When Lilly realized that she was in the Heavenly Court, she was astonished. "Have I... reached the heavens? Not only have I reached the heavens, but I've also taken everything that belonged to Hera and the Jade Emperor!" she exclaimed. Confused, she asked, "If this is the Heavenly Court, then where are Hera and the Jade Emperor? Don't tell me you belong to them?"
The palace spirit was at a loss for words. "Where on earth are the Jade Emperor and Hera? Is she imagining things?" it wondered. Its hairy legs trembled in the breeze, and after a series of gestures, the palace spirit finally explained everything in detail.
It turned out that a long time ago, a Great Emperor from the Underworld had placed it there. "But he abandoned me," Speedy, the palace spirit, sadly gestured. "He cut off contact with me, saying that a new master would come to take me away."
Before leaving, the Emperor also placed all the valuable treasures he could find in the palace. Since he claimed he would never return, he left these items for the next owner.
The Emperor had been gone for thousands of years, and Speedy had been waiting there for a long time. It had waited so long that it had forgotten what the Emperor even looked like. Finally, Lilly arrived.
Lilly exclaimed, "Am I the first one to be here?"
The palace spirit on top of its speedy legs nodded, confirming that Lilly was indeed the first one to arrive.
Lilly found it strange, though. "But the last time I came, the palace doors were tightly shut. This time, they're open, and all the things inside the palace have disappeared. I thought someone had taken them..."
A few hairs on Speedy's legs shook in the wind as the spirit shook its head, indicating that this was not the case. "The palace outside is just the physical form of the palace. This is the interior space of the palace. Valuable items are not placed outside; they are hidden here," it explained. "My master said that only those who have mastered the order of time and space can enter. Only those who can enter are qualified to take these things, and only those who can enter will be my new master..." Suddenly, it had a realization. "No, wait a minute. My new master is the one who can enter. Doesn't that mean the girl before me is my new master?"
This realization struck the palace spirit like a thunderbolt.
Lilly also stared at the palace spirit in astonishment, and they looked at each other, unsure of what to do.
The palace spirit exclaimed excitedly, "Where is my master?"
Lilly asked, "Which Great Emperor is your master?" She remembered what her father had said—that the five Emperors had left something for her. At the moment, the things she had already obtained were the items stored by her father in his palace and the items hidden by Emperor Greenbow in Mount Cape. "This is the third Emperor... I really want to know who it is. If I get the chance in the future, I have to thank them for such generosity."
Then, she saw Speedy shaking its head and gesturing, "It's Emperor Eastmount."
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