Chapter 939: A Holy Ceremony
Seeing the cloth doll didn’t provoke any change to Xu Qing’s facial expression. But inside, he was assailed by waves of astonishment, because... he recognized it.
Back when he was a child in Peerless City, his big brother gave it to him as a birthday present. Later, catastrophe struck. Being only six or seven years old, Xu Qing had clutched the doll to him as he wept in the blood rain, crying out for daddy, mommy, and big brother. At a certain point he passed out. Upon awakening, the cloth doll was nowhere to be found. But here it was today. There was obviously significance to it.
He sent me this to get me thinking....
Xu Qing didn’t say anything.
There were some things that he knew didn’t make sense. For instance, during the fight against Crimson Mother back in the Moonrite Region, he had seen some memories in the violet crystal that clashed with what he remembered happening in the past....
In that image, a hand hit him in the head. Except what Xu Qing actually remembered didn’t involve any hand at all. He had just passed out.
This patchwork doll was another example. Why had it been repaired and then delivered to him on this day? How did it end up being ripped apart?
Eventually, Xu Qing closed his eyes. He didn’t pick up the cloth doll. He just left it lying outside the door.
Time passed. The wind picked up that night, kicking up dust that settled on the cloth doll. The wind brought coldness with it, and as a result, the patchwork doll looked like it was shivering. It was like that boy years ago, huddling against the cold in the slums.
A day passed.
There were now only twenty-four hours left until the ancestral sacrifices. All aristocrats and officials were at home, bathing and cleansing themselves in preparation for the event. That was the ceremonial process for ancestral sacrifices. Whether or not they qualified to go to Planet Ancient Emperor, that was what they did.
That was because there was a public and a private aspect to the ancestral sacrifices. The private aspect would be held on Planet Ancient Emperor, while the public would watch from off the planet.
Six hours before the ancestral sacrifices began, everyone would gather at sunrise at the Supreme Temple.[1]
Normally speaking, the Supreme Temple didn’t even exist. Six hours before the ancestral sacrifices, it would appear outside the imperial palace in a special district that existed in its own spot in time.
Eight hours later, when Xu Qing left his mansion, it was nighttime. When he was about to walk past the cloth doll, he stopped and looked down at it. Then he looked away and continued walking.
He made good time and arrived at the Supreme Temple just as it was making its appearance. The sky was dark, but there was still colorful light visible. A magnificent, scintillating temple appeared out of time to hover in a spot east of the imperial palace.
Xu Qing wasn’t the first to arrive. Everyone showed up at almost the same time looking very solemn.
Being a heavenly king, Xu Qing was able to stand up front. King Firecrusher was next to him.
Behind the heavenly kings were the heavenly marquises, and after them, the other government officials. There were thousands of them, but no one made any noise.
Everyone was looking toward the front. There, six figures stepped out of thin air.
One of them was the emperor, and the others were the imperial princes who qualified to join him. The emperor wore an unprecedentedly extravagant ceremonial garment. Behind him stood Grand Prince, Fourth Prince, Fifth Prince, and Twelfth Prince.
Ningyan spent most of his time in seclusion. But today could be considered a profoundly important element of cultivation, so he had to attend. Both he and the other princes were dressed differently than normal. They also wore extremely extravagant ceremonial clothing.
What had caught everyone by surprise was the fact that there was someone standing next to Twelfth Prince Ningyan. Unexpectedly, there was a fifth imperial prince there.
He was Tenth Prince! Naturally, he was only there because the emperor had permitted him to be present. And yet there hadn’t been any imperial edict announced to that effect. That said, no one could claim to be an expert about how everything worked with imperial princes. As the tutor for the imperial princes, Xu Qing could probably have asked for more information, but he wasn’t inclined to do so.
After about ten breaths of time passed, the emperor looked over the group of officials.
The emperor seemed to be in a different emotional state than usual. Normally speaking, he didn’t reveal the slightest thing in his eyes, but right now... there was something glimmering there. It was as if his gaze just now had taken in all of the mountains and rivers in human lands, all of the people, and also the distant statue of the Grand Emperor. The emperor took a deep breath, whereupon his gaze and facial expression returned to normal. He turned around.
As the five imperial princes bowed their heads and backed up slightly, the emperor looked at the Supreme Temple. He walked toward it.
When he had walked about 30 meters, the five imperial princes somberly followed him.
During this six-hour period, the customs of the ancestral sacrifices dictated that the emperor would sit cross-legged in the Supreme Temple and wait. The imperial princes who had been graced with the right to also be present in the ancestral sacrifices would be with him, kowtowing as they waited for dawn.
Both inside and outside the Supreme Temple, those six hours went by in silence. In fact, the entire imperial capital was completely quiet. As time ticked by, the sky started to grow light. Then, a blazing light on the horizon became a sea of flames that spread through the dome of heaven. It was as if some enormous giant had reached out and ripped away the veil of night.
The light of dawn shone out in all directions, covering everything. Then the chanting voice of the master of ceremonies echoed out, “The time of sacrifices has arrived!”
Outside of the Supreme Temple, everyone from the heavenly kings on high to the minor officials below dropped to their knees.
“Open the imperial planet!”
Magnificent bells tolled, creating a somber sound that echoed out everywhere. The light of dawn shone in the sky, while the destiny aura of humankind was like a swirling dragon, flying above the imperial capital and spitting out auspicious clouds. The images of all the famous sages of the past appeared in the canopy of heaven, and they bowed in the direction of the imperial palace. They weren’t bowing to the reigning emperor, but rather, to... Planet Ancient Emperor.
Planet Ancient Emperor glittered with bright light, and intense rumbling sounds echoed out from it. Then, it shockingly rose up into the air, growing larger and larger from the perspective of all the onlookers.
