While the steward and the Redemption City Lord waited with barely contained hope, Yanzao — once a lowly informant not worth a second glance — arrived bearing news that set their hearts alight.
Her ladyship would grant them an audience.
The Redemption City Lord immediately changed into his most formal and elaborate attire, brought his wife along, and with the steward and his personal guard captain in tow, made his way discreetly to the luxurious airship.
In the grand cabin, he knelt in reverence to give thanks for the divine grace. The audience was conducted through a curtain — no chance to kiss the divine feet as a show of devotion — but even this was honor beyond measure. The steward and guard captain at his side didn’t dare lift their heads at all, terrified of the faintest discourtesy giving offense.
Once invited to sit, the Redemption City Lord refused three times before finally, with visible emotion, perching on the edge of the offered seat — barely half his weight on the cushion, spine rigidly straight, utterly terrified of letting himself relax into a posture that might seem presumptuous.
That went for the ones standing behind him as well. The steward and guard captain were shaking from the strain of holding themselves together. Without enormous effort, they would have disgraced themselves on the spot.
“The City Lady has steadied this territory alongside the City Lord, a person of virtue and wise governance. Please, be seated.” Luohua’s presence filled the space entirely — that inborn nobility and grace of hers, impossible to imitate or replicate, made even her most casual words feel like a warm breeze washing over everyone present.
“This lowly servant is moved to tears…” The City Lady quickly dabbed at her eyes, bowed her thanks, and seated herself beside the City Lord — though slightly behind him, as a gesture of wifely deference.
“Today, I’ve only invited the City Lord and his Lady because we happened to be passing through — this was not a special visit. You need only be aware of that — there is no need to disturb the people over it.” Luohua asked a few passing questions about Redemption City and the surrounding region, then offered them each a cup of wine as a gift. It was Rare Orchid vintage, decanted into a goblet that Yueyang had refined with rune-work — the finest wine finds its fullest expression in the finest vessel, and this already exceptional Rare Orchid, framed in a cup shimmering with Heavenly Realm rune inlays, had become something that seemed to belong to another realm entirely, set wholly apart from anything of the mortal world.
The Redemption City Lord had never laid eyes on a cup of such magnificent craftsmanship in his entire life. He lifted it with trembling hands, almost unable to bring himself to drink from it, terrified he would somehow disgrace himself in the act.
“Since the City Lord is taken with this cup, consider it a gift — something to drink from.” Luohua raised her own cup from across the room, letting her lips brush the rim in the faintest suggestion of a sip.
The Redemption City Lord hastened to prostrate himself in gratitude.
By the time he rose, she had already vanished like a breath of fragrance — gone without a trace.
No one present found her departure anything less than entirely natural. With a standing as exalted as hers, granting a seat and a cup of wine had already been a gesture of extraordinary face. What upper-echelon figure sat around chatting with common folk? That simply wasn’t how things worked.
The only thing that left City Lord Qianhu faintly disappointed was that the distinguished ladyship had not assigned him any task.
She didn’t seem to trust his loyalty yet.
Didn’t seem to regard his capabilities as worth employing.
Luohua had long since retreated into the Grimoire World to rest, yet the Redemption City Lord remained on the ground for a considerable time afterward — and even then, only rose because Yueyang offered a hand. Left to himself, he would have stayed kneeling longer, wishing to demonstrate his devotion further. Yueyang invited the City Lord to drink the wine, but the man could barely bring himself to do more than touch it to his lips, all while declaring through steadily flowing tears that this was the greatest honor of his life, that he was overcome with emotion beyond words, and so on.
Yueyang, who had never been particularly innocent, and who had picked up considerable artistry in manipulation from both Jun Wuyou and the Old Fox, found pulling a Redemption City Lord effortlessly over completely and utterly his own — as natural as breathing. If he couldn’t work this man into a completely pliant state, he didn’t deserve the title.
After their warm exchange, the Redemption City Lord, unable to contain his eagerness, asked whether there was anything at all in which he might render service.
Yueyang appeared to consider this.
That single gesture sent the City Lord’s heart shooting into the upper atmosphere.
