The sky fire-drakes hissed, their barbed tails whipping against the bronze railings of the war chariots. Across the high-sky void, the two hundred golden-armored guards stood with drawn weapons. Their killing intent pressed down on the Floating Mountain like an iron dome.
Yet Envoy Bai Ming didn’t right away give the order to fire.
He drew a long, shuddering breath through flared nostrils. That forced his high-born composure back into place. To destroy an entire mortal mountain before securing the prize would be considered an unforgivable office blunder by his superiors in the Upper Realm. A judge didn’t merely destroy. A judge pulled out value.
With a stiff, practiced gesture, Bai Ming rolled the thirty-foot sun-silk decree back into its jade metal tube. The burning golden characters vanished from the sky. That left behind a faint haze of ozone and charred air.
“Ignorant creatures,” Bai Ming sneered, looking down from his quarterdeck with cold, calculating eyes. “You laugh because your primitive minds can’t grasp the scale of the cosmos. You sit upon this pile of floating dirt and imagine yourselves lords of an empire. But the Heavenly Tribulation Court is generous. The Grand Chief Judge possesses a boundless, merciful heart. He has granted you a singular opportunity to atone for your crimes and preserve your terrible lives.”
