"Dong... dong... dong..."
Deep, resonant bells rang out over the capital of the White Gull Kingdom. The people stopped in their tracks and listened.
For a moment, the entire capital seemed to come to a standstill.
"The king has passed away!"
Suddenly, someone broke into grief-stricken sobs.
"The king has passed away!"
More and more people recognized the signal of the old king's death. Of their own accord, they began removing every red or green decoration they could see and ceased their various extravagant amusements.
Before long, groups of messengers set out from the King's Palace, carrying the announcement of his death in every direction.
Sure enough, the old king, who had been ill for years, had finally succumbed and ridden a crane into the next world.
At that moment, in an inn that had relocated from Port City to the capital, a cultivator named Luo Qiyin was snoring away in bed.
He heard the tolling bells and suddenly opened his eyes. After listening in silence for a while, he heard a commotion outside, with people shouting at the tops of their voices.
"The king has passed away..."
Luo Qiyin rolled himself up in his quilt, covered his head, and went back to sleep.
In a mortal dynasty without an Old Ancestor presiding over it, the transition between rulers would have been a time of political upheaval.
Ambitious men would have begun stirring, very likely using the occasion to foment unrest.
But within the White Gull Kingdom, all would surely remain calm.
Even if something unexpected did happen, the immortal masters from the Que Luo Immortal Abode would restore order at once and bring peace back to the land.
As long as nothing happened to the Incense Accumulation Sect or its Old Ancestor, Li Ling, there would be no problems.