The carriage had arrived in a courtyard. When Sun Jiao looked out he saw buildings made of solid black stone with blue runes that rose high into the air.

This alone didn’t shock him.

What shocked him was that far above the buildings was another city.

The city appeared to be upside down. Most of the buildings reminded Sun Jiao of skyscrapers, but here and there were various other shaped buildings. Pyramids, stadiums, towers, and other such buildings were scattered about.

In the center of the city was a beam of light that fell towards the ground. Inside the beam of light was a solid white pillar with rooms coming off the side shaped like mushroom caps that grew on trees.

The distance between the city he was in and the city above was just over a thousand miles and still the city covered the sky completely.

If seen from afar the two cities would appear to be disks connected by a beam of light in the center. Surrounding this was a half-light half-dark bubble that rotated around the city in a night/day cycle. Outside the city was nothingness.

The sky didn’t just contain the city as there were flying creatures of all kinds traveling back and forth between the cities.

Most were birds of a kind, but some other species existed as well; a whale with six eyes and a horn, a wolf with five wings, a five colored snake with a human face that slithered through the sky as though it was on the ground.

Sun Jiao almost choked up blood which quickly turned into a cough.

Sun Jiao gave a snort in agreement. After a bit more discussion he had the carriage turn and urged it forward towards the center light.

The Heaven Council was located in the pillar building that floated in the center of the light.

As they neared the light Fang Yuehai asked Sun Jiao to stop the carriage.

“I need to go to my Uncle’s office which isn’t far from here. It shouldn’t take long. I’ll meet you after the meeting?”

“I don’t know how long I’ll be.”

Fang Yuehai stepped out the carriage and turned to Sun Jiao.

“That’s fine. Besides you’ll need to know where I’m staying. You never know when you need a place to stay!”

Sun Jiao smiled and raised his eyebrow.

Fang Yuehai’s eyes went a bit wide and her cheeks went a bit red.

“N-n-n-not like that. I just meant that’s what friends are for right? Just returning the favor.”

Sun Jiao closed the door, leaned out the window, and replied in a dismissive tone not wanting to further embarrass her.

“Sure. Sure. I’ll meet you there.”

The carriage pulled away and left Fang Yuehai behind as she rollered her eyes.

They weren’t that far from the pillar of light so Sun Jiao arrived quickly after dropping Fang Yuehai off.

The base of the pillar was surrounded by a pentagonal shaped building that was several stories high. The building, like all buildings in the city, was made of polished black stone and covered in glowing blue formation runes.

Entering the building was simple as the guards recognized him and had known he was coming.

Sun Jiao walked down a straight corridor which branched out in several directions. Ignoring the side paths he was able to reach the center of the building in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

He arrived at the center and was greeted with an open courtyard that had a raised dais which was aglow with the fallen light from above.

Following Xiaobo’s instructions he climbed the stairs next to the dais and pulled out a spirit stone from his space ring.

The top of the dais had a circle that contained magic formations which were blood red instead of blue.

Standing in the center Sun Jiao held out the spirit stone and dropped it. Once it touched the formation the stone disappeared and the energy in the stone activated the formation.

