quells the North. A golden seal hung at his waist, and his expression was solemn.
He understood perfectly well