Ten thousand leagues to the north of Sword Saint Mountain, high above the unending cloud sea that blanketed the Central Plains, the Nine-Dragon Audience Hall of the Imperial Palace stood in frozen, numbed terror.
On the Great Astrological Mirror—the hundred-pace pool of liquid sky liquid silver suspended in empty pocket floating—the silver star-pattern representing the Nine-Peak Sword Domain had simply vanished.
It hadn’t flickered. It hadn’t slowly dimmed as if an elder had passed away from natural tiredness.
Nine thousand silver nodes of divine sword intent had been deleted at the same time in a single, total registration cycle.
The Grand Astrologer dropped his golden fortune-telling brush onto the polished jade floor. The heavy brush shattered into three pieces, the black red stone ink splattering across the clean white stone unheeded.
“Sire...” the Grand Astrologer cried out, his voice cracking into a high-pitched, frantic shriek as he threw himself prostrate before the throne. “The Supreme Sword Saint... Du Cang has fallen! The Nine-Peak Domain has crashed! The Sky-Severing Void Blade has ceased to resonate with the royal ley lines!”
A collective gasp of sheer, pure horror rippled through the three hundred gathered sect masters, royal grand marshals, and sky ministers.
