In Year 10001 of the Yulan Calendar, the grand and solemn annual Yulan Festival arrived as scheduled across the vast, peaceful lands of Kelan.
This year's festival was far livelier and more prosperous than any in the past thousand years, its splendor unprecedented. Inside and outside the capital, every street and alley was adorned with lanterns and festive decorations. Multicolored banners fluttered and snapped in the wind, and after nightfall, the brilliant lights of countless homes illuminated the entire city as brightly as day. The people passing to and fro wore expressions of heartfelt joy and security. Laughter and cheerful voices rose one after another, ringing through every corner of the city. Everywhere was filled with the peace and festivity of a prosperous nation and a contented people, along with boundless hopes for secure years ahead and an enduring golden age.
The Principality of Klan lay in the western part of the Yulan Continent, on the northern frontier of the Light Alliance. Its territory had always been remote and small, with unremarkable resources. Amid the intricate web of powers across the vast continent, it had never attracted attention. The leading powers had long regarded it as an insignificant frontier state and seldom mentioned it. Only after Shiheng emerged from obscurity, rising against all odds from an ordinary youth to reach God-level, did this quiet land gradually enter the sights of the continent's major powers. Then, within a short time, two momentous pieces of news capable of shaking the entire Yulan Continent spread in succession, instantly drawing the attention of every leading power on the continent. From that point onward, no power dared look down on this once-impoverished frontier land. Their gazes toward it held only deep wariness and awe.
Kelin Xiaoman, princess of the Principality of Klan, had spent years