The sky above the northern sea did not stay quiet for long.
Ten miles above the ascending bluffs of Crater Island, Ancestor Vesper stood upon the southern ramparts of the Blood-Star Citadel. His silver robes whipped in the high-altitude gale.
Beside him, Inquisitor Thorne-Crow leaned against an obsidian crenel, clutching his bruised shoulder where Sera Thorne’s spear had struck.
“The three cauldrons failed,” Thorne-Crow rasped. “Crater Island is wrapped in forty feet of Star-Iron chain. Our kinetic artillery cannot crack three billion pounds of solid steel.”
Ancestor Vesper looked down at the distant amber glow.
“Brute force is a peasant’s weapon,” Vesper said coldly. “Kaelen Vance is stacking his cultivation streak inside that subterranean grotto. A cultivation streak requires perfect stillness of the soul and meridians.”
Thorne-Crow glanced at him. “You wish to break his focus.”
“We will make his own bones revolt against his will,” Vesper replied with a thin smile. “Bring out the Heart-Shattering Dao Drums. All ten thousand of them.”
