Across the river valley, a dull crimson pulse rose from the copper spire of the Nine-Cauldron Guild.
The deep vibration traveled through the bedrock, rattling the porcelain saucers inside Booth Nine.
High above the city rooftops, ancient tracking formations carved into the spire’s foundation finally completed their slow triangulation.
Months ago, Deacon Vane had submitted a zero-poison Master Ash pill to the guild’s appraisal bench.
The hidden Censorate array had been sleeping ever since, quietly searching for the impossible signature of pure Qi.
Now, with seven thousand two hundred and ten times the baseline resonance locked within Kaelen’s dantian, the final tracking rune snapped shut.
A pillar of dark crimson light shot from the guild’s roof, piercing the low storm clouds with a screech like tearing metal.
The crimson beam illuminated the entire river gorge in an ominous, blood-colored glare that stretched for miles.
