Qi Ye, the sky was crowned with a full moon. Six massive, greenish-blue stars orbited the slightly northern moon in a perfect circle, their white moonlight and the stars' blue-green luminescence washing over the azure expanse. The moon was natural, but those six large blue stars were the core components of the defense system for Hisis Imperial Capital—the Six God Base.

Beneath the moonlight, deep within the Hisis Imperial Palace, a gentle fragrance drifted through a sparse grove of white blossoms. Low laughter and hushed voices echoed, mingling with the cool, soul-penetrating scent of the flowers—a perfect tableau of prosperous peace. Occasionally, a young couple would furtively slip away from the crowd, hand in hand, vanishing into the tall grass or under the vine trellises near the grove. Others would discreetly press a few Star Alliance gold coins into the hands of a palace servant and slip into a secluded pavilion, injecting a blush of tender romance into the air.

The highest echelon of the noble families of the Hisis Empire were all gathered here.

Every gaze was fixed upon one figure: an old man with hair the color of pure gold and a silver-white beard, and the four noblewomen flanking him.

The elder was draped in a pale violet ceremonial robe, his head crowned with a triple diadem, and he gripped a heavy scepter forged from starlight-silver, radiating an aura of majestic, overbearing authority. The scepter he held was over two meters long, its thickest point nearly as broad as a grown man's thigh, inlaid with more than a dozen enormous, silvery-white gems that dazzled the eye with their sheer brilliance.

Of the four noblewomen, the eldest was also clad in a pale violet robe, embroidered with several rare, ancient, and unfamiliar birds. The eyes of every bird were set with large gems; when the woman moved even slightly, the eyes of these creatures would flash and shimmer, casting a dazzling iridescence over her entire form, captivating the eye as much as the emperor’s scepter.

Two slightly younger women sat with stern expressions, positioned marginally behind the elder and the eldest woman. Their ceremonial robes were also purple, but a lighter shade than those worn by the emperor and the elder woman, hinting faintly at a blue-white tint. The exotic birds embroidered on their robes were smaller than those on the elder woman’s garment, and the gems set as their eyes were noticeably smaller. Furthermore, all the embroidered birds were depicted in profile, with only a single eye visible to the onlookers.

The final attendant was the youngest, appearing no older than seventeen or eighteen. Dressed in a pale gold robe, she was exquisitely beautiful and enchanting, like a violet blooming in the night,

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