Yi Yang stood atop the city wall, withdrew the hand with which he had unleashed his saber aura, and clasped it behind his back, narrowing his eyes as he looked down.
The wind and snow had stopped. The sky was still gray, but visibility was clear enough.
The corpse of the Shaman Kingdom officer he had cleaved in two was still steaming, its dark red blood rapidly congealing in the snow.
His gaze passed over the corpse and settled on the martial artists who had just escaped death and were still reeling from the ordeal.
One glance was enough to make Yi Yang frown.
He knew all of them-or at least remembered them.
These were not mere passing acquaintances. They were the Heroes Ranking martial artists who had sat in the same tent as him when Jiang Zhongtian publicly announced the punitive expedition in the central command tent at Crossing Peak Stronghold.
The burly, bearded man carrying an iron spear was Luo Kaishan, a fighter ranked somewhere in the seventies on the Heroes Ranking. He came from the Heaven Patrol Office and had shared drinks with Yi Yang at the gathering in the Moon-Gazing Tower.
Beside him, dragging an injured arm, was Xie Yungui. His ranking had been a few places higher than Yi Yang's back when Yi Yang was concealing his strength. He possessed a powerful sword technique and had taken the initiative to greet Yi Yang in the command tent, treating him quite cordially.
As for the sword-wielding woman at the front of the group, there was even less chance of mistaking her. She had several identities.
Lu Qinglan.
Crossing Peak Stronghold's foremost hero-the Lu Qinglan who had defeated Lu Wanyuan, one of the Heroes Ranking's top ten, in ten moves.
The granddaughter of Lu Zui, a fifth-realm