A wooden notice board snapped under the force of an iron-tipped hammer, driving a fresh mandate into the cedar post at the entrance of the lower market lane.
A crowd of outer disciples gathered around the flaring ink, their low murmurs thick with tension. The decree carried the stamped seal of the Iron Wave Brotherhood, bearing the stylized wave crashing against an anvil. By order of the faction leader, Brody, every independent cultivator living below the western ridge was f*******n from trading, speaking, or exchanging cultivation resources with Caleb Conway. Anyone caught accepting silver, medicine, or barter goods from the new Premium Disciple would face immediate disciplinary retaliation in the challenge rings.
Brody intended to turn Cloud Mist Peak into an isolated prison. A cultiva
