The Heavenly Master looked down, his golden eyes flickering with indifference. "…Even with summer approaching, it's still dreadfully cold here. How do these barbarians stand it?"
Lee Jaha stood in the command hall, the shattered communication talisman still humming faintly in his hand. The air felt colder somehow, even though the fires in the braziers burned strongly. The room was silent except for the faint hiss of the wind pushing through the cracks of the great stone doors.
His gaze flicked toward the map of the northern passes, where glowing runes marked each active defense array. One of them, the border ward, had already gone dark. Hao Zhen, who stood next to him, had a grave look on his face. "So they've decided they had enough of waiting for their deaths and have personally come to seek it out," he said.
