NFBE Chapter 1166 - 1107. Arriving At The Banquet Hall
Chapter 1166 - 1107. Arriving At The Banquet Hall
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(A/N: Don’t forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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Lie Fan gave a subtle nod to the heavily armored guards standing by the massive brass rings of the doors. With a deep, resonant groan of ancient timber and heavy iron, the doors were hauled open, unleashing a blinding wave of light, the deafening blare of ceremonial horns, and the overwhelming roar of a unified, adoring world welcoming its eternal sovereigns.
The heavy, towering double doors of the private imperial wing were hauled open, groaning with the weight of ancient timber and heavy iron. As they parted, they unleashed a blinding wave of light, the deafening, triumphant blare of ceremonial horns, and the overwhelming, thunderous roar of an adoring world.
Emperor Lie Fan and Empress Ying Yue stepped forward, crossing the threshold from their private sanctuary into the sprawling, labyrinthine corridors that connected the inner palace to the grand receiving halls.
They were immediately met not by the highest echelons of the court, but by the vast, sprawling sea of guests whose rankings, while vital to the empire, were not quite high enough to earn them a seat within the absolute inner sanctum of the primary banquet hall.
These were the minor provincial magistrates, the wealthy merchant lords of the southern trade routes, the chieftains of assimilated tribes, and the mid level military officers who had bled in the mud to build this dynasty. They filled the massive outer pavilions and the lantern lit courtyards, thousands of them standing shoulder to shoulder in their finest, most vibrant silks and formal armors.
The moment the Emperor and Empress came into view, a wave of profound, spontaneous reverence rippled through the massive crowd.
They dropped to their knees, their foreheads touching the polished stone of the courtyards, their voices rising in a chaotic, overlapping, yet entirely unified chorus of adulation. They shouted their congratulations, their voices cracking with genuine emotion.
They praised the Black Dragon who had delivered them from the nightmare of the Warlord Era.
Lie Fan did not simply march past them with cold, untouchable arrogance. He understood perfectly that the foundation of his throne was built upon the backs of these very people. He walked at a deliberate, measured pace, his twelve strings of jade beads swaying gently. He turned his head left and right, his sharp, handsome features softened by a genuine, magnanimous warmth.
"Stand, my loyal subjects. Stand and rejoice," Lie Fan called out, his deep, resonant voice carrying over the cheers. He nodded to a scarred veteran from Xu Province, he offered a brief, approving smile to a minor magistrate from the newly conquered western frontiers.
By his side, Ying Yue was the absolute epitome of imperial grace. She did not merely walk, she glided. She smiled warmly at the wives of the minor nobles, her eyes radiating the fierce, protective pride of the mother of the empire.
When an elderly tribal chieftain from the deep south, overwhelmed by the sheer majesty of the couple, awkwardly shouted his congratulations in a heavily accented dialect, Ying Yue smoothly returned his greeting with a flawless, respectful nod, ensuring that every single soul in the outer pavilions felt seen, valued, and fundamentally connected to the supreme rulers of the earth.
Their procession, flanked by the terrifying, silent wall of the Yellow Ghost Bodyguards, slowly made its way through the ocean of ecstatic guests until they finally arrived at the massive, gilded entrance of the primary Grand Banquet Hall.
Here, the atmosphere fundamentally shifted.
The chaotic, roaring cheers of the outer courtyards were muffled by the sheer thickness of the architecture. Standing at the towering entrance, Lie Fan and Ying Yue could hear the sounds emanating from within the inner sanctum.
It was a stark contrast to the wild adulation outside. From within the grand hall came the low, sophisticated murmur of the most powerful men and women on the continent engaging in polite, high stakes diplomacy.
Mingled with the quiet hum of conversation was the serene, incredibly calming sound of traditional musical instruments. Master musicians, hidden behind sheer silk screens, were plucking the strings of the guzheng and the pipa, accompanied by the airy, ethereal notes of bamboo flutes.
The melody was harmonious, structured, and profoundly peaceful, an auditory representation of the flawless order the Hengyuan Dynasty had brought to the chaotic world.
Lie Fan paused just before the threshold. He took a single, deep breath, feeling the warm, grounding presence of Ying Yue by his side. He then turned his gaze to the Senior Imperial Maid who stood respectfully at attention near the doorway.
With a subtle, deliberate nod of his head, Lie Fan gave the absolute signal.
