"Let's go!"
Xiao Ding waved his hand and headed toward the enormous fortress ahead.
Ghost Suppression Pass was heavily guarded. Checkpoints had already been set up two or three hundred meters outside the gates to stop and inspect travelers leaving the empire.
Xiao Ding and Xiao Li had spent years struggling to make their way in the world and had plenty of experience passing through checkpoints, so they made it through the enormous city walls without trouble.
After walking through the passage and crossing the moat, the brothers gazed at the layers of distant mountains, then turned to look back at the last city on the Jia Ma Empire's border. Once they left here, they would truly be leaving their homeland behind and entering the vast world beyond.
Meanwhile, within the Jia Ma Empire, countless wealthy and noble families had been drawn by an auction in Xiao City.
Even the Imperial Family was no exception. Word had it that the Xiao Clan would be auctioning information about Ice Emperor Hai Bodong, Yun Shan, the previous Sect Master of the Misty Cloud Sect, and even heavenly flames.
If the Xiao Clan of the past had released such news, no one would have believed it. But times had changed. Their achievements in two battles had already transformed the empire's perception of them.
A dozen or so miles outside Xiao City, Jia Xingtian of the Imperial Family, Mittel Tengshan, Clan Leader of the Mittel Family, and Mu Chen, head of the Mu Family, had gathered. All of them had come for Xiao City's auction.
"Elder Jia, the Xiao Clan truly harbors hidden dragons and crouching tigers. After all these years in the Jia Ma Empire, I never knew such a powerful clan existed!"
Along the way, Mu Chen spoke to the Nine-Star