The State of Zhao, blocked by the Tianhe Sea, was perhaps once part of the Southern Wilderness, located in the south.
More precisely, it is now situated on the border of the Southern Domain.
Although not close to the sea, after traversing many mountain ranges, one can still glimpse the vast Tianhe Sea, exuding an expansive aura.
The State of Zhao is not large, and its population is not particularly numerous.
Within the capital, it can be as prosperous as jade, with snow fluttering at dusk, yet inside every home, the glow of oil lamps still shines, making people feel warm and intimate.
Those without homes, wandering in the snow, would be very lonely.
Meng Hao was walking at the end of a street; the sky had already darkened.
The road, bustling with people during the day, was now sparse, with only a few individuals wearing wide-brimmed hats hurrying through the snow.
Looking up, one could vaguely see a very distinctive pagoda-shaped structure within the capital of the State of Zhao, known as the Tang Pagoda.
This pagoda was about a hundred zhang tall, likely the tallest pagoda in this capital. It normally attracted the attention of everyone in the city and was also where the ruler of the State of Zhao and his scholars would gather their thoughts, looking towards the Great Tang, towards Chang'an.
Meng Hao had never visited this capital, nor had he seen that pagoda before.
Now, walking on the street, he saw the pagoda for the first time.
Looking up at the pagoda, he vaguely understood something.
This pagoda seemed to be...
...the Tang Pagoda (a pagoda embodying the image/style of the Great Tang)!
He had once thought that one day, as a civil official, he would walk on grand roads, traveling far to a place from which he could survey the entire world with a single glance.
Now, he fell silent.
He had never forgotten the events of his childhood when his parents disappeared; he had always lived resiliently.
In the days that followed, he always had a dream: a dream of going to the Great Tang!
Everyone said his parents had passed away, but he knew clearly that they had only disappeared and must still be alive.
On that day, his father, wearing a purple robe, stood by the window, turning to look at him with reluctant eyes.
He also never forgot his mother's sobbing, murmuring voice.
He had never told anyone about these things, only etched them into the depths of his heart.
Meng Hao looked at the Tang Pagoda, which was getting closer and closer, wondering why such old memories were resurfacing in his mind.
He sighed softly.
The sigh was carried away by the wind and snow, but he knew that the wind could not blow it out of the State of Zhao, out of the Southern Domain, nor could it fly across the Tianhe Sea to reach the Eastern Lands of the Great Tang!
"Perhaps, it's because when I was little, my mother always told me about the Great Tang, about the roads and pagodas in that capital."
Meng Hao whispered.
The wind and snow blew stronger and stronger, gust after gust, like choked sobs echoing all around.
Snowflakes fluttered, hitting the pagoda walls.
From a distance, the pagoda appeared octagonal and stood upright, its entire body green.
Soldiers patrolled around it; only those with official titles and power were allowed inside.
However, Meng Hao was no ordinary person; no guards detected his entry.
Around the pagoda walls, stairs led straight to the top, and on all sides were colorful carvings depicting life and scenery in the Eastern Lands of the Great Tang, in Chang'an.
"My parents told me about these things before, but I was too young then to understand. Remembering it today, it's as if my parents had seen those scenes with their own eyes, which is why they could describe them in such detail."
On the roof, the wind and snow howled, and the snow fell thicker and thicker.
Meng Hao stood on the pagoda's upper level, gazing into the distance.
Before his eyes, only falling snow covered everything. He could not see the Tang Dynasty, nor could he see Chang'an.
"So, even standing here, I cannot see Chang'an."
Meng Hao stood still for a long time. The aura around him gradually changed, no longer resembling a scholar, but returning to that of a cultivator at the eighth level of Qi Condensation.
"The path I walk has changed, but the direction will not."
After a while, Meng Hao closed his eyes and sat down cross-legged.
Late at night, the snow still howled outside the tall building.
Looking down from here, the entire city was enveloped in a thick, dark night, utterly silent.
With his eyes closed, images from many years ago, when he was still in Yun Jie County, appeared in his mind. The wind and snow there seemed much gentler than in this place.
Early in the morning, Meng Hao opened his eyes. The morning sunlight brightened his face.
The city below became bustling, people rushing to and fro.
Meng Hao remained there, observing, for one day, two days, three days, and so on.
After seven days, the light in his eyes gradually became calm again, his mood more tranquil, and his understanding of life also underwent a transformation.
On the eighth day, Meng Hao saw a man in imperial robes on the street below, with a group of people gathered behind him, facing the tall building to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth. Many common people followed behind, bowing in unison.
Meng Hao stood up.
As the crowd below performed their bows, Meng Hao also gradually departed, leaving the tall building. The treasured fan beneath his feet, which had been carrying him forward, suddenly stopped. Meng Hao wanted to turn back and look at the building one more time.
At that moment, his eyes suddenly narrowed.
He discovered a soft light emanating from among the people kneeling on the street in front of the building.
Then, this halo shot straight up into the sky, causing the swirling clouds to form a giant vortex that no mortal could detect.
This vortex appeared very clearly, greatly astonishing Meng Hao and shaking his mind intensely.
He saw deep within the vortex a ruined area, skeletal remains, and an eerie aura enveloped by black mist, simultaneously exuding a gloomy and extremely mysterious presence.
Within this vortex and black smoke, he vaguely saw a large coffin.
Beside the coffin was a withered, skeletal body sitting cross-legged.
Suddenly, this person's eyes opened. Within the gray pupils, seven points of light swirled.
The surrounding space was still incredibly dim, but this person seemed able to see through the vortex to the outside, their gaze fixed on Meng Hao.
Meng Hao's spirit trembled violently, his eyes unable to close. A sudden pain appeared, as if those seven points of light also wanted to appear in his eyes.
His body showed signs of withering, and streams of black smoke escaped from the pores all over his body.
The panic within him suddenly vanished. The mysterious vortex was also obscured by mist, and the pressure around him completely dissipated.
Everything returned to normal, as if everything that had just happened was merely an illusion.
Only, his body still showed signs of withering as before, and the wisps of black smoke, like death qi, still poured out.
Meng Hao's expression changed continuously.
He lowered his head to look at the street below the tall building. The crowd below continued their bows without stopping.
His expression grew even more somber. Then, he urged the treasured fan, which transformed into a rainbow, to quickly depart.
Upon leaving the capital city of the Zhao State, Meng Hao turned his head to look at the building one last time, and then up at the sky, his heart filled with doubt.
"What just happened was clearly not an illusion."
"What exactly was that tower? I initially thought it was just some mundane object, but it seems to be more than that."
"And that vortex in the sky, what kind of place is that?"
"It looked very much like a ruin filled with countless skeletons, permeated with death qi."
Meng Hao's scalp tingled as if paralyzed.
The image of that skeletal body looking towards him was still vivid in his mind.
That body was filled with coldness and gloom, especially the seven points of light in its gray pupils, which made him break out in a cold sweat and feel a chill throughout his body.
"That coffin..."
"Who was buried in it? Why did it appear within that mysterious vortex? How are all these events related to that tower? Are they related to the Great Tang of the Eastern Lands?"
Meng Hao pondered in silence, his gaze towards the tower filled with even greater awe.
After a moment, he descended to the ground and quickly left the area.
He felt that being noticed by the withered skeletal body in the vortex was probably not a good thing.