CHOO-CHOOOOOO!
A black-and-gold Armored Spirit-Train pulling forty iron freight cars roared down the northern railway tracks at a hundred miles an hour, screeching to a halt at the Three-River Border Pass.
Across the wide, rushing waters of the Three-River Gorge lay the borderlands of the Central Continent and three neighboring vassal kingdoms.
Along the far riverbank, a hundred-mile line of heavy iron spikes, glowing sect banners, and wooden watchtowers had been set up overnight. Over two thousand outer disciples and border guards from the Azure-Sword Sect, Myriad-Pill Pavilion, Heavenly-Lock Array Sect, and Joyous-Gold Sect patrolled the far bank, glaring across the water at Great Yan.
At the center of the blockade line stood Elder Jian, a stern Rank 5 Mid Foundation Establishment supervisor from the Azure-Sword Sect, flanked by Vice-Pavilion Master Elder Dan of the Myriad-Pill Pavilion.
“Look across the river, Brother Dan,” Elder Jian sneered, stroking his long gray goatee as the smoke from Pei Xuan’s spirit-train rose on the southern bank. “That mortal bumpkin Pei Xuan actually rode his noisy iron cart here in person! I told you our Four-Sect Trade Blockade would bring him to his knees! Wait ten minutes—he’s probably going to send a messenger across the bridge in tears, begging to buy our healing pills and offering to release Deacon Liu and Elder Huo!”
