The Second Southern Pass.
The first ray of morning sunlight pierced the clouds and fell across the snow, reflecting a dazzling golden glare.
Along the ridge, countless cultivators sat meditating, patrolled back and forth, or inspected Formation Banners and array disks.
The air was thick with tension and oppression.
Rumors that the Second Nascent Soul War was about to erupt had circulated along this defensive line for years.
The main peak of the Second Southern Pass was called Mount Zhenyue.
Atop Mount Zhenyue, several Nascent Soul Cultivators in Daoist robes of various colors stood solemnly on an observation platform carved from a single block of Qingyu.
At their head stood a white-haired elder known as Xu Chenzi. A Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivator, he was one of the elders the Taiyi Immortal Sect had assigned to oversee the Second Southern Pass.
He held a Bronze Compass, his eyes half closed as though sensing something.
"Senior Brother Xu Chenzi, those barbarians to the south seem a little off today."
The speaker was a middle-aged Daoist nun beside Xu Chenzi. Known as True Person Jade Balance, she was a Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivator from White Cloud Abbey, one of the Seven Sacred Lands of the Desolate Ancient Continent.
She held a crystal mirror aimed toward the Barbarian God Continent in the south.
The image within was blurred beneath a layer of blood-red mist—the Barbarian God Continent's distinctive Witchcraft barrier, which interfered with attempts to spy through it.
"Off?"
Xu Chenzi slowly opened his eyes, a keen glint flashing in them. "What have you noticed, Junior Sister Jade Balance?"
"At this hour on any other day, scouts from the Barbarian God tribes would already be in Soul-Breaking Valley, two hundred li away, testing our patrols in skirmishes."
True Person Jade Balance pointed