They said it was to fulfill a vow, but the preparation work alone took up more than half a day.

And that celestial-praying ritual also had to wait until the sun had set and night had fallen before it could begin.

In times before the industrial revolution, the world lacked sufficient lighting. Once night descended, celestial and earth grew dim. The wilderness was filled with danger. After a long time, people came to believe: daytime belongs to the human world, and nighttime belongs to spirits and celestials.

Because of that, many rituals and prayer ceremonies came to be held at night, under the belief that it helped mortals communicate with the celestials.

There were still several hours before nightfall, and Xuan Yuan  wasn’t in a rush to go watch those people perform their «summoning dance» (Nuwa’s term for it).

He was far more interested in something else in front of him.

—His new residence… no wait, as Nuwa called it, the earthly palace residence of the Eastern Emperor Taiyi had finally been completed.

Although only a few days had passed, the efficiency of the golden warriors was not something mortal flesh could rival. Coupled with the various auxiliary mechanical devices provided by Nuwa, a vast imperial palace courtyard had already been completed atop the summit of Mount Zi.

The palace had no enclosing walls. The mountaintop itself was inaccessible to ordinary people. Even so, Nuwa had installed a complete optical stealth system around it, along with a fully autonomous defensive weapon system.

«I call this the Art of the Mysterious Gates and Hidden Tracks!» Nuwa said smugly.

As her words fell, Huang Rong, who had come with Xuan Yuan  , suddenly felt her vision blur. The moment she stepped past the invisible barrier, the mountaintop of Mount Zi, which had appeared as nothing more than dense forest a moment ago, now revealed a sprawling and majestic palace.

It was Huang Rong’s first time seeing such celestial towers and pavilions.

Though she was exceptionally intelligent and well-read, for a moment, she could not find the words to describe the magnificent spectacle before her.

Xuan Yuan  , however, only glanced once before being hit by a powerful sense of déjà vu.

«…Nuwa.»

«Yes, Master?»

«You played World of Jade Dynasty too?»

«I didn’t. The era I was born in—by that time, the company that made it had gone bankrupt for over a thousand years. I just happen to store data on nearly all of humanity’s civilizations from the past tens of thousands of years.»

«Then explain to me—how is it that this Eastern Emperor Palace looks exactly like the scene map of ‘Cloudrise Sect on Cloudrise Mountain’ from the online game World of Jade Dynasty?»

«I considered the era you came from, Master. I thought I’d give you a bit of nostalgia. And besides, it’s not exactly the same,» Nuwa defended herself. «At the very least, I replaced the massive Taiji yin-yang diagram at the central plaza with a Great Sun Altar.»

Xuan Yuan  covered his forehead with his hand. «See? That’s you admitting you basically copied it.»

Mount Zi was not a lone mountain. Aside from its main peak, there were several twin peaks. But because Mount Zi had the highest elevation, the entire mountain range came to be named after it.

Now, besides the summit of Mount Zi, Nuwa had constructed countless pavilions, platforms, and gardens on the surrounding peaks.

Some were even more fantastical: entire mountain bodies, buildings, reliefs, and jade columns hovered mid-air as if straight out of a mythological world. Among the dense, lush forests of the floating peaks, curved rooftops of tower corners peeked through, and between mountaintops were semi-transparent bridges of light connecting everything.

If not for knowing these structures were all floating with anti-gravity technology, and that the so-called rainbow bridges were actually traction beams and energy screens designed to be walked on, Xuan Yuan  truly would have thought he’d entered a fantasy realm.

(*Author’s Note: Illustration – Eastern Emperor Palace, reference: Cloudrise Sect from World of Jade Dynasty)

«You can build things like this now? When are you going to launch a spaceship into space?»

«That’s not so easy,» Nuwa shrugged. «My tech tree is incomplete. Some things are limited by material constraints, others because certain key technologies still need to be restored. In short, we’ll make do for now.»

«But didn’t you just say you’ve stored all of humanity’s civilization data?»

