Rao Prefecture, Poyang.
It bordered the eight-hundred-li Poyang Great Marsh, where the air was thick with moisture.
The thunder of hooves shattered the puddles on the official road.
Several hundred black-clad Demon Suppression Guards of Jiangdong, their uniforms marked with red, surged like a black, enraged dragon. A hundred paces from the city gate, they reined in as one.
At their head rode an old general clad in dark, heavy armor, his great cloak streaming straight out behind him in the wind.
"The banners of the Jiangdong Demon Suppression Bureau!"
The Captain on the city wall narrowed his eyes to get a better look. When he recognized the visitors, the tension finally eased from his face. He turned and bellowed, "Open the gates—!!!"
Rumble.
The gates had barely begun to open when a troop of horsemen rushed out from the city.
At their head was a burly old man with a face full of bristling flesh. He was not on horseback, but wore foot soldier's armor and carried a hundred-forged steel saber as he strode forward.
From a great distance, he roared, "Old Yue? Why is it you? I thought you were already dead!"
Yue Huaiyuan dismounted with a swift, nimble motion, showing not the slightest hint of age.
He strode forward and slammed a fist against the burly man's breastplate.
"Wang, you big fool. If you're still alive, how could I dare go on ahead?"
Wang Hong was the Demon-Suppressing General of Poyang Commandery.
Both men were old hands in the Demon Suppression Bureau, and they had shared a deep friendship.
Now that they had met again, there was no need for any empty pleasantries.
Wang Hong grinned and punched Yue Huaiyuan in the shoulder in return. "That's true. Yama thinks you taste too sour, so he probably wouldn't