Dawn City was vast, boasting sixteen gates. Though word had spread that the Holy Son would enter the city the following day, no one knew which gate he would actually use.
Before dawn had even broken, countless devotees had already gathered outside all sixteen gates, craning their necks in eager anticipation.
Every expert under the Li Banner and the Gen Banner had been mobilized. With Dawn City at the center, a dragnet had been laid across a hundred-li radius. The slightest disturbance would be met with an immediate response.
In a teahouse, Ma Chengze and Li Feiyu sat across from each other at a table, savoring fine tea.
Ma Chengze was a portly man with a protruding belly. He wore a perpetual squint and a smile that made him look thoroughly amiable — even a stranger would find it hard to harbor ill will toward him.
But anyone who truly knew him understood that his pleasant exterior was nothing but a mask.
Among the Eight Banners of the Radiant God Cult, the Gen Banner was responsible for charging into battle. Whenever a stronghold of the Ink Sect needed to be stormed, they were always the first to lead the charge. It could be said that every member recruited into the Gen Banner was a fearless warrior who had long since made peace with death.
And the Banner Lord who commanded such a force could hardly be the simple, kindly man he appeared to be.
Holding his teacup, he squinted his eyes into narrow slits, his gaze drifting languidly over the comely women strolling along the street below. When his interest peaked, he would even whistle at them, earning nothing but furious glares in return.
Li Feiyu sat across from him, her expression cold and still as a statue, eyes closed in meditation.
"Sister Yu," Ma Chengze spoke up suddenly. "Where do you think the impostor claiming to be the Holy Son will enter the city from?"
Li Feiyu didn't even open her eyes. "It doesn't matter which direction he comes from. If he dares show his face, he won't walk back out."
Ma Chengze said, "With arrangements this thorough, of course he won't get out. But if he's just an impostor, why act so boldly? Whose interests has this fake Holy Son trampled on to warrant assassination by a Banner Lord-level powerhouse?"
Li Feiyu's eyes snapped open, her razor-sharp gaze boring into him.
Ma Chengze spread his hands. "Did I say something wrong?"
"Where did you get that information?" Li Feiyu asked coldly.
She had never mentioned anything about a Banner Lord-level assassin during the assembly in the great hall.
Ma Chengze replied, "That I can't tell you. Heh heh — naturally I have my own channels."
Li Feiyu let out a cold snort. "All you fatso need to worry about is charging into battle. How dare you plant spies within my Li Banner?"
The intelligence about the estate outside the city had been uncovered by the Li Banner. All information had been locked down, and everything everyone knew came from Li Feiyu's account at the assembly. Yet Ma Chengze somehow knew details she had deliberately concealed — clearly someone had leaked to him.
Ma Chengze was quick to clarify: "I did no such thing. Don't talk nonsense. I've always recruited people from other banners openly and aboveboard. I would never stoop to skulking around."
Li Feiyu stared at him for a long moment before finally saying, "I hope that's true."
Ma Chengze asked, "There are only eight Banner Lords. Who do you think it was?"
Li Feiyu turned her gaze toward the window, answering his question without actually answering it: "I think he'll enter through the three gates on the eastern side."
"Oh?" Ma Chengze raised an eyebrow. "Just because that estate is to the east? But consider — the fact that this impostor deliberately made sure the whole city heard about it, using that to sidestep certain potential risks, shows he's wary of the Cult's higher-ups. Otherwise there'd be no reason to act this way. Someone that cautious and meticulous — would he really enter through the three eastern gates? He must have already relocated to a different direction."
Li Feiyu had long since stopped paying him any attention.
Ma Chengze chattered on to himself for a while, got bored of his own company, and went back to whistling at the pretty women walking past the window.
A moment later, Li Feiyu's expression shifted slightly. She produced a communication bead.
At the same time, Ma Chengze pulled out his own communication bead.
Both checked the incoming message. A look of surprise crossed Ma Chengze's face. "He really is coming from the east! Has this man lost his mind?"
Li Feiyu rose to her feet. "If he didn't have nerve, he never would have chosen to enter the city in the first place."
Ma Chengze paused for a beat, thought it over carefully, then nodded. "Fair point."
"Let's go."
One after the other, the two swept out of the teahouse and streaked toward the eastern side of the city.
*The Holy Son has appeared at the East Second Gate! Experts of the Gen Banner and the Li Banner under the Shenyou Realm are escorting him — entry into the city is imminent!*
The news spread like wildfire. The devotees massed at the East Second Gate erupted with jubilation. Devotees stationed at other gates scrambled to rush over the moment they heard the word, desperate to catch a glimpse of the Holy Son's visage. In an instant, the whole of Dawn City surged to life like a slumbering behemoth awakened, the commotion roiling through every street.
The crowd at the East Second Gate swelled larger and larger. Even with personnel from both banners trying to maintain order, holding the line was proving impossible.
It was only when the two Banner Lords — Ma Chengze and Li Feiyu — arrived that the chaos finally calmed, if only barely.
Fatty Ma wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to Li Feiyu, "Sister Yu, this situation is getting a little out of hand."
Ask him to lead a charge into battle, and he wouldn't so much as furrow his brow — whether facing mountains of blades or seas of fire, killing or being killed was all the same to him.
But what they were dealing with right now wasn't an enemy. It was their own Cult's devotees. That was where things got tricky.
The prophecy left behind by the first Holy Maiden had been passed down for countless ages, deeply etched into the heart of every last follower. Everyone knew that the day the Holy Son was born into the world would be the day the suffering of all living things came to an end.
Every devotee yearned to behold the face of this savior. And the situation was already this dire — yet more were still pouring in from every direction. By the time it was done, the East Second Gate would likely be packed to the point of bursting.