Time turned back three days.
The wind at Cold Pine Pass carried shards of ice.
After leaving the Papal Hall, Qian Renxue had Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan summoned. By the time the order to inspect the Northern Front came down, Bai Jin had already prepared three Anchor Points along the route. He swallowed a pill to restore his mental strength, then used Boundless Passage to shift from point to point, taking all five of them straight to the Northern Front. When the last Anchor Point lit up, the east had only just begun to pale. Bloodshot veins still marked his eyes after a sleepless night.
By the time Bai Jin and the others climbed the pass wall, dawn had barely broken. Outside, two forces had already taken positions on opposite sides of the boundary marker. Closest to the pass stood the Spirit Hall Empire's Northern Front garrison, its black-and-gold flags straining in the wind. Farther away, at the edge of the pine forest, more than a dozen Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan disciples guarded their restricted mountain territory. They had not crossed the marker, but the lightning in their hands had never faded.
Twelve bodies lay between them.
A young officer was bracing a ballista and adjusting its aim. The bolt's tip reached past the battlements toward the Blue Lightning disciples beyond the marker. At the forest's edge, a blue-violet serpent of lightning darted into the treetops, shaking snow from the branches. The two sides were still far apart, but their Killing Intent had already collided on the wind. Once the first bolt flew, last night's mysterious bloodbath would become a battle everyone could see.
Bai Jin stopped beside the ballista and pressed a fingertip against its taut string. The cord, strong enough to punch through heavy armor,