“The Goddess’s… the Divine Lady’s abode?”
Shen Ying froze for a moment. When she turned back to look at the jeweled palace rising over the sea, the curiosity in her eyes slowly transformed into reverence.
She had not seen the Goddess many times.
At first, she had never understood why so many people worshiped the Divine Lady with near-mad devotion.
That was until she had lived in Xindu City for a while. Everywhere she went, she heard people speaking of the Divine Lady’s deeds: bestowing divine seeds upon the people so they would never again face famine, giving them cotton so they could withstand the winter cold, establishing academies so they could learn to read and write…
More than that, tens of millions of people across the six northern prefectures had been able to live in peace, work in contentment, and raise their families under the Goddess’s protection.
How could mortals not revere a Goddess who cared for all living things so deeply? How could they not throw themselves into battle and shed their blood for Her, regarding Her as the sole faith of their lives and never betraying Her?
“Second Brother, are we going to pay our respects to the Divine Lady?” Shen Ying asked, her voice unconsciously softening, as though afraid that even the slightest sound might disturb something sacred.
Fang Shuo also looked at Shen Yu. “Mr. Shen, if we’re going to pay our respects to the Divine Lady, shouldn’t we bring a gift?”
Everyone fell silent, and no one could be bothered to answer him.
Fang Shuo awkwardly scratched his head. Realizing that speaking too much would only expose his lack of intelligence, he hurriedly shut his mouth and quietly retreated to a corner, doing his best to minimize his presence.
Shen Yu pondered for a moment before looking once more at the magnificent palace over the sea.
“The Divine Lady’s power reaches through heaven itself. With a single glance, She can see through all that has happened and all that will happen beneath the sky. If the Divine Lady wishes to see us, She will appear of Her own accord. Since She has not appeared, that means She does not wish to meet us. If we rashly go ashore to pay our respects, we may only turn a good intention into a blunder and incur Her displeasure.”
With that, he bowed deeply toward the distant temple.
The others hurriedly bent at the waist and followed his example.
When she straightened, Fan Miaozhen could not help taking another look at the jeweled palace on the sea. Her eyes held complicated emotions.
That year, the Northern Frontier Army had successively taken three cities in Liaodong Prefecture. The Fan family had already prepared to defend Xianghuan City to the death. Yet in the end, the city gates had still been breached by the Northern Frontier Army, and they had all assumed that their stubborn resistance would earn them public execution.
But it did not.
Not only had the Northern Frontier Army spared the Fan family, they had treated them with courtesy and allowed them to continue their river-transport business.
At first, everyone had thought it was merely a fox pretending kindness to a hen. But when they saw that, with the Northern Frontier Army’s assistance, the common people had gained farmland and livelihoods of their own, the streets and alleys had become clean and orderly, and schools had sprung up one after another, they finally understood that their thinking had been too narrow.
The Northern Frontier Army had invaded Liaodong Prefecture not for personal ambition, but to give the people a world of peace.
Although Fan Miaozhen had never met the Goddess, she understood that one could infer the whole from a single detail.
The Northern Frontier Army was invincible in a hundred battles, and the faith it inspired in its soldiers was unshakable. From this alone, one could imagine what a magnificent existence the Goddess must be.
If fate allowed her to see the Goddess even once, it would be the honor of three lifetimes.
Perhaps Heaven had heard her prayer.
A refreshing, heart-soothing fragrance suddenly drifted across the sea.
Then, rosy clouds filled the heavens. Crimson, orange, gold, and violet layered over one another, dyeing both the vast sky and the boundless ocean with holy radiance.
At the place where the glow was thickest, the doors of the central tower in the grand temple slowly opened.
At first, a dazzling white light poured from within, forcing everyone to close their eyes. Then, little by little, the brilliance receded.
The Goddess emerged from the light, holding a golden-jade pipa. With the tips of Her feet lightly touching the empty air, She walked toward them upon a path of ten-thousand-zhang rainbow clouds.
A nine-colored lotus throne gathered beneath Her feet.
