At the end of the late-afternoon watch, haze gathered along the horizon.
Thirty-six halls with overhanging gabled roofs towered majestically above the grounds. Nearly two thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards stood in the spacious training ground of the Qi'an Office, yet their surroundings were as silent as an empty mountain valley, without the slightest stray sound.
Every figure here was one of the court's hawks and hounds, whose very reputation made the world tremble.
Execute first, report afterward-by imperial sanction.
Those words, together with the Flying Fish Uniform and Embroidered Spring Saber, silenced the world like cicadas in winter!
They held the Book of Impermanence in their hands and could determine the fates of far too many people.
Such an overbearing, formidable force now stood in utter deference, their bodies straight as pines. From afar, they resembled a vast, dark tide that would swallow their enemies whole the instant a command was given!
Steady footsteps sounded from outside the boundless silence.
A young man in a Bright Red Flying Fish Uniform approached slowly, three python patterns embroidered at his waist. The sunset's lingering glow fell over him. Though he walked as casually as if strolling through his own courtyard, his imposing presence pressed straight into the soul!
Amid the absolute stillness, he ascended the platform.
In an instant.
Nearly two thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards bowed in salute, their movements perfectly synchronized, their voices ringing with force:
"Greetings, Thousand-Household Commander!"
"Greetings, Thousand-Household Commander!"
Their mighty voices pierced the clouds.
This was admiration from the depths of their hearts.
The man standing there was the youngest Thousand-Household Commander in the history of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Rising at a terrifying speed, he had trodden over the corpses of one powerful figure after another and earned three python patterns on his red robe at