Chapter 309
Black Cloud.
Atop a floating mountain.
Zhang Yao and Gongsun Xinlian stood calmly within the array formation at the mountain's peak, watching a mass of brown cloud and mist close in rapidly from the distance.
Within that haze, massive purple-black Moth Carriages flew in tight formation. The so-called cloud was in fact toxic powder shedding naturally from the carriages—shed in such quantities that it had bloomed into a vast brown stain across the sky.
Three three-eyed Mistborn of varying builds stood atop the lead carriage. One was a dwarf barely reaching 1.3 meters, black-haired and black-eyed. The second was tall and gangling, draped in a loose black-and-white robe that made him look like an acrobat mounted on stilts. The third had the head of a shark. He wore a curved saber at his waist and a form-fitting black suit that did nothing to conceal his broad, muscular frame.
These three were members of the Three Islands Alliance, arriving to seek refuge in Black Cloud. All three were formidable Mistborn.
As conditions outside deteriorated, more and more refugees converged on Black Cloud, seeking strength in numbers against the encroaching crisis. At first, Zhang Yao and Gongsun Xinlian had been quietly pleased—the steady influx of powerful fighters would make the inevitable confrontations far easier to manage. But as that influx swelled to include Blood Ancestors and Mistborn, unease set in.
Without Big Brother Xie present, the two of them could handle three or four Mistborn between them. Any more than that was another matter. This Three Islands Alliance, for instance, comprised three Mistborn City Lords whose cities had already been swallowed by the outside world. These were not figures who had risen through connections and patronage, the way Tuyue had. They were battle-hardened veterans of genuine warfare. Word even had it that one among them was a City Lord from the Hongyin Empire—a telling sign of just how dire things had become out there.
Despite their private misgivings, Gongsun Xinlian and Zhang Yao took to the air to receive the Three Islands Alliance. Whatever the situation, turning away top-tier experts seeking shelter would be the wrong move.