Author note; Holidays coming up and I do most my writing at work. We either get super busy or super slow so I can't promise 2-3 chapters a week, but I'll do my best. Thanks for the support both here and reddit.

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As Sun Jiao was watching the buildings pass by his eyebrow twitched. The carriage continued to travel for a few more blocks before he gave up thinking of excuses for her.

Sun Jiao felt a bit of anticipation in Xiaobo's reply and couldn't resist.

The carriage had been nearing the golden palace wall while they were talking. While it was possible to talk quickly using thought-speak it did require some effort, so they had been chatting at a normal pace.

Sun Qing had started rambling again, this time talking to Xu Rong about something. Sun Jiao hadn't been paying attention to the conversation but realized her voice had been relaxing him as she spoke; it was truly a pleasant sound.

Sun Jiao chuckled to himself before noticing that the carriage was beginning to slow.

As they passed the last building before the wall Sun Jiao caught sight of the golden palace wall and froze as if struck by lightning. Sun Jiao had seen the largest dam on Earth that was over 1000 feet tall and this wall put it to shame. It looked as though it had been crafted by giants.

The wall, instead of reflecting the sunlight, glowed with a golden light as if drawing power from the sun. Sun Jiao was thankful for that as the surface was so smooth and shiny the reflected sunlight would have blinded him instead of leaving him with a feeling of awe.

As they passed under the wall the light didn't fade and instead intensified. The glow of the wall brightened and it was as bright outside the tunnel as it was inside. Along with the golden light there were silver symbols scrawled on the wall at regular intervals and between each set of symbols there were arrowslits for archers to assault the invading army as they passed through the wall. Every once in awhile he would see shadowy movements behind the slits that made him feel uncomfortable as though they weren't human.

They traveled under the wall much longer than Sun Jiao would have thought; he was again struck by how large the wall must be for it to take so long.

Just as he was about to ask Xiaobo how much farther they had the wall ended and they entered the city center.

Xiaobo sounded as though he was still annoyed so Sun Jiao kept quiet and remembered the general layout. To the left and right of the road were water gardens and a pathway lined with trees. Behind the trees was a wall about a story and a half tall. Eventually the wall turned down a road and continued on into the distance. A ways down there was a gate followed by more wall and eventually another gate and more wall. Even with Sun Jiao's improved vision he couldn't see the end of the street as it continued into the distance.

'How can I not see the golden wall in the distance? As big as it is I should be able to see it from here. The palace grounds must be enormous.'

They continued along the center road for a lengthy amount of time causing Sun Jiao to lose interest in the side streets.

In a much happier tone Xiaobo continued;

Sun Jiao's vision shifted and as though he was in a dream he saw from a distance a hazy vision of himself in the carriage with Sun Qing hugging him. Only he didn't return the hug and the carriage stopped. A while passed and he finally heard himself "Please get off we're here." Sun Qing froze for a moment and then began to squeeze. He saw his face turn purple then his life fade away. The carriage turned around and began to return to the palace. Sun Qing continued her usual ramblings the vision faded; "I wonder what the imposter did to my brother. I hope he's alright. The body is a good copy though...hehe. I'll hide the body and then find brother. I can't way to play with it!"

The next vision was of Xu Rong on his lap as Sun Qing entered the room. The Sun Jiao in the vision turned to his sister and began to explain himself. "This is..." before he could even start though Sun Qing disappeared and reappeared in front of Xu Rong with bright red hair. With a slap Xu Rong's brains exploded and pieces of bone flew to the right smashing into the maid who had been standing to the side of the chairs. The bone fragments riddled her body and then continued into the wall. The force of the slap had been controlled perfectly so not even a drop of blood landed on Sun Jiao. Sun Qing then began to murmur in a crazed voice "That fucking fat fuck gave my brother some fucking slut and then had the audacity to die before I could inflict him with punishment for it. Let's send him his fat fucking family so they can tell the fatass all about what his punishement would have been." With a giggle she disappeared out the door and the vision faded.

A brief moment of darkness and another vision began. Sun Qing had just thrown the maid out and turned around to see Sun Jiao's reaction.

Sun Jiao's vision returned to the present.

Slow chapter and the next one will probably be too. Need to take a break from arrogance to build up a world. If there isn't a world how can you look down on it?