Charles Bennett’s face showed a hint of displeasure. The Yingyan Flower, also called the Adonai Divine Flower, was a flower tree representing a false god, yet it grew right in the Mahā Monastery’s grounds—truly a great disrespect. And to thrive so vigorously in this remote backwater—did that not imply that the glory of the Mahā Great God shining upon this place was still inferior to that of the false god, silent for a thousand years?

With a creak, the closed monastery gates slowly opened to both sides, shaking loose the colored lacquer from the doors.

Elder Reed, Ascetic Gregory Clark, and Ascetic Edward Grant stood side by side inside the gate, palms pressed together in greeting: “We were unable to go far to welcome Lord Brian Sutton, please forgive our discourtesy.”

Brian Sutton returned the greeting and said, “Brian Sutton is no longer the Privy Minister, having offended the Emperor and been exiled here to atone for my sins. I must ask the Elder for strict supervision.”

Ascetic Gregory Clark stood inside the gate, carefully observing this man who had once stood above tens of thousands.

The exiled may not wear a crown.

The middle-aged Brian Sutton had his brown hair tied behind his shoulders with a blue kudzu cord. The pupils in his dark brown eyes were the color of dark blood. Though Brian Sutton wore a kindly smile, those eyes sent a faint chill to the bone.

Once inside the monastery, it felt as if they had entered the belly of the Yingyan Flower. Countless dark blue branches stretched out from the square before the Guanlan Hall, climbing the walls and covering the entire hall, shrouding the whole monastery and overflowing beyond its walls, making the monastery nestled in the low valley look like a colossal flowering tree.

From the gate to the Guanlan Hall, the bluestone path was flanked and roofed by an arched corridor formed by the guided growth of the flower tree’s branches.

Beneath the shadows of the flowers, it was cool to the core, and all stray thoughts vanished.

“Who would have thought such a wondrous place was hidden in the Yan Yun Mountains.”

The Adonai Divine Flower, now renamed the Yingyan Flower, was nevertheless contrary to doctrine. From the moment Brian Sutton entered, Elder Reed had been on edge. Now, hearing these words, he relaxed considerably and smiled: “Before Ascetic Gregory Clark came to the monastery, this Yingyan Flower had only a dozen or so lateral branches and had never bloomed. Starting from the cold autumn fifteen years ago, the Yingyan Flower not only blossomed with blue flame flowers, but grew ever more luxuriant. A few years ago, people could still count the branches, but now they are beyond counting. Yan Yun is a land of bitter cold, but thanks to this Yingyan Flower, it is possible for you, my lord, to reside here. Perhaps it has been waiting for your arrival.”

William Harper said, “When we crossed the Yan Yun Wasteland, we drank only bitter spring water for months. Is there sweet spring water in the monastery?”

Elder Reed smiled, “There is no sweet spring, but the Yingyan Flower gathers rain and dew, which collects in a clear pool at its base—enough for drinking.”

William Harper was slightly moved. Since entering the Yan Yun Mountains, he had not seen a single shrub taller than a man. Though the monastery was dilapidated, it had not been abandoned, all thanks to this Yingyan Flower tree. No wonder the monastery could not bother with whether it violated doctrine.

Brian Sutton was even more astonished than William Harper.

To win a concubine’s smile, the Emperor had once invited a Saint of the Grand Luminous Sect to use secret arts to force the Yingyan Flower to bloom. The Saint planted a Yingyan Flower seed in the shadowy marshes of Qinglan City. On the first day, it sprouted; on the second, it branched; on the third, a hundred blossoms opened, like a sea of blue flames.

In these desolate Yan Yun Mountains, it would likely take the spiritual energy of hundreds of miles around to nurture such a Yingyan Flower.

Elder Reed introduced others to Brian Sutton.

Brian Sutton’s gaze fell on the pair of Xiyue Blades at Gregory Clark’s waist and asked, “Before you retired from the world, Mr. Gregory Clark, were you a Miluo warrior?”

Gregory Clark pressed his palms together in greeting: “Gregory Clark still practices according to the Miluo Sect’s teachings.”

“Outside the valley, there are barren rocks and desolate hills, but upon entering the valley, it feels as if one witnesses a miracle.”

“A thousand years ago, before the Yan Yun Wasteland became a wasteland, the monastery was still the Adonai Temple. Perhaps some divine power lingers here.”

Gregory Clark’s words made Brian Sutton look at him with new respect: “The records say the Yingyan Flower was originally called the Adonai Divine Flower. So there are people in the monastery who know this story.”

Brian Sutton decided to stay in the monastery. The Wu clan’s caravan crossed the Yan Yun Wasteland and returned to Qinglan. William Harper, Charles Bennett, and sixteen other retainers built huts outside the monastery to live in.

Thanks to the presence of the Yingyan Flower tree, life in the Yan Yun Monastery was not as harsh as imagined. If not for the sudden loss of overwhelming power and the anxiety of being far from the center of authority, life in the monastery could even be called leisurely for Brian Sutton.

Even Charles Bennett, who had previously voiced objections to the monastery’s display of Adonai’s miracle, now kept silent.

Each day, either William Harper or Charles Bennett would accompany Brian Sutton in the monastery, serving as close bodyguards.

……

“A thousand years ago, Yan Yun was not so desolate. More than a dozen rivers once flowed from the northwestern peaks of the Yan Yun Mountains, across the Yan Yun Plain, and into the Ganan region, eventually merging with the Buleichu River to the south. In those days, the Chubu River, which crossed the center of Yan Yun, was the main source of the Buleichu. The ancestor of the Xi people, on the Benlei Plain, used divine power to build a ten-thousand-foot ice dam, blocking the meltwater from the northwestern peaks of the Yan Yun Mountains outside Yan Yun. From then on, this place grew ever more desolate. The people of Yan Yun left the barren plain, and the ancient kingdom of Yan Yun became a relic of history.”

Eric opened his eyes wide and asked, “With the strength of the entire Yan Yun nation, could they not break through that ice dam?”