After landing on the ground, Ding Meng realized that the capital of the Steel Mane Empire was actually quite large, not in terms of size but in terms of volume.
It was because all the buildings were built by building blocks. Some of them were stacked very high, while some only had one or two floors. It was a bit like a large starship or an iron fortress in space, but it was also a bit like an undulating mountain range. The streets ran through the big "building blocks", extending in all directions and interweaving in many ways horizontally, vertically, and diagonally. It could be said to be a three-dimensional street.
Looking at the top of the fortress in the distance, there was a temple building. The temple was not black but colorful. That was the imperial city of the Steel Mane Empire. Ding Meng and the others were heading to the imperial city.
There were already royal guards waiting on the tarmac. These Steel Mane soldiers were wrapped in all kinds of shiny and heavy metal armor, leaving only their heads exposed. Obviously, their clothes were qualitatively different from ordinary civilians. Most of the weapons they carried were exquisite swords and knives, unlike the ordinary Steel Mane people who liked to use those silly and thick weapons. From this point, it could be seen that these royal guards were much better in martial arts than ordinary people.
Ding Meng glanced at Zhan Feng. His hair was actually close to dark blue, which meant that he was between an elder and a warlord, while the other guards were pure sky blue.
The elders of the Steel Mane Empire were equivalent to a warlord level origin ability user. There were 20 of them in this group, and together, they were a force to be reckoned with. Of course, in the capital of the Steel Mane Empire, such a force was already very strong.
Zhan Feng prepared a black robe for Xiao Bai. There was no other reason. Xiao Bai's skin color was too strange. In order to avoid the strange looks of others on the street, he tried to cover it up as much as possible.
"Brother Feng, you finally came back smoothly!"
The leader of the guards greeted them. This person looked quite young, but he was very enthusiastic about Zhan Feng. Obviously, he was a subordinate that Zhan Feng trusted very much.
"Xiao Luo, thank you for your hard work!" Zhan Feng nodded with satisfaction.
"Not at all. It's what we should do!"
Xiao Luo bowed slightly to Little White. "Your Highness, we are going to the Funeral Palace of the Imperial City now. Everyone is waiting for you to come back and hold the funeral ceremony."
The Steel Mane Tribe treated the dead with great respect because the population of the Steel Mane Empire was smaller than the other kingdoms. Once someone died, a farewell ceremony would be held as long as conditions permitted. If it was a member of the royal family, the ceremony would be even grander, and there would even be priests praying.
From afar, the Imperial City didn't look like much, but when Ding Meng reached the peak, he realized that the temple was just a cover.
This was clearly the structure of a large starship. The temple was only the reconnaissance cabin at the top, the palace was the command hall, the treasury was the storage cabin, and the connecting cabin was the city gate … It was a large starship embedded inside the building. It could only be said that the material of this starship was much better than the starships of other countries.
The Funeral Palace felt like a restaurant. There were many seats here, and in the center was the altar. Ding Meng and the others attracted the attention of dozens of people as soon as they came in.
These people were obviously important members of the royal family. It could be seen from their gorgeous clothes. However, everyone's attention was on Little White. Little White's skin color was a heresy in the empire. Many people were whispering. With Ding Meng's Perception, he heard everything clearly.
"Is that the fourth son of Ming Li and his wife?"
"Look at his white hair. Could it be that he mutated due to pollution?"
"I heard that the fourth son is an illegitimate child. Is he also here to get a share of the inheritance?"
"Shh, lower your voice. Don't talk nonsense in this kind of place …"
…
Ding Meng thought that Little White was an illegitimate child. No wonder he was abandoned when he was born.
There was a big steel bed on the altar. Two people were lying side by side on it with their eyes closed. They were Little White's parents, Ming Li and his wife.
In Ding Meng's eyes, although most of the Steel Mane people looked the same, this couple was obviously different from ordinary people. They were dressed like the ancient royal clothes. They were square, graceful, and luxurious. There were all kinds of jewelry on them, but they were all made of metal. Next was their hair and skin color. Their skin was purple. They were typical members of the royal family.
Ming Li and his wife were lying quietly in a pile of colorful metal funerary objects. They looked calm and peaceful.
Little White did not have any impression of his parents. He just followed the tradition and bowed three times to show filial piety.
Then, Little White returned to the first row of seats below the altar. Ding Meng stood behind him. The other Steel Mane royal family members did not have any objections because Zhan Feng had already explained that this was the follower of His Highness the Fourth Prince.
After Little White finished bowing, an old man with purple and black hair walked up the altar. He was the royal family's priest. He was responsible for presiding over farewell ceremonies. People like him were very respected in the Empire.
After the priest walked up the altar, he scanned the crowd and slowly said, "Friends and family of Ming Li and his wife, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to send these two respected lords off. Now, let us begin the prayer ceremony."