The Senior Imperial Maid received the silent command. She immediately pivoted, her silk robes rustling, and stepped toward the towering, heavily armored Captain of the Imperial Guard who stood rigidly at attention beside the massive entrance doors. She offered him a microscopic, confirming nod.
The Captain, a giant of a man chosen specifically for the sheer, booming volume of his voice, took a deep breath that expanded his massive iron breastplate. He stepped squarely into the center of the doorway, facing the thousands of high-ranking dignitaries inside.
"THE SON OF HEAVEN, HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY, EMPEROR HONGYI!" the Captain roared, his voice striking the cavernous hall like a physical blow. "AND THE MOTHER OF THE EARTH, HER IMPERIAL MAJESTY, EMPRESS YING YUE! HAVE ARRIVED!"
The effect was instantaneous and absolute.
The serene music of the guzheng and the pipa ceased immediately, cut off in a single, breathless second. The low murmurs of diplomacy and conversation vanished as if the air itself had been sucked from the room.
Every single person inside the colossal grand hall, the supreme marshals, the brilliant strategists, the subjugated warlords and tribes, the puppet king of Goguryeo, and the wealthy nobles of the mainland, stopped whatever they were doing and simultaneously shot to their feet.
The rustling of thousands of heavy silk robes and the clinking of ceremonial swords filled the silence, followed immediately by the absolute stillness of thousands of people holding their breath.
Slowly, bathed in the brilliant, flickering light of ten thousand crystal oil lamps, Emperor Lie Fan and Empress Ying Yue stepped over the threshold and entered the hall.
The sheer scale of the room was breathtaking, supported by massive pillars of solid red pine wrapped in sculpted golden dragons, but all eyes were fixed exclusively on the two figures walking down the wide, crimson carpeted central aisle.
The aisle led directly toward the towering, elevated imperial dais at the far end of the hall. The seating arrangement upon the dais had been meticulously orchestrated by the Ministry of Rites to project the flawless, impenetrable unity of the imperial family.
As Lie Fan and Ying Yue walked the long path, they could see the dais waiting for them. To the left and right of the central Dragon and Phoenix thrones sat the highest ranking women of the empire, the Imperial Concubines.
Diao Chan sat with her spine perfectly straight, her legendary, unparalleled beauty illuminated by the lantern light, wearing flowing robes of pale violet that perfectly accented her ethereal elegance. Beside her sat Cai Wenji, exuding a quiet, profound scholarly grace in robes of deep indigo, her eyes reflecting the immense historical gravity of the moment.
On the opposite flank sat Lu Lingqi, who, despite her best efforts to look entirely comfortable in her heavy, restrictive crimson and gold silk, still radiated the fierce, untamed pride of a martial goddess. Beside her sat Zhen Ji, the flawless aesthetic perfection of the Luo River, her serene, incredibly poised demeanor setting a standard of courtly beauty that the foreign dignitaries stared at in absolute awe.
Flanking the concubines were the children of the dynasty. Muchen, the Crown Prince, sat closest to the center. Dressed in his heavily tailored black and gold silk, he looked like a miniature, terrifyingly disciplined reflection of his father.
He sat with his hands resting on his knees, his jaw set, silently ensuring by his sheer presence that his younger siblings, who sat in a descending row beside him, remained perfectly still and completely aware of their divine duties.
As Lie Fan and Ying Yue walked the length of the crimson carpet, the Emperor’s dark, piercing eyes swept across the ranks of the highest ranking guests who stood rigidly at attention beside their banquet tables.
He did not stare blankly ahead. He looked left and right, making deliberate, fleeting, yet incredibly powerful eye contact with the titans who had shaped his world. He nodded to Guan Yu, who stroked his magnificent beard in deep reverence. He caught the eye of Fa Zheng and Chen Deng, the architects of the western conquest, offering them a silent look of profound gratitude.
And then, halfway down the hall, his gaze locked onto two specific figures standing among the highest-ranking domestic lords.
Sun Jian, the fierce, aging Tiger of Jiangdong, stood tall, his hair heavily threaded with gray but his eyes still burning with the unyielding fire of a lifelong warrior. Beside him stood his eldest son, Sun Ce, the Little Conqueror, a man whose boundless, explosive ambition had once threatened to consume the entire south.
