Half a day later, the Nine Profound Suppression of the North Formation at Yanmen Pass opened a limited one-way passage.
Several Black-Gold Warships sailed out of the mighty pass, while a million Border Army soldiers formed ranks atop the walls to see them off.
The Northwestern Circuit-Surveying Governor's great banner stretched across the sea of clouds. The fortune of the Fifteen Provinces' mountains and rivers became a long azure-black dragon that coiled around the fleet, drawing the upward gazes of countless cultivators along the way.
Qing Chen stood at the prow of the foremost warship.
He made no attempt to conceal his aura.
The Northwestern Circuit-Surveying Seal hovered beside him, its formidable pressure filling the sky.
Everyone knew that Northwestern Governor-General Qing Chen had left Yanmen Pass and was openly heading to the Nian Household in Suzhou, preparing to personally welcome Consort Nian and the Pacify-the-West Commandery Prince.
Meanwhile, millions of miles away.
Deep in the desert, the Persian Royal Banner slowly advanced through the sand-laden winds that filled the sky.
Altai sat inside the Royal Chariot, repeatedly examining the armaments contract worth a billion spirit stones, a smile still on his face at how worthwhile this journey had been.
He was not afraid of the Loulan Kingdom making trouble for them. They were an envoy delegation, after all, unless the Loulan Kingdom wanted to fall out with both Great Jin and Persia.
Farther north, on the Kucha Ancient Road, the Third Prince of Qingqiu was also considering which fox women and cat women to select from his clan and send to Yanmen Pass once he returned to the royal city.
Neither of them noticed.
Behind the thousand-mile dunes on either side, a hundred thousand Body Cultivators had silently taken up ambush positions.
Lie Feng slowly raised his right hand.