Chapter 156: Did His Majesty Really Move Heaven?

The scorching sun was like a torch.

On the Sacrificial Altar, various ritual vessels were arranged according to the spirit tablets, filled with all kinds of offerings.

"The auspicious time has arrived!"

Xiao Jieyun wore a black sacrificial robe, the twelve pendants of jade tassels on his forehead swaying slightly.

He held the jade tablet, bowing three times and kowtowing nine times to the heavens, each motion steady as a mountain.

"Heaven above! I, having received the Mandate of Heaven, nurture all directions. Yet due to my governmental shortcomings, this great drought has befallen the people, my heart burns like fire."

"All directions are guilty; the guilt lies with me. What crime have the common people committed to suffer this calamity?"

"If Heaven takes pity and sends sweet rain, I am willing to shorten my life to comfort all beings."

His devout voice was deep, resonant, and powerful, bearing the emperor's responsibility, echoing across the empty Sacrificial Altar and spreading in all directions.

After the Emperor finished reciting the prayer, he sequentially offered wine and sacrifices to the spirit tablets.

After the rites, the offerings and the previously written prayer were placed into the brazier to be burned, symbolizing that the people's pleas had been conveyed to Heaven.

In the huge brazier at the center of the Sacrificial Altar, curls of blue smoke rose, rising straight upward.

Below the altar, the myriad people held their breath and stood still.

Countless eyes stared unblinking at the sky, their gazes filled with anticipation.

Some pressed their palms together, lips moving silently; others gripped their loved ones tightly, praying silently.

Time trickled by.

Suddenly, a few dark clouds drifted quietly in from the horizon.

"It's clouds! Dark clouds!" the people exclaimed, pointing excitedly at the sky.

Everyone lifted their heads, staring fixedly at the dark clouds that bore all their hopes.

The clouds gradually gathered, thickening from thin to heavy, merging from several patches into a sheet, slowly covering the scorching sun in the sky!

The light dimmed.

A long‑absent cool wind carrying the scent of earth swept over the ground, stirring fine dust.

"It's going to rain! It's really going to rain!"

"Long live His Majesty! Long live His Majesty ten thousand times over!"

"His Majesty truly moved Heaven!"

Joyous cheers surged like a tide, many people's eyes hot with tears, embracing one another.

Xiao Jieyun's tense spine relaxed.

However, the cloud layer lingered for less than the time it takes to finish a cup of tea, then quickly thinned and dispersed at a visible speed, vanishing completely.

The scorching sunlight, like swords, pierced the cloud layer beam after beam, relentlessly scorching the earth.

The faint moisture that came with the dark clouds was instantly evaporated.

Gongsun Zhi curled the corner of his mouth, "National Preceptor! You're indeed formidable!"

Hope, like a droplet of water on a scorching iron plate, quickly evaporated completely.

The people fell from the peak of joy back into the depths of despair.

A heavy unease began to spread through the crowd.

"Useless! His Majesty's prayer for rain is useless!"

"Isn't His Majesty the Son of Heaven? Even the Son of Heaven can't summon rain?"

"Even the Son of Heaven fails? Old Heaven Lord, are you truly intent on destroying us?"

Whispers began sporadically, grew more numerous, and coalesced into an unstoppable undercurrent.

Gazes shifted from the sky to the tall, straight black‑clad figure on the high platform.

But their looks were no longer solely reverence and anticipation; they were disappointment and bewilderment, even resentment.

Xiao Jieyun's knuckles whitened from gripping the jade tablet too tightly.

The jade tablet symbolizing imperial authority now weighed over a thousand jin, making his broad shoulders tremble slightly.

He could feel countless gazes from behind, like innumerable red‑hot needles, pricking his spine.

Xiao Yuanhang and Xiao Ningchen exchanged a glance, then instinctively tightened their grips on their sword hilts.

A voice rang out loudly: "His Majesty!"

Qing Wang stepped steadily forward from the lineup of royal relatives and nobles.

Facing the high platform, his voice sorrowful and heavy: "His Majesty sincerely prayed to Heaven, yet Heaven's will is inscrutable, and so far no sweet rain has fallen."

"Subject! My heart aches as if twisted; seeing the people parched and the state in peril, I cannot but risk my life to remonstrate again!"

He abruptly turned, facing the sea of black‑clad commoners below the high platform, his voice suddenly rising:

"Elders and parents! Heaven does not aid our Fierce Kingdom; it is not that His Majesty lacks benevolence, but that our methods may be flawed!"

That sentence exploded like a thunderclap.

In an instant, the people's gazes shifted from the Emperor to this Prince who "pleads for the people."

Qing Wang beat his chest, continuing to shout: "The Da Xia Divine Child, born spiritually attuned, able to hear Heaven's will—this is known throughout the world!"

