In a study, Heavenly Court City:
The Qian Heavenly Emperor sat at his desk, going through some paperwork as he listened to Sima Changkong and Ye Shenzhen from behind the curtains.
“Reporting to Your Holy Eminence, this humble official explained it to Gu Hai, and Gu Hai agreed,” Sima Changkong said seriously.
The Qian Heavenly Emperor’s brush paused. “Did he say anything?”
“No.” Sima Changkong shook his head.
“Hah! He is indeed a smart person.” The Qian Heavenly Emperor smiled faintly.
“Your Holy Eminence, Gu Hai is an extraordinary person. However, Elite Hall is only a foreign affairs department of the Qian Nation. He is not a formal court official. Furthermore, he has the Han Royal Dynasty. He might end up growing too powerful to control. In the long run, we would only let Gu Hai benefit. This official asks Your Holy Eminence to recruit Gu Hai into the heavenly court,” Ye Shenzhen said gravely.
The Qian Heavenly Emperor said indifferently, “Would recruiting him into the heavenly court ensure loyalty to us?”
“But devoting our resources to Gu Hai will dissatisfy various people,” Ye Shenzhen said worriedly.
“The heavenly court’s affairs are not part of your responsibilities, right?” the Qian Heavenly Emperor commented indifferently.
Plop!
Ye Shenzhen immediately dropped to his knees in a cold sweat.
“This official has overstepped. Your Holy Eminence, please forgive me,” Ye Shenzhen said with his head to the ground.
“Just do your duty. People in the heavenly court will feel dissatisfied? Who would dare to be dissatisfied?” the Qian Heavenly Emperor said indifferently.
“Yes!” Ye Shenzhen answered.
“Are they all back?” the Qian Heavenly Emperor asked.
“Yes. The three crown princes have all returned,” Ye Shenzhen answered.
“Since they are back, have them come and meet us,” the Qian Heavenly Emperor said.
“Yes!”
“Get Gongyang Sheng to inform the ten thousand sages to start the Ten Thousand Sages Convention,” the Qian Heavenly Emperor said indifferently.
“Yes!”
Gu Hai’s study, Long Wanyu’s residence, Heavenly Yin City:
“Your Majesty, we have already sent away Yuan Chu and managed to get some information. However, I’m unsure of some things,” Mo Yike said.
“Oh?”
“Bing Ji has the Huang Heavenly Dynasty’s royal bloodline, yet she somehow ended up in the Solar Divine Palace. However, Solar Divine Palace and the Huang Heavenly Dynasty seem to have a grudge against each other. Furthermore, Bing Ji’s appearance seems similar to a missing Huang Nation princess. Emperor Kong believed Bing Ji to be the daughter of that Huang Nation princess and wanted to take her away, leading to the events of that day,” Mo Yike explained.
[TL Note: As mentioned in a previous translation note, there are different words for princess in Chinese. The one mentioned here refers to the legitimate daughter of the emperor and the empress.]
“The Huang Nation princess’s daughter?” Gu Hai narrowed his eyes slightly.
Mo Yike nodded. “This official has already organized the statements. Your Majesty can take a look at them.”
“Your Majesty, the Qian Nation sent someone to deliver a message. The Ten Thousand Sages Convention will formally begin three days later. This official has been busy and registered you in a rush; I’m not aware of your participant number,” Mo Yike said worriedly.
“The participant number is not important.”
“Huh?”
Gu Hai shook his head and did not explain.
Participant number? Given that the Qian Nation was devoting its resources to him, was there a need to worry about that?
Three days later, Heavenly Yin City’s central plaza:
Countless people crowded the surroundings of the plaza. A sea of people looked curiously to the center. Countless citizens of the Qian Heavenly Dynasty and cultivators from various sects and nations gathered outside Heavenly Yin City.
Many soldiers maintained order in Heavenly Yin City. Right now, there were more than five hundred million people in Heavenly Yin City.
