After the Battle: Xue Ye's Tent, Wutong and Yuhao's First Kiss

Ming Dou Mountain Pass had won, but Huo Yuhao had not slept.

The victory had been beautiful, but far from easy. After the Sun Moon vanguard retreated, residual waves of Soul Tool heat still surged beyond the pass. The White Tiger Army worked through the night to repair the defensive line shattered by artillery fire. Under He Caitou's leadership, the Tang Sect's Soul Engineers recovered Soul Tool Fragments that could still be reverse-engineered, while Dai Hao gathered the Star Luo generals to review the battle losses.

Huo Yuhao sat in his tent with three battle maps spread before him.

The first showed Ming Dou Mountain Pass's current defenses, the second the Sun Moon vanguard's retreat route, and the third the possible rear-army movements indicated by Ju Zi's signal fire. His Spirit Eyes had not fully withdrawn from their battlefield state, and icy blue light flickered in his eyes. Every deduction sent a stab of pain through his brow, his spiritual sea seeming to endure the aftershocks of the Myriad Cannon Formation again and again.

But what truly kept him from settling down was not merely the war.

Dai Hao's words—"Star Luo owes you a favor"—still weighed on his ears.

Huo Yuhao did not believe he had come to defend this place because he had been born in Star Luo, nor did he want Dai Hao to suddenly offer belated compensation in the role of a father. Yet he could not deny that if Ming Dou Mountain Pass fell, countless ordinary soldiers would die. Perhaps Dai Hao would too. Duty and old resentment had tangled together like an old thread that could never be straightened out.

The tent flap was gently lifted.

Tang Wutong entered carrying the chill of wind and snow with her. She did not speak at once. She