A long column of troops marched along the main road.
This was one of the three Vanguard Army contingents that had set out from Heaven Dou City. Scattered villages occasionally appeared along their route, looking so simple and unspoiled. Their inhabitants worked at sunrise and rested at sunset, as though the world had abandoned them outside the new era.
After passing through the outskirts bustling with spring plowing, the army gradually left the city behind, and signs of human habitation grew scarce. Scattered flocks of sheep occasionally appeared on the wilderness, resembling clouds. At some point, the setting sun had quietly slipped toward the hills, draping the entire land in a thin veil of gold that made it especially enchanting.
The Vanguard Army had marched for nearly seven days, heading south from Heaven Dou City, passing through Sunset Forest and Silvis City, crossing the Balak Kingdom, and following the Tas Grassland near Suotuo City without slowing down. Finally, near sunset on the seventh day, they reached the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Because of the beast tide that had previously surged out of the Star Dou Great Forest, the hundred-li stretch extending outward from its perimeter was entirely deserted. The Vanguard Army had no choice but to camp in an abandoned village and turn it into a way station, providing a resting place for the main force and logistics troops that would follow. The long march had also left the soldiers utterly exhausted, so they planned to recuperate briefly here while dispatching scouts to investigate recent conditions in the Star Dou Great Forest.
Among the Vanguard Army, one man stood tall and motionless, absorbed in thought, his expression resolute and imposing.
Ma Hongjun raised his head slightly and looked straight ahead, appearing spirited yet still somewhat boyish.
Mountains