Three obsidian war carriages tore across the northern plains, churning dry autumn grass into black dust.
Behind them trailed eighty armored drakes, their scaled flanks steaming in the morning chill. In the center carriage, strapped to reinforced steel girders, rested a hundred-foot pillar of dark basalt wrapped in blood-red copper chains.
Warden Kui stood on the carriage platform, his black-and-crimson robes whipping in the wind.
He was a withered man with sunken cheeks, pale skin, and the terrifying spiritual pressure of a Nascent Soul Peak expert. Beside him rode Warden Meng-Hu and Warden Chen, their hands resting on ceremonial iron staves.
“The Grand Chancellor’s divination was absolute,” Warden Meng-Hu said, his voice raspy as grinding stones. “The rebel grandmaster calling himself Master Ash has remained dormant for weeks. He must be cultivating a forbidden domain.”
“No cultivator can maintain total dormancy under ten-fold pressure,” Warden Kui replied with a thin, cruel smirk. “The Imperial Blood-Gravity Pillar will force his dantian to ignite. The instant his aura leaks, our scrying runes will mark his skull.”
Warden Chen nodded, gazing at the distant grey walls of Seven-Tower City.
“The garrison has grown to one hundred and seventy thousand,” Chen murmured. “They think walls of brick and granite will protect them from the Vermilion Court.”
