symmetrical wide shot of a dark wooden gate pavilion with heavy upturned eaves at the center of a misty mountain pass, racks of long crescent-bladed halberds standing inside it like black teeth, steep dark slopes converging on both sides, pale layered mountains fading behind. a rigid row of soldiers in dark lacquered lamellar armor and conical helmets stands on each side holding tall halberds, a commander in a black robe at the left edge, and at the right edge a young woman in a pale grey-white robe faces them alone, a closed traditional oil-paper umbrella with split-bamboo ribs held low at her side. flat grey overcast sky, mist drifting between ridges, all wood and armor desaturated to grey and black. strict symmetry, figures small against the mountains, oppressive stillness before violence, deep blacks, fine film grain