Three days later.
Dust and smoke boiled, and the earth trembled and rumbled.
On a potholed official road that had long gone unrepaired, more than fifty li from Ancestral Spirit Mountain, the Mystic Court's three camps advanced slowly along the road, their force of over ten thousand divided into vanguard, center, and rear.
The Iron Wall Camp led the way, its armored soldiers and saber-and-shield troops forming battle arrays that crushed every obstacle in their path.
The center consisted of the Flying Cavalry Camp. Its fighting men were mostly light cavalry, but they had dismounted to escort the baggage train and rows of cannons.
The rear consisted of the Thunderbolt Camp's main force of arquebusiers and some cavalry. The army of ten thousand stretched for several li, seething with killing intent.
An army on the move made an enormous disturbance.
News that the Mystic Court intended to attack the Divine Radiance Palace had spread long ago. Small forces continually harried them along the way. Although they inflicted few casualties, they did slow the Black Army's advance.
The officers of all three camps had pent-up anger burning within them, desperate for an outlet.
At that moment, Yu Qingshan and Fu Zhengyang rode tall horses in the center, surrounded by elite Black Tortoise Guard warriors.
Given their martial prowess, such protection was entirely unnecessary.
Yu Qingshan's gaze was icy as he looked several li ahead. Having been here once before, he naturally knew there was a gorge there through which the army had to pass.
Even without sending scouts, Yu Qingshan could guess that ambushers would occupy both sides of the gorge. After all, if they did not lay an ambush here, the terrain beyond was an unbroken plain leading straight to the Divine Radiance Palace's gates.
Soon, the army advanced to