The summons came less than an hour after the explosion.
Mark and Lan Xia hadn't even left the outer perimeter of the trial field when a silver-robed messenger, riding a wind spirit mount, landed beside them with a polite but urgent expression.
"Command requests your presence immediately," he said with a bow, eyes flicking warily to the black pistol at Mark's side.
Mark tapped the grip idly. "That fast, huh?"
Lan Xia's expression didn't change, but Mark saw her fingers twitch slightly, in preparation for anything unexpected. After all, they came together, and he blew up the testing platform. Fortunately, they didn't show any aggressiveness and instead requested their presence.
They followed the messenger through a series of guarded passageways, crossing through the teleportation hall's inner sanctum, up towards a mountain cliff citadel that jutted over the Immortal Plane's skyline like a blade ready to strike.
