Arriving And Right Down To Buisness

"Hey look, its the royal party!" A guard pointed at the distance. Another guard woke up from his nap, "Wait what? Arn't they still two day away?". "No you idiot get up, get the captain". In the early morning the guards outside Celestial Star City rushed like hungry cheetahs as soon as they saw the royal party make its way towards them.

It seems the predicted date had changed again as Hu Jin Shen rushed at a much higher speed then predicted. The entourage of soldiers and personnel along with some contracted architects were escorted along with the crown prince himself who rode at the forefront along with the second prince.

Unknown to everyone but his party Hu Jin Shen had brought along a formation that allowed for his party to speed up. Although he announced his presence 3-4 days ago, he used this formation to allow his party to traverse large distances. This took place less then a day ago after the party passed through the northern dipper pass.

Within 20 hours the party crossed the river lands and swampy terrain and reached the open plains Celestial Star City was built upon. The kingdom had dominated this area for over 1,000,000 years. Once upon a time it was led by True Immortals experts during a time where that expert reigned supreme.

In that time the Celestial Star Kingdom was the centre of the world, its king the realm king of the entire upper realm. This of course came to an end when the kingdom declined to a point where the leaders were Human Immortals hundreds of thousands of years ago. Since then the kingdom had remained a dominating power but could no longer control the world like they once did.

"It was said that the first Celestial Star King inherited the lineage of the famed North Star. Their foundation is both vast and deep. You can tell just by looking at this city" Hu Jin Shen commented as he saw the ancient looking street. It was a stellar ancient Chinese city that was painted with images of stars in the sky.

"So what, they lost we won, end of story" Hu Lan Yue dismissed with scoff. The princess also looked out the window over the crown prince's shoulder, "That said it is quite pretty though". The buildings of the city was constantly illuminated with starry images. These resembled rivers of stars which all lead to the centre, an imperial palace that was positioned in a way that it resembled the North Star. Although sections did look run down, that interrupted to cohesiveness of the city.

"Do they think they're the North Star emperor? They're not even in the northern parts of the continent" said Hu Lan Yue when she noticed the architectural detail. The princess thought the kingdom as an old relic that was too arrogant for its own goof. To be honest Hu Jin Shen had similar thoughts except he didn't openly voice it out.

The crown prince turned to the princess, "Remember to behave properly". It was a proper reminder and Hu Lan Yue knew to listen to her brother. She may be spoiled but she wasn't stupid, Hu Jin Shen held far higher authority then both her and her mother and she did not want trouble with her favourite brother.

"Yes big brother" the princess nodded her head and sat slightly straighter. Hu Jin Shen smiled at the sight and fixed up his collar slightly as they were just about arriving at the palace. He took a deep breath, 'Here goes'.

…

"We'll notified the custodian as soon as you arrived, they'll be waiting at the gate" a marshal said. Hu Tong Shan frowned, "This is his highness the acting emperor, shouldn't your king greet us". The marshal gulped and paled slightly and quickly replied, "Of course not, his highness arrived to suddenly that his majesty had no time to prepare".

Hu Tong Shan nodded, "Makes sense". The second prince felt that the king should immediately greet the most person of higher power but at the same time did not want to put a fellow soldier on the spot. He settled for staying silent and continued leading his platoon along.

Soon enough they arrived at the palace. Hu Tong Shan looked up and studied it intricately with his eyes. It was an impressive sight comparable to the imperial palace. It was shaped in the shape of a star, images of the vast cosmos illuminated the walls and made for an amazing sight. The prince could feel vast energy emanating from the palace.

'Say what you will about Celestial Star king, but you can't deny his majesty' Hu Tong Shan thought to himself. Before him a taoist priest arrived and greeted them. This was the custodian of the Celestial Star kingdom and loyal follower of their king. He was one of 12 experts who were named the 12 luminaries of Celestial Star.

In the past this organisation were filled with 12 True Immortals with the Sirius luminary at its head. Currently it was the Chief Luminary who stood at the top. The Chief Luminary was the other title for the Celestial Star king. In fact it was the proper way to address him.

CLICK!

Hu Tong Shan looked back and saw the carriage door opening. Out stepped his big brother Hu Jin Shen and his little sister. The two made their way to the fore front while the leading military officers got off their horses.

The crown prince greeted the minister who instructed his men to set up rooms for the horses and kirins. The crown prince followed after the custodian with his guards and followers. The custodian introduced the palace and essentially became a tour guide while taking the princes to the throne room.

'You could feel the ancient energies oozing off of the walls' thought Hu Jin She as he followed the custodian. He was genuinely impressed by the palace. It wasn't the first time he had seen the palace but this was the first time he had directly entered it.

"Your highnesses, please this way. The king is just beyond this point" Hu Jin Shen nodded and strode forwards towards a massive star gate. Hu Lan Yue and Hu Tong Shan along with several other powerful warriors followed after.

