The Dragon Emperor Cult's Expansion

Three Saints Star, in the northwestern desert.

Beyond the second oasis Wu Shanshan had captured, sandstorms filled the sky. Shifting sands rolled like the humps of camels, while wave upon wave of wolf howls stirred up a towering cloud of killing intent.

After Wu Shanshan led her team in defeating the Scorpion Country forces and seizing their oasis, Scorpion Country had made no moves for several months.

But who could have guessed that the natives of Scorpion Country would remain quiet until they struck, then make a world-shaking move? They had actually joined forces with the desert's two other native nations, Golden Camel Country and Wild Wolf Country, to launch a combined attack.

In an instant, three celestial phenomena saturated with the power of laws converged from three directions around the oasis, leaving no path of escape. Clearly, they intended to slaughter Wu Shanshan and the others—ghosts and gods, Vassals, and Dragon Emperor Cult followers alike—within the oasis.

The native followers of the Dragon Emperor Cult in the oasis panicked at the sight. But this time, whether because they had witnessed Wu Shanshan and the others defeat Scorpion Country's army and seize victory from the natives, or because the three-nation alliance had surrounded the oasis and left them no way to flee, the Dragon Emperor Cult's native followers, though panicked, did not scatter and flee or surrender outright.

In the center of the oasis, before the Dragon Emperor Cult's temple, Wu Shanshan emerged from the temple and looked up at the celestial attacks raised by the three-nation alliance closing in from all sides. Yet her face showed no alarm.

She did not even summon the ghosts and gods, Vassals, or flying ships to prepare for battle. Instead, she raised her hand and sent a jade pendant into the sky above