The twilight breeze swept across the open terrace of the Floating Mountain. He carried the sweet, earthy scent of damp pines from the forests below.
Inside the grand council hall, the red light of the light-projected ledger gradually subsided. That left only the soft azure radiance of Lin Xiao’s core to light up the faces of his inner circle. Nobody spoke. The weight of three million years—of forty-eight million stolen souls and seven engineered world-size cataclysms—hung in the air like an invisible mountain resting upon their shoulders.
Su Ling’er stood with her head lowered, her nine tails drooping against her silk skirts. Her fingers were curled tightly into her palms, her amber eyes staring down at the polished cedar floorboards.
“Three days,” Su Ling’er whispered, her voice dry and brittle. “Envoy Bai gave us seventy-two hours before they deploy the Annihilation Array. Lord Xiao... Our defensive outer edge wards are designed to withstand bombardment from mortal grand sects. Even with Tie Shan’s heavy meteor-iron plating and Xiao Long’s moisture barriers, if the Upper Realm fires a weapon powered by forty massive power loads of packed starlight—”
“We aren’t defending,” Lin Xiao interrupted softly.
Su Ling’er blinked, lifting her gaze in surprise.
