Pei Ye instinctively protested, "I've been inside."
"Mm."
"Really. There was so much snow and ice, and the wind was too strong to see through. I lit up a temple-with this very divine name. I can even use it, as long as I connect..."
"You can fight with the Shangfang Sword. There's no problem with that."
"...What do you mean?"
"I mean that you have never 'truly' entered the Heart of the Western Court." Li Jian's voice remained deep and slow. "You have [Chi Flame], so you can use some of its own power, but it, too, is only a key."
"A key to what?"
"Gather together every last bit of power under heaven, cut away a quarter of it, and that is the power it connects to." Li Jian looked at him. "Doesn't that frighten you? Even counting only power in the human world, how much does the Tang Emperor hold directly? A fiftieth? A hundredth, or a thousandth?"
Li Jian lowered his head. "I said you had never truly entered it because the 'door' is here with me, while the boundless power behind that door comes from the earth, from the world itself."
"...I don't understand."
"I know. I'll explain," Li Jian said.
But the Platform Master did not explain at once. Instead, he studied Pei Ye intently again. Pei Ye almost suspected that he might suddenly change his mind at some point and kill him here, but fortunately, that possibility did not become reality.
"Do you know why the Illuminating the World Immortal Platform was founded?" Li Jian asked.
"To monitor the Jianghu and investigate suspicious cases?"
"No."
"..."
"Once you finish the palace portion of the Qilin Blood Empress case, you can be promoted to Crane Inspector. Some Crane Inspectors are permitted to know the Immortal