This was He Lingchuan’s first time entering the royal palace of Great Yuan.

When the He Family had passed through Shihuan City a year earlier, only He Chunhua had been fortunate enough to receive an audience with the King of Yuan. He Lingchuan had not even visited the capital itself.

The Royal Palace of Yuan was still quite imposing. Its buildings were thick and solid, with black-tiled roofs and gray walls. When arranged in long rows at varying heights, they created a formidable sense of grandeur.

The palace was a surviving jewel of the previous dynasty. After Great Yuan’s founding monarch took possession of it, he spent more than a decade renovating the complex. Its architectural style therefore differed considerably from that of Shihuan City, the surrounding auxiliary capital.

The palace grounds were laid out symmetrically along a central axis. As He Lingchuan walked down the broad central avenue, the overwhelming impression was one of solemn...