The bone-framed war chariot drifted downward through the jagged spatial rift.
Eight skeletal spirit-steeds stamped their hooves against the cold mountain air. Pale green ghost flames hissed from their empty eye sockets, scorching the clouds into sulfurous black mist.
Standing on the chariot deck, the three envoys looked down at Mount Kunlun.
The lead figure in crimson robes stepped forward.
His face was gaunt, his cheekbones sharp as daggers, and a long scimitar wrapped in red cloth rested against his hip. This was Envoy Zhao Wuji of the Raging-Flame Sword Sect.
To his left stood Deacon Qian of the Immortal Merchant Pavilion. Deacon Qian wore heavy brocade silk embroidered with silver coins. A blackened iron abacus hung from his gold-plated belt, and his squinting eyes darted around like those of a calculating ferret.
To his right stood Elder Blood-Bone of the Blood-Plunder Sect. He was cloaked in ragged black robes woven from dried human sinew. A necklace of polished infant skulls rattled softly against his breastplate, each skull whispering with cursed resentment.
Behind them, the three-thousand-foot bronze doors of the Kunlun Immortal Gate stood wide open, casting a blood-red shadow across the sky.
