"Hyah! Hyah-hyah!"
With the nighttime curfew in effect, the city gates could not be opened without the commanding general's order. Two Internal Force realm messengers were lowered down in bamboo baskets, followed by six sturdy military horses. Three horses per man, with provisions and fodder prepared.
The messengers swung themselves onto their mounts and lashed the horses' rumps with all their might, their figures racing into the distance.
The city guard captain clicked his tongue in secret.
It was nighttime. Though these were specially bred blood-sweating warhorses capable of seeing in the dark, with speed comparable to a martial artist at the peak of the Internal Force realm and endurance far beyond that—
In such pitch-black night, with only a sliver of moonlight and traveling in such haste, one careless mistake could snap a horse's leg.
Who knew what urgent military intelligence this was.
More than fifty kilometers from Eastspirit Prefecture stood a curving stone bridge.
The bridge spanned a great river, linking its two banks. It could accommodate two carriages side by side and was the only route from Eastspirit Prefecture into the mountains. There was a detour, but it would add several days to the journey.
Clatter, clatter, clatter...
The urgent hoofbeats grew from faint to thunderous, until they poured forth without end like a rainstorm.
Blood-red sweat dripped from the blood-sweating horses, soaking their bodies through. They had not stopped for even a moment along the way.
"Faster!"
One messenger spoke in a low voice.
"The general ordered that the letter must reach the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce's manager before dawn. If we fail, we're both dead."
"Don't worry..."
The other man smiled, then suddenly showed a look of horror.
A thread of sword light, dim and shadowy beneath the night sky, came from nowhere