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Black coffins swayed on shoulders, passing beneath grief-stricken gazes as they were slowly carried toward the cremation platform at the westernmost end of the Central Courtyard.
There, dozens of enormous solid-copper cremation furnaces, inscribed with cremation magic formations, already stood in solemn silence.
At last, every coffin was in place.
Only the final step remained-the lighting of the soulfire by immediate blood relatives, especially the children.
The scene was thrust into the deepest, most unspeakable anguish.
Ji Chengjian stood straight as a pine, reaching out to support his granddaughter Liu Ru Yi's trembling wrist with a steady hand.
The fourteen-year-old girl's face was wet with grief and tears as she forced herself to hold the eternal-flame candle together with her grandfather.
The instant the candle flame touched the stone ignition trough, a soft puff sounded, and blue-green soulfire surged upward!
In the dazzling light, Liu Ru Yi's body went limp and a sob escaped her. Only her grandfather's firm support kept her standing.
Ji Chengjian's gaze was branded like iron upon the flames devouring everything. A muffled cry of anguish rolled from his throat. "Shuran... your father... is seeing you off..."
At last, his old tears broke uncontrollably through the calm he had fought to maintain, pouring down the deep lines of his angular face.
Yet the hand supporting his granddaughter remained steady as a rock, its silent strength worth more than a thousand words.
Yan Xiaolai bit his lip hard, the taste of blood spreading between his teeth. He violently thrust his firebrand inside, his decisiveness almost an outlet for his anguish. Yet the instant the flames flared, he abruptly turned away, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
Supported by her uncle Jian Hezhi, Jian Xinyue was