Outside Valhulan City, within a flourishing grove of silver-leaf cane, a pale silver-green carpet had been spread across a circular clearing. A strikingly handsome young woman lay upon it with her hands behind her head, her eyes narrowed as she stared expressionlessly at the sky.
This young woman could indeed only be described as handsome. Her pair of sword-like brows were more resolute than those of most men. Her soft-featured face, made taut by her tightly pressed lips, formed two hard arcs that stretched all the way past her cheeks, as though two sharp scimitars hung from her face, carrying a chill that made one shudder. Her nose was high and straight, her large eyes sharply defined in black and white, brilliance flashing from her pupils. Even a casual glance from her was like countless sharp swords shooting forth, ready to pierce anyone before her straight through the heart.
She wore nothing more than an ordinary black warrior's outfit, yet on her it seemed like the heavy armor of a commander leading troops across a battlefield. Her entire body radiated a suffocating pressure and a cold, baleful aura.
A seemingly ordinary five-foot longsword lay neatly at her side. Its scabbard was grayish white, its hilt black, fashioned in the most ancient style of Eastern dueling swords. Aside from a small image of a fierce tiger emerging from the forest inlaid at the scabbard's mouth with silver wire, the sword appeared utterly unremarkable.
Beyond this clearing, roughly three meters in diameter, dozens of burly men sat cross-legged soundlessly amid the dense cane grove. They wore fitted black garments and heart-guard armor over their upper bodies, protecting the vital point over their hearts. Each of them gave off a fierce, valiant air. The blazing sun hung high, and the airtight cane grove