In the distant southern reaches of the Western Continent, within the humid, warm Dragon Mountain Imperial Capital, flowers bloomed in profusion in the imperial palace gardens beneath the divine barrier, presenting a scene of high summer. A small hill stood beside an azure lake, and atop it rose an exquisite pavilion. Yun sat on a soft couch, eyes narrowed, smiling as she watched several young women sitting quietly nearby.
Ais Te still wore that eternally unchanging iceberg expression, with not a trace of warmth visible in her cold, gloomy eyes. Etris remained as muddled as ever; wisps of black flame occasionally flickered through her clouded eyes, and now and then, a complex three-dimensional magic formation appeared and vanished within them. The aura around her was equally indistinct, like a black hole filled with fatal menace.
Princess Qingli and Elysian Heaven sat somewhat farther away. Several exquisite jewelry boxes rested on the small table before them, containing tribute ornaments that had just arrived from the Eastern Continent, jewelry reserved exclusively for the Blood Qin Empire's royal family. Dozens of breathtakingly beautiful, exquisitely crafted court-style ornaments lay neatly within the boxes, gentle currents of magical power flowing from them from time to time like running water.
Ai Mo sat in the center of the pavilion. A dark-golden spindle floated before her, more than a meter tall, hazy and indistinct, looking like nothing more than a phantom woven from light and magical runes. Countless exceedingly fine golden threads stretched in from every direction, all ultimately connecting to the spindle. This was the Fate Spindle, the supreme divine artifact of the Ashir Divine Clan's Fate Divine Pantheon.
Her pale, delicate fingers brushed one by one over those slender golden threads, and Ai Mo suddenly laughed softly.
"The golden threads of fate belonging to all