When the snow of the first year of Tianqi fell upon the Yongdingmen watchtower, Shen Xitang caught the scent of gunpowder from Frankish breech-loading guns. The scorched earth where the Christian sarcophagus had crashed glowed with a ghostly indigo light; the Star Sand seeping from the cracks in the lid was coalescing into the shape of a cross, echoing the Red Dragon Pattern on Xiao Heng’s back.
"The fire of a hearth-keeper like you, Lord Thousand-Householder, wouldn’t even be enough to ignite the God of the red-haired barbarians," she said, her voice laced with mockery, showing utter disdain for this so-called fire of the hearth-keeper.
As she moved, she tore away half of her scorched veil, revealing the mutated Dragon-Locking Mark on her neck. The once gray-blue markings had spread like vines to her left cheek, tracing the outline of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
Chapter 132