The mist that covered the surface of the planet then seethed, causing seven colors to be visible. In the form of a rainbow, it stretched toward the Supreme Temple. In the end, it actually connected directly to the temple! The seven-colored mist became a path. A bridge.
From his place in the Supreme Temple, the emperor stepped out onto the seven-colored mist bridge and started walking. The five princes followed 30 meters behind.
A profound look gleamed in King Firecrusher’s eyes as he walked forward. Along with all the other heavenly kings, he stepped onto the bridge. Xu Qing was among them, his expression solemn.
After them came the heavenly marquises and then all the other officials of varying ranks. Keeping organized into small groups about 30 meters apart from each other, they all slowly walked onto the bridge.
From a distance, it was possible to see a solemn group of thousands of humans, led by the emperor, walking closer and closer to Planet Ancient Emperor.
The commoners in the capital, as well as the many cultivators who didn’t qualify to go to the Supreme Temple, looked up at the magnificent scene.
Then the chanting voice of the master of ceremonies once again pierced the silence with the names of some of the people in the procession.
“King Firecrusher, King Skycrusher....”
As the group proceeded along the rainbow bridge, the names continued to ring out. Not all the heavenly kings were named, nor all the heavenly marquises. And it was the same with all the other officials.
After the ninety-ninth name was announced, the voice spoke no more names.
“Ladies and gentlemen, all those whose names were just mentioned are qualified to enter the imperial planet to personally bear witness to the ancestral sacrifices.”
As those words echoed out, the emperor reached the end of the bridge and, without so much as a pause, entered Planet Ancient Emperor. The five imperial princes followed him, and then all of the aristocracy and officials who had been called out by name.
Xu Qing was one of them. After he walked off of the bridge and onto Planet Ancient Emperor, the planet trembled and the surrounding mists seethed, making it just barely possible to spot a magnificent altar below. At the same time, the imperial capital’s grand spell formation activated and went into defensive mode.
Those who didn’t qualify to go to the planet waited worshipfully on the bridge. They were there to bear witness.
The altar on Planet Ancient Emperor was massive. As it rose up, it became clearer to see, until it was fully visible hovering in midair.
It became the Temple of Heaven![2]
The group of qualified participants appeared at the base of the Temple of Heaven.
Xu Qing instinctively looked around and thought, So this is... Planet Ancient Emperor.
What jumped out to him immediately was the incomparable power of destiny aura here, plus the imperial bloodline fluctuations. In addition, there was also a spectacular spirit energy. It would be hard for it to have been more intense. It became spirit streams that swept through Planet Ancient Emperor like magnificent spirit dragons.
There wasn’t time for Xu Qing to sit around studying things, as the ancestral sacrifices were already beginning.
The chanting voice once again rang out.
“The emperor shall don his armor.”
The ancestral sacrifices were a ceremony carried out by the emperor. As everyone watched, he walked forward, and as the sunlight shone down on him, he donned a rough hemp robe.
“Starting in ancient times, the emperors have accepted the orders of the immortals and ruled the cosmos. Therefore, when the emperor removes his crown and sheds his imperial shoes, it signifies a return to heaven and earth.”
The emperor closed his eyes and the imperial crown on his head flew off, and his shoes vanished. Streams of destiny swept toward him, which he received with open arms.
Thus, without any crown on his head or shoes on his feet, the emperor started walking forward.
“Light the incense of human destiny aura; allow the ancestors to observe and enjoy.”
The destiny aura in front of the emperor transformed into a large cauldron. Then three incense sticks appeared in the emperor’s hand, which he placed into the cauldron. The incense lit up and smoke rose into the air. Rumbling sounds caused the clouds to tremble. Lightning crashed.
And then, a host of illusory doors appeared. They hovered in the air almost as if they existed in a different dimension of time. Black smoke pulsed out of them, as if they contained strange and marvelous entities that, upon sensing the incense of destiny aura, they wanted to break out of the doors and turn into demons, devils, ghosts, and monsters.
Yet as the doors trembled, streams of even more terrifying energy rose up from Planet Ancient Emperor beneath the Temple of Heaven. They were extremely domineering as they swirled through the area. Pressure weighed down, like that of an entire sea, and it was just possible to hear indistinct chanting. The shocking chanting caused all heaven and earth to tremble. The Temple of Heaven was an exception as everything else in the area, including the illusory doors, was shattered by the chanting, transforming into a spirit rain that fell down onto the planet.
To Xu Qing, who had never witnessed a ceremony like this before, it was astonishing.
After lighting the incense, the emperor continued on his way up the stairs toward the tallest part of the Temple of Heaven. Behind him, Ningyan and the other imperial princes all had rough hemp robes made from destiny aura. They also had taken off their headgear and shoes. They stepped onto the Temple of Heaven.
1. What I’m rendering as Supreme Temple bears the same name as a real-life location usually translated as Imperial Ancestral Temple. The reason I don’t want to render it as Imperial Ancestral Temple is that it doesn’t contain the word ‘imperial’ or ‘ancestral’ in Chinese. Functionally speaking, its English version describes perfectly what it does. But to maintain some translation accuracy, I’m calling it by a more direct version that corresponds to what it actually is in Chinese. ☜
2. The Temple of Heaven here bears the same name as the real-life historical Temple of Heaven, which is where the emperors of the time would go to offer sacrifices. You’ve probably seen pictures of the round temple building (I shared one a few hundred chapters ago). In reality, that building is only one part of the larger Temple of Heaven complex, which features a number of different buildings, altars, etc.Here’s the wiki for more info if you’re interested. Based on the descriptions in the story, I don’t think it’s supposed to be the actual same building or set of buildings as the real-life version. ☜