The unseen dust rode the wind like it owned the air.
It slipped into Highroost District first, then Ironcrest Forges, then Shopcap Ventures, then Sunkissed Bazaar.
They were neighboring cities near the Ledgegrove Bazaar.
Barriers rose for invasions, for energy blasts, for troops, beasts, and flying curses. Dust was neither fire nor beast.
Cultivators felt calamity the way animals felt storms. They did not wait for proof.
"Anyone on the road. Go indoors. No one to stay outside."
"Everyone go inside fast. Go."
Half initiative, half panic. They had watched. They shoved people into homes like they were possessed.
Packed like sardines, piled under one roof.
They watched gilded core strength form as if cultivation cost nothing.
Still, for most of them the instant boost held no allure.
Power was sweet. Becoming a mindless beast was not.
Jekyll heard the first reports as a fizzing under the skin, the kind of warning that came when qi barriers failed without a visible strike.
