Five thousand copper coins was no small sum. Which was why He Lingchuan refused him flatly.
The leaf had distinct veins and a crisp, clear texture; it was quite attractive. More importantly, the moment He Lingchuan had touched it earlier, the inside of his lapel had grown warm.
Was the divine bone necklace feeling hungry again?
"I'll ask around for you when I get back," Old Ge offered.
"Thanks." He Lingchuan slipped the golden-red leaf into his bosom. "Didn't you mention earlier that there was a suspected cave dwelling that has never been found?"
"Oh, right! This Root-Deep Pool." Old Ge pointed to the deep pool beneath the banyan tree. "Legend has it that Immortal Shou'an of the Dahuan Sect established a cave dwelling here, with the pool's clear waters serving as its entrance. In the end, he passed into meditation inside it, and the cave dwelling vanished along with him, never to be seen again."
"Immortal Shou'an?" He Lingchuan asked, curious. "Wasn't Mount Xu once called Mount Shou'an?"
Wasn't the broken sword tip that had fetched an astronomical price at the Dun Garden auction just a few days ago snapped from Immortal Shou'an's bound artifact?
Famous figures were truly remarkable; anything connected to them could sell for an exorbitant sum.
"Indeed. It was only after Beijia was founded that the name was changed," Old Ge said. "Taking 'Shou'an' as a Daoist title was an immense honor. He was the almighty cultivator who sheared off the stone cave with a single stroke of his sword, leaving a path of life for the Dao-Seeking Tree."
He Lingchuan dipped a hand to brush against the pool water. It was crystal-clear and bitterly cold.
"Wild guess: plenty of people have jumped in looking for it?"
"Of course! Every single year," Old Ge laughed. "I heard that for the first three hundred years, people dove in every few days. It was quite a spectacle. And not just diving into the water, either—busy travelers wandered all over Tianji Peak, scouring every crack in the rock, studying the light and shadows, angles, and all kinds of legends. Later, Tianji Peak strictly forbade diving into the water, and the numbers dropped precipitously."
Thousands had searched, if not tens of thousands, yet not a single lucky soul had ever found the lost dwelling. He Lingchuan decided he didn't need to waste his energy.
He figured Lingxu City had initially turned a blind eye to the diving because they wanted to harness the crowd's efforts. Since three centuries of searching had yielded nothing, they had called it off and forbidden anyone else from looking.
The group moved along with the flow of visitors. Once they finally left Tianji Peak, the path opened up considerably.
"The next main peak is Tianxuan," Old Ge said, pointing toward a towering mountain piercing the clouds not far off. "And after that comes Tianshu Peak, where the Heavenly Palace stands—the final stop of our journey today!"
Everyone felt a surge of excitement, except for the fellow who had drawn the red leaf; he made an excuse and headed down the mountain early.
Tianxuan Peak offered splendid scenery, but everyone's mind was already set on Tianshu.
The mountain trail climbed higher, the temperature dropped, the roadside flowers dwindled, and frost began to cling to the blades of grass.
The biting wind grew increasingly fierce. He Lingchuan even felt a twinge of what it had been like to trek through Wind Demon Mountain.
Tianshu Peak was the highest peak on the outskirts of Lingxu City.
Jiang Tao huffed out puffs of white vapor as he climbed. "The emissaries of the Heavenly Palace don't have to toil like this to travel up and down Mount Xu, right? And what about the Emperor? I hear His Majesty ascends often."
"Of course not," Old Ge grinned. "They have teleportation formations that take them straight from the mountain foot to the Heavenly Palace—no climbing required. Whenever important foreign dignitaries visit, they're whisked straight up into the clouds as well!"
Just then, the clouds parted and the sun emerged, scattering the rolling sea of clouds for a moment.
He Lingchuan turned his head and caught sight of the Floating Isles hovering above Lingxu City.
Viewing the Floating Isles from this vantage point held a peculiar charm. Even the highest among them appeared somewhat lower in altitude than the Heavenly Palace.
From where He Lingchuan stood, he could actually look down on the rest of the Floating Isles.
They were lush and verdant, true gardens in the sky, complete with hills and streams half-concealing pavilions and towers.
He Lingchuan held up a hand to compare, his palm easily obscuring the distant Floating Isle.
The mirror in his bosom asked, "What are you doing?"
"It's only this small," he mused. "Like the realm in the palm of one's hand."
Gao Jilin asked casually, "Whose palm?"
He Lingchuan smiled without answering.
The celestial gods', of course.
Despite the biting cold, the number of visitors climbing Tianshu Peak surged noticeably; everyone wanted a taste of looking down on the Floating Isles.
Usually, it was the Floating Isles looking down on all living beings.
Tianshu Peak was surrounded by six companion peaks of various sizes, encircling it like stars attending the moon.
Nearly every peak had buildings cloaked in swirling mist and clouds, radiating an ethereal, immortal aura.
Old Ge pointed toward them. "Those are the quarters for the Duyun Emissaries, divine attendants, and lamp wardens. Oh, and the Heavenly Palace guards!"
All the way from Yaoguang Peak to Tianxuan Peak, the guards along the path had been Mount Xu guards, none of whom were qualified to reside on Tianshu Peak.
At the end of the road, the magnificent grand hall came into sharper view.
For some reason, as He Lingchuan approached, a sudden sense of dread gripped him, as though a ferocious beast was perched atop the peak, jaws agape, waiting for him to walk into its trap.
He couldn't tell whether this perilous intuition came from his sixth sense or the divine bone necklace.
Atop that summit lay the pinnacle of worldly power.
Taking a deep breath, he strode forward.
By now, the sun was sinking in the west, turning the drifting clouds and evening mist on the summit into streams of fire.
