With his arrival, Yunzhou's hundred thousand Dao Soldiers seemed to have found their backbone. Awe appeared in the eyes of many commanders.
Pei Xuance had already commanded troops in the Northwestern Circuit for many years. Transferring here from the Governor-General's Office had been like a dragon entering the sea.
His prestige among the northwestern Border Army was immense. Even many of its military chiefs had to respectfully address him as "my lord" when they saw him.
The second streak of Escape Light was far colder.
A Jade Ruler stretched across the sky, faint azure energy coiling around it.
Behind the Jade Ruler, an azure-robed cultivator came riding the wind, his face lean and his gaze sharp. A Northwestern Circuit inspection Jade Token hung at his waist.
The Northwestern Circuit's inspecting Censor, Li Qingyuan, a member of the Li Household of the Nine Netherworlds.
The third man arrived aboard a Bronze Cloud Chariot.
The Cloud Chariot was small, with a banner of the Governor-General's Office's Chief Secretary hanging before it.
The man at its head had a dark complexion and three short strands of beard, trimmed with utmost neatness. His robes were not ostentatious, but every detail conformed to the ceremonial regulations for Great Jin's Immortal Officials.
Li Wenbi, Chief Secretary of the Governor-General's Office-the "Black-Faced God" who had previously come to inspect Qing Chen's Qiongzhou.
Nominally, he was a subordinate official of the Governor-General's Office. In reality, he had been dispatched to handle the Northwestern Circuit's civil affairs and exercise part of the Governor-General's authority.
With the arrival of these three parties, the situation before the monastery gates immediately grew more delicate.
Yet before anyone could speak, a low beast's roar suddenly rang out from deep within the snow-veiled mountains west of Faneng Temple.
Immediately afterward, black clouds surged like