Only after Yang Qing and the others descended the mountain did they discover that the once utterly secluded mountain path was now teeming with people and ringing with voices. For a moment, they felt as though they had stepped into another lifetime.
But when they remembered that their few days on the mountain had been several years down below, that unease lingered in their hearts only briefly before fading.
To feel seas turn to mulberry fields in just a few short days.
It truly was rather absurd.
The four of them stood on the busy road and looked around, unsure where to go.
Everything before their eyes suggested that the things Old Xia had told them on the mountain had indeed come true, one after another.
It truly was one day in the cave, a thousand years in the world outside.
Old Xia, who appeared and vanished like a ghost, had disappeared again after sharing a few accounts of what he had seen below the mountain.
This time, Yang Qing and the others did not bother guessing where he had gone. He truly came and went as he pleased, a man as carefree as could be.
"This territory belongs to Eastern Splendor again. The Sacred Emperor certainly has formidable methods and a deeply calculating mind." Jiang Zhizhou and the others had no Travel Writs now, nor did they want to enter the city where the Sacred Emperor resided. They found some food outside the city, shared it among the four of them, then skirted the walls to leave.
"But Eastern Splendor vanished hundreds of years ago. How did they persuade the world to accept its existence again?" Bu Er looked bewildered.
"There are countless ways to make people submit in this world. Wealth, prestige, power—the list goes on."
Yang Qing