When the sound of pine waves mixed with a rust-laden wind blew into the hastily erected wooden shed, Ye Fan tapped the stone table with his knuckles.
Seven bronze lamps swayed on the ceiling, casting flickering lights over more than twenty faces. On the left sat twelve death warriors of Hanmei Pavilion, their dark martial attire concealing poisoned daggers; on the right were three white-browed elders of the Cangwu Sword Sect, the jade pendants at their waists rising and falling with their breath, emitting a faint hum of swords. In the back row, red skirts fluttered as Chǔ Hóngzhuāng's poison sect Gu master coaxed a Golden Silkworm Gu, though the insect kept probing toward Ye Fan. At the entrance of the shed stood more than a dozen dark guards in black, their leader wearing the dragon-patterned jade pendant of Great Chu—none other than Qín Wǎnshuāng's shadow guard commander, "Lone Goose."
"Three days ago, nine soul-carving pillars appeared at the Black Ice Cave altar." Ye Fan's voice was like a sword quenched in ice, sweeping past the crowd before landing on the small bronze tripod at Su Qingxue's waist. "The Heavenly Dao proxy reflected in the tripod used the tokens of our various sects and dynasties to suppress eight of the pillars." He paused, his knuckles pressing a shallow mark into the stone table. "And the last pillar bears my name."
Chapter 216