A wave of dizziness passed of Sun Jiao and he disappeared.

~~~

Meanwhile in a darkened room a young man with a sleepy look rested with his eyes closed and a leg draped over the side of a comfortable looking chair.

The comfy chair was placed on the outside at the center of a narrow U shaped solid wood table. On the outside of the table a total of 12 empty chairs pointed inward.

Six to the left and six to the right.

These chairs were also solid wood and were designed, not to be comfortable, but to be impressive. There was a thirteenth chair of similar style, but that had been dragged to the side to lean against the wall and replaced by the cushioned chair that was significantly less impressive.

Along the four sides of the wall above the table was a balcony filled with equally impressive chairs that would allow several hundred people to sit and view the table in the center of the room below.

The chairs were empty now, but shadows covered the chairs so that if one were below and looked up they would be unable to tell if the balcony was filled or not.

On the bottom of the balcony was a soft glowing light that allowed one to see where they were going, but not with much detail.

Slowly men in cloaks with hoods that covered their faces began to arrive and fill the 12 chairs.

These men were the 10 Ministers that made up the Heaven Council.

After a few had arrived another man in a cloak entered. This man had a golden scarf that hung around his neck and fell to his knees. The cloak hid his face, but it couldn’t hide his massive muscular body that was a full two heads bigger than a normal man.

He sat down in the chair left of the resting man and spoke with a voice that was both aged and filled with strength.

“Greetings young master Sun. It’s rare to see you in these meetings. I could count the number of times on one hand you’ve shown up since you became the Imperial Counselor.”

The young man was Sun Shen, the first prince and also the Imperial Counselor. The Imperial Counselor sole job was to manage the Heaven Council and in case of a deadlock decision, vote to resolve a tie.

As Sun Shen neglected his duties as manager and ties were incredibly rare he was almost always absent and left managing to the Left and Right Chancellors

With a yawn and a stretch Sun Shen opened his eyes and straightened up a bit before addressing the man on his left.

“Greetings Left Chancellor Cao. I have matters today and expect a tied vote, else why would I bother showing up and waste time listening to a bunch of old men chatter while pretending to be mysterious.”

Sun Shen paused to scratch the back of his head before continuing.

“That reminds me Old Cao why do you have those cloaks anyways? Everyone knows who you are and it’s not like this is some secret society. And the lighting in here could definitely be improved. I’m getting sleep even having just rested.”

With a yawn Sun Shen propped his head up with his arm and began to nod off.

Chancellor Cao didn’t mind the attitude and chuckled.

“When is the Sleeping Tiger ever not sleepy? Greetings young master Sun.”

With a wave of his free hand as if brushing away the argument Sun Shen returned the greeting.

“Greetings Right Chancellor Fu.”

“It’s rare to see youn-”

“Ya ya. I got an earful from Old Cao over here already. Is everyone here yet who’s missing?”

By now the 12 seats were all filled save for one on the left.

“Sorry sorry! I’m a bit late. I had trouble finding a minister cloak on such short notice. I only just had this one made and it was delivered a bit late.”

Shen Duzi entered while putting on the cloak. Under his eyes were circles as he’d spent all night working.

Chancellor Cao stood up and helped straighten out Shen Duzi’s cloak before patting him on the shoulder with a bit too much strength causing Shen Duzi to stumble a bit.

“Haha no problem. Chancellor Fu only just arrived as well and he already had a cloak made.”

Chancellor Fu and Chancellor Cao had a bit of a rivalry so Chancellor Cao couldn’t help but take a chance to poke fun at him. Chancellor Fu wasn’t as aggressive and was constantly suppressed by Chancellor Cao.

“You must be Minister Fang’s man here to stand in. Any idea when he’ll breakthrough?”

“Thanks, I’m Shen Duzi. Unfortunately I don’t have any idea. Breakthroughs cannot be rushed only to come when they want.”

The two took their seats and Chancellor Cao continued talking without caring if the others were waiting on them.

“A bit like woman in that regard huh? Haha.”

Chancellor Cao turned towards the table before continuing.

“Well let’s begin. Oh right, sorry Young master Sun. Would you like to start things off?”

Sun Shen shook his head as he replied.

“No go ahead and start things off.”

Chancellor Fu frowned again. With Sun Shen absent the Left and Right Councilors would take turns leading the Heaven Council meetings which Chancellor Fu took great pride in. It had been his turn to lead the meeting this time, so he felt he had yet again been out maneuvered by Chancellor Cao. With Sun Shen giving him permission how could Chancellor Fu argue?

The meeting continued with Chancellor Cao in the lead as they addressed matters of the empire with Sun Shen completely ignoring the ongoings of the Council.

Only when the matter of the Liangqiu wedding was brought up did he finally interrupt.

“Actually the Liangqiu wedding is why I’m here today. Father wanted me to attend, but I have other *cough cough* important things to attend to. I’m hoping to send someone else in my place. All in favor?”

The Minister Herald who was in charge of domestic and foreign affairs quickly spoke up.

“With respect young mast-”

“ Imperial Counselor.”

“Apologies. Imperial Counselor Sun. With respect we need an appropriate candidate before we can decide whether or not to send them don’t we?”

Chancellor Fu, still upset from earlier, followed up.

“I agree. We need to find a replacement before deciding. Who do you have in mind?”

“Naturally my younger Brother Sun.”

Some of the other Ministers nodded their head and whispered to each other.

“Sun Jun would make an excellent choice.”

“Yes he’s related to the family. He wouldn’t just be an excellent choice he would be the best choice!”

“Young master Shen is truly a genius!”

Not all the ministers were agreeing however. The Minister of Information and the Minister of Justice both remained silent.

Finally the Minister of Justice coughed loudly to get attention then spoke.

“Perhaps some of you are not aware as it’s recent news, but third prince Sun Jun is currently under uh..under protective custody of second prince Sun Jiao.”

Sun Shen forced a smile. He had been hoping the news wouldn’t be brought up. First he had hurried the vote and then tried to use “younger brother sun” in an attempt to mislead them into voting for Sun Jiao as his replacement.

Sun Shen would naturally try these underhanded tactics if it meant making things easier for himself. Not that he didn’t have backup plans, but if something could be done without work or with work who would choose the later?

If the meeting had taken place the day before then things could have been rushed. Perhaps the Minister of Information in charge of spying, both abroad and at home, would have still known, but he would have the intelligence to see through his plan and the discretion to keep it to himself.

In fact, the Minister of Justice who was in charge of policing the empire had heard of the news from his subordinates just this morning. If it was previous Minister of Justices then it would have been a small matter to bribe them, but this one had a moral backbone and righteous attitude.

Faced with a set back Sun Shen could only come forward with the truth and carry on with his plans.

“Minister Tong is correct. Naturally I am talking about second brother Sun Jiao. He should be arriving any moment.”

The ministers went silent as the name Sun Jiao was too shocking and the news took a moment to process. Finally the gears began to move and they began to whisper.

“Sun Jiao? Impossible! He’ll ruin the whole thing.”

“I can’t agree to send him! Just a few months ago one of my cousin’s nephew’s close friend bumped into him. They’re still trying to clean up the blood!”

“Must have been a quick death! Did you hear what happened just recently? His sister forced a manager of a colosseum to lick her boots as they were covered in blood. After that she grabbed his tongue and slowly ripped it out of his throat. They say he didn’t die from blood loss or choking. He died from the pain!”

Just at this moment the main doors to the room were shoved open and with as arrogant an attitude as possible Sun Jiao swaggered in.