The grand northern military highway that wound upward from the southern foothills toward the central peaks of the Azure Cloud Sect was an ancient blood road built from massive, interlocked dark rock slabs.
For hundreds of years, this road had witnessed the passage of tribute wagons, royal envoys, and retreating guard posts. But never in the eight-hundred-year history of the outer administration had it witnessed a convoy quite like the one that crested the southern ridges at the hour of the midday bell.
Leading the procession was a single youth wearing a dark charcoal linen tunic, heavy with simple leather stitching around the shoulders. Lin Tao walked with steady, unrushed strides, his boots clicking rhythmically against the stone. At his right hip rested the box-shaped, dark-green star-iron token of the Grand Punishment Trial. It caught the high mountain sunlight with the dull, clear sheen of royal power.
Beside him strode Tie Shan, his massive bronze torso bare, glistening with a light sheen of sweat under the crisp alpine air. His twelve-pound cold-drawn iron pry-bar rested across his broad shoulders like a royal scepter, balanced with easy ease. The giant’s scarred face was calm, his dark eyes observing the passing pine forests with the calm vigilance of an ancient guardian lion.
