At dusk, in a small seaside town in Pin'an Prefecture.
Clang, clang, clang...
Blades flashed incessantly along the docks. Several black-clad figures darted between the boats, weapons in hand, hunting down Juntian Prefecture's men.
There were plenty of merchants and martial artists in town, but they turned a blind eye, staying obediently in the inns and teahouses as they waited for order to return to the docks.
Tianpin Circuit was vast and sparsely populated, with mountains high and the emperor far away. Its martial world differed little from Liangzhou's. More than twenty years ago, Thunder God Island had ruled here, but after Yin Shicheng rose to power, Juntian Prefecture naturally replaced it as the local overlord.
Yet no one in the entire Northern Liang martial world had expected Tian Wuliang, who had fallen into the sea, to rise again after lying low for over a decade-and even latch onto the mighty thigh of the Southern Dynasty's Night Great Fiend.
Although Yin Shicheng had been gravely wounded by Ye Jingtang before Tian Wuliang took his revenge in Shuofeng City, and Tian Wuliang was strictly speaking weaker than Yin Shicheng, his backing was simply too formidable. Thus, after returning from the snowfields, he had still reclaimed his position as Tianpin Circuit's overlord.
The fighting at the docks was Thunder God Island's men wiping out Juntian Prefecture's remaining forces. Without Yin Shicheng, Juntian Prefecture was finished. The martial world's people were already showing honor by not dropping stones on someone down a well; naturally, none would interfere.
While blades continued flashing at the docks, Tian Wuliang sat in a grand armchair inside an inn in the center of town, dressed in brocade robes, with weapon-bearing disciples standing behind him.
The inn's doors and windows were closed, and the proprietor and servants had been