The lotus throne was made from no ordinary material. It had been painstakingly ground from lapis lazuli and cinnabar, its surface smooth as congealed cream and clear as crystal. Phantom lotus blossoms encircled it, accompanied by the auspicious radiance of nine-colored deer.
She wore celestial robes in the style of the flying apsaras of Dunhuang. A blue-green shawl draped over Her shoulders, while vermilion ribbons hung down on either side of Her wide sleeves. Pearls and jade ornaments coiled around Her body, lending Her an air of magnificent, ethereal splendor.
Two long silks, one scarlet and one emerald, trailed from Her arms to the ground. Small golden bells at their ends swayed gently with Her steps, their ringing like the chanting of Buddhist hymns.
A lotus flower had been painted at Her brow with cinnabar and gold powder. Buddhist light flowed through it, lending solemnity to Her compassionate bearing.
Behind Her, three layers of radiant halos appeared in succession.
Golden light, silver brilliance, and violet qi interwove in dazzling harmony.
[Shen Ying’s shock value +100]
[Lu Sui’s shock value +100]
[Fan Miaozhen’s shock value +100]
[…]
[Current shock value: 68,880,000]
By the time everyone recovered from their shock, they had all fallen to their knees without exception.
It was the instinctive submission of mortals before a divine being whose pressure shook the heavens.
“Greetings, Divine Lady!”
The Goddess stood quietly upon the nine-colored lotus throne, suspended between sea and sky. Her bearing was solemn and majestic; behind Her stretched a firmament filled with rosy clouds, while beneath Her feet rolled ten thousand miles of blue waves. She stood apart from the mortal world, untouched by it.
Her eyes, reflecting the sun, moon, and stars, slowly lowered. Through the boundless sea mist, Her gaze fell upon Shen Yu, Shen Ying, Fan Miaozhen, Lu Sui, Fang Shuo, and every person aboard the ship who was looking up at Her.
Though She was so far away, every person on the ship felt the same thing.
She was looking at them.
Upon the nine-colored lotus throne, the Goddess parted Her vermilion lips. Her voice was like shattered jade falling onto an ice platter, every word carrying a distant, ethereal echo.
“To meet is to share a predestined bond. Since Heaven has arranged this, I shall follow Heaven’s will and see you on your way.”
Everyone was stunned at first. Then they exchanged bewildered glances.
Lu Sui turned toward Shen Yu and asked in a low voice, “Does the Divine Lady mean to send us to Wuling Prefecture?”
Shen Yu lowered his eyes and thought for a moment. “Perhaps the situation in Wuling Prefecture is more serious than we imagined.”
“Mr. Shen… may I…”
Fang Shuo had been about to ask whether he could avoid going to Wuling Prefecture, but when he met Shen Yu’s gaze, he immediately changed his words.
“I mean, may I help with something?”
The moment he finished speaking, the clouds and rosy light filling the sky began to churn.
The Goddess lowered Her eyes and lightly brushed the strings of the golden-jade pipa.
At that instant, the world seemed to lose its voice.
The sound of a single string was no ordinary pipa melody. It was a clear note formed from the chanting of ten thousand Buddhist hymns.
Tiny Sanskrit characters leaped from the strings, transforming into golden ripples visible to the naked eye. They spread outward in ring after ring.
The fragrance of sandalwood and lotus blossoms filled the air.
The sea wind suddenly stilled. The waves froze in midair, and every suspended droplet reflected seven-colored radiance.
Everyone aboard the ship felt the world spin around them.
In the next moment, the vessel was lifted by an invisible force and shot straight into the brightest place on the horizon, carrying both ship and passengers into the rosy light.
When they opened their eyes again, the ship had entered an entirely different realm.
Fang Shuo could not help crying out.
“Quick, look above us!”
At his words, everyone raised their heads.
Then they saw that all four walls were covered in endless murals of flying apsaras. They stretched into infinity, filled with countless bodhisattvas and musicians, lotus blossoms, and layers upon layers of auspicious clouds.
Under their transfixed gazes, the murals seemed to come alive. Their ribbons fluttered in the air.
Some figures held konghou harps. Others scattered flower petals, smiling down at these tiny mortals.
