After that brief interlude.
The group continued onward, soon passing through the shantytown steeped in numbness and despair.
The cold wind swept snow dust from the ground and lashed it against the low, crude buildings.
It wailed as it passed through the gaps between the houses.
Zong Shen did not linger over the huddled figures.
Instead, his divine sense became an exquisitely precise sieve, continuously filtering for faint fluctuations within this forgotten corner.
What he needed was not overflowing sympathy.
But glimmering points hidden beneath the dust.
Like the wandering boy with the [Structural Analysis and Deduction] talent, who had already been marked.
Like an unpolished gem wrapped in filth, waiting to be carefully refined in the future.
At the end of the shantytown stood a low wall made from rough logs and compacted frozen earth.
Several gaps had been cut into the wall, serving as gates to the outer area.
Once they passed through, their view suddenly opened up.
The biting wind howled through without obstruction, sweeping up the snow and forming a vast white mist.
In the distance, dark gray mountain ranges stretched across the edge of sight like a silent scar between heaven and earth, majestic yet oppressive.
Across the vast snowfield between the Imperial City and the mountains stood densely packed military fortresses.
This was the forward outpost zone of the Imperial City's outer defensive perimeter.
Towering Watchtowers pierced the lead-gray sky like the fingers of giants.
The crystalline wind chimes hanging from their tops tinkled in the wind.
They were both decorations and simple warning devices.
Small fortresses built from cut stone and cold iron guarded the intersections of several main roads.
Fifth-tier heavy coldsteel crossbows, requiring several people to operate, had been mounted atop the fortresses.
The demon-breaking Runes engraved upon their arms glimmered