Deep beneath Heavenly Abyss City, the fragrance in the Spirit Vein gradually faded as the formation fell still.
The delegation's towering crimson flying ship lay moored at Cloud Dock, where the loading of Spirit Marrow jade dew proceeded in orderly fashion.
Huge spiritual runes flashed across the ship's surface. Each flash meant vast quantities of high-purity Spirit Marrow had been sealed inside the Great Zhou royal family's storage artifacts.
Yet in a quiet side hall deep within the Protectorate Prefecture, the atmosphere could not have been more different from the bustle outside.
The attendants had already brought a third round of fresh tea, a supreme-grade Spirit Tea brewed from the Earth Vein Golden Lotus. With no outside Spell Power disturbing it, the incense smoke rose in straight, threadlike strands to the rafters before vanishing without a trace.
Beneath that peaceful surface, however, a private conversation before Lord Wang of the Ministry of Rites departed had landed like a ten-thousand-ton boulder in a still lake. The color drained from Heavenly Abyss Chief Secretary Zhang Cheng's face.
"Your Highness, it isn't that I'm unwilling to do everything I can for you at the Ministry of Rites when I return. The iron laws of the Great Zhou Law Net are as unfathomable as heaven's might. No one can overstep them by so much as an inch."
Vice Minister Wang held his cup of warm Spirit Tea in both hands without taking a sip. He sighed deeply, his eyes, weathered by decades at court, filled with helplessness and regret:
"Your Highness's immense Merit from pacifying demons, controlling floods, and protecting the people of the Southwest these past ten years—I swear on my head that, once I return, I'll have it recorded at the Ministry of Rites' Merit Office as quickly as possible. Every word