Luo Xiong Lu, Lord of the Great Luo Star

On a mid-autumn night on the Yuanchi Continent, moonlight like crushed pearls lay densely strewn across the glazed tiles of Prince Luo's residence, reflecting a cold, dim glow. Yet it could not dispel the oppressive gloom inside the Zichen Hall. The evening breeze carried the chilly fragrance of osmanthus past the vermilion palace walls. The moment it touched the gilded hall doors, a stagnant pressure drove it fiercely back, leaving only a few faint, quivering notes from the copper bells at the eaves. The sound was barely audible, yet like someone grinding their teeth in the shadows, it only deepened the hall's deathly silence. Beneath the eaves, gilded copper lamps stood in a row. Their whale-oil flames greedily licked at the gold-painted wicks, and their crackling sounds were magnified without end in the stillness, throwing the eight white jade pillars carved with coiling dragons into alternating light and shadow. The flowing-cloud patterns on the pillars seemed ready to break free of the stone in the firelight, yet were wrapped in a bone-deep chill, much like the ceaselessly roiling thoughts hidden beneath the broad sleeves of the powerful nobles seated in the hall.