Chapter 30: The Ancient Court of the Celestial Palace: The Council of Three Queens

Celestial City, once the beating heart of Angel civilization and a symbol where the glory and decay of the Celestial Order intertwined, has a new master.

The towering palaces still scrape the clouds, but the "Celestial Throne"—a seat inlaid with countless gems and relief carvings of female angels, once the symbol of Hua Ye’s supreme authority—has been removed. In its place lies an empty platform, still bearing faint traces of lingering energy.

Beneath the dome, the once decadent and licentious banquet hall has been purged, replaced by a minimalist and solemn aesthetic. The air seems to retain a scent of the past, yet it has been supplanted by a new atmosphere, one heavy with the weight of scrutiny and reconstruction.

Deep within the palace, in a side hall offering a sweeping view of most of the Celestial City, three women in royal robes, each possessing a distinct temperament, sit in a triangle around a small, circular table crafted from pure star-core crystal, which emits a warm, restrained luster.

Keisha, the Queen of the Heavenly Blades, sits at the head. Her long golden hair is groomed to perfection, and though her exquisite face bears an inescapable weariness, her eyes, blue as a sea of stars, hold the calm of bedrock and the depth of heavy contemplation. She wears a cape of deep red with gold patterns, symbolizing order and authority, yet it seems to weigh heavily upon her now.

Liang Bing, the Queen of the Heavenly Revelation, sits to Keisha’s left. Her long brown hair is draped in a slightly disheveled manner, and her refined features are marked by palpable impatience and suppressed hostility. Clad in a dark cape with golden textures, she looks as though she is wrapped in the thorns of the night, yet this cannot conceal the intermittent, sharp pains radiating from within her body—the heavy, desperate counter-blows and kicks from He Feng had nearly shattered her internal organs. Even with the formidable recovery of a third-generation super-soldier, she needs time. She leans back in her chair, her fingers tapping the smooth tabletop unconsciously, producing a slight, irritable rhythmic sound.

He Xi, the Queen of the Heavenly Foundation, sits to Keisha’s right. Her long silver hair cascades like a waterfall, her expression cold and composed, and her eyes are so deep they seem to perceive the principles of all things, yet they hold a trace of subtle, imperceptible detachment and exhaustion. She wears a deep blue cape, etched with light patterns resembling flowing data streams. Her hands are folded on her lap in a posture of profound stillness, like an ancient, bottomless well. Only occasionally does her gaze drift, for the briefest of moments, toward the vast, deep universe outside the window, carrying a complexity that no one can fathom.

All three angel queens wear fine Su-silver armor.

Silence. A silence seasoned with the aftermath of smoke, the bitterness of failure, and the pressure of reconstruction, permeates the space between them. Only the sound of Liang Bing’s fingertips tapping the table remains, like the drumbeats of a countdown, striking at the heart of everyone present.

Finally, it is Keisha who breaks the stifling stillness. Her voice is not loud, yet it echoes clearly through the hall, carrying the frankness and accountability of a leader facing a major setback.

"This time... it was my grave error."

Keisha speaks, her gaze avoiding no one, falling directly onto the center of the table as if it reflected the tragic scenes of the Battle of the Angry Sea.

"As the strategic coordinator, my judgment of He Feng suffered from a fundamental deviation."

She pauses, as if sorting through the mountain of regret.

"In the decisive battle at the Angry Sea, our goals were clear, and our tactics were nearly perfect."

"The dark energy disruption network paralyzed their communications, our forces split and surrounded them, and we concentrated our superior strength to destroy their command center... everything should have fallen into place."

"However, I underestimated He Feng’s reaction speed and decisiveness in desperate straits, and I even more severely underestimated the control his personal will held over a legion on the brink of collapse."

Keisha’s fingertips trace the smooth tabletop unconsciously, her voice deepening. "At the critical moment when Su Mali’s legion was in chaos and Hua Ye’s Celestial ship was surrounded, I set the capture of Hua Ye and the total destruction of the Celestial ship as my primary objective."

"That, in itself, was not wrong. Hua Ye is the symbol of the old order; taking him held decisive political significance."

"But I ignored... or rather, in that moment of prioritizing, I made a fatal mistake."

Her gaze sweeps across Liang Bing and He Xi.

"I overlooked the 'variable' that was He Feng."

"Subconsciously, I believed that the He Feng legion—muddled, communication-crippled, and surrounded—no matter how strong, could only be a cornered beast, eventually to be overwhelmed by our massive forces."

"I wrongly placed the 'total annihilation of the He Feng legion' behind the priority of 'preventing their breakout.'"

"All of my deployments concentrated too much strength on encircling Hua Ye and preventing his escape. The result..."

Keisha’s voice takes on an indescribable bitterness and self-mockery.

"The result was that I gave He Feng that fleeting opportunity!"

"He keenly captured the brief imbalance in our strength and used a mad, suicidal charge to tear through the weakest part of our outer perimeter!"

"And we, distracted by the 'fat prize' that was Hua Ye, were more than one beat too slow in our reaction!"