Lie Fan remembered the days when the Sun family had been his long time allies, when the rivers ran red with the blood of their enemies navies. Yet, here they stood, dressed in the formal robes of Hengyuan vassals. They had recognized the sheer, invincible momentum of the Black Dragon and had chosen the survival of their bloodline over the ashes of stubborn pride.
Lie Fan held Sun Jian’s gaze for a fraction of a second, offering a slow, respectful nod, a silent acknowledgment from one supreme predator to another. Sun Jian and Sun Ce immediately bowed their heads in profound, unquestioning submission, entirely tamed by the man who had united the earth.
Finally, Lie Fan and Ying Yue reached the base of the imperial dais. They ascended the several wide, white marble steps with heavy, synchronized grace. They reached the absolute pinnacle of the room, standing before their twin thrones.
Together, the Emperor and the Empress slowly turned around to face the entire assembly of guests.
The moment they turned, Chancellor Jia Xu, standing at the very forefront of the civil and military ranks, took a single, deliberate step forward. The master of shadows, the architect of a thousand invisible victories, raised his hands, bringing them together in a sweeping, theatrical gesture of absolute submission.
"TO HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY, AND HER IMPERIAL MAJESTY!" Jia Xu’s raspy voice echoed loudly through the silent hall, acting as the supreme conductor for the empire.
In perfect, terrifying, flawless unison, thousands of the most powerful humans on the continent dropped to their knees. The sound of their knees hitting the floor and their armor clinking echoed like a thunderclap.
"WE CONGRATULATE THE EMPEROR ON THE GRAND UNIFICATION OF THE EARTH!" the crowd roared, their voices blending into a singular, colossal entity that shook the dust from the high rafters. "WE WISH THE EMPEROR AND THE EMPRESS TO LIVE AND REIGN LONG, UNTIL THE VERY END OF TIMES! MAY THE HENGYUAN DYNASTY RULE THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH FOREVER!"
The sheer acoustic power of the unified greeting was staggering. It was not a forced, hollow chant, it was a desperate, fervent prayer from a world that had finally found its anchor.
Lie Fan stood at the apex of the dais, the twelve jade strings of his crown perfectly still. He allowed the echoes of their devotion to wash over him, letting the silence fully return to the hall before he moved.
Slowly, a wide, breathtakingly genuine smile spread across the Emperor’s scarred face. He raised both of his hands, his wide, dark silk sleeves cascading downward, gesturing magnanimously for the assembly to remain at ease, though they stayed respectfully upon their knees.
"My lords, my kings, my generals, and my friends," Lie Fan began, his voice projecting effortlessly, carrying the warm, resonant timbre of a father speaking to his family, yet laced with the undeniable iron of a conqueror. "I welcome all of you into this grand banquet. Tonight is not merely a celebration of a military victory. Tonight signifies the absolute, definitive end of the chaos that has ravaged our lands and haunted our nightmares since the dark days of the Yellow Turban rebellions."
Lie Fan lowered his hands, his eyes reflecting the heavy, bloody history that had brought them all to this room.
"Many of you in this hall are old enough to remember the beginning of the madness," Lie Fan continued, his voice dropping into a solemn, reflective cadence.
"You remember when the skies were choked with the smoke of burning villages. You remember when the fields, meant to grow the grain that feeds our children, were instead fertilized by the blood and the bones of millions of desperate, suffering souls. The collapse of the old order led to an era of unimaginable suffering. Warlord fought warlord, brother fought brother, and the innocent were trampled beneath the hooves of endless, petty wars."
He looked out over the kneeling assembly, his gaze sweeping over the former enemies and loyal veterans alike.
"But look upon the world now," Lie Fan’s voice rose, filling with a bright, unconquerable optimism. "The wars have ended. The smoke has cleared. Because of the unified strength of the Hengyuan banner, the people of the central plains, the southern rivers, and the western mountains are finally allowed to live long and prosper in peace. The children of our empire can play happily once again in the streets, without looking up in terror at the sound of approaching cavalry."
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Name: Lie Fan
Title: Founding Emperor Of Hengyuan Dynasty
Age: 36 (203 AD)
Level: 16
Next Level: 462,000
Renown: 2325
Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 11)
SP: 1,121,700
ATTRIBUTE POINTS
STR: 1,010 (+20)
VIT: 659 (+20)
AGI: 653 (+10)
INT: 691
CHR: 98
WIS: 569
WILL: 436
ATR Points: 0