The thirty to forty people present immediately stood up and looked down at the ground in silence. The Priest faced the corpse and muttered something. This time, even Ding Meng could not understand the Steel Mane language. It felt like a Sanskrit scripture or something similar.
Ding Meng secretly observed everyone with his telekinetic vision, especially Little White's two brothers and sister.
On the way here, Zhan Feng had already told him the basic situation. There were three Steel Mane people standing on Little White's left. The one on the left was the eldest brother.
This Steel Mane person had an average build and was wearing an ordinary general's battle suit. However, his eyes were bright and deep, and he looked calm. It was obvious that he was a shrewd person. The eldest brother was called Ming Yuan, and he was in charge of the Empire's Operation Department. This organization was equivalent to the commander of the patrol fleet in the human world. It had a lot of power.
However, the power structure of the Steel Mane Empire was a little complicated. First of all, there were no leaders, presidents, kings, or queens. The highest power center was formed by the elders, and all major decisions were made by the elders.
There were a total of seven elders, and they were the legendary overlords of the Steel Mane Empire. However, the elders were scattered across the major planets of the Byron Galaxy, and each of them was in charge of their own affairs. None of them were willing to submit to anyone, and it was difficult to form a unified opinion. Even Ding Meng had heard of this before. The upper echelons of the Steel Mane Empire were not united, and this was the main reason why they could not defeat the frogmen and the Norse Empire.
Next to Ming Yuan stood a Steel Mane person about three and a half meters tall. This person was muscular and strong, and his eyes were wide open. He looked like a tiger that was about to pounce at any time. He was majestic and murderous. This was Little White's second brother, Ming Jian. He was part of the Great Warrior Court of the Empire's royal family.
This organization was equivalent to the Norse Empire's Secret Service, Security Bureau, Elite Group, and other similar departments. To put it simply, it was a place where experts gathered, and they had the power to decide the life and death of others.
Standing beside Lil 'White was his third sister, Ming Xue. This female Steel Mane was on the short side. She looked like a spoiled brat. How should he put it?
She did not look like a Steel Mane person, but more like a human woman. First of all, she was dressed in the interstellar fashion of the Federal Empire. There were colorful ribbons, bracelets, rings, necklaces, and earrings. She even dyed her hair into colorful wavy waves. If you did not look at her from the front, you might think that she was a human, but if you really looked at her from the front, it was indescribably awkward.
According to Zhan Feng and Xiaoluo's description, Ming Xue was the kind of person who dressed up all day long and went to the taverns in the city to have fun.
Ding Meng sighed slightly. "Little White, your family members all have the surname Ming, so shouldn't you understand what your name is?"
Little White was puzzled. "Understand?
But I don't really understand. "
Ding Meng couldn't help but smile.
Their whispering was immediately heard by the priest on the stage.
A sharp warning glare swept over, and Little White didn't dare to make a sound.
Ding Meng did not care. In his opinion, the priest was just so-so. However, the priest looked at him meaningfully and continued to chant.
Fortunately, the prayer ceremony did not last long. The priest slowly spread out his hands and pulled out a red flame.
This Origin Flame was also controlled very precisely. It slowly melted the deceased into ashes and stored them in a box. This box was not taken to be buried. Instead, it was taken to the top floor of the temple by the royal guards and scattered in the air.
This was the sky burial that the Steel Mane people understood. They believed that the deceased had been released and would travel freely with the wind and become one with the world.
Once the ceremony was over, everyone sat down. The priest said in a deep voice, "Let's invite Master Luzern to announce the last wishes of the Ming Li couple and the aftermath."
Another Steel Mane old man came up to the stage. Ding Meng paid more attention to this person because his hair was almost all black. It was purple to the extreme. It seemed that he was about to break through to become an overlord. At the same time, this person's status was relatively high. He was a general under Bu Jun, a member of the Board of Patriarchs. Bu Jun controlled the periphery of the Byron Star System and his main responsibility was to mobilize starships for transportation. Since the Ming Li couple were important officials, Luzern going up to the stage to read the will represented the importance of the Board of Patriarchs and also showed respect for the deceased.
Luzern did not waste any time. He directly turned on an old-fashioned optical computer and entered a specific password. He then said, "First, the Ming Li couple has been verified and agreed by the Board of Patriarchs to donate all their wealth of 1.05 billion galactic credits to the Empire. It will be used for transportation, technology research, and external procurement!"
Once this was said, the audience applauded. Obviously, they admired the couple's loyalty and generosity to the Empire.
Only the Ming siblings did not look too happy. They did not get a single cent of the inheritance.
Xiao Bai was confused. He did not have any concept of wealth and did not have any aspirations.
Ding Meng sighed secretly. The Steel Mane Nation was really poor. The important officials of the Empire could not even compare to the second or third-rate families in the human world. Not to mention the top financial groups, even the Chu family's Haitian Group was probably richer than them.