While the Holy Star Empire's grand expedition was in full swing, a magnificent project that would attract the attention of the entire empire officially began atop "Nine Heavens Cloud Peak," the core area of the imperial capital, Chengtian City.
The Emperor of the Empire, Lin Feng, issued a concise yet supremely authoritative decree: to build a new palace to the east of the Nine Heavens Moon-Gazing Palace.
The edict did not specify the purpose of the palace, nor did it set a budget limit or a completion date.
It granted the project's chief commander, Imperial Marshal Qin Lan, three supreme powers: to mobilize all resources within the empire's territory, to requisition all labor within the empire's territory, and... to select all "collections" within the empire's territory.
From the moment it was born, this palace was destined to become an ultimate spectacle that transcends the limits of human imagination, combining extravagance, lust for power, conquest, and art.
Lin Feng gave it a name – “Palace of Ten Thousand Beauties”.
The name starkly proclaims its sole purpose: a colossal golden cage specifically for the emperor to house, raise, and enjoy the finest female "trophies" he had plundered from countless civilizations.
For Lin Feng, the feminist upheaval that swept the empire, along with the subsequent bloody suppression and the establishment of a new order, made him realize one thing: the foundation of the empire was not built on any advanced ideas or shared values, but on his absolute and unquestionable personal power.
In that case, there is no need for secrecy or hypocrisy.
He intended to use this Palace of Ten Thousand Beauties to proclaim a truth to the world in the most straightforward way: the victor possesses everything. Conquest is the highest form of virtue. And he, Lin Feng, as the greatest conqueror, deserved to enjoy the ultimate pleasure.
He wants to build his happiness into an eternal monument.
The construction of the Wanyan Divine Palace was itself a ruthless yet artistic second plunder of the conquered civilization.
The palace's foundation is made of a single piece of "Starry Obsidian," excavated from the depths of the dwarf kingdom.
This rock is incredibly hard, enough to withstand a direct hit from a Star Destroyer's main cannon, and it contains a faint stellar energy that can automatically regulate the earth's ley line energy, ensuring that the environment within the entire palace area is always maintained in its most perfect state.
To quarry this giant rock with a diameter of over ten kilometers, millions of dwarven slaves toiled in the dark underground for a whole year, and more than a third of them left their bones forever in that sunless mine.
The main structure of the palace did not use any of the cold alloy materials of the Empire, but instead used the "living heartwood" of the Elven Tree of Life.
After conquering the Windwhisperer Forest, the Empire's top biologists and array masters joined forces to "euthanize" those ancient trees with tens of thousands of years of life in a special way, and extracted their core wood, which still retained its vitality and shimmered with an emerald-like luster.
Palaces built with this living heartwood possess the ability to self-repair and self-grow. The beams and pillars of the palace will bloom with flowers of different colors with the changing seasons; the texture of the walls will change slowly like flowing water, never repeating itself.
Walking through the palace is like being in a dreamlike forest that never fades.
Countless elven artisan slaves, while shedding blood and tears during the construction process, used their innate talents to sculpt these "remains" from their mother tree into the most magnificent forms.
The palace's dome is an even more incredible masterpiece.
Qin Lan deployed a full-strength demon army to penetrate deep into a wild region and capture a giant creature called the "Star Realm Dream Jellyfish".
This creature's body is almost entirely composed of a special energy crystal that can freely refract and simulate any starlight it has ever seen.
The empire's engineers connected the behemoth's living nervous system to the palace's intelligent brain system. From then on, the dome of the Wanyan Divine Palace became a "living starry sky."
Lin Feng could display the brilliant star map of any star system he had conquered on the dome at will. He could admire the eternal twin moon of the Holy Light Land in the capital of Chengtian, and he could also see the magnificent yet terrifying Abyss Nebula, the homeland of the Demon Race.
As for the interior decoration of the palace, it takes the word "luxury" to the extreme.
The ground is paved with powdered "mermaid tears," a substance produced by a mermaid tribe from a deep-sea civilization. This powder is capable of automatically regulating temperature and humidity and is then mixed with water from the Fountain of Life to solidify. Walking barefoot on it feels warm and smooth like jade, as if stepping on clouds.
