“My lord, we’ve passed the Licentious Gate!”
The Dragon Consort had been watching the outside movement the whole time.
Seeing the ritual carriage pass the Gate of Li, she hurriedly reminded the Dragon Lord.
Though the Dragon Lord leaned back on the soft couch and did not sneak a peek by the door like the Dragon Consort, the stir outside could not hide from his dharma eye.
Before the Consort finished speaking, he rose and left the couch.
“Open the gate.”
When he spoke, those words carried weight: when he wished, conversations he’d had could not be overheard by the outside world; when he willed it, his commands were heard by all.
The banner ranks and music ranks parted from the center and shifted aside, splitting into two lines to clear a path.
The Nine Flood-Drakes flicked their tails and, through the path the ranks made, stepped ahead to the front of the procession.
When they reached the very front, Ni Wenyu tugged the reins and the Nine Flood-Drakes slowed.
The flag and music ranks to either side, and all the attendant formations behind, eased their pace and the jade chariot passed slowly through the Gate of Li.
Ni Wenyu then loosened the reins, stood, and went to stand solemnly by the jade chariot’s palace door.
On the corridor, two strongmen and four maidservants on each side walked toward the hall door.