Tianling Mountain Range.
It lay along the southern border of the Heaven Dou Empire.
The mountain range ran east to west, stretching for thousands of li. It was one of the continent's foremost great mountain ranges.
South of the Tianling Mountain Range lay a long, narrow expanse of flat plains.
This plain was wealthy and prosperous, serving as the fief of the Balak Kingdom, one of the Heaven Dou Empire's four major vassal kingdoms.
At the heart of the mountain range stood a magnificent and formidable pass—Jialing Pass.
Jialing Pass occupied perilous terrain, easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Since ancient times, it had been a strategic stronghold contested by military forces, with the potential for one man to hold the pass against ten thousand.
Inside the pass, within a military tent.
A middle-aged man of around thirty or forty sat cross-legged on a couch, his eyes closed in meditation.
"Marshal."
A young soldier entered the tent, gave the middle-aged man a standard military salute, and reported in an appropriately loud voice, "The current Duke of the Lin Family has arrived with several others. They are currently waiting outside the pass gates. Please give your orders, Marshal!"
"Nephew Lin?" The middle-aged man opened his eyes from atop the couch, a trace of confusion and surprise flashing through them.
Then, the middle-aged man rose from the couch and instructed the young soldier, "Let them in."
A quarter of an hour later.
Lin Rong entered the tent with the Old Butler, Xu Pan, and Ma Hongjun.
"Uncle Ge, it's been a long time."
By seniority, Lin Rong's grandfather and Ge Long's father were of the same generation, while Lin Rong's father and Ge Long were likewise of the same generation.
Lin Rong and Ge Long were separated by one generation, so