The Han Court's high officials and eminent nobles all lay prostrate beneath the raised platform, and the emperor's head occupied the foremost place among the offerings.
A ceremony to report to and worship Supreme Heaven was underway in the Imperial Palace.
"Supreme Heaven, highest and most sacred:
All Under Heaven crumbles, and the common people flee for their lives. I, Jue, obeyed your decree and descended into the mortal world to salvage the Han Dynasty's decline and prolong its Mandate of Heaven.
Yet the Han Dynasty's rulers were no less benighted than Jie and Zhou, You and Li, and imposed partisan prohibitions throughout the realm, leaving no loyal and upright ministers in the court.
The Han Dynasty's Dukes and Ministers were more greedy and cruel than tigers, leopards, jackals, and wolves, siding with their factions to attack dissenters and excluding the loyal and virtuous.
Under these twin scourges, the Han Dynasty's Mandate of Heaven declined like a river flowing ever downward, beyond all recovery.
Your servant struggled in the mortal world, received this Mandate of Heaven, and thus rose to act.
Saving the Han Court was difficult; destroying it was easy. The conquest was accomplished.
Today, I present the Han Court emperor's head, sealed here in a box, as an offering in this report.
Your servant dares not claim credit, having merely carried out Supreme Heaven's command with the utmost reverence. I wish only that Supreme Heaven will soon send down a new bearer of the Mandate of Heaven, that peace may soon come within the six directions and throughout the eight wildernesses, and that All Xia may be united."
Luo Xiao stood high, and so his voice carried far.
Now he stood at the highest place in All Under Heaven, and so all the world could hear his voice.