Tie Ming ultimately left Yanmen Pass with his tail between his legs.
He had arrived full of schemes, thinking only of demanding an accounting from Qing Chen for the Iron Household's Border Army casualties over the years, hoping to carry off a billion spirit stones and a batch of medicinal pills and military equipment from the Northwestern Governor-General's office.
Ideally, they would join forces in smuggling.
After all, the dead were merely some soldier grunts and earth cultivators from the Northern Border.
When he left, however, the only addition to his Storage Ring was a Blood Jade Treasure Slip containing Qing Chen's divine sense.
The Jade Slip held only two maps, a Northern Expedition Strategy, and a statement that made Tie Ming's heart pound with dread.
-The million Dao Soldiers at Yanmen Pass have sharpened their weapons and fed their steeds. Twenty years of preparations have begun to bear fruit. We await only Lord Tie Hengjiang's reply before petitioning the Immortal Dynasty to march north beyond the pass!
Tie Ming stood at the Treasure Ship's prow, gazing solemnly at the Ten-Thousand-Year Stronghold behind him as wind and snow gradually swallowed it.
He could no longer fathom what Qing Chen was thinking.
Had he spent all these decades amassing strength for a northern expedition? That wasn't right. Was that anything like Qing Chen?
"Nascent Soul peak... His physical body seemed to have improved considerably, too... The Northwestern Circuit's spirit stones certainly nourish a man!"
"This matter must be reported to the Household Head immediately."
Tie Ming muttered to himself, then drove the Warship at full speed toward Shanhai Pass on the Northern Border.
What he did not know was that, just as a storm capable of destroying a nation was about to sweep across the north of Great Jin, far away