Deep inside the gleaming Galactic Core Sector of the Orion-Jade Spiral Arm, a thousand artificial suns floated around a palace made of solid star-gold.
This was the Ten-Thousand-Year Star-Summit Hall. Normally, the ancient rulers of the Galactic Core only met here once every five thousand years to divide up mortal tribute worlds and brag about their pill collections.
Today, however, all one hundred and eight jade thrones in the hall were filled. The air inside the palace smelled like sour sweat and burnt tea leaves.
At the head of the giant round table sat Patriarch Jin Wudi, the Half-Step Rank 9 ruler of the Golden-Vault Immortal Sect. His eyebrows were white as snow, his robes were woven from golden dragon-silk, and his hands were shaking so hard he dropped his jade teacup twice.
“Look at this!” Patriarch Jin slammed his palm onto a holo-crystal in the center of the table.
A giant glowing screen popped up in the air. On the screen, the Joyous-Illusion Demon Empress—one of the most feared Half-Step Rank 9 monsters in the middle Spiral Arm—was wearing a neat blue Dry-Well postal uniform and smiling warmly at the camera.
“Remember, fellow Daoists!” the Demon Empress said sweetly on the broadcast while holding up a pink tax form. “Filing your quarterly property report before the fifteenth of the month brings peace to your dantian and avoids a twenty percent late fee! After this commercial break, stay tuned for Episode Four of ‘How Ye Guhan Paved Ten Thousand Miles’!”