We’re done for. No luck after all. A person with limitless power — why would they look twice at a minor city lord? Most critically, Redemption City was Central Divine Temple-designated. The connection was in name only, but it was there — even wanting to use him, they’d have to worry about where his loyalties lay.
He was just steeling himself to declare his willingness to die in service when — without warning — a golden balance scale appeared before the assembled group.
The Redemption City Lord had seen the black scales before, and knew those could judge good and evil. But this golden balance scale — different in every way, in appearance and in the level of energy it radiated — what was its purpose?
Not something he could ask. He maintained a posture of complete deference and waited in silence.
He watched as Yueyang produced the black Scales of Good and Evil and placed them on one side of the golden balance, then leaned forward and made a few small adjustments to the golden scale. The golden balance remained perfectly level — not the slightest difference registered.
But the atmosphere in the room had gone wire-taut.
The steward’s back was soaked through with sweat.
A bead of perspiration raced down from the guard captain’s hairline. The Redemption City Lord had never in his life worked so hard at controlling his own heart, repeating silent oaths of loyalty and willingness to die in his mind, terrified that this mysterious golden scale was a device for measuring what lay in a man’s heart.
“Please forgive us, City Lord — because the Central Divine Temple operates as its own closed system, if those under its authority are involved, we face certain difficulties in entrusting tasks.” With those words from Yueyang, the Redemption City Lord understood with a flash of clarity. The golden balance was a device for detecting whether anyone in his group was a Central Divine Temple plant. And the fact that it remained perfectly balanced meant that no one in his party had any connection to the Temple at all. One side held an artifact belonging to Central Divine Temple personnel. The other held his group. The golden scale kept them perfectly and clearly separate.
If that balance had tipped — he probably would never have made it home alive.
The thought nearly stopped his heart cold.
If the scale had detected a Central Divine Temple spy in his own ranks, whether he got to walk out of here at all would have been very much in question.
“Whatever you command, Qianhu is ready to die for it.” The Redemption City Lord wiped away cold sweat and declared his position immediately. This was the moment — not pledging loyalty and accepting a task right now would be nothing short of stupidity.
“It is like this,” Yueyang began, in a measured tone. “The City Lord may already be aware of certain details surrounding the Divine Punishment Platform. Various channels have been circulating highly classified information — some of it true, some of it false. But none of that matters. What we need is simply to maintain the Divine Punishment Platform as it stands, to ensure that this place, which has existed since the ancient times, is not subjected to any manner of senseless destruction. Protecting the Divine Punishment Platform is, after all, the responsibility the City Lord’s appointment was meant to fulfill.”
Yueyang offered only this brief explanation, but the Redemption City Lord was sharp enough — he understood at once. His task was to protect the Divine Punishment Platform. To prevent the execution from proceeding.
“Qianhu accepts the order.” The Redemption City Lord dropped to his knees.
Whether he could actually succeed or not was a secondary matter.
He had to accept.
When upper-echelon figures were in conversation, not even Tantai Tumie himself — let alone Tiangui or Tianyao — would have a place to speak. Naturally, the right people would step in when the moment came.
His role was to help with the small things. He wasn’t yet sure exactly what — but the Redemption City Lord was confident that if he stepped forward and played his part, his rise to wealth and prominence was only a matter of time.
As the appointed City Lord of this location, he was privy to the knowledge that ancient runes were sealed beneath the Divine Punishment Platform.
He also understood perfectly well that the Tairen King’s execution was a blood sacrifice ritual designed to break those seals.
He had simply been playing dumb and pretending otherwise.
Now that a divine being had descended to stop this — he didn’t care who was right or wrong, who would win or lose. Aligning himself with any side in this conflict was itself the victory. Staying neutral, caught between them with no allegiance — that was the path to a very ugly death.
He had previously considered attaching himself to the Central Divine Temple — but Yumu had clearly shown no interest in recommending him upward. And watching Yumu be humiliated so publicly had done nothing for Yumu’s standing, meaning the man was almost certainly nursing a private grudge. If he didn’t get in ahead of this and commit himself to the divine side, his tenure as City Lord was probably coming to an end anyway — and he might well end up as someone’s convenient scapegoat. A designated sacrifice the Central Divine Temple could offer up to soothe collective anger. A pitiful pawn discarded without a second thought.
