The mighty cavalry charged down Panshan Ancient Road, dust rolling across the earth, Killing Intent blanketing the wilds.
When they reached the level official road at the foot of the mountain, everyone's gaze sharpened.
There, in the very center of the road, stood a quietly waiting gilded ebony carriage, extravagantly luxurious and far beyond the regulations of the secular world.
Its entire body was crafted from millennium-sunken ebony, carved with cloud patterns and mountains-and-seas motifs, edged in gilding. Beneath the sunlight, it shimmered with flowing radiance, noble splendor bearing down on all around it.
Most astonishing of all were the two exotic steeds drawing the carriage.
Ordinary warhorses were completely black, their physiques unremarkable.
Yet these two majestic horses, each over a zhang tall, bore short jade-colored horns upon their heads. Their manes flowed like black jade, and when their hooves fell, faint mist rose in their wake. Their bodies were as powerful as mountains, their eyes savage yet spirited.
These were no ordinary horses!
They were Dragon-Horned Imperial Horses, painstakingly raised by the sect at enormous expense, possessing the bloodline of ancient flood dragons.
Their bloodline was pure, their endurance monstrous. They could travel a thousand li in a day as though walking level ground, and their tempers were ferocious.
Ordinary martial soldiers would feel fear merely approaching them. Only a Dao Child's ceremonial escort could command them.
At either side of the carriage, eight carefully selected elite guards in black armor stood solemnly waiting, their postures like spears and their auras deep and steady as mountains. All were at the Force Entry realm.
Seeing Wang Yuan's party arrive, the eight black-armored guards dropped to one knee in unison, their voices shaking the official road.
"Welcome, Dao Child Xuanyuan, aboard!"
Their voices rang out like clanging steel, solemn to