Saint Burial Realm.
Conferred Pagoda.
At this moment, the air at the summit of one of the pagoda's peak was thin and perpetually cold, a sharp contrast to the humid, floral heat of the Fragrant Flower City in that unknown corner of the world.
Here, the Conferred Pagoda, the undisputed sovereign of the Saint Burial Realm, held its court.
The architecture here was a testament to a power that did not belong to this world; soaring spires of black obsidian and white jade that seemed to pierce the very veil of the sky, anchored by ancient formations that hummed with a low, bone-deep vibration.
Currently, in a small, secluded pavilion perched on a jagged outcropping of rock, a beautiful young woman sat in a deep meditative trance.
She wore a black robe with an entirely open back.
And engraved upon her pale skin was a complex, tribal tattoo in pitch-black ink, its lines writhing like living shadows.
