Lacquer Mountain.
It was late summer, and the heat was at its height, yet the mountain remained pleasantly cool.
At the summit, palaces stood in rows and divine altars rose tier upon tier. Wu Light soared into the heavens and shone down upon the surrounding peaks, bathing all of Lacquer Mountain in a solemn, sacred golden brown.
Shamans stood in attendance, presenting offerings and setting out divine seats. Among them were many renowned Immortals and Deities from the Primordial Era.
[Emperor Xuan] occupied the foremost position, honored upon an altar of five-colored soil that seemed to gather all the Wu Earth manifestations of Shu into that tiny space.
A vast procession of envoys had come to serve as an honor guard, lining both sides of a long mysterious yellow avenue to welcome the emperor.
Along the cloud steps leading to the summit, the True Persons stood silently in order, waiting for the grand sacrifice to begin.
[Zhaoyu] True Person Meng Ping had already waited here for a long time. With still no movement from the summit, a hint of puzzlement inevitably appeared on her face.
She turned her gaze slightly toward the True Person beside her, who wore a dark ocher Daoist robe, magnetic light flickering around her. This was [Guan Yi] True Person, Ji Tingyi, who now served as Minister of Provisions in the An Dynasty. She hailed from the [Divine Magnetism Track] of Northern Sea Heyuan Continent and was a Great Cultivator of late-stage origin magnetism!
"Fellow Daoist Guan Yi... you are a close minister of His Majesty. Do you know the true purpose of this sacrifice to the gods?"
Meng Ping hesitated briefly, then asked in a low voice, "Is His Majesty about to attain full mastery?"
As a Purple Mansion cultivator of Primordial One, Zhaoyu had