The shadows came from everywhere at once. Dark silhouettes filled the sky like a storm of locusts, their forms distorting the morning light as they descended. On the ground, hundreds of shadows slithered across the frost-covered earth, warping and stretching in ways that defied natural law. The very air seemed to thicken with malevolent intent, making each breath feel heavy and tainted.
Through the growing haze, Li Hua's trained senses picked out the approaching army from the eastern plains—five hundred cultivation signatures pulsed like a symphony of heartbeats in the fog, each one maintaining that suspicious Martial Rank 2 facade. They moved across the open fields with eerie coordination, their dark silhouettes spreading across the grasslands like an advancing tide.
