Gold studs adorned vermilion doors; lofty palaces bore jade-green tiles.
Within the great hall, a thousand auspicious clouds curled, and ten thousand streams of purple qi steamed.
Yu Shitong occupied the seat of honor, with six attendants standing to either side. Jadechen disciples such as Wang Sen and Chen Heng sat in the hall, with fruit, wine, pills, and spirit medicines laid out on the jade tables before them.
A Flying Red Beast Bronze Furnace shaped like a crouching beast with two towering horns sent wisps of fragrant mist curling through the hall. Like a hornless dragon drawing smoke, the mist shifted through a hundred elusive forms in moments. Beyond clearing the mind and refreshing the spirit, it possessed a peculiar ingenuity.
At that moment, Yu Shitong held a book and a vermilion brush.
Whenever he summoned someone into the hall, he offered a few words of praise before awarding Dao Merit and treasures according to their achievements.
The atmosphere was lively. Every Daoist summoned inside was delighted, smiles on their faces, their joy plain to see.
After all, Jadechen had won this round. Though there had been some setbacks along the way, they had recovered Yuyang's territory and driven back the demonic villains, preserving their prestige.
They had also earned merit by expanding their territory, acquiring Danpu and Zhongqu-two great nations formerly under Huzhao's rule, worth ten times as much as Yuyang and Weiyong!
During this time.
The small frontier nations surrounding Yuyang had all trembled in fear.
Several rulers of small nations, who had believed that heaven was high and the emperor far away and assumed Jadechen could not be bothered with them, were especially terrified, scarcely able to eat or sleep in peace.
Even before the two sects had decided the victor, while they were still confronting