Quinn Shepherd and Queena White flew back from beyond the heavens just as the sun went out.
The Heaven-Chart Sky Diagram's sun runs like clockwork—no one controls it, but every six hours the array shuts itself off.
When Quinn and Queena returned, even the moon had gone dark, and the tens of thousands of stars forming the star-river in the Heaven-Chart had all gone out as well.
The moon and stars follow the same cycle—each day, they brighten and fade in turn.
They had recklessly triggered the sun array, causing both sun and moon to appear at once, disrupting the cycle—and now, both sun and moon were black.
Queena swept Quinn through the star-river at high speed, her robes swirling as she brushed past, lighting up the stars wherever they went.
Down in the Everpeace Empire, and in the Origin-Capital Realm, gods, demons, and demigods all witnessed a truly bizarre scene.
The sky was pitch black. It should have been broad daylight, with the sun blazing overhead—yet the sun was gone, and not a single star could be seen.
Then, suddenly, countless stars began to light up in the black sky, appearing from the south. The starlight seemed to have a strange magic, spreading northward as more and more stars lit up, mesmerizing all who watched.
"The stars in the sky have gone mad."
People shook their heads: "First a sun at midnight, then pitch-black in broad daylight. When things get this strange, there must be demons at work—some sky spirit must be causing trouble."
Quinn and Queena gleefully darted along the star-river in the Heaven-Chart, activating arrays as they went, lighting up the whole north-south band of stars.
Normally, the gods who watch over the Heaven-Chart never light up the entire star-river—at most, a few thousand star arrays.
But now, Quinn and Queena had lit up the whole thing at once—an extravagance beyond words.
With the star-river fully lit, the bright band stretched like a luminous, broad river from south to north. It was an artificial sky, but breathtakingly beautiful.
Suddenly, the moon lit up again, bathing everything in silvery light.
Tonight was the fifteenth—the full moon.
The people of Everpeace and the demigods looked on in confusion. It seemed the god in charge of the moon had lost their mind: as soon as the moon appeared, someone on the moon seemed to slowly drag a curtain over half of it.
Then, as if remembering it was the fifteenth, the moon god slowly pulled the curtain away again, and the full moon reappeared before a crowd of stunned onlookers.
Some in Everpeace were lounging in their courtyards, drinking wine; at that moment, wine dribbled from their mouths, and those eating cakes dropped them—bite marks still visible.
"Waa—"
A child burst out crying, only to have their mother quickly cover their mouth. The young mother watched the strange moon in the sky with wary eyes, muttering protective charms under her breath.
Heaven-Chart, Moon Palace.
Quinn and Queena sat at the palace steps, hands braced behind them, legs swinging, chatting idly about nothing in particular.
Dragon-Qilin silently rolled his eyes behind them, thinking their conversation pointless. Yet the two were happy, each word seeming full of meaning and making their hearts flutter.
"Just like when the old master was in the Western Lands."
Dragon-Qilin lay his big head on the ground, scratching at the floor with a claw, drawing two stick figures holding hands. He thought, "Back then, the old master seemed to lose his mind too. His words were dry as dust, but somehow tasted sweet as honey..."
Truthfully, the bond between Quinn and Queena was strange enough already, and their thoughts were just as unusual.
To Queena, Quinn was the big brother who protected her and gave her hope on the night disaster struck. Even after forty thousand years, she couldn't forget his strong arms, his powerful voice, or the way he carried himself.
To Quinn, Queena was the Supreme Sovereign's sword goddess—peerless and radiant. She was not only the swordswoman who saved him at the source of the Yong River, but also the one who carried the 'Life Above Heaven' creed into the Pioneer era.
She was strong enough, and possessed extraordinary wisdom.
Their feelings were quietly blossoming, yet each treated the other as their pillar of support.
If you could paint forty thousand years of history in a single scene, they'd be shown leaning on each other—one in the distant past, one in the present.
The Imperial Preceptor of Everpeace arrived with his scholars, intending to take charge of the Heaven-Chart. Many demigod leaders who dwell in Everpeace also flew up, as did powers from other heavens, all investigating the anomaly—including Daoists from Azurecloud Heaven.
The Imperial Preceptor wore a dark expression. Obsessed with precise numerology, he had always hated how crooked the sun and moon hung in the sky, wishing he could shoot down the sun himself.
But Everpeace was always busy with affairs of state, so he never had time to worry about the Heaven-Chart.
Now, with even day and night in chaos, he couldn't hold back any longer.
The Heaven-Chart was originally crafted by Azurecloud Daoists. With the sky in disorder, those Daoists also flew up to repair it.
More and more people arrived within the Heaven-Chart. Jaden Jadehall was the first to reach the Moon Palace. Quinn and Queena quickly stood up—Queena still in her Supreme Sovereign Sword God persona, representing the southern Supreme Sovereign line, with even the Pioneer Emperor, Woodcutter Sage, and Elena Cloud as her juniors.
Embarrassed to be seen, she hurriedly left Quinn and slipped into the Moon Palace.