Chapter 673 - 419: The Emperor’s Decree—Pursue the Traitor Chishan!

Chapter 673: Chapter 419: The Emperor’s Decree—Pursue the Traitor Chishan!

"We pay our respects, Commander Gao!"

Along both sides of the corridor leading to the core of the Imperial Court, guards clad in heavy Star armor struck their right fists to their chests, saluting Gao Zheng and his entourage with solemn formality.

The clanging of interlocked armor echoed through the austere passageway, proclaiming the Ninth Guard Group’s indisputable standing within the Empire’s system.

The procession advanced unimpeded, until it halted before a massive golden gate.

Upon the door panels was carved the Imperial insignia of sun and moon shining together, encircled by myriad stars, exuding an aura of majesty and antiquity.

Two guards stood vigil before the gate; unlike the outer sentries, they did not salute, merely dipped their chins in a silent nod.

At once, starlight flowed around their bodies, and a vast surge of Star Power poured into the gate.

The emblem on the door seemed to be ignited in an instant, emitting a gentle yet imperious radiance.

"Hum—"

With a low, resonant hum, the gigantic golden gate slowly opened inward, revealing the deep and far-reaching great hall beyond.

More startling still, these two seemingly ordinary gatekeepers were emanating energy fluctuations that had clearly reached the consummate level of the Starry Sky Realm, a mere hair’s breadth from the Bright Moon Realm.

To station such power at the gate alone spoke volumes of the Imperial Court’s unfathomable foundations.

Once Lu Xuan and his party stepped into the hall, that golden gate behind them closed in soundless silence amid a wash of soft yet dazzling golden light, cutting off inside and outside completely.

Beneath their feet, a blood-red carpet stretched forward. Its material was extraordinary; its surface did not bear common patterns, but rather the mapped domains of the Star-Lan Empire, woven through secret arts.

Mountains and rivers, the veins of cities could be vaguely discerned within, while the phantasms of sun, moon, and stars slowly turned and flickered into being and out of existence upon the carpet. Walking atop it was like strolling across a miniature cosmos, immersed in a dreamlike sea of stars.

Looking up, the walls around the hall were pure and flawless white, built from entire slabs of Moonlight Stone that diffused a gentle glow.

On the vaulted ceiling above, a gigantic crystal chandelier hung like an inverted river of stars. Countless Crystal Stones refracted brilliant yet unblinding light, bathing the entire space in a brightness akin to broad daylight.

At the front of the hall rose tier upon tier of elevated platforms, upon which were neatly arrayed several hundred chairs of archaic and solemn design—these were the seats where the Empire’s assembly members and high ministers of various domains joined in affairs of state.

And before this sea of chairs, transcending all other seats, stood seven thrones utterly distinct from one another.

Their bodies were cast from unknown metal, wreathed in reliefs of sun, moon, and stars. Streams of red, gold, and white light flowed and intertwined across their surfaces, as though they had condensed all the Empire’s majesty and power into form.

These were the seats of the Empire’s seven supreme councilors.

The seven of them were personally chosen by the Sun-Moon Emperor, each possessing the capacity to move heavens and tilt earth.

The will of the seven councilors was the will of the Sun-Moon Emperor; together they grasped the wheel of destiny of the Star-Lan Empire.

At this moment, upon those seven supreme thrones sat seven figures shrouded in hazy starlight. They were utterly silent, like seven mountains that could never be scaled, quietly gazing down upon the arrival of the Ninth Guard Group.

Five elder men with white hair and beards were seated to either side. They wore long robes patterned with alternating suns and moons that denoted different Star Realms. Though their visages were distinct, in each pair of brows there was a sternness forged by long years of wielding authority.

One black-robed elder seemed to have hidden thunder flickering in his eyes whenever they opened and closed; another green-robed elder idly turned a strand of starry beads in his hand.

On the right sat an old crone holding a deep-brown scepter. Wrinkles had long since crawled over her face, yet the gaze in those eyes, when it flowed, seemed able to pierce hearts and lay the world’s affairs bare.

And seated at the very center was a presence no one dared look upon directly.

She wore the Sun-Moon royal family’s distinctive golden robe of Nine Suns and Nine Moons, upon which nine golden suns and nine curved silver moons were embroidered with secret silver and gold thread.

Nourished by the starlight encircling her body, they slowly turned, spilling forth a pressure that made hearts quail.

She appeared to be little more than forty years of age, her features of peerless beauty and noble grace beyond all words.

When Lu Xuan’s gaze met hers in midair, he clearly felt the contours of that blazing sun within his body tremble ever so slightly—an instinctive reaction upon facing a foe he could not prevail against.

This central female councilor was manifestly a peerless powerhouse of the Star Realm. The concentration of her aura was so refined as to be utterly terrifying.

Just as Lu Xuan was quietly observing those seven masters of the Empire upon the high dais, seven overwhelmingly powerful strands of intent likewise descended upon him without a sound, enveloping him with scrutiny, probing, and a faint, nearly indiscernible weight of oppression.

"Lu Xuan..."

This name carried no light weight within the hearts of the seven councilors.

They all knew what renown this seemingly calm-faced man enjoyed within the Star-Lan Empire.

A commoner with no backing, who had, with overwhelming strength, carved a bloody path through a multitude of noble-born prodigies raised on endless resources, and ascended into the ranks of the Empire’s top-tier powerhouses.

His very existence was a silent challenge to the current order.

The female councilor in the center—Councilor Sun-Moon Yingshu, clad in the Nine Suns and Nine Moons imperial robe—let her gaze linger on Lu Xuan the longest, and with the greatest depth.

In the depths of her beautiful eyes, a thread of exceedingly subtle brilliance flashed and vanished.

Compared to the other councilors, she indeed paid him a few degrees more attention.

Truly worthy of the Empire’s universally acknowledged prodigy from humble origins...

Sun-Moon Yingshu murmured inwardly, tinged with a trace of appreciation and weighing.

It had been but half a year since the last summons from the Imperial Court, yet the Star Power within his body had advanced to such a state—vast and majestic, rounded and without flaw.

It seemed he had already brushed against that barrier.

Her perceptions were far keener than others’; she could clearly "see" that deep within Lu Xuan’s body, around the outline of that scorching sun of incomparable heat...