Given all of that — how could the Redemption City Lord not fight for his own life and future with everything he had?
A wise bird chooses its tree.
Miss an opportunity like this, and he would regret it to his dying day.
Yueyang gestured for the City Lord and the others to sit, and smiled. “City Lord, there’s no need to rush. Even without any action on our part, Warden Tantai will find it impossible to open the Divine Punishment Platform and uncover the secret of the ancient runes. Because — as only those who know the truth understand — beneath the Platform, three ancient runes have formed a unified whole. Unless one is a true god, no force Tantai Tumie could ever bring to bear would so much as shake them.”
The Redemption City Lord was puzzled. Then what exactly did he need to do?
But the steward had already caught on and immediately deployed the full force of his talent for dramatic expression — tears flowing as he knelt and bowed: “The divine shows compassion for the living world, taking pity on the people of Redemption City, unwilling to stand by as the Warden uses a blood sacrifice to open the Divine Punishment Platform and bring destruction upon living beings. This lowly one is truly—”
The realization struck the Redemption City Lord like a thunderclap.
He had grown stupid from sitting in his city lord’s chair for too long. He couldn’t even match his own steward.
This was never really about whether anyone could get hold of the ancient runes. Tantai Tumie certainly couldn’t — but that wasn’t the point of stopping him. The point was to prevent Tantai Tumie — or more accurately, to prevent the Central Divine Temple — from knowing that three ancient runes with origins stretching back to the beginning of time were sealed beneath the Divine Punishment Platform. That was why a divine being had descended here. That was why the interference. That was why the truth had to stay buried in the earth. The Central Divine Temple had likely caught wind of something — Tantai Tumie was using the Tairen King’s execution as a probe — but the divine faction didn’t want the truth to get out, didn’t want the entire Southern Heavenly Realm thrown into an uproar with cultivators swarming in from all directions, giving the Divine Punishment Platform no peace forever after.
“City Lord Qianhu — I need to meet with the Tairen Queen. Find a way to arrange it.”
“At once.” The Redemption City Lord’s face went immediately and completely serious.
Though the young man hadn’t yet used his name alone without the title, this was already a significant step closer. City Lord Qianhu already felt more intimate than the formal City Lord or My Lord of before — one more step, drop the City Lord entirely, and he would truly be within the fold. With a task like this, with an opportunity like this, even a fool would know to climb the pole while it was in reach — and Qianhu was anything but a fool.
Yueyang gave the Redemption City Lord an approving pat on the shoulder. “Handle this well — do it right. And it isn’t only my lady’s eyes on this matter. Behind her, there are many more watching. Sometimes, a word from someone below is all it takes — so act with confidence.”
Qianhu was genuinely moved this time.
With that much backing, what did he have to fear? Tears sprang to his eyes without effort: “Qianhu would die ten thousand times and still not repay this great kindness!”
One day later, Qianhu leveraged his extensive network of secret connections and quietly located the Tairen Queen where she had been hiding. He brought her before Yueyang — and then heard Yueyang say something that nearly floored him entirely.
“Your Majesty, I have already met with the Tairen King. But he has resolved to die and refuses to come out with me. Is there anything you can say that might change his mind?”
The Tairen King could be rescued at any time?
Then what was all the Central Divine Temple’s tight security even worth? The one guarding him was Tiangui — Tantai Tumie’s most feared subordinate!
Never mind. Things that exceeded his comprehension were better left alone. Staying quietly in his lane as a minor figure was the safest path. Thinking too hard about matters like these was a guaranteed route to madness.
Though now that he thought about it — had the Tairen King been beaten so badly in his cell that he’d lost his mind?
Someone was offering to rescue him and he was refusing to leave? What on earth had gotten into the man?
The Redemption City Lord Qianhu turned the question over and over in his head and could not, for the life of him, find an answer.