The underground draft shrieked like a roaring gale through the limestone wind-vein.
Two miles above the valley floor, the internal rock chimneys of Crimson Vulture Cliff exhaled their first breath of alchemical mist.
Minute Two of Kaelen Vance’s quad-combo was underway.
The Tier 3 Cloud-Veined Slumber Incense was refined to Transcendent Dao Intent. It carried no color, no bitter smell, and no heavy particulate smoke.
It emerged from thirty-six hidden quarry flues, drainage conduits, and ventilation grates like a transparent heat shimmer.
The morning breeze caught the invisible vapor, spreading it across the high switchbacks within seconds.
Three thousand Crimson Vulture bandits were rushing down the stone staircases, shouting bloodthirsty battle cries.
Iron swords clattered against shields. Leather boots hammered the gravel.
