The winter air above Lotus-Prince Street shattered with a high-pitched metallic screech.
Twelve streaks of heavy bronze light tore through the gray clouds, banking sharply above the gray-tiled rooftops of Shichahai. The air pressure plummeted as twelve flying swords came to an abrupt, arrogant halt sixty feet above Courtyard No. 1.
The blast of cold spiritual wind blew loose snow off the courtyard eaves, swirling dry leaves across the stone paving stones below.
At the front of the airborne formation hovered a tall, thin man in his late fifties.
He wore an elaborate emerald-green Taoist robe with gold cloud trim and flowing wide sleeves. His thin gray beard was parted neatly down the center, and in his left hand, he held a horsehair whisk tipped with white jade. Beneath his cloth slippers rested a heavy, four-foot-long bronze flying sword inscribed with disciplinary talismans.
This was First Disciplinary Elder Cang Song of the Mount Qingcheng Sword Sect, currently serving as Chief Emissary of the 36 Hidden Sects’ Tribute Commission. His personal cultivation stood at Rank 4 Peak Qi Gathering.
For sixty years, Cang Song had ruled the outer gates of Mount Qingcheng with an iron fist. He had collected millions of spirit stones from mortal warlords, merchant guilds, and regional governors. To him, mortals were merely cows to be milked and sheep to be sheared.
