Chapter 121

The winter night in the Northern Frontier fell remarkably early. Just past the hour of you, the night sky blanketed the walls of Yunzhou City like thick black ink. The howling, bone-chilling wind carried with it grains of sand that lashed against the cowhide tents like fine needles, producing a teeth-setting, rustling sound. Shen Mingyue pressed the final banquet guest list beneath a coiled-dragon paperweight. The candlelight flickered across the parchment, casting an eerie, reddish glow over the four vermilion characters that read "REWARD THE THREE ARMIES," making them look as though they had been written with a curse in blood. From outside the tent came the laughter and chatter of soldiers moving wine jars, mingling with the crisp crackle of burning firewood from a bonfire in the distance. It ought to have been a scene of celebration, yet for some reason, it sent a shiver creeping up the back of her neck. Unconsciously, her hand brushed the soft sword at her waist; the chill of the metal transferred through her fingertips, but it failed to dispel the unease lingering in her heart. The hourglass on the desk flowed silently, the sound of falling sand exceptionally distinct in the quiet, as though counting down the arrival of a crisis.