A full moon hung overhead, and a faint night breeze stirred the royal banners and torches atop the high walls.
Several hundred infantrymen in heavy silver armor stood in orderly ranks outside the walls, spears in hand, with barricades in front and archers and crossbowmen behind.
The martial artists recruited by White Owl Camp all guarded the wall tops, holding weapons of every description as they watched a dark alley between the barracks to the west.
Step, step, step...
Footsteps emerged from the dark alley, approaching at an unhurried pace. They did not sound particularly heavy, yet they reached the ears of everyone inside and outside the walls with perfect clarity, like a heavy hammer striking their chests.
"Who goes there?"
"Come out!"
Although White Owl Camp had lost most of its elite fighters, it still had a few experts. The mere stir of an approaching storm told them that a great dragon was coming through that alley.
The heroes of the martial world concealed nearby had originally intended to wait for someone to take the lead, then slip into the Prison amid the chaos to steal Snow Lake Flowers. After noticing the unusual movement outside the west wall, they all fell silent and watched the depths of the alley.
Step, step...
Soon, three silhouettes emerged from the dark alley.
Judging by their figures, the two in back were women. The figure in front was quite tall, with a bamboo hat on his head, a nine-foot spear over his shoulder, and a sabre hanging at his waist.
A murmur rose...
"Is that Ye Jingtang?"
"We're finished..."
Although they could only see his outline, Ye Jingtang had recently been in the vicinity. Those weapons and that presence, capable of weighing down half a city single-handedly, were enough for every martial