"Ultimately, it led to him escaping... with hundreds of thousands of surviving troops."

Liang Bing’s fingers, tapping the table, come to a sudden halt, producing a harsh, grating sound. She looks up, her brown eyes burning with unwillingness and resentment. She stares fixedly at Keisha, her lips moving as if to retort, but ultimately, she only lets out a heavy, nasal "humph" and turns her head away.

He Xi remains silent, though her folded fingers tighten slightly.

Keisha ignores Liang Bing’s reaction and continues her analysis, her tone becoming even heavier.

"The subsequent pursuit... was an even greater error."

She shakes her head slightly.

"He Feng destroyed all known large-scale wormhole bridges, star gates, and wormhole tunnels, completely paralyzing the rapid transit network in the heart of Angel civilization."

"This should have been an extremely clear signal—he would never take a conventional route!"

"He would inevitably choose a 'dead end' that we would never imagine, or even be able to monitor!"

Her gaze becomes sharp, as if scrutinizing her own cognitive blind spots at the time.

"Yet, we... or rather, I, remained bound by inertia."

"We mobilized all our forces, focusing on blockading all known 'gates' that could lead to the outskirts of Angel civilization and the Boundary Sea."

"We used our most advanced detection networks and scanned all 'safe' routes. We thought we had set up an inescapable net..."

Keisha’s voice is filled with helplessness and a trace of disbelief.

"Yet we uniquely ignored... the existence of the 'cracks in the wall'!"

"We forgot that in this vast star region, beyond the 'gates' marked and utilized by civilizations, there are countless unexplored, lethal, and theoretically 'impassable' cosmic hazards and spatial folds!"

"He Feng... he not only took them, but he actually possessed the ability and method to traverse these 'forbidden zones'!"

"Although I don't know how he did it, this completely exceeded the scope of our strategic forecasting!"

She takes a deep breath and concludes:

"The two major failures in strategic forecasting—the misjudgment of priorities at the Angry Sea, and the misjudgment of He Feng’s escape route—were the fundamental reasons for his ultimate success in fleeing into the Boundary Sea."

"The responsibility... is mine."

Keisha’s self-analysis acts like a cold scalpel, clearly laying the entire strategic failure on the table. The atmosphere in the hall becomes even more oppressive.

Liang Bing finally loses her composure.

She snaps her head back. The movement aggravates her internal injuries, causing her brows to knit in pain, but her tone is filled with irrepressible irritability and the desire to deflect blame.

"Reviewing? A fat lot of good a review does!" Liang Bing’s voice is hoarse from her injuries, yet still piercing. "That bastard He Feng got away!"

"He took our top scientists, our core gene banks, millions of people, and the mountains of resources the Angel civilization has accumulated over tens of thousands of years!"

"You, Keisha, made a strategic error, but what about me, Liang Bing? I’m the idiot who chased him down, let him get away, and nearly got myself killed in the process!"

The more she speaks, the more agitated she becomes. The rising and falling of her chest aggravates her wounds, turning her face even paler.

"One point two million! A full one point two million elites!"

"I chased him like a rabid dog for over ten days! And I didn't even catch a glimpse of his shadow!"

"Every detector failed! Every prediction model failed! It was like he crawled into the ass of the universe and vanished without a trace!"

"We finally managed to corner him in the Eternal Canyon... and what happened?!"

Liang Bing’s eyes are full of humiliation and anger, as if she sees He Feng’s mocking laughter once again.

"It turns out that godforsaken place was his home turf!"

"Our main cannons became a joke! A million-strong army cramped in a broken ditch with no room to maneuver!"

"I went in myself... humph!" She lets out a self-deprecating, cold laugh, subconsciously touching her still-aching ribs and chest.

"I was nearly killed by him on the spot!"

"Liu Liu even lost her life trying to save me...! In the end... in the end, we just watched that bastard slip right under our noses into that damned Boundary Sea!"

"We didn't even manage to pluck a single hair off him! And we lost so many sisters for nothing!"

She slams her fist onto the star-core crystal table with a dull, heavy thud. The table remains motionless, but the force sends a sharp pain through her own hand bones.

"Lost troops, lost generals! Returned empty-handed! A total, humiliating disgrace!!"

Liang Bing’s voice is squeezed through her teeth. "Chased him? Yes! I chased him! But what the hell is the use of chasing if you can't catch him?!"

"Didn't stop him! Didn't hold him! Didn't keep him!"

"That is even more infuriating than not chasing him at all!"

Liang Bing’s venting roar echoes through the hall, filled with frustration and a bone-deep hatred for He Feng.

Keisha listens in silence, not interrupting. Her face remains expressionless, though a trace of understanding flickers deep in her eyes.

He Xi lowers her gaze, her long silver eyelashes masking the complex emotions flashing through her eyes—relief? Guilt? No one knows.

As Liang Bing’s breathing grows heavy from her agitation and pain, Keisha turns her gaze toward He Xi. Her eyes are calm, bearing a sense of inquiry and a trace of subtle, imperceptible scrutiny.