Strength

Di'an City's nights were prosperous. Dragon Plain River, Nine-Bend Alley, Plum Osmanthus Ward—every night, the blazing lights and bustling crowds of these streets that never slept seemed to reach straight into the clouds. Yet in the end, that prosperity belonged only to a tiny fraction of Di'an City's people. Most common folk had nothing to do with such splendor. They still lived like farmers in the countryside, working at sunrise and resting at sunset.

When white light illuminated the horizon and the window lattices gleamed beneath its radiance, the half-asleep citizens assumed only that the sun of a new day had risen. Fighting back their weariness, they climbed out of bed and dressed, ready to begin another day of toil.

But when they pushed open their doors and saw the sight hanging above the nocturnal sky, gasps of shock and anger began to rustle forth from every corner of Di'an City.

Outside, it was still night. Yet beneath that night lay a scene they had never witnessed in all their lives.

Thunder could sound on a snowy night.

Snowflakes could burn as well.

Rolling thunder came from above the clouds. Beneath them, wild winds poured down like waterfalls, and flying snow spread like a sea. A spell had formed a blazing ocean in the heavens, bathing all of Di'an City in light as bright as day.

The moment the glow appeared in the sky, it drew the gaze of nearly everyone within Di'an City.

Most were ordinary citizens just waking from their dreams, but there were also many cultivators.

Yet these cultivators fared little better than the common folk before the anomaly in the heavens. All they could do was vaguely sense, through the Source Qi around them, that the qi currents within Di'an City were surging madly—as though great