With the 370 years almost up, he, the sect master at the time who had also been a disciple of the founder's disciple and was a quasi-palace stage expert, along with other elders, all charged towards the empire.
They were not alone in this, as some of the clans, merchant organizations, and other entities with a tie to them all threw their hat into the fight regardless of the consequences because of their admiration for the founder's disciple.
A wide-scale battle soon ensued as the Striding Falcon Sect aimed at not only getting rid of the remaining two palace realm experts but also destroying the entire Storm Cloud Empire. There was already an irreconcilable feud between the two at this point. One could not exist while the other lived.
City by city fell under the onslaught of the Stiding Falcon Sect with the retired supreme elder leading the charge. Six months in, they finally reached the capital and a day later they were meters away from the palace itself.