Three hours after Chief Tax Collector Duan was put to work brushing bee fur in the municipal barns, the dark void ahead of Civic Galaxy Plaza #200 began to rumble like a boiling cauldron.
RUMBLE—ROAR!
Fifty thousand gigantic warships carved from gleaming golden star-iron tore out of hyperspace, forming a dazzling wall of metal that stretched ten thousand miles across the mouth of the wormhole expressway. Every single warship had a fierce, three-headed golden dragon carved onto its prow, spitting jets of arrogant solar fire into the empty void.
At the center of the armada floated a palace-sized flagship carried on the backs of nine chained fire-drakes. Hundreds of royal musicians in silk robes stood on the outer balconies blowing long golden horns and beating war drums made from star-beast leather, while flower-scattering maids threw glowing gold leaf into space just so their master wouldn’t have to look at plain dark vacuum.
On the highest jade platform of the flagship stood Prince Zhao Lie, Third Prince of the Nine-Suns Immortal Dynasty. He wore robes woven from shimmering golden star-silk, a crown of nine miniature spinning fire-gems on his head, and a jade fan in his hand.
As Pei Xuan stepped out onto the roof of the wooden toll booth at Galaxy Plaza #200, a bright RTS tooltip popped up above Prince Zhao Lie’s head:
