The Great Army at the Gates

On Qingming Day, the heavens hung dark and gloomy.

The gloom shrouding the sky refused to lift. Rain hung in the air, not yet falling, while a thin mist blanketed the land.

Five miles outside Giant Dragon City, the generals of Guazhou, Wangtian, and Chihe led fifty thousand soldiers forward like a surging black tide.

Guazhou's General Tian Chunyu, Wangtian City's General Meng He, and Chihe City's General Wu Xiaotian stood at the front of the army.

Battle flags snapped across the wasteland as the three men stared at Giant Dragon City in the distance.

Guazhou's General Tian Chunyu was a burly man in armor, mounted on a tall steed. The broadsword in his hand gleamed coldly in the dim light.

Wangtian City's General Meng He wore a blue robe. His stern face and eyes betrayed a shrewd, calculating nature.

Chihe City's General Wu Xiaotian was lean, with a roguish smile on his face.

He toyed with the folding fan in his hand, as though the coming battle were nothing more than an amusing game.

The three generals had no idea that Tantai Haoyun, Giant Dragon City's Grand General, was dead.

The troops in the Vermilion Bird and Black Tortoise camps outside the city had already withdrawn into Giant Dragon City, eager for battle.

The soldiers were determined to follow their City Lord into a fight to the death against the invading army on Qingming Day.

Meanwhile, Chen Mingcheng had already taken his place atop Giant Dragon City, still unaware that Wang Xian, the man he had been thinking about, had quietly left.

Or rather, Wang Xian had left the previous night.

After the young girl departed with her mother, Chen Ling'er, and Chen Xiaoyu,

Wang Xian had crossed through the void at the Hour of the Tiger and left