The Star-Gazing Tower of Linzi City was ablaze with hanging lanterns tonight.
It was a starless night. The stars had fallen upon the earth, becoming the lights of countless homes in the human realm.
All-Under-Heaven City, the great and mighty capital of East State, never ceased its clamor of drums.
As swallows returned to their nests, sparrows took to the night skies once more.
Graceful waists swayed to strings and flutes everywhere, while bronze cups of wine were raised alongside the Great White Star.
Laughter lasted through the night again.
A drinker occasionally looked up, marveling at the beauty of the ninety-nine tiers of lanterns hanging from the Star-Gazing Tower. Little did he know that tonight's enduring lights were for the mourning rites of the Director of the Imperial Observatory.
Grief and joy interwove in this great city, which had enjoyed seventy-nine years of favorable winds and timely rains.
That master of divination, who had climbed to the summit of the Star-Gazing Tower while still so young and upheld East State's entire domain of star augury by himself, would no longer stand at the railing with his hands behind his back. That star-chart Daoist robe would no longer veil East State's night sky, fluttering like a banner atop the Star-Gazing Tower.
The Sea-Viewing Terrace, which had risen overnight under his direction years ago, now stood majestically in the imperial capital as a new landmark, proclaiming Great Qi's martial might in subduing the East Sea.
The azure radiance above it, which never ceased day or night, was now rolling layer upon layer like ocean tides.
Tonight, the sea did not sleep.
"Life is not fair."
Within Earl of Shuofang's Estate, the overly young Earl sat in the large chair his grandfather had often occupied in life.
This chair, which embodied the