At this very moment, inside the royal palace of the Divine Sojourn City, within a great hall, the Kingdom-Protecting Grand General Zhou Dian of the Divine Sojourn Kingdom sat with a beauty on each arm, fine wine and delicacies spread before him, indulging in every pleasure.
Zhou Dian was a man built like a bear, broad-waisted and tiger-backed, with a savage countenance and a height of nine chi — far beyond the norm.
In his early years he had followed the sovereign of the Divine Sojourn Kingdom in campaigns across the land, rendering meritorious service in the founding of the realm. After the Kingdom was established, Zhou Dian received his due reward: the title of Kingdom-Protecting Grand General, second only to one and above ten thousand.
Within the Divine Sojourn Mirror World, a century had passed without war and a millennium without the smoke of battle. As Kingdom-Protecting Grand General, Zhou Dian had grown thoroughly idle, his entire being rotting from lack of purpose.
He was already a peak Third-Order Emperor Realm powerhouse — his cultivation had reached the summit, his strength had become transcendent. Believing that further practice held no meaning, he had instead turned to a life of unbridled indulgence.
On ordinary days he simply remained in this palace of his, collecting beauties from every corner of the land, living a life of idle pleasure.
At this moment, below the dais, a troupe of young women danced and sang, their garments provocatively thin, their exquisite figures glimpsed and hidden as they swayed gracefully. Each woman did her utmost to allure, flirtatious glances drifting, faces flushed with warmth, displaying their most intimate and beautiful aspects before Zhou Dian in hopes of capturing his attention.
And Zhou Dian, with an arm around a beauty of a different temperament on each side, sipped fine wine and ate spirit fruits… his face a picture of blissful enjoyment.
The Divine Sojourn Mirror World contained many unique products unseen in the outside world. The spirit fruits arranged before Zhou Dian were one such specialty — consumption greatly benefited the divine soul and they were extraordinarily precious. Yet Zhou Dian treated them as mere table snacks, gobbling them down in profligate waste.
Laughter, honeyed voices, cooing pleasantries, and Zhou Dian's own ribald guffaws filled the palace, painting an atmosphere of decadent excess…
Then, in one instant, every sound cut off abruptly.
All noise seemed to be severed by an invisible force.
An unimaginable pressure descended from above, and a figure slowly walked in from beyond the hall.
Even without seeing that figure clearly, the dancing women below the dais could feel it — a massive shadow had appeared behind them, a shadow vast enough to blot out all their light, and it made their bodies tremble from head to toe.
Zhou Dian, too, had gone slack-jawed. His eyes shook as he stared at the figure approaching from outside. A spirit fruit, round as a grape, slipped from his lips and fell, unnoticed.
The figure seemed to approach with glacial slowness, yet in the blink of an eye it had entered the great hall.
Looking upon the newcomer, one saw a voluminous pitch-black cloak wrapping the entire body, and a ghostly demon mask upon the face — hideous and terrifying!
From appearance alone, there was no way to tell whether this person was male or female.
Were this figure to walk through the palace, at least nine out of ten people would not recognize them.
But Zhou Dian knew.
The instant this person appeared, Zhou Dian wiped his mouth, his body jerking violently as he flung the two women clinging to him away. He hurried down from the dais and came to a stop three zhang before the figure. His expression turned solemn, he bent at the waist, dropped to one knee, and intoned in a low voice: "Kingdom-Protecting Grand General Zhou Dian pays respects to Your Majesty!"
The moment these words left his lips, every one of the singing women froze in shock.
For while they knew the sovereign resided within this palace, not a single one of them had actually seen the ruler since the day they had entered.
On ordinary days, when they played and frolicked with Zhou Dian, they had jestingly asked him to take them to see the sovereign — to behold for themselves the extraordinary genius who had single-handedly founded the Divine Sojourn Kingdom.
But whenever the conversation reached that point, Zhou Dian had always deflected with a casual remark and never agreed.
Yet now, at this very moment, that legendary figure had appeared before them so abruptly.
Their shock was immense.
And mingled with that shock came curiosity as they tried to study the newcomer.
But all they could see was nothing — not a single distinguishing feature. The voluminous black cloak and the demon mask concealed the sovereign completely, without so much as a patch of exposed skin.
From the build alone, the person's gender was impossible to determine.
And if one stared even a moment longer, a wave of dizziness and drowsiness washed over them, so alarming that they hurriedly averted their gaze.
"Rise!" the figure before Zhou Dian said flatly.
The voice was hoarse, pitched in an androgynous tone that gave no clue as to whether it belonged to a man or a woman.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Zhou Dian intoned deeply and rose to his feet, though he kept his waist slightly bowed. He regarded the sovereign with a trace of puzzlement. "Your Majesty, you have come to see your subordinate personally — is there some matter you wish me to handle?"
Ever since the founding of the Divine Sojourn Kingdom, the King had hardly ever asked Zhou Dian to do anything. That the sovereign had come here in person now struck Zhou Dian with a vague premonition — something momentous must be about to happen.
He finished his question and waited in silence for an answer.
The sovereign did not speak for a long while. It was only after a considerable pause that the hoarse voice came at last: "The Heavenly Demon Mountain Range. A catastrophic star has appeared. It shakes the Kingdom's fortune. A great upheaval approaches!"
"What?" Zhou Dian's face changed sharply. "Such a thing has come to pass?"
He bared his teeth in a vicious snarl, the brutality normally kept hidden now laid bare without restraint. "Rest easy, Your Majesty. I shall dispatch men at once—"
"You will go yourself!" The King cut him off before he could finish.