Seven days ago, when Zhao Changhe carried a severed head onto the sacrificial altar, taking the qi veins of this mountain as his own and shifting the qi veins of the entire Grasslands in his favor, he had, in essence, already achieved the symbolic act of “sealing Langjuxu.”0

But official matters required an official manner of conduct. There had to be a grand ceremony, complete with formal rites, rewards for the troops, admonitions and arrangements for the various factions… At the very least, there needed to be towering red candles burning before the altar.0

The ceremony was presided over by the supreme commander of the three armies, Huangfu Qing, and King Zhao, and they both solemnly performed the rites to honor heaven and earth.0

Soldiers and civilians from both the Hu and Han factions watched in confusion. This ceremony was not quite what they had imagined…0

Why are they bowing to each other?0

It’s one thing for them to be bowing toward General Huangfu, but why is Old Sun from the Blood God Cult seated there as well? This seems a bit odd…0

Speaking of which, wasn’t this same Old Sun present at the Cui Clan’s event as well? He always seemed to conveniently appear at every major occasion. Could it be that this was his greatest contribution in coming north?0

As for the Tome of Troubled Times, whether intentionally or not, it referred to the Black Tortoise’s achievements simply as Black Tortoise’s, but when it came to the Vermillion Bird, it did not use the customary name. Instead, it explicitly named her as Huangfu Qing. Although everyone knew it meant the same thing, there was still a difference between saying it outright and leaving it implied. After all, Huangfu Qing was the empress dowager. The fact that she had personally led an army into battle as the supreme commander was already a shocking enough development. That was why there had been a need to cloak her actions under her identity as Venerable Vermillion Bird. But if the empress dowager was now performing a bowing ritual with someone else, one could...0