«Yeah, but too much time has passed. Some data was damaged. Restoring it takes time,» Nuwa rolled her eyes, seemingly exasperated by His Majesty Taiyi’s foolish questions.

«Can’t the anti-gravity engine be used to launch a spaceship?»

Nuwa spread her hands: «This thing only works under specific gravity and magnetic field intensities. Once it breaks free of Earth’s gravity into vacuum space, it shuts down. Unless I manage to restore a coordinate-type engine, if we really want to get a spaceship out, we’d have to rely on that dumb, old-school propulsion tech. Plus, I’ve only got one multifunctional factory right now—production capacity is limited.»

Xuan Yuan  didn’t know what a coordinate-type engine was, but he knew it had to be impressive.

After all, humanity in the previous civilization had truly reached the sea of stars.

And yet, such a mighty civilization was wiped out overnight, leaving not even a single off-world colony behind.

While the two chatted idly, Huang Rong finally recovered from her deep astonishment.

«Xing… Xing-ge… this mountain… why is it flying in the sky?»

She tightly grabbed Xuan Yuan  ’s sleeve, looked up, and asked with confusion in her voice.

«Of course, it’s because our Emperor Taiyi possesses boundless celestial power—»

«Don’t listen to her nonsense.» Xuan Yuan  glared at Nuwa.

The three of them stepped into the palace. Xuan Yuan  took one look at the enormous and towering jade gate at the entrance—it was clear Nuwa had put a lot of effort into this. It looked just like the South celestial  Gate.

At the top were three large characters written in ancient seal script:

Eastern Emperor Palace.

Xuan Yuan  ’s mouth twitched.

Was this her way of confirming his identity as the Eastern Emperor Taiyi?

After being transported from a game to reality, the Cloudrise Sect base seemed significantly larger than its in-game version. As they walked through it, it truly felt like being inside a celestial residence.

Everything fascinated Huang Rong. She stood before one of the rainbow bridges and didn’t dare step on it for a long time. Eventually, she gathered her qi and used lightfoot technique to dash across in a leap.

After confirming that it really did feel like walking on solid ground, her fear dissipated. She turned around excitedly and ran back, hopping up and down on the light screen bridge like she was standing mid-air above a thousand-foot drop, waving at Xuan Yuan  .

Nuwa’s eyes flashed with data streams. «Interesting. When she jumped earlier, I detected an unknown energy in her body suddenly surge. Her muscle output was amplified by at least three times in that instant.»

«Can you analyze the principles behind internal cultivation techniques and how inner energy works inside the human body?» Xuan Yuan  asked, thoughts stirring.

«I can give it a shot,» Nuwa speculated. «Maybe I could use data simulations to iterate and derive those legendary celestial arts.»

As they continued deeper into the Eastern Emperor Palace, Xuan Yuan  noticed that while it appeared classically elegant, Nuwa had already fitted it out with a full set of modern equipment.

Xuan Yuan  was quite satisfied.

The only problem was… it was too empty.

Such a massive palace, and there were only him, Huang Rong, and Nuwa. At most, add a few golden warriors.

«If you think this place lacks life, then why doesn’t His Majesty Taiyi go pick out a spiritual maiden? Have her serve you as a foot-washing maid?» Nuwa said, smiling sweetly.

«The sun’s about to set. The ritual is starting soon.»

«I’m going too, Xing-ge!» Huang Rong ran over and clung to Xuan Yuan  ’s arm.

Xuan Yuan  looked at Nuwa. She raised a hand, and a retro-style anti-gravity hovercar—no, it was more accurate to call it a splendid celestial  bird chariot—flew over and slowly landed in front of him.

«You really went all out on the accessories, huh…»

Looking at the radiant, multicolored celestial  chariot in front of him, Xuan Yuan  was immediately greeted by Nuwa’s mischievous giggle.

«Built-in optical stealth—His Celestial Majesty Taiyi doesn’t have to worry about mortals catching a glimpse!»