One sword leveled the river and stunned all present; snow fell on a thousand mountains, and the King of Hell appeared!

Clip-clop, clip-clop...

Amid the howling wind and snow, a black steed raced across the countryside, leaving a trail of hoofprints in the snow.

His cloak snapped in the wind. Dressed in black robes, Ye Jingtang galloped onward with the Chi Dragon Blade hanging behind his waist, his eyes fixed on the distant riverlands.

Since they had gathered so abruptly, Ye Jingtang could roughly guess that quite a few assassins were meeting at the port. If he ran into them, the fight would probably be difficult.

But Ye Jingtang had brought no manpower on this trip.

The reason he had come to the meeting with a lone blade was not that he, the Duke Who Pacifies the Martial Realm, could not mobilize anyone, but because of what he had told Hua Qingzhi:

If I bring too many people, I won't be able to protect them all.

For ordinary people, bringing a few more helpers certainly meant greater safety.

But Ye Jingtang was different.

The most beautiful woman and the fastest blade could not both be yours, because having someone by your side meant having ties.

A solitary saber wielder might not be happy, but he was certainly the strongest.

With no ties to bind him and a blade in hand, as long as his spirit held firm, who in this world could he not kill?

Clip-clop, clip-clop...

The snow gradually thickened. The black horse's breath formed wisps of white mist in the cold wind, and the vast docks along the Clear River came into view.

A thousand sails gathered along the riverbank. The Empress's treasure ship and the official and merchant vessels of the Southern and Northern Dynasties lay moored in the port, their densely packed masts like a forest of upright spears.

Peddlers, porters, and carts threaded through the port,