Although Tianlang Lake was an inland lake, it stretched over eighteen hundred li long and more than six hundred li wide. Apart from its inland location, it looked no different from a sea, earning it the name Western Sea.
The Western Sea Tribes lay northwest of Tianlang Lake. Across the lake lay Northern Liang's heartland, making the lake a natural barrier for Northern Liang. After annexing the Western Sea Tribes, Northern Liang had built several cities along its shores and stationed large armies there.
At midnight, in a small town over a hundred li from Northern Liang's border city of Pingyi City, a caravan flying the Black Banner Gang's flag stopped outside an inn.
Horses and carriages streamed past the inn, all belonging to caravans from far and wide heading to Langxuan City for the gathering. Most were from Northern Liang, but quite a few merchants had come from Great Wei as well.
Dongfang Shangqing, Prince Liang's youngest son, was exhausted from the long journey and went straight into the inn to rest upon arrival. Hu Yanjing, however, quietly left the inn and made his way alone to a secluded little street in town.
A few days earlier at the Desolate Bone Shoals, Hu Yanjing had accidentally kicked the King of Hell in the head, and his nerves still had not settled. The saber wound beneath his ribs had not healed either. He looked rather depressed, walking with his hands behind his back and sighing softly every few steps.
Last time, he had barely escaped with his life. That masked King of Hell had told him to contact the seller of scale-pattern steel, then left after giving his instructions verbally, without arranging for anyone to follow him in secret. Yet those words-"weigh up whether you can survive past next month"-hung