The company entered Heyu County just as dusk was about to swallow the last of the daylight.
The county town was small, but its streets bustled. News from the Trade and Commerce Office had been circulating for days, and martial artists arriving from north and south had filled every inn.
He Ming led the way. After turning down two streets, they stopped before an inn hung with lanterns.
The sign above its door read Mountainview Inn.
Five days on the road had exhausted both men and horses.
The Windbreath Cavalry's Mutant Beast Horses were still full of vigor, but the thirty Pacification Guards under Yi Yang rode only ordinary Mutant Beast Horses. Making it this far had already pushed them to their limits.
He Ming swung down from his horse and tossed the reins to an attendant. "This is the place. They have stables in the rear courtyard, and plenty of room."
Yi Yang looked up. It was a small, three-story building, with two attendants standing at the entrance, their smiles eager and obliging.
He led his horse inside, with Xu Min and the thirty Pacification Guards following behind. They had not removed their black armor, and its plates clattered against one another.
The moment Yi Yang's party crossed the threshold, the noise in the main hall died down a little.
There was no mystery to it. Two groups had suddenly poured through the entrance, nearly a hundred people altogether, all leading those one-horned Mutant Beast Horses that looked dangerous at a glance.
The Windbreath Cavalry at their head were especially imposing. Clad in black armor shimmering with silver light, they only had to stand there to make any ordinary thug's calves cramp with fear.
Meng Kuo of the Green Canal Prefecture's Evil Punishment Office found an empty table and