Everyone looked to the plaza in the center of Heavenly Yin City, where one hundred thousand cultural Dao cultivators currently stood.
Not just anyone could be among the one hundred thousand cultural Dao cultivators. Without an invitation from the Qian Heavenly Dynasty, one had to undergo countless rounds of selections before being able to stand here.
These one hundred thousand people were all grandmasters of the cultural Dao—either music, Go, calligraphy, or painting. All of them were experts in their fields. They had only one goal, to place first in the Ten Thousand Sages Convention and enter the Cultural Dao Sage Palace.
Mo Yike, Bing Ji, Mu Chenfeng, and others stood in the distance, outside the plaza. They watched from far away, looking at Gu Hai in the first row.
“Mister Mo, why did you not enter? Given your Go skills, even if you cannot compare to the hall master, you should be able to…,” Mu Chenfeng asked.
“Go skills? With His Majesty there, my entering would just waste His Majesty’s time.” Mo Yike smiled.
“Mister Mo is good at Go and can help His Majesty to defeat the others first?” Bing Ji frowned.
Mo Yike shook his head and said, “His Majesty told me not to join lest I get hurt.”
“Oh?” Mu Chenfeng and Bing Ji appeared confused.
After some silence, they resumed watching the center of the plaza.
In the plaza:
Gu Hai stood in the middle of the first row with three people around him: Ensnaring Performance, Longevity, and Purple Subtlety.
Ensnaring Performance was looking at Purple Subtlety with hatred on his face. Purple Subtlety and Longevity were not looking kindly on Ensnaring Performance, either.
“Master, why did you bring the two of them? They are just burdens,” Ensnaring Performance whispered to Gu Hai.
“Who is a burden? You are a terrible singer. I wonder how you became a heaven-grade zither!” Purple Subtlety glared.
“Exactly. Having such a heaven-grade zither is too embarrassing for Mister Gu!” Longevity glared at Ensnaring Performance as well.
“You are the embarrassing ones!” Ensnaring Performance said while glaring back.
“Alright, that’s enough.” Gu Hai frowned.
“Humph!” the three snorted coldly.
Gu Hai showed a faint, bitter smile.
After Gu Hai called over Longevity and Purple Subtlety, they had met Ensnaring Performance. At that time, Gu Hai was studying the information on Bing Ji that Mo Yike submitted.
These three people were a heaven-grade zither, a heaven-grade calligraphy brush, and a heaven-grade painting brush. When they heard of each other’s identity, they started a bout of mutual flattery, speaking merrily in praise. The flattery reached the point where others could no longer bear to listen and left.
These three felt very good over the shameless flattery and kept it up for six hours. They nearly swore brotherhood with a ritual.
Before they swore their brotherhood, the three wanted to take out their best thing to give to each other as a gift.
Ensnaring Performance sang a song, Purple Subtlety recited a poem, and Longevity gave a painting.
Then…there was no more then.
The six hours of friendship instantly vanished, the three viewing each other as enemies. Had it not been for Gu Hai appearing to stop them, they would have fought to the death.
During the Ten Thousand Sages Convention, one could bring brushes and zithers. Naturally, the three followed Gu Hai.
After all, a heaven-grade zither was a zither, and heaven-grade brushes were brushes.
It was not just Gu Hai. Some of the others did the same. Nearby, the heaven-grade zither Seven Kills stood close to the Azure Emperor. A man stood by Xuan En. There was also a white-clad, middle-aged man with another man next to him; the white-clad man was the Huang Heavenly Dynasty’s Emperor Kong.
Emperor Kong’s white clothes made him look extremely elegant, lending him an extraordinary air.
Emperor Kong also stood in the first row. When he saw Gu Hai, he showed a faint smile, apparently was not furious over Yuan Chu’s capture.
When Gu Hai saw Emperor Kong’s smile, he nodded in greeting.
