The following evening, Bear returned to the same spot. His contact had replied with a coded mark of their own.0

“Perfect,” he whispered, exhilarated to see the signal. This meant his comrade was here, and they could set their plan in motion.0

On the third night, Bear finally met up with his partner—another ten-man squad leader under the Fragrant General. This man was already a ninth rank fighter, while Bear hadn’t yet reached that level. Regardless, they both understood how vital it was to gather the right information; rivalry could wait.0

After exchanging what they’d learned so far, they found most of it was common knowledge.  0

The top fighter in Gemhill County had once been Tie Sha, the sect master of the Blood Blade Sect. The second-strongest was Sun Jiangang, patriarch of the Sun Family. Third was the Wei Family patriarch. Fourth was Yu Chaojin, the Blood Blade Sect’s deputy master.0

Now, however, there was the newly emerged Blood Blade Patriarch, who had effortlessly crushed Sun Jiangang and Wei Yang, decimating the elite troops that had invaded the inner district. 0

But that was no surprise to either of them;...0