Early morning.
The sun rose high into the sky.
Withered Elder slowly made his way into the city.
The South Gate was still at a standoff. Tao Yuanshan remained locked in a remote confrontation with the middle-aged man in the tavern within the inner city.
Neither side made another move.
Feng Jizu had already fled the West Gate in disgrace. Of the three hundred men he had brought in, not one remained, and he himself had lost half his life. At this moment, he was recuperating from his injuries in a camp.
As for Gui Mingtang...
There had been no news of him yet.
Withered Elder did not take the South Gate, nor did he take the West Gate.
He entered through the North Gate.
There were no guards at the North Gate. The gates stood wide open, and not even a single bandit from Tiger Lian Mountain could be seen.
Withered Elder leaned on a pitch-black cane.
His back was hunched.
Step by step, he entered the city.
He walked very slowly, like an old man in the twilight of his years who could be blown over by the wind at any moment.
What was strange was that...
Though he walked down the street,
he gave off the sense that he did not belong to this world.
If someone passed by him at that moment, they would likely overlook his existence entirely, believing no one was beside them.
After walking for about half an hour, an open space appeared ahead.
At the end of the open space
stood an old residence with a loft.
The fortress!
If no one told you, it would be hard to believe that this building, whose exterior looked no different from an ordinary home, was actually the city's central hub and its final bastion