The night sky over Azure Cloud City was a canvas of deep indigo, illuminated not by the stars, but by the ambient glow of the massive anti-gravity arrays that kept the floating continent suspended above the churning ocean. The city never truly slept; the hum of commerce, the distant roar of beast-drawn carriages, and the faint, rhythmic pulse of thousands of cultivators circulating their Qi created a tapestry of noise that usually drowned out the subtle movements of the night.
However, atop a sloping roof of dark grey tiles, three figures crouched in absolute silence, blending perfectly with the shadows cast by the towering architectural marvels of the city. The wind at this altitude was brisk, carrying the scent of ozone and the damp salt of the sea below, but it did not rustle the robes of the man who knelt at the edge of the roof, his gaze fixed on the structure across the narrow alleyway.
