The three of them saw a gray cloth bundle hanging from the tallest iron flagpole above the gate tower at the end of the main street.
The bundle had already been mostly unwrapped. The severed head inside faced outward, plainly visible beneath the afternoon sun.
The head's eyes were wide open, its face bluish-white. The blood at the broken neck had long dried black.
Yet its features remained distinct: blade-like brows and high cheekbones. It was Chen Xuanli, the Imperial Court's vanguard general who had pursued Situ Lie all the way from Cross Ridge to Cangwu Mountain.
More than a hundred people had already gathered beneath the gate tower. Vegetable sellers, burden carriers, bird walkers, tea drinkers—all craned their necks, pointing up at the flagpole and whispering among themselves.
Some spoke in hushed voices. Some went pale and hurried away. Others stood there staring for a long while, still rubbing their eyes hard.
"Th-that isn't the Imperial Court's..."
Qi Bonian stood at the edge of the crowd. The instant he recognized the severed head, his calves visibly trembled.
Tie Hengshan's expression changed as well.
Just moments ago, he had been slapping his chest in the grand chair, declaring that "all beneath Organ Tempering are ants."
Now, he saw that head on the flagpole—Chen Xuanli, a Late-Stage Organ Tempering vanguard general, whose neck had been twisted clean off and whose head had been hung from the city gate as a warning.
He gulped audibly. The spirited swagger from before was like a bucket of cold water poured straight over him, and his shoulders visibly sagged by half an inch.
Liu Sanbian stared at the severed head for a long while as well, uncertainty flashing repeatedly through his eyes.
But he was, after all, known for his meticulous mind.
After a moment,