The white void didn’t remain quiet for long.
Before Lin Tao could begin his second sampling pass across the probe array, the skybox overhead convulsed with a violent tremor of crimson and royal gold. The air grew suddenly heavy with the artificial scent of burning incense. The huge projection of High Archon Xuan Ji showed up once more across the ceiling.
This time, however, the Archon didn’t appear merely as a flat portrait.
A full-body avatar of the sky judge coalesced in the center of the chamber, hovering six inches above the white floor. Robed in flowing silk of royal vermilion and crowned with a nine-tiered jade headdress, Xuan Ji’s projection radiated an intense, blinding aura of golden sky light.
His cold, disdainful eyes swept over the floor. He took in Lin Tao’s chalk marks, the folded woolen coat, and the bizarre pattern of paces.
“You crawl in circles like a blind dog!” Xuan Ji’s voice boomed through the chamber, rattling the dry air with dramatic majesty. “You think dancing upon the tiles will move the heavens? You measure the floor as though you were building a peasant’s ditch!”
Lin Tao didn’t jump, nor did he hide his instruments. He stood slowly, his land-mapper metal pen resting loosely in his right fingers, his face an unreadable mask of calm distance.
