Interlude: Imperial Cloud City

~~~

Shao Zhilan of the Divine Frozen Palace wakes up in the embrace of three men.

Gently, she extracts herself from the bed, carefully navigating through the tangle of silk sheets and limbs to avoid waking her husbands. Not that she thinks that is possible. Last night’s activities have taken a significant toll on them. Such is what happens when the disparity between partners is too great. Alas, her husbands had been eager to please, and she would never be so cruel as to deny them.

With graceful and silent steps, Shao Zhilan makes her way to the baths. As an Emperor Realm cultivator, a single burst of Qi would be enough to completely purify her body. Nevertheless, she spends over an hour relaxing in a marble pool large enough to fit several dozen people. No servants accompany her there. Bathing is a time for introspection. It requires solitude.

Besides, the sight of her naked body is one reserved solely for her husbands.

Once she is done, Shao Zhilan puts on a sky-blue dress decorated with rubies and sapphires. The dress is made of very thin material, shows much, and promises more. She is not particularly enthused about having to wear blue so often, but she is in the capital as the representative of the Divine Frozen Palace. It is important to always look the part. Clothes, jewels, perfume. All have to be picked carefully.

“How do I look?” she asks Tie Leji, her closest aide, friend, and husband.

“Marvelous as always,” her husband replies, the lines on his face creasing as he smiles.

“And the job I told you about last week?”

“The flowers have been replaced,” her husband replies. A beat passes. He raises an eyebrow. “Was it truly necessary? You cannot deny it seems…”

“Petty?” She finishes for him. “Dear, of course it was petty. In a perfect world, I would have already had Meng Yue strike down Xiao Yifan for daring to defy the Divine Frozen Palace. Unfortunately, the Endlessly Raging Valley is endlessly tedious. Thus, the silly little woman must instead suffer no end of petty and insignificant troubles that deny her even the smallest satisfaction until the day she dies.”

She looks at herself in the mirror and smiles.

“Wish me luck.”

“You never need it, but I always do.”

~~~

Imperial Cloud City is the capital of the Crimson Cloud Empire.

Its population is in the tens of millions, and its size is such that even if a person were to walk in a straight line without stopping for an entire day, they would be unable to make it from one end of the city to the other. There is not a single person who would deny it is the most important city in the entire Empire.

Every major Sect and several minor ones have a branch in the city, making Imperial Cloud City a true microcosm of the Empire. One can find people and traditions from every corner of the Empire spread over the city’s one hundred and twenty-seven districts. Here, there are paupers and wealthy men. Here, there are heroes and villains.

However, all of it is centered around a single structure.

The Imperial Palace.

It stands on an elevated platform, fenced off by walls made of stone. The main palace is only four stories high but has considerable breadth. Around it, there is plenty of open space and several smaller buildings, all of them predominantly white with red-tiled roofs.

The Imperial Palace is located in the exact center of the city. In fact, it is not wrong to say the city grew around the Imperial Palace as influential people from all over the Empire sought to become closer to the Emperor. While the Four Great Sects all boast impressive estates in the districts closest to the palace and own several businesses in the city, the minor sects are lucky if they own a single shop in the smallest and poorest districts. Some have to wait several months for an audience with the Emperor.

Lady Shao Zhilan walks into the palace with all the majesty of a queen.

The guards open every gate for her. The servants bow as she passes by. The imperial pages fight to announce her as she enters the throne room. She saunters across the red carpet, her long brown hair swaying behind her, and kneels twenty paces before the throne.

“Lady Shao, you are here once more. Why?”

“Your Majesty, is it so wrong that your servant might wish to lay eyes upon your visage?”

It is such a lovely visage, after all. For all that his ceremonial crimson robes look far too bulky on him, hiding what she knows is a pleasingly lean body, the Emperor of the Crimson Cloud Empire is a handsome man. His dark hair is tied in a top knot, and his face is angular, with prominent cheekbones. Unfortunately, the look on his face is one of constant exasperation, and his eyes are always dull and lifeless. Those are the only things that stop him from being called classically handsome.

“Lady Shao,” His Majesty says, “How long have we known each other? Must you lie to my face? Is there an edict written down somewhere that compels all who enter this room to lie to the Emperor? There must be because everyone does it. The people lie to me. The clouds lie to me. Even the plants have taken to lying to me recently. I considered executing them, but why bother? The new ones will not be more honest.”

“Oh, Your Majesty! As always, your wit is far too complex for the likes of me,” Shao Zhilan replies with a flawless smile. Her green eyes glimmer like emeralds.

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“Truly? I have always thought myself witless. It takes a witless man to be so close to a woman like you.”

She pouts.

“Your Majesty,” she tells him. “Even if it is you, I cannot forgive something that can be taken as an insult to my husbands.”

“I never said they were unhappy,” His Majesty points out. “There are probably no happier men in the Empire. I assure you I curse their names with envy every single day.”

“There is no reason for you to envy them, Your Majesty,” Shao Zhilan says. “The path is always open to you. Would it really be so bad to trust me?”

She bows deeply, and the motion, combined with a dress that already leaves little to the imagination, results in her showing far more cleavage than most women are capable of.

“Yes, it would be terrible,” Emperor replies, staring directly at her cleavage. “Why do you think a pathetic man such as myself has not yet succumbed after all these years? Lady Shao Zhilan, I wish I could forget my troubles and embrace you. Unfortunately, the Emperor must be perfectly miserable at all times. Anything else is an affront to the natural laws.”

This time, her laugh is genuine. She has long since accepted that the man would never give in to her, but she wishes that wasn’t the case.The Emperor carries himself with all the air of a defeated man, is quick to insult himself, and nearly always believes it. However, there is a reason why Xiang Zuolin remains Emperor after so many years.

“Emperor,” she begins to say, but her smile fades away when the doors to the throne room open with tremendous noise.