Early the next morning.
Formless City, the northern gate.
In this Wasteland city perpetually shrouded in despair and oppression, dawn was usually the quietest hour.
Today, however, the broad plaza before the northern gate presented a strange scene, solemnity interwoven with an air of impending bloodshed.
Twelve magnificent Demon Beasts, their bodies covered in fine silver scales, stood quietly beneath the gate.
They resembled warhorses, but each bore a crystalline, spiraling horn upon its head. As their hooves shifted, wisps of white cloud formed and vanished beneath them.
These were the prized riding beasts of Formless City—the [Cloud-Stepping Unicorns].
These Third Tier Demon Beasts were not only docile and capable of traveling a thousand li a day; more precious still, their horns naturally possessed a faint evil-repelling glow that could effectively resist the corrosion of the thin gray mist outside.
In Formless City, even elders of the Three Great Clans might not be able to assemble such a uniform company of unicorns for their travels.
Yet today, for the Supreme Venerable's departure, Lei Wu had emptied the Ironblood Hall's reserves and even forcibly requisitioned several mounts from the newly subordinated Wang Household Beast Garden before finally assembling this elite twelve-man escort.
The twelve Ironblood Hall elites riding these unicorns were all devoted loyalists whom Lei Wu had personally selected, and even the weakest had reached Foundation Establishment Middle Stage. They
wore heavy armor and carried spiritual weapons on their backs. As each gazed toward the head of the procession, a nearly fanatical flame of faith burned in his eyes.
With a dull grinding of metal, the enormous gate separating the realms of life and death slowly slid open to either side.
The dense, acrid, ashen mist outside clawed at the gap like ravenous beasts, seeking to squeeze inside. But upon