The wind on the eastern border carried more than dust.
From the crest of the ridgeline, Ren squinted toward the horizon. What he saw wasn't a patrol — it was a wall of haze. Dozens of lines, moving in tandem. Too large. Too fast.
"...That's not routine," muttered Kai, stepping up beside him.
Ren didn't reply.
Instead, he turned and gave his order quietly. "Send a rider west. Tell them... Wei is moving. In force."
The Gu Ren Tai prepared immediately.
They didn't fortify — there wasn't time. They moved. Fluidly, instinctively. Ren led them on a tactical withdrawal, keeping distance, never giving the enemy a full engagement.
But it didn't matter.
The enemy kept coming — thousands, pushing past the ridgeline, flooding into Qin soil. It was clear now: this was no border skirmish.
And no one was coming fast enough to stop it.
Two days later, as the Gu Ren Tai curved southwest to avoid a head-on clash with a Wei main body, they felt the thunder before they heard it.
Clashing steel. War horns. Screams.
Another battle was already underway.
Ren gave a sharp signal to halt, his gaze fixed on the hills ahead.
There, in the distance — a maelstrom of cavalry and infantry swept through the plains. And at its center…
A monstrous figure cleaving through Wei ranks like a beast unleashed.
Duke Hyou.
He was already fighting.
The Gu Ren Tai didn't wait for orders.
Ren drew his blade and looked to his men.
"We go in."
With a unified roar, they surged forward, crashing into the rear of the Wei detachment that was trying to encircle Duke Hyou's forces. It was a brutal collision — fast, bloody, decisive.
Ren led from the front, blade flashing, movements tight and instinctive. His men followed, emboldened by his presence. The Gu Ren Tai was no longer a border patrol force — they were a thousand strong, and every strike reminded Wei of that fact.
Mid-battle, more cavalry thundered down from the northern slope.
At first, Ren thought it was reinforcements for Wei — until he heard the wild shouting.
"OUTTA THE WAY! WE'RE SLAMMIN' THROUGH!"
Shin.
The Hi Shin Tai crashed into the flank of the same Wei group, and with their momentum combined, the enemy formation buckled.
Shin, atop his horse and covered in dust and sweat, spotted Ren and smirked.
"We've gotta stop meeting like this!"
Ren didn't smile, but he gave a quick nod before turning back to slash down another Wei soldier.
By nightfall, the joint forces of Duke Hyou, the Gu Ren Tai, and the Hi Shin Tai had broken the forward elements of the Wei army.
They regrouped at the edge of a small rise, a loose encampment forming under the weight of exhaustion and uncertainty.
Around the fire, Shin dropped down beside Ren.
"That was crazy. You see the size of their force?"
Ren nodded slowly. "It wasn't just a raid. It was planned."
Shin looked out toward the dark hills. "Something big's coming."
Ren didn't answer.
But he could feel it too — a low hum in the air, the kind that came before a storm.