Hanging on the walls are not paintings, but wings from the backs of certain rare races (such as the legendary Feathered People), completely peeled off using special technology and permanently solidified. These wings, varied in shape and vibrant in color, are themselves top-tier works of art.
The water flowing in the palace was not tap water, but well water that was continuously airlifted from the "Moon Well," the sacred land of the elves.
This water is not only sweet and refreshing, but long-term consumption is also said to prolong life and maintain youth. However, it has now become the daily water source for the entire palace, and is even used to flush toilets.
Each room in the palace was designed in a different style according to Lin Feng's preferences.
There are elven treehouses filled with the breath of nature, magnificent human palaces, rugged and wild orc yurts, and dark, damp, and exotic snake-man temples...
As long as it's a civilization Lin Feng has conquered, he can find a perfect replica here, and then place the civilization's most noble woman inside like a specimen for him to "appreciate" at any time.
This colossal building, which covers an area larger than the entire former imperial palace of Chengtian, was completed in just three months.
Its construction consumed enough wealth to arm ten interstellar fleets, and the number of slave laborers sacrificed was an astronomical figure that could not be accurately counted.
When this dreamlike palace, shrouded in a seven-colored halo, first revealed its true form to the imperial leadership, everyone was so shocked that they were speechless.
They finally understood that their emperor wanted more than just to conquer the world.
He is using the bones and treasures of the world to create a unique paradise of desire for himself.
The completion of the Wanyan Divine Palace is just the beginning.
For Lin Feng, what brought him the most pleasure was not the construction of the palace itself, but the process of "filling" it.
He issued a second edict, one that drove all the border generals and colonial governors of the empire mad – the "Record of Ten Thousand Beauties".
This is not a book, but a continuously updated "bounty list" directly managed by the imperial AI "Pangu".
The list contained women from all corners of the known universe who were of interest to Lin Feng, possessing special bloodlines, special abilities, or special identities.
Any citizen or soldier of the empire who captures a "target" on the list alive and delivers them intact to the Palace of Ten Thousand Beauties will receive unimaginable rewards. Their merit even surpasses that of defeating an entire enemy legion on the main battlefield.
This edict sparked a frenzy known as the "hunting of beauties" within the empire's upper echelons.
Countless imperial generals, no longer content with simply expanding their territory step by step, led their elite troops deep into those unknown and dangerous star systems, like sharks smelling blood, just to capture a name on their list.
This also makes the "collection" of Wanyan Divine Palace so diverse in origin and of such high quality that it reaches an astonishing level.
Although the Land of Holy Light has long been completely conquered, many women who were once of noble status are still living abroad for various reasons.
Imperial Marshal Qin Lan personally took charge of eliminating and selecting these "hidden gems".
The former Elf Queen, after the fall of her kingdom and the destruction of her homeland, led the last of her royal guards and hid in the "Sighing Glacier" in the far north.
She had intended to spend the rest of her life there, but was still found by the Empire's "Ghost" special operations team. When her peerless beauty, enough to move even ice and snow, was first presented to Lin Feng through a holographic image, a hint of approval flashed in Lin Feng's eyes.
He bestowed upon her a new name—"Moon Slave"—and placed her at the highest point of the Myriad Beauties Palace, in the "Guanghan Palace," which was entirely made of moonlight crystal.
The former saint of mankind, the girl hailed as "the only spokesperson for holy light on earth," was found hiding in a monastery in a remote mountain village.
She cut off her long golden hair, smeared mud on her beautiful face, and disguised herself as an ordinary nun.
However, her innate, pure, and almost defiled divine quality betrayed her.
When she was brought before Lin Feng, she was still chanting her long-useless prayers to the gods.
Lin Feng found it amusing, so he imprisoned her in the palace's "chapel," a place filled with decadence and blasphemy, and made her "repent" before the demon statues every day.
There was also the last princess of the dwarf kingdom, the queen of the human empire, and the grand dukes of various duchies... These noble women, who once trembled with a stomp of their feet in the Land of Holy Light, are now just collections in the Palace of Ten Thousand Beauties, without even a name, only a cold number.
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