The grueling, humiliating journey from the devastated, blood-soaked expanse of the Central Plains to the magnificent, unassailable Imperial Capital of the Celestial Dragon Empire took several arduous days. The landscape outside slowly shifted from the vitrified, mud-churned graveyards of their ruined armies to vibrant, emerald forests and sprawling, prosperous merchant cities that had remained entirely untouched by the devastating regional war.
General Bao, the Iron-Blood Demon, rode at the absolute vanguard, leading a massive, heavily armored escort of elite vanguard troops. The rhythmic, synchronized thud of ten thousand steel-shod boots marching in perfect unison was the only sound that dared to pierce the solemn atmosphere.
Trapped within the convoy, stripped of their dignity and separated from their respective surviving lieutenants, were the two greatest young warlords of the current era.
