The glow of a night pearl illuminated the magnificent hall. A long golden dragon coiled across the vaulted ceiling, while directly ahead, a huge dragon throne stood atop a nine-tiered dais.
Wearing her jade faceplate, Xue Baijin held her iron mace upside down in one hand and the night pearl in her left as she slowly climbed the steps. She examined the throne, only to find that its gold ornaments had long since been stripped away. Many places showed signs of damage; someone had evidently beaten her here.
From historical records, Xue Baijin had learned that a great earthquake had wiped every major city on the Plain of No Return straight off the map. Even the Great Liang emperor, who had moved his capital to the new city, had vanished. If he had died in the earthquake, the Jade Seal and other such objects should have been buried inside the Imperial Palace.
But the buildings here had not collapsed, and there was no telling how many people had stumbled into this place over a thousand years. The chances of finding those things were clearly far too slim.
After looking around, Xue Baijin swept her sleeve, sending a breeze across the ancient dragon throne to clear away its dust. Then she sat down upright, experiencing what it felt like to sit in the Son of Heaven Hall.
In truth, Xue Baijin had never been a rebel, but a loyal subject of Great Yan. Her grandfather had been ennobled as the Marquis Who Pacifies the South and held Southern Skies Mountain alone. Even after Great Yan fell, he had always wanted to restore its realm. Now that burden had naturally fallen into her hands.
Xue Baijin was not blindly loyal. Great Yan, which had fallen sixty years ago, gave her no reason