When the dragon-like wail of the Chiwen Seal pierced the clouds, Shen Xitang was busy winding silver silk around the Frankish astrolabe. The cold light of the brass-cast Western armillary sphere revealed that the positions of the Twenty-Eight Mansions were not inlaid with jade, but with Western-style musket balls soaked in Star Sand.
"Watch out, Miss Shen!" Xiao Heng’s Red Dragon Pattern rippled across his Xiuchun Saber, cleaving through the volley of Star Sand buckshot that hissed past her ears. "These Franks understand astral track divination!"
Shen Xitang’s veil was torn away by the shockwave, revealing the newly emerged Dragon-Locking Mark upon her neck. Those blue-grey markings were swallowing the Star Sand, coalescing beneath her skin into a Western star chart. She flicked her wrists, casting the silver silk into a formation that ensnared a suit of Frankish armor. "Lord Thousand-Householder, do you recognize this crest? It matches the base of the stone statues at the Xiaoling Guard..."
Chapter 131