The silent Yi Guang followed after his princes. The custodian looked back at the general nervously. Yi Guang was infamous, with him here no now will dare disrespect the royals. The man was very loyal to the emperor and will protect his sons and daughters.

"Lets go" Hu Jin Shen commanded and signalled for the servants to open the door. He walked into to the throne room dignifiedly. The chamber was massive and held up with black pillars. The walls, floors and roof flashed with images of the cosmos. It was almost as if they were standing in space.

In the centre of the room was a bright throne made of white ivory. It shined like a star in the middle of the universe. Upon it sat the Celestial Star king looking down on the prince.

The princess kept a stable expression but sneered in her heart. The way the room was positioned almost portrayed the king as the Zi Wei emperor from legends. Legends dictate that the north star sat in the centre of the multiverse orbited by the big dipper. It exist in the centre of all creation and only True Immortals can ever reach that location.

The Zi Wei emperor or Zhong Tian Zi Wei Bei Jie Tai Wang Da Di was the highest deity North Star emperor who governs the sun, moon, stars, and seasons. He was one of the most powerful experts in all creation since ancient times. The Celestial Star king's ancestor can be considered a very distant descendent of a minor descendent.

To the princess, to see this man who wasn't even top 5 strongest in the realm place himself in a similar way to the legendary figure was an insult. If anything her father should doing this not this nobody. However she knew if she stepped out of line Hu Jin Shen will get mad.

"Welcome prince Hu" the king got up and floated down to greet Hu Jin Shen with cupped hands. "Do not be so courteous, it is my fault to show up so unannounced" Hu Jin Shen replied with his own salute.

The king smiled politely and said, "It is no issue, we're a little unprepared but there's already a war prepared for you. Please follow me". Hu Jin Shen nodded, "There is a matter I need to attend to first, I have brought some inspectors to check up on the repairs".

The king agreed, "No problem, we've managed to get rid of most of the corruption and the city did not suffer much damage. There is little you'll find". He motioned for the prince to follow him. The prince nodded and signalled Yi Guang to follow.

"I will be the judge and inspect all damages to make sure all is good. You lot follow the custodian and settle in our rooms" he instructed his siblings and soldiers before he and the general followed with the king out of the royal chamber.

They met the contracted experts outside who brought proper equipment to inspect the damages done to the city. A few monks were also present to inspect corruption caused by the fiend. This was all to make sure that the citizens of the empire will not succumb to a second fiendish influence.

From there the king led them across the city via flying miniature stars that created platforms to transport them. He took them towards the edges of the city to first inspect the walls. There was some noticeable damage, cracks on the city's mighty walls but none that were unrepairable. Yi Guang stood silently while Hu Jin Shen called the experts over.

They quickly inspected the repair efforts as well as residue fiendish corruption. After the monks confirmed that there were no such residue and the contractors returned they moved on to the next major sites along the wall.

They also visited areas that the fiend had gotten into most notably the upper class aristocracy section were all repairs were completed and formations laid out. It was impeccable work and signified that much emphasis had been placed on these. The poorer sections of the city was fine but the contractors did report some sub par areas.

Of course Jin Shen called the king out on that but he quickly defended himself. He stated that the Celestial Star kingdom has been in a financial crisis over the last few hundred years. This led to the prince questioning why much of its resources had been used up as the kingdom was supposedly very rich from their ore industry and rich farmlands.

In fact the prince had pointed out that their tax payments had remained consistent. "If you are struggling financially, report to us and my father will reevaluate your tax payments. You were all notified of this since the beginning" he said. The king briefly looked caught off guard, "Well we didn't wish to trouble his imperial majesty with this small matter".

"It is not a small matter. If your lands become poor we will send inspectors over. Think about how your actions will reflect on his majesty" it was Yi Guang who spoke up. This seemed to catch the king off guard again. Now it seemed he was purposefully bleeding his nation dry.

"Yes just where did all your recourses go? Surely you couldn't have spent it all so quickly?" Hu Jin Shen asked. The king seemed to contemplate for a second before responding, "The truth is we've been investing into a secret project. A new formation that'll allow us to be of further help to his majesty's conquest".

"Conquest? My father has planned no such expeditions" Hu Jin Shen stated. Yi Guang watched at the side but looked down. The king quickly replied, "Ah you're still young, of course his majesty would like to expand his lands. Sooner or later an expansion order will be passed and the empire will grow for the first time since its founding." Stated the Celestial Star king.

The crown prince looked at Yi Guang who did not deny this. 'I have to confirm with Nan' the prince thought inwardly but spoke outwardly, "Very well take me to the next location".

By the end of the day Hu Jin Shen had been to 70% of the sites. The star city was attacked but did not suffer anywhere near as much damage to the fiends leaving to attack the emperor. Of course it still did sustain damage but it was few enough for Hu Jin Shen to visit the majority of the sites in a single day.