Two years later, in the Star Luo Empire, outside Longxing Fortress, before Crescent Canyon.
The earth was frozen beneath a bitter sky. Cold winds howled, and ice-blue snowflakes drifted down, laying a blanket of silver-white over the black earth.
Black military tents stood in sharply defined rows on the snow. Soldiers of the Heaven Dou Empire, clad in black armor and carrying spears, patrolled back and forth in small squads.
Within the largest, most luxurious tent in the Heaven Dou Empire's formation, lamps blazed brightly, and glowing charcoal burning in iron trays drove away the chill of the winter night.
Inside, two armored men who appeared to be high-ranking generals of the Heaven Dou Empire studied the military map before them with solemn expressions.
After a while, the slightly younger general, Meng Yue, asked, "General Ge, are we launching an all-out assault on the Star Luo Empire's twenty thousand reserve troops tonight?"
Ge Tian nodded. "Yes, we'll launch the assault tonight. It's time this 'military exercise' came to an end."
Meng Yue considered this for a moment, then asked uncertainly, "Are we still sending those lowborn wretches into the vanguard?"
"I know what you're worried about. That woman won't interfere with our plans. Even if something happens to her, the Titled Douluo secretly protecting her will intervene," Ge Tian said calmly.
Meng Yue nodded thoughtfully, his gaze turning toward a corner of the Heaven Dou Empire's formation.
In that corner, only a handful of battered tents swayed in the cold wind, creaking and rattling.
Figures moved inside the tents amid a tremendous clamor, making them seem distinctly different from the rest of the camp-or rather, utterly out of place.
Though it was clearly within the Heaven Dou Empire's formation, numerous patrols circled this camp. One could even say they were