Emperor Kong’s eyes lit up as he nodded back with a faint smile.
Wu Yazi stood next to Emperor Kong. When Wu Yazi saw Gu Hai, his eyes narrowed slightly as he showed a faint smile.
On the other side, the Azure Emperor caressed his ornamental thumb ring and revealed a faint smile. “Gu Hai? His gamble paid off. Indeed, the Qian Heavenly Emperor chose him.”
“Imperial Lord, chose him to do what?” Seven Kills asked, feeling confused.
The Azure Emperor shook his head and did not explain.
Yehua also stood in the first row, itching with frustration as he looked at Gu Hai. Some monks and Myriad Age Daoist Sect disciples stood in the plaza as well.
Four circular platforms rose in front of the one hundred thousand cultural Dao cultivators participating in the Ten Thousand Sages Convention. Each circular platform had a word on it: zither, Go, calligraphy, or painting.
A loud shout suddenly rang out: “The time has arrived!”
Buzz!
All at once, the vast sea of noble spirit in the sky churned slowly like a large whirlpool right above the plaza. As it spun, it revealed an indistinct, large object—the Cultural Dao Sage Palace.
The Cultural Dao Sage Palace appeared very indistinct, but its silhouette slowly grew clearer as the noble spirit churned.
A large palace of white jade hovered in the sky. The palace emanated the aura of heavenly might in all directions.
The noise from the five hundred million observers in Heavenly Yin City suddenly quieted. This might seemed to press on everyone, making them feel suffocated.
After the large, white-jade palace appeared, a signboard with the words “Cultural Dao Sage Palace” came into view above the palace.
“That is the Cultural Dao Sage Palace?” Countless cultural cultivators showed pleasant surprise in their eyes.
Creak!
The doors to the Cultural Dao Sage Palace opened slowly. Vast noble spirit spewed out as if a heavenly dam had burst, flooding Heavenly Yin City.
Everyone immediately turned quiet as they looked at the bright Cultural Dao Sage Palace.
“The inspection of the four is complete. We can begin the Ten Thousand Sages Convention!” A stern voice came from the palace.
“Yes!” four people shouted. Then, four people flew out of the palace and landed on the four large, circular platforms.
“How come they can enter the Cultural Dao Sage Palace?” Ensnaring Performance asked in pleasant surprise.
“What do you know? Those are the Ten Thousand Sages Convention’s hosts. They went inside in advance to be inspected. However, they only entered the periphery and did not go deep inside,” Purple Subtlety said disdainfully.
“Oh? It’s them?” Gu Hai felt slightly startled.
Gu Hai recognized three of the four: Gongyang Sheng, Venerable Liu Nian, and Ninth Young Master of Guan Qi’s nine inheritors. Gu Hai had once interacted with Ninth Young Master on Nine-Five Island. The last one was a stern, purple-clad man.
Gongyang Shen landed on the circular platform with the character for “calligraphy”; Venerable Liu Nian landed on the circular platform with the character for “painting”; Ninth Young Master landed on the circular platform with the character for “Go”; and the stern, purple-clad man landed on the circular platform with the character for “music.”
“Mister Gu, that is Founding Dynasty.” A voice came from behind Gu Hai.
Sima Changkong stood behind Gu Hai. Others of the Qian Nation’s people also stood nearby, surrounding Gu Hai to assist and protect him. Aside from Sima Changkong, who maintained a calm expression, the others revealed some envy and jealousy in their eyes.
“Founding Dynasty? The Qian Heavenly Emperor’s heaven-grade zither?” Gu Hai raised his eyebrows.
The Silver Moon Mountain Manor had made four heaven-grade zithers. They had given Army Breaker to Duke Lu Yang, and Ensnaring Performance to Gu Hai. Six Fingers had now returned to the Silver Moon Mountain Manor. And there was one more: Founding Dynasty, which had been given to the Qian Heavenly Emperor.
