High above the sea of swirling, jade-tinted clouds, the wind howled with icy fury, whipping the edges of Haoran's imperial black-and-gold dragon robes.
Beside him, Huo Yue stood poised on the invisible precipice of the upper atmosphere.
Her fiery crimson hair danced wildly in the gale like living embers, her sharp, crimson colored eyes narrowing as she peered through the mist toward the sprawling metropolis nestled in the massive crater valley below.
The settlement was vast beyond measure.
Spanning ten million square kilometers across the rugged mountain basin, towering crystalline walls carved from celestial iron caught the midday sun, shimmering with interlocking, iridescent protective arrays.
Giant, pagoda-style fortresses, spiraling towers of polished white stone, and massive floating pavilions anchored by heavy iron chains filled the skyline.
