Poyang

Rao Prefecture.

It stood beside the eight-hundred-li expanse of the Poyang Great Marsh, shrouded in moisture.

Thunderous hoofbeats shattered the puddles on the imperial road.

Several hundred mounted Demon-Suppression Guards from the East Riverlands, clad in black with crimson markings, surged like a raging black dragon before reining in as one a hundred paces from the city gate.

The old general at their head wore heavy, dark armor, his great cloak pulled taut by the wind.

"Those are the banners of the East Riverlands Demon Suppression Office!"

The captain atop the wall narrowed his eyes for a closer look. Once he recognized the arrivals, his taut face finally relaxed, and he turned to roar, "Open the gates!!!"

Rumble.

Before the gates had fully opened, a party rushed out from within.

Leading them was a burly old man with a brutish face. He rode no horse, wearing infantry armor and carrying a saber of hundred-refined steel as he strode forward.

While still far away, he bellowed, "Old ghost Yue? Why did they send you? I thought you were already dead!"

Yue Huaiyuan swung down from his horse with a nimble movement, showing not a trace of age.

He strode forward and hammered a fist against the burly man's breastplate.

"You great fool Wang, you're still alive. How would I dare go ahead of you?"

Wang Hong, the demon-suppression general of Poyang Commandery.

Both were veterans of the Demon Suppression Office and had once shared a close friendship.

Meeting again now, they naturally dispensed with hollow pleasantries.

Wang Hong grinned and punched Yue Huaiyuan's shoulder in return. "True enough. The King of Hell thinks your meat's too sour. He probably won't take you."

With that, he stepped aside to clear the way. His gaze swept over the several hundred elite riders behind