After nightfall, three thousand torches blazed along the official road south of West Mountain Town, winding toward Xiushui Commandery like a fiery serpent.
Chu Yunyun had originally expected to muster twelve thousand men, but after nightfall, the forces gathered south of West Mountain Town far exceeded that number.
Not only had many wealthy households and powerful clans in West Mountain Town brought out everything they had, filled with both respect and fear, but many forces on the town's periphery had also voluntarily sent their martial cultivator guards and household troops.
An hour had passed since the fighting at Black Bear Mountain ended.
News that West Mountain Hall had all but annihilated the Xiushui Commandery army at Black Bear Mountain's southern foot, while the Dan Clan had routed the West Mountain bandits at Ghost-Crying Gorge, had already thundered across the entire commandery.
Anyone in West Mountain Town with even reasonably good sources had learned of it and realized that the town's fate was settled. The skies over Xiushui had changed.
After this battle, the Iron Banner Gang's West Mountain Hall would not only dominate all of West Mountain Town, but also extend its influence across northern Xiushui Commandery and a substantial portion of West Mountain.
Barring some major upheaval, West Mountain Hall would remain the greatest martial-world force in northern Xiushui Commandery for the next ten years.
Its hall master, Chu Xisheng, would also become one of the commandery's handful of powerful figures. Every local magnate, merchant, escort agency, caravan, salt trader, and the like living in northern Xiushui would have to watch his every breath.
If they failed to express their submission to West Mountain Town now, they might never get another chance.
Thus, even after nightfall, groups of warriors continued arriving uninvited with torches, hurrying to the assembly point