Chapter 248: Celebration

The heavy doors of the Zhao Provincial Palace's grand hall were securely closed against the chaotic, continent-wide panic currently paralyzing the upper echelons of the Central Continent.

Within this warded sanctuary, the atmosphere was not one of tense anticipation, but of a profound, triumphant exhale. The air was thick with the fragrant, intoxicating aroma of thousand-year spiritual peach wine, poured generously into cups of polished jade.

Lord Zhao Shenming stood at the head of the massive star-iron table, his dark-blue provincial robes completely stripped of their usual rigid formality. The Lord of the Zhao Province held his cup high, his youthful face flushed with a mixture of premium wine and absolute elation.