The moon hung high in the middle of the sky.
Shenjing's city gates were tightly shut.
The sound of hoofbeats drew nearer, kicking up dust all along the road and startling the drowsy soldiers awake.
"Who goes there? Stop! Stop... Loose the arrows!"
The gate officer shouted several times and ordered the archers to attack. Countless feathered arrows flew toward the approaching figure.
Swish, swish, swish!
The horse was instantly shot into a pincushion. It charged forward several more yards before collapsing, while the figure on its back leaped into the air, soaring five or six yards high.
At the sight, the gate officer's expression eased slightly. Shenjing's city walls stood a full nine zhang tall.
Just as he was about to order another volley, he vaguely saw a dark shadow appear in midair. The newcomer stepped on it and borrowed its force once more.
He rose over ten zhang into the air, then crashed down atop the city wall with a thunderous boom, sending shards of stone flying.
"D-Don't... don't come any closer..."
The gate officer went pale with fright and involuntarily backed away. Even renowned experts of the Marrow Cleansing Realm were not this terrifying.
The figure was Zhou Yi. He glanced at the gate officer, then sprang away toward Yongchang Ward.
A month earlier.
The Brocade Guard had reported a strange tomb. Anyone who approached it would suffer a ghostly maze, circling several times before somehow ending up far away. The villagers regarded it as taboo.
After consulting local county annals, they learned that the tomb's owner had been a solitary Daoist who lived to one hundred and forty years old. Since the tomb's master was very likely a cultivator, Zhou Yi left the capital to investigate. He spent silver to hire several hundred men and simply