The two vermilion-painted wooden doors of the Goddess Temple’s main hall swung open without a sound, as though pushed by a pair of invisible hands.
The warm sunlight of early morning streamed through the gap, yet it did nothing to dispel the bone-chilling cold within the hall.
Shen Yu’s forehead was pressed against the floor. All he could see was a patch of blue brick no larger than a few inches, until a wisp of smoky violet suddenly entered the corner of his vision.
It was a hem.
The hem slowly swept past him, its gauzy smoky-violet fabric like the fading evening mist scattered across the horizon. Layer upon layer, it spread over the polished blue bricks, which gleamed like mirrors. Embroidered across the fabric was an image of the Big Dipper, its stars glimmering with a fine, flowing light.
He held his breath, not daring to move even a fingertip.
The temperature inside the hall continued to drop.
Amid the deathly silence, the Goddess walked out of the main hall.
She stood atop the steps before the Goddess Temple. Morning light slanted through the upturned eaves to the east, landing upon Her at just the right angle and cloaking Her in a gentle halo.
Below the steps stood a dense crowd.
“Please quell Your anger, Divine Lady.”
From the hall to the courtyard outside, everyone lay prostrate on the ground. No one dared lift their head and face the wrath of a deity.
There was no expression on the Goddess’s face, and neither joy nor anger could be discerned from Her features. She looked down upon the trembling mass of people before Her.
“All of you, retreat,” She ordered.
Although the crowd did not quite understand, the Divine Lady had spoken, and surely She had Her reasons.
Before long, everyone had retreated to a point one hundred zhang away from the Goddess Temple.
Just as the people began wondering whether the Goddess would vent Her anger upon all mortals because of the Yong Dynasty emperor’s attempt to seek Her hand in marriage, a dazzling golden light suddenly erupted above the Goddess Temple.
The radiance condensed into solid form almost in an instant. A ten-zhang-tall dharma manifestation appeared out of thin air.
Its brows and eyes were lowered, and its face was identical to that of the Goddess, carrying the characteristic indifference and aloofness of a divine being.
The manifestation was translucent as glazed crystal from head to toe. Its white-gold robes moved without any wind, while countless streams of light flowed through their folds.
“To profane a deity is an unforgivable sin.”
As those words fell, the golden manifestation slowly raised its right arm. The heavens and earth suddenly changed color, and violent winds began to howl.
An indescribable pressure descended from above.
The people were terrified by the sudden turn of events. Some of the more timid ones even began to sob quietly.
“Please quell Your anger, Divine Lady…”
They had no idea how to calm a deity, so they could only continue kowtowing.
[Shen Yu’s shock points +100]
[Shen Jue’s shock points +100]
[Pei Wanning’s shock points +100]
[…]
[Current shock points: 75,660,000]
“Host, I’ve already locked onto the targets. Now! Open the portal!” Little Fox urged.
Upon hearing this, Yun Shu did not hesitate for even a moment. She immediately activated the Return Path Formation, one of the formation components of the Mirror of Retrospection.
In the next instant, a portal wreathed in purple wisteria appeared in midair. Through it, another world could be seen faintly.
This portal could transport multiple people at once, but only if those people willingly stepped through it.
Therefore, she could only use the Manifestation of Heaven and Earth Bracelet, one of the components of the Sword Soaring Nine Heavens set, to summon the dharma manifestation. She would then have the system lock onto the boy emperor and the others, who were far beyond Zhenbei Prefecture, and control the manifestation to reach through the portal created by the Return Path Formation and seize them all.
She and the system had spent half a day tinkering with this plan in advance before finally working out this seamless little combo.
Now was the perfect time to put on a show.
Everyone saw the golden dharma manifestation slowly extend its right hand into the purple-wisteria portal floating in midair.
The enormous palm, white and lustrous as jade, gradually disappeared into the purple mist. First the knuckles, then the fingertips, followed by the palm and wrist, and finally the forearm vanished beyond the other side of the portal.
The instant the giant hand entered, the portal began to tremble violently, and clusters of purple wisteria shook loose and fell.
Petals drifted down from the sky.
It was as though the heavens were about to be filled with purple rain.
Everyone tilted their heads back, their breaths caught in their throats.
Though they had witnessed the Goddess cast spells more than once, the sight before them still left them utterly stunned.
The Divine Lady truly possessed power that reached to the heavens!
At the same time, a thousand li away…
At the border between Zhenbei Prefecture and Wuyuan Prefecture, the marriage-proposal procession was traveling along a gentle slope.
The boy emperor’s imperial carriage led the procession. Its bright-yellow silk curtains billowed in the wind, while four snow-white imperial horses marched in perfect unison, the bells around their necks chiming crisply.
The grand procession stretched for half a li.
Banners fluttered, and the ceremonial guard was arrayed in full splendor.
“General Wang, how much longer until we reach Xindu City?” the boy emperor asked, lifting the carriage curtain to look at the man riding outside.
All along the journey, his heart had been pounding. He wanted to arrive in Xindu City as soon as possible, yet at the same time, he did not want to arrive there too soon.
He was truly afraid that the Divine Lady would bring down divine punishment upon him without even giving him a chance to explain.
General Wang glanced at the boy emperor. “Your Majesty, we’ve only just entered the territory of Zhenbei Prefecture. It will take at least another seven days to reach Xindu City. There’s no use fretting.”
The boy emperor was about to say something else when a hurricane suddenly whipped up from every direction, tossing the procession into disarray.
“What… what’s happening?!”
“Why did such a powerful wind suddenly rise?”
Shouts and cries of confusion erupted as the sky darkened somewhat.
Without anyone noticing, a shadow gradually swept across the heads of the people below. They looked up once, then lowered their heads again, assuming that clouds had blocked out the sun.
But little by little, the shadow grew larger.
It seemed as though something was slowly descending from the heavens, swallowing the sunlight bit by bit until it completely blotted it out.
When everyone looked up again, their pupils contracted.
It was not a cloud at all!
It was a palm.
Its five fingers were spread wide, white and lustrous as jade, with lines as distinct as the contours of mountains and rivers. A faint radiance shimmered at the fingertips.
It was unimaginably huge.
The palm alone was enough to cover half the sky.
Sunlight streamed through the gaps between the fingers in narrow beams, casting alternating patches of brightness and shadow across the ground. The sight was magnificent—and intensely oppressive.
“A divine… divine miracle…” General Wang stared wide-eyed. The reins slipped from his hand, yet he remained completely unaware.
The boy emperor saw the enormous hand as well. Without realizing it, he opened his mouth slightly. His hands, resting on his knees, clenched tighter and tighter, while the approaching giant hand was reflected in his pupils.
No one had time to make a sound.
The five fingers of the giant hand suddenly curled inward and closed in a gentle grasp.
In the next instant, the entire marriage-proposal procession—including the people, carriages, and horses—was seized by that enormous hand.
The official road fell empty in an instant, leaving behind only crushed vegetation and a flock of startled birds scattering into the sky.
When the boy emperor opened his eyes again, he had already been tossed onto the blue-stone pavement before the Goddess Temple.
Using all four limbs, the boy emperor crawled out from the pile of people. His knee struck the brick, and he sucked in a sharp breath from the pain.
He raised his head and saw the towering temple gates. Above them hung a gilded plaque bearing the words “Goddess Temple.”
And three feet away, just outside the entrance…
A figure in smoky violet stood in silence.
She looked down at him.
Her pupils were pitch-black, calm and utterly still, deep as an ancient well whose bottom could never be seen.
The boy emperor was completely dumbfounded.
This… wasn’t She the Sea Goddess?
