Night!
Inside the Council Hall, the lamplight flickered.
On the sand table, the markers of the Six Great Emperors loomed like six heavy mountains, pressing the entire room into silence.
Xuanyuan Tian Ji stood beside the seat of honor.
She had already worked through seventeen defensive plans. Not one offered a chance of victory above thirty percent.
The disparity in their strongest fighters could not be erased with formations and manpower alone.
"Alliance Leader, we cannot wait any longer."
A sect elder spoke in a trembling voice.
"With six great emperors coming in person, this city cannot possibly hold. We should negotiate peace. Perhaps we can still preserve a thread of hope."
"Negotiate peace?"
The Iron Mountain Immortal Emperor slammed the table and sprang to his feet, his voice booming like a great bell.
"Negotiate with the bizarre? Have you gone senile?"
"How many immortal domains have they slaughtered? How many innocent lives have they taken?"
"How would going to negotiate be any different from sending a lamb into a tiger's jaws?"
The elder shrank back and dared not speak again, but he could not hide the fear in his eyes.
Just as the argument raged on, the doors of the Council Hall were gently pushed open.
A figure clad in plain white walked in.
The woman wore a moon-white dress, her features gentle, a pale cloak draped over her shoulders. Her face bore the pallor of days spent without rest.
Su Qingyuan rarely concerned herself with military affairs.
Most of the time, she stayed quietly on the Back Mountain, watching over Su Ming's frozen body.
Over the past year, wiping down the ice coffin each day, nurturing the spiritual energy around it, and recording little memories of Su Ming had become almost her entire life.
"Tian Ji."
Su Qingyuan