lcionline Chapter 334 The Festival Begins
Chapter 334 The Festival Begins
The morning light penetrated the carved window lattices, casting tiny spots of light on the golden brick floor of the bedroom.
Zhou Li stood in front of a full-length bronze mirror, and six maids in goose yellow gauze skirts were busy surrounding him.
The maid holding the gilded basin was kneeling closest to him. The snow-capped water from the Tianshan Mountains in the basin was emitting wisps of white mist, which made the wrinkles at the corners of the emperor's eyes even deeper.
"Your Majesty, please clean your face."
Zhou Li tilted his head slightly, a warm face towel covered his face, and steam with the fragrance of snow lotus seeped into his pores.
The calming runes embroidered on the handkerchief glowed faintly, but could not dispel the accumulated fatigue between his brows.
The three-hundred-year-old Duanchen, a peak-level cultivator, should have been as tall and straight as a young man, but the temples of the man in the mirror were already gray - this was the price he paid for forcibly deducing the nation's destiny ten years ago.
"cough..."
He suddenly covered his lips and coughed lightly, and the maid holding the spittoon beside him immediately came forward.
Zhou Li waved his hand, glanced at the few spots of scarlet on the lining of his cuffs, and calmly rolled up the edge of his sleeves.
"Your Majesty, would you like to use the dragon-patterned jade belt today?"
The palace maid holding the gilded tray knelt and took half a step forward.
In the center of the jade belt lying on the tray, a deep-sea pearl the size of a longan was emitting a faint blue halo.
Zhou Li's eyes swept over the natural coiled dragon pattern on the surface of the pearl, and he suddenly remembered that when the late emperor tied the jade belt for him with his own hands thirty years ago, the pearl was still as white as snow.
The bronze mirror beside her reflected Empress Dowager Li who was dressing herself.
The gold chain hanging from the emerald hairpin swayed gently at her temples, hiding the new white hair in the interweaving of light and shadow.
She suddenly held down her hair and looked at the emperor in the mirror:
"Xuan'er sent a message the day before yesterday, saying that he found a great tonic that can help you break through..."
Zhou Li raised his arms and let the palace maid put the black imperial robe with twelve chapter patterns on his shoulders.
Then he silently opened his arms and let the maid tie the jade belt on him.
The waist belt made of black iron is engraved with mountain and river patterns, but it feels as light as a feather in the hand - it is made by melting the tail feathers of the Nine-Sky Mysterious Bird.
When his fingers stroked the dragon-shaped groove in the center of the waist seal, he recalled the scene twenty years ago when he personally handed the imperial seal to Tianxuan to play with.
The sun, moon and stars embroidered with gold thread on his body made his shoulders feel heavy - just like the mountains and rivers that had been pressing on his back for the past thirty years.
"Where is Hao'er?" The emperor suddenly spoke, his voice like worn bronze.
Empress Dowager Li paused while squeezing Luo Zidai's hand. "Tianhao sent a message the day before yesterday, saying he had reached the threshold of breaking the dust. I don't know if he can come today. This child has a slow temperament, but he is very steady in his cultivation."
Her eyebrow-drawing movements suddenly became hurried. "Are you really going to announce it today? Xuan'er's temper..."
The sound of ritual music chimes came from outside the window.
Zhou Li looked at the towering altar outside the palace wall. The wind-mocking beast squatting on the corner of the nine-story eaves was being gilded by the morning sun.
He suddenly remembered the strange sight he saw last night while stargazing - the bloody evil spirit next to the Purple Star. He still felt a palpitation when thinking about it now.
"The thunder tribulation of the Mahayana period..."
The emperor's calloused thumb brushed across the pearl, and the blue light dimmed for a moment. "I can't afford the gamble."
After finishing her makeup, Empress Dowager Li turned around, and the oriental pearls on her phoenix crown suddenly emitted a dazzling light.
Zhou Li narrowed his eyes and vaguely saw the girl who had guarded the city for him for three days and nights with a sword in hand thirty years ago.
Her back was still straight beneath her gorgeous clothes, but when she stood up from the table, her knuckles turned white from the exertion.
"Let's go."
When the emperor turned around, the jade beads on the twelve-tasseled crown clashed with each other, covering the worry in his eyes, "The ceremony is about to begin."
"Start driving——"
The eunuch's sharp call pierced the morning mist.
The palace gates opened one after another, revealing a corridor covered with red carpet.
Zhou Li took a final look at the only remaining warmth in the deep palace behind him...
........................
The morning mist has not yet dissipated, and the outline of Mount Dazhou is faintly visible in the mist.
Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine jade steps wind their way up from the foot of the mountain, each one engraved with inscriptions of the achievements of emperors of past dynasties.
Zhou Li stood with his hands behind his back, the golden threads on his black dragon robe gleaming in the morning sun.
The pearl curtain hanging from the twelve-tassel jade crown swayed slightly, hiding the fluctuation in his eyes when he looked at his ministers.
At the foot of the mountain, civil officials and military generals knelt on both sides like a black and white tide.
On the left, Prime Minister Zhao Mingde held a scroll of bamboo slips in his hands, and a sandalwood hairpin given by the previous emperor was pinned to his gray hair.
Although the national defender General Tie Zhan on the right was kneeling straight, his hunched back under the armor was no longer as straight as it was when he galloped across the battlefield.
"Your Majesty..." Empress Dowager Li called softly, and pointed to the distance inconspicuously with her gilded armor.
The common people were crawling like ants a hundred feet away, the patches on their coarse clothes forming a gray ocean.
A few children secretly looked up and were immediately pushed back to the ground by their parents.
"The prince has arrived——"
The shrill singing voice came from far away and got closer. The guards along the way knelt down one after another.
Zhou Tianhao strode up the red carpet, his bright yellow dress rustling in the mountain breeze.
The golden sword hanging at his waist swayed gently with his steps, and the words "Chengtian" on the scabbard appeared and disappeared from time to time - this was the sword worn by the princes of all generations, but it seemed particularly heavy in his hand.
"Your son pays homage to his father, the emperor, and his mother, the queen."
As Zhou Tianhao knelt down to salute, beads of sweat oozed from his forehead.
He tossed and turned last night and there was a faint dark circles under his eyes.
Just because my father sent someone to tell me to prepare to ascend the throne, I didn't expect that after so many years, I would finally succeed.
When he stood up, he subconsciously touched the jade pendant on his waist - it was given by his father on his 20th birthday, and it was engraved with four small words "Virtue carries all things".
The mountain wind suddenly blew up, blowing up fallen leaves all over the ground.
Zhou Li raised his hand to brush a dead leaf off the prince's shoulder. When his fingertips touched his son's thin formal attire, he paused slightly. "Why are you wearing so little?"
"Your Majesty, I..." Before Zhou Tianhao could finish his words, there was a sudden commotion in the distance.
"The second prince has arrived——"
The eunuch's voice suddenly rose.
I saw a team of silver-armored cavalrymen coming like a black tide. The young man in the lead was wearing a dark blue brocade robe, and the dragon-blood horse under his crotch was galloping with its hooves full of wind.
Zhou Tianxuan reined in his horse and jumped off from ten feet away. The crystal longbow hanging on his waist flashed a cold light as he turned around.
"Father, I am late."
He knelt on one knee, and when he looked up, a smile played on his lips, but his eyes were cold. "I prepared a great gift for my father, and it delayed me for a while."
Zhou Li's gaze moved between the two brothers and finally landed on the huge bronze tripod on top of the altar on the mountain top.
The incense ash in the cauldron has been accumulating for thirty years, and today it is finally about to welcome a new fire.