The capital city was held in Dark Serenity’s hands, roughly at his chest level. At the spot closest to the statue itself was a huge public square paved with limestone slabs, which could accommodate a million people. Ninety-nine stairs led from the square to an altar that had a total of nine hundred and ninety-nine enormous columns carved to resemble dragons.4

Only a few hundred thousand people had been permitted to gather below the altar. Among them were swordsages, cultivators from the Administration and Justice Palaces, and county officials. Their robes and uniforms were all in perfect order, but their expressions were those of grief. All of them held black flowers.1

The arrival of Xu Qing and Kong Xianglong attracted some attention. People looked over at them with sorrow, conflict, and reminiscence....6

They went to the assembled swordsages, who parted to make a path leading to the front of the formation. Xu Qing stopped walking, but Kong Xianglong, his face expressionless, went to the very front, where he bowed his head and stood there unmoving. Xu Qing stayed behind with the Captain. The Captain clasped Xu Qing’s shoulder, and the two of them stood there solemnly.3

Everything was quiet. Grief built up in the hundreds of thousands of cultivators, spreading to fill the city, the three palaces, and eventually, all of Sea-Sealing County.0

The clouds in the dome of heaven...10