Inside a deserted mountain temple thirteen li south of the Wu River, outside Lingwu City.
The wooden idol had already collapsed. Its lower edges bore many chopping marks, hacked into long pieces of firewood and fed into the fire beneath the altar. As they burned, they gave off emerald flames and faint crackling pops.
By the fire sat three men whose dress was unusual and whose auras were immensely formidable. One look told anyone they were masters.
One of them wore a Black Xuanbird Robe and carried a long sword on his back. A red sand mole marked the center of his brow. His features were ordinary, but his eyes were deep, like a mirror reflecting raging waves, inspiring dread in anyone who looked upon them.
The man beside him stood eight chi tall, lean and powerfully built, and exceptionally handsome. His hooked nose lent him an air of dominance and unruliness, while his aura resembled a divine eagle or roc soaring through the heavens—unrestrained, sweeping across heaven and earth, unbound by the mortal world.
The last man appeared much more ordinary. He stood six chi five cun tall, with wheat-colored skin and an honest, simple-looking face. At first glance, he gave off a solid, trustworthy impression. Yet compared with the other two by the fire, this seemingly loyal and honest man was in no way inferior in bearing. If anything, he possessed a few more traces of smoothness, worldly warmth, and mundane sophistication.
Above the fire, two thick, muscular hind legs were roasting. Fat bubbled out under the flames, dripped down, and filled the temple with a rich fragrance.
Farther inside the ruined temple lay the enormous carcass of a beast. It resembled a water buffalo but had four horns, and was likely some kind of vicious beast hunted