Inside the Inner Core Sanctum, Sovereign Solon’s contemptuous laughter shook the hundred-foot iron barrier.
The sound resonated through the brass ventilation slits, rattling the stone pavers beneath Kaelen’s cloth slippers.
“Fools,” Solon sneered, his voice booming with arrogant delight. “You whisper about hinges and rivets like children poking at a wooden garden shed. This barrier was forged from pure void meteor iron, drawn from the shattered perimeter of the Primordial Abyss. I personally supervised its smelting across four centuries.”
The thirty-two bronze dragon carvings on the door glowed with blinding crimson malice.
“To ensure its absolute perfection, I executed the three hundred master smiths who hammered its plates,” Solon boasted, his tone dripping with tyrannical pride. “No living soul knows its inner geometry.”
“Each dragon head was quenched in the soul-blood of a primordial fire drake,” Solon continued. “It incorporates the Celestial Dragon-Gate Seal and the Void-Crusher Barrier. It has repelled the concentrated bombardment of a hundred Sovereign Dao Peak masters without shedding a single grain of rust.”
The air in the corridor grew heavy with heat as the dragon carvings puffed sulfurous smoke from their flared nostrils.
“Strike it with your divine swords,” Solon challenged them. “Unleash your sovereign flames. Channel every drop of your pathetic strength. You will shatter your meridians and splinter your bones before you scratch a single layer of my paint. The Nine Grandmasters poured their entire lives into this design!”