Deep within the white clouds, glazed golden tiles gleamed with light, and magnificent palaces formed an imposing sprawl. The melodious chiming of bells echoed across the heights, yet listening closely, one could not tell where it originated.
Heavenly Palace guards watched over the mountain stairway—two every fifty steps, clad in golden armor, grasping staves, their gazes grim and severe.
The architecture on Tianshu Peak uniformly featured white pillars and golden tiles, with walls of moon-white or white accented with ochre red. Set against the plain black rock of the mountain, it presented a startling, ostentatious luxury.
Starting from the first pair of ornate pavilions, the path was paved with blue jade, gradually shifting to green jade over the next hundred steps, and then to white jade for another hundred steps, leading all the way to the grand entrance of the Heavenly Palace.
This was the renowned Stairway to Heaven.
Countless people knelt along the steps, ascending one at a time and kowtowing deeply with each pace, murmuring prayers.
Their heartfelt devotion was palpable, as though nothing in the world could be more important than this.
He Lingchuan walked past them, ascending smoothly to the summit.
Before him spread a vast plaza paved with gold-flecked white jade, spacious enough to hold at least two thousand people. Carving out such a massive open space high on a mountain was no small feat; Old Ge said it had been constructed during a renovation to provide a terrace for outdoor worship.
Tianshu Peak was the highest peak of Mount Xu, though the Dahuan Sect's original main peak had been Tianxuan Peak.
"This first grand hall is Chongyang Hall!" Old Ge perked up, projecting his voice. "Building it consumed one million two hundred thousand jin of gold, nine thousand jin of pearls, three thousand one hundred jin of agate, and over twenty thousand jin of giant clam shell, coral, and amber!"
Seen up close, the style of the Heavenly Palace's grand halls differed entirely from worldly architecture.
Earthly buildings emphasized carved beams and painted rafters, but the Heavenly Palace favored stone pillars over timber and stone walls over wood, embellishing both pillars and walls with intricate carvings. The structures themselves were stout and rectangular, devoid of the flying eaves and bracket sets found on the plains and other peaks.
In the places He Lingchuan had visited before, halls and pagodas stood apart as distinct structures.
Here, however, the Heavenly Palace halls rose at least three stories high, and atop their centers sat pagodas—some rounded, some pointed—in designs wholly distinct from worldly stupas.
He Lingchuan followed the crowd inside. A burst of golden brilliance instantly dazzled his eyes, causing him to take half a step back.
The interior was gilded in solid, pure gold. The pillars, beams, walls, divine statues, tables, chairs, candle stands... apart from the visiting tourists, practically every object and corner glittered with gold.
Even the prayer mats before the altar tables were woven from golden thread.
Of course, no tourist dared entertain thoughts of theft; the hall guards would certainly notice and immediately sever their hands.
Literally sever them.
The hall was exceedingly lofty, featuring arched doorways and vaulted ceilings. Looking up, He Lingchuan saw a depiction of a starry sky painted across the ceiling. The night sky was fashioned from a single slab of natural black jade, its color shading subtly to evoke the profound depths of the actual cosmos. Most remarkably, it was naturally studded with dense bright flecks that, once polished, formed the Milky Way.
As for the other glittering stars, they were crafted from pearls, crystals, rubies, and sapphires...
No wonder Old Ge had said so many treasures were consumed in the hall's construction.
Pearls treated like dirt and gold like iron—this was the very embodiment of the phrase.
He Lingchuan drew a deep breath. The air inside reeked of wealth and power.
These two things were the ultimate dream of nearly all living beings, and here they were bared naked. For any first-time visitor to the Heavenly Palace, the shock was total and overwhelming.
He Lingchuan had traveled far and wide and seen his share of grand courts and noble estates. Furnishing a residence with a hundred jin of gold seemed petty; using a thousand jin looked boorish and gaudy; but using one million two hundred thousand jin...
That was pure majesty, unique under heaven.
And one could not forget that this was Chongyang Hall, a place dedicated to worshiping the gods.
Arrayed throughout the hall were divine statues of various sizes—some imposing, some benevolent, some fearsome, some horrifying—their bodies cast in solid, pure gold rather than mere gilding.
The designer of this hall had bound the celestial gods directly to wealth and power.
Before every statue, smoke drifted from burning incense, and mortals prostrated themselves.
Without exception, the statues took the form of humans or half-human, half-demon beings.
From the moment Jiang Tao entered, his eyes darted everywhere, wishing he had been born with an extra pair. He marveled continuously, "Incredible, simply incredible!"
The cost of building such a hall was beyond imagination.
For a tiny state like theirs, the expense of erecting a single hall like this would swallow years of national revenue.
Observing the expressions on Jiang Tao and the other visitors, He Lingchuan knew Chongyang Hall had achieved its purpose.
It was an overwhelming display of absolute power, crushing all comparison.
Gao Jilin, meanwhile, was intrigued. "Do the celestial gods truly look like this?"
Standing inside Chongyang Hall, he didn't dare point with his finger, instead merely tilting his head toward the statue on the left.
"Take this Miaozhantian, for example. Her appearance is completely different from what I saw in the Golden Light Desert, where nomadic tribes also revere her."
This was a goddess with lowered eyelids and a solemn, dignified bearing, holding an artifact shaped like a balance scale.
Most peculiar of all, atop the scale's apex was embedded a single yellow eye with a pale purple slit pupil.
The moment He Lingchuan laid eyes on that single orb, it felt strikingly familiar. "What does she look like in the Golden Light Desert?"
"Her attire is different, and so is the artifact she holds," Gao Jilin said after a moment's thought. "I believe she holds a pipa lute."
"Ah!" He Lingchuan remembered too. He had seen an eyeball just like that in Panlong City!
Chapter 578