"No need for ceremony." Li Xizhou turned away, looking once more toward the frozen Taiye Pool, and said slowly, "The land beneath our feet was called Haojing four thousand years ago, during the Western Zhou."
"..."
"Two hundred years after the founding of the Western Zhou, in the fifty-fourth year of King Mu of Zhou's reign, an envoy of the Queen Mother of the West entered Zhou to attend court. King Mu received the envoy as a guest and granted them residence in Zhao Palace. The histories left no name for this envoy, and today we cannot find the ruins of 'Zhao Palace' either..." Li Xizhou sounded as though she were speaking to herself. After a moment of quiet, she continued, "In the fifty-fifth year, the western envoy struck at our king. At the winter solstice, the king died. Snow covered Haojing, and all the realm's soldiers wept."
"..."
Li Xizhou turned back. "That is the record in the Bamboo Annals of the Ji Tomb. As far as I know, the only surviving copy now belongs to the Immortal Platform. Over the past thirty years, the Immortal Platform has carried out countless searches and examinations. It is probably credible."
Pei Ye listened quietly, his brows faintly furrowed.
"When King Mu of Zhou was attacked, he was already a hero in his twilight years. He had long since completed his travels across the four seas, and held at least the complete [Jianglou] and one other Immortal Authority whose name is unknown. As the sovereign acknowledged throughout the realm, he had been bound as one with Haojing when the master craftsman Yan Shi built his capital," Li Xizhou said. "Much like the Qilin today, perhaps, his lifeline was joined to his nation. To assassinate him in his own capital, in his own