Three hours after the Hollow dissolved, riders hit the fortress gate hard.
Not carriers. Not allies.
Twelve soldiers in Liang military colors, armed, with the organized movement of a unit that had been tracking targets for days. Behind them four cultivators in the grey of Liang intelligence service, channels already active, suppression techniques building in their hands.
Lian saw them from the upper wall and shouted one word down.
"Liang."
Everyone still standing moved.
*****
Xin was on his feet in four seconds despite his channels being at twenty percent.
"How many?" he said.
"Twelve soldiers, four cultivators," Lian said, coming down the wall stairs fast. "Intelligence service. The serious ones, not the checkpoint staff."
"They tracked the Liang carriers here," Wei Tao said.
"
