The instant the midnight bell rang, the earth veins beneath the entire city of Xingyun suddenly trembled. Ye Xinghen looked up in alarm and saw Ziwei, at the center of the heavens, twisting and warping like silver clay kneaded by an unseen hand. When the imperial star, unchanged for a thousand years, suddenly burst into a blood-red ring, he heard a sharp crack from the observatory, like porcelain shattering.
