In a guest room at the Tree Rings Hotel.
The utterly aged Ren Daguo lay slumped over the desk beneath the dim yellow light, his eyes tightly shut, his body motionless.
Around him, Star Source Power and life force seethed like mighty rivers, surging into the white-robed figurine.
Qingliang Prefecture Star Gate.
The imperial army had already pushed into Canyon Pass. Their advance, slow at first, was now gathering speed.
By this point in the battle, the several thousand Qingzhou Guard defenders of Qingliang Prefecture and the participating New Year's Watchers were all nearing exhaustion. The Mystical Ability items, defensive equipment, and other supplies brought to the pass had long since been depleted.
There were too many enemies. After they stopped one wave, another followed. How could they defend Qingliang Prefecture with only a canyon pass that lacked even a fortified gate?
Inside Canyon Pass, the stench of blood hung thick. Corpses littered the ground amid broken weapons, shattered armor, and the bodies of warhorses sprawled and piled over one another.
Once war began, it was hard to say whether human lives or horses' lives were nobler or baser. Lying on the ground beneath the trampling feet of countless troops, they looked little different.
At the exit of Canyon Pass nearest Qingliang Prefecture.
An Artisan Class New Year's Watcher wielding an enormous flaming hammer smashed two more enemy soldiers to death, then cursed in a towering rage. "Gate Eye of the Qingliang Prefecture Star Gate, hear me out! I'm going to jump up and fuck your mother! You're the shittiest, most unfair Star Gate I've ever seen! Never mind that they have six times as many recruits as us-even their troops outnumber ours five or six to one? Is this mechanic really balanced? Fuck #￥@!"
His furious curses rang