Four hours later, at dusk.
Lu Chen stood at the entrance to the Ironblood Horse Grounds. His combat strength had recovered to eighty percent.
The wound in his left lung had sealed completely, and air no longer leaked from his breathing.
The claw wounds on his right shoulder and abdomen had closed. The new skin was pale gold, a shade lighter than the skin around it.
The deep grooves in the finger bones of his left hand had vanished. The dragon bone's self-healing had erased the final trace left by the Third Councilor.
Yun Qingyue sat astride her horse, a medicine chest hanging beside the saddle.
Tuoba Shan carried five new blades on his back, their hilts staggered at different heights behind his shoulder. The Demon Suppression Army had dispatched a thousand cavalrymen, led by Zhao Tieying. All thousand wore black clothes and black armor, and their mounts were the finest warhorses from the Ironblood Horse Grounds.
Mo Qianqiu's messenger Captain brought a second letter.
The letter was more detailed—the commander of Shattered Star Pass had been slain last night, almost at the same time as the decisive battle at the Land God Temple.
The Sixth Councilor had made no effort to conceal his trail. He had traveled eastward from the depths of the Western Wasteland, slaughtering three patrol outposts along the way. Shattered Star Pass had three thousand defenders. Fewer than eight hundred survived.
The eight hundred who escaped said that the Sixth Councilor had entered the pass alone.
He had walked in through the gate. The defenders fired Qi-Breaking Crossbows at him, but before the bolts could reach him, they were all corroded into rust by deathly qi.
"One man breaking a pass." Tuoba Shan wound the reins once around his wrist. "What realm is he in?"
"When