"Hyah-"
Across the Icefield, eleven mounted warriors galloped toward the Western Sea Protectorate.
The three men at the head of the party wore dark teal brocade robes and gauze hats. Their faces held a trace of effeminacy, and the gold tokens hanging at their waists identified them as eunuchs serving before the emperor.
Their leader was named Yin Lian, ranked third among the Twelve Attendants of Yan Capital. He had come on the Liang Emperor's orders to help the Left Xian King escort the Snow Lake Flowers to Yanjing. Of the ten men behind him, two were his colleagues, while the others were retainers temporarily requisitioned from the households of Yanjing's princes and nobles.
With the national strength of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, mobilizing martial-world experts to risk their lives when needed was no difficult task. Particularly in Northern Liang, where martial honor counted for little, assembling an entire mercenary army would be no problem as long as enough silver was offered.
But over the past year, Ye Jingtang had slaughtered practically all the top experts of both dynasties. Two months earlier, Northern Liang had scraped together another force of over thirty experts to kill him, and none of them had returned either.
Martial-world experts were no fools. Few dared take money they could earn but would not live to spend. At the mention of coming to Tianlang Lake to deal with Night Great Yama, the major sects of Eastern Lake Circuit had all drawn their heads into their shells, despite the Imperial Court offering noble titles as rewards. Even the Azure Dragon Society, which valued money over life itself, had shut its doors and stopped taking work.
The situation at Tianlang Lake was urgent, and Yanjing had no time to slowly recruit men. They had been forced to