"Since arriving in the capital, he has earned even greater praise from the myriad people!"

"Now he stands below the platform; why does His Majesty not set aside his prejudices, for the sake of all under heaven, and ask him to ascend and try?"

The crowd below the platform instantly erupted in an uproar.

"Exactly! The Divine Child has come! Please let the Divine Child ascend the platform!"

"The Divine Child's boundless power will surely summon the rain!"

"We want to live! Please have the Divine Child ascend the platform to pray for rain!"

More and more people were swept up, the sound waves rising higher and higher, finally gathering into a deafening torrent:

"Please, Shen Tong, ascend the stage!"

"Please, Shen Tong, pray for rain!"

"Shen Tong! Save us!"

Amid the mountain‑roaring, sea‑surging cries, Emperor Xiao Jieyun's complexion grew increasingly pale, his figure oddly isolated.

He glanced at the surging crowd below the stage, then turned his gaze toward Qing Wang, whose face bore a look of "loyal to the sovereign, love the country."

Seizing the moment, Qing Wang fell to his knees, choking as he shouted, "His Majesty, the people's hearts cannot be defied; perhaps Heaven's will can be altered! Please, His Majesty, grant your favor!"

The crowd spontaneously cleared a passage.

A young child clad in a pristine white robe stepped slowly toward the Sacrificial Altar.

His face was like a silver plate, skin as jade, a vivid vermilion mole at his brow, resembling a celestial child stepped out of a painting, untouched by dust.

He was Da Xia's Shen Tong, Gong Sun Zhi.

He walked to the front of the stage, tilted his head slightly, his clear eyes showing neither sorrow nor joy, utterly aloof.

"Look! Shen Tong has arrived!"

"My God! This appearance! It's exactly the celestial child from the painting!"

"Please, Shen Tong, ascend the stage and pray for rain!"

Qing Wang glanced at the Emperor, whose face was ashen, and shouted loudly, "Please, Shen Tong, ascend the stage!"

The people's cheers thundered, and Emperor Xiao Jieyun swayed slightly.

Gong Sun Zhi nodded and stepped onto the stairs leading to the top of the Heavenly Sacrifice platform.

One step, two steps…

His stride was unhurried, the white robe radiating a holy aura under the scorching sun.

Qing Wang's mouth twitched upward slightly.

Finally, Gong Sun Zhi reached the summit, standing almost shoulder‑to‑shoulder with Emperor Xiao Jieyun at the highest point.

He did not look at the Emperor; instead, he turned, facing the myriad citizens below, his visage supremely solemn, like the treasured countenance of a true immortal, sacred and untouchable.

"All, His Majesty of the nation is sincere; the heavens bear witness."

"Yet this drought is not without cause."

He gazed far toward the north.

"The three northern passes: Red Land, Cangwu, Linyuan."

"Years ago, the border war erupted, blood spattered the sky, lingering resentment festered, angering Heaven."

He turned abruptly, looking at the Emperor, "If His Majesty truly seeks rain to relieve the people's peril, he must show sincerity, only then can this resentment be dispelled."

"Please, His Majesty, grant your favor."

"First, return Da Xia's National Jade Seal at once!"

"Second, issue an edict, returning the three northern cities of Red Land, Cangwu, and Linyuan to Da Xia."

"If His Majesty grants it, I, Gong Sun Zhi, will use my own spiritual resonance as a conduit to communicate with Heaven and Earth, to bring sweet rain to the nation."

The surroundings instantly fell into dead silence.

"Impossible, His Majesty!" Xiao Yuanhang shouted, "The border blood war was provoked by Da Xia! It is not our nation's responsibility!"

"How many soldiers were buried at the border to secure today's peace! How could we simply hand it over!"

Qing Wang, hearing this, proclaimed loudly, "Prince Ning's words are mistaken! Are a few cities more important, or the lives of the myriad common folk before us?"

"His Majesty! If we can obtain sweet rain to relieve this urgent crisis, a temporary measure is permissible, why not? His Majesty, the people's hearts cannot be defied!"

Emperor Xiao Jieyun felt the twelve‑ribboned jade ornament weighed as much as a thousand pounds, nearly crushing his neck.

To consent would earn an eternal infamy, a criminal of the state.

To refuse would doom the populace to death, a tyrant without compassion.

Advancing is a ten‑thousand‑foot abyss; retreat is an ancient sheer cliff.

A cold bead of sweat slipped silently from his temple.

In the Phoenix Ritual Palace.

A bronze cauldron suddenly emitted a dazzling white light, which surged entirely into Tuan Tuan's body.

Almost simultaneously, her hand, which had been clenched into a fist, suddenly released a warm radiance between her fingers.

In the next instant, Tuan Tuan's eyelashes twitched, and she opened her eyes wide.