Sitting at home, disaster falls from the sky. The three of them never dreamed they would get dragged into something like this.
One sentence had pinned all three of them down. If this couple insisted on going through with it, the whole situation would change flavour. If they refused, how could Lady Qixia possibly let them off?
The three did not even dare silence them. Unless they could guarantee no word would leak out, any attempt to cover it up would only make their intentions suspect. The more they tried to hide it, the blacker it would look, and Lady Qixia would be even less likely to spare them.
On one side was the untouchable Sinan Prefecture. On the other was Lady Qixia, equally untouchable.
After thinking it over, offending Sinan Prefecture at worst meant running away. With Lady Qixia’s protection, they could at least still stand firm in the demon realm. But offending Lady Qixia meant nowhere safe for demon cultivators in the human world, and the demon realm would also be hard to stay in. Between two evils, they chose the lesser one.
Seeing her husband make the atmosphere heavy again, Bailan immediately smiled charmingly to smooth things over. “Alright, let’s go set up the ambush and wait first.” She gave her husband a push. The couple flew off the mountaintop first.
Gao Yuan snorted. “If we really succeed, the goods do not necessarily have to be handed over to the lady by this pair of cheap people.”
The old rat woman cackled in her sharp voice. “We can settle this account with them after the job is done.”
The remaining three exchanged glances, understood each other perfectly, and then also leapt off the mountaintop…
What was bound to come finally arrived. The five people standing on the canyon finally saw a long procession appear in the distance at the road entrance.
Seeing dozens of vanguard riders galloping closer, Heiyun Xiao said in a low voice, “Have everyone pull back to the sides, keep far away, so scouts do not spot us.”
His subordinates immediately passed the order and made arrangements. The five of them quickly withdrew from above the canyon into the deep mountains, hiding in the canopy of a mountaintop tree to watch.
After observing for a while, Heiyun Xiao suddenly said, “Brother Jiangshan, now is about the right time to raise the fog. When they enter the canyon, it will be perfect for us to act.”
Jiangshan gave an affirmative sound, flashed down to the ground, slipped into the mountain to set things up. Not long after, frog croaks began to sound from the mountain.
Jiangshan’s true form was a frog demon. His original body was a type of frog called “Mist Concealment.” This frog lived in the mountains, rivers, and marshes of ancient tombs and barren lands. It could swallow and exhale water vapour to hide its body. One mist frog could only produce a small range of fog, but this time Jiangshan came prepared. He had summoned countless of his kind to lie in wait in the forests around here long beforehand.
This was also why the black-and-white couple had sought him out. He could be useful.
In truth, the couple could have used similar methods to call in far more demon cultivators for help. But if too many came, they might end up with nothing to do themselves. Worse, if the crowd turned against them, a group of demon cultivators could handle the job without the couple and kill them at any moment. So the people they chose were carefully selected. All three were picked after much thought, each able to serve a suitable purpose.
A light mist began to rise in the mountain. At first it was not obvious, but gradually it drifted and swirled more noticeably through the woods.
Yu Qing, who had been quietly on guard, suddenly turned around.
He had only occasionally tilted his head to look out the window before. Now he suddenly turned and pressed himself against the window. The faint drifting mist in the forest made him feel something was wrong.
At such a distance, his Observation Character Technique could not interpret details clearly. But he could still make out the obvious general situation. Deep in the forest, something seemed to be moving unusually!
Yes, and quite a lot of things were moving!
Yet when he looked directly, he saw nothing. Many things were collectively beyond his visual range. This was clearly abnormal. The most fitting conclusion was: an ambush!
Yu Qing’s nerves tightened instantly. He glanced sideways at the driver, then at the accompanying guards outside the window. He very much wanted to give a warning, but the words stuck in his throat and would not come out.
“Brother Shiheng, what exactly do you want?”
One of the candidates sitting by the window felt uncomfortable with the way Yu Qing had climbed up and pressed close. He could not help complaining.
Yu Qing could only slowly sit back down. Then he suddenly stood up again and smiled apologetically at the candidate sitting by the door. “Brother Qian, I feel a bit chest-tight and short of breath, a little nauseous and like I might vomit. Could I switch to the door seat to get some fresh air?”
In front of everyone, a scholar still needed to maintain surface courtesy. That Brother Qian naturally agreed generously and swapped places with him.
Yu Qing thus sat at the carriage door, ready to jump out the moment anything unexpected happened. His sword stayed close at hand. He frowned, debating whether to speak up and warn them…
In the lead carriage, the escort official Fu Zuoxuan sat alone on one side. Great Archer Jiang Yinian and Sinan Prefecture walker Jin Huahai sat on either side.
Jiang Yinian’s head seemed unable to turn away from the window.
Jin Huahai did not see anything worth looking at outside. Sensing something slightly off, he asked, “What is Old Jiang admiring out there?”
Jiang Yinian turned back and said gravely, “The fog is rising!”
His tone made even Fu Zuoxuan look over.
Jin Huahai asked curiously, “Is fog in the mountains unusual?”
Jiang Yinian replied, “Fog itself is normal. But right now it is around noon. The sky has clouds, the temperature has not changed unusually, and there was no fog along the road earlier. How could fog suddenly appear so easily now?”
The other two exchanged looks. Fu Zuoxuan was a bit puzzled. “Old Jiang, are you saying there is something wrong with this fog?”
Seeing the two still confused, Jiang Yinian spoke slowly. “Lord Fu, Brother Jin, do not forget who I am or what my position is. I am a Great Archer! Archers are extremely sensitive to weather conditions that affect shooting targets. I started practising archery at eight years old. I have seen morning fog, night fog, all kinds. The fog right now is not normal!”
After he said this, Fu Zuoxuan was still a little dazed, but Jin Huahai’s expression had already grown serious.
Jiang Yinian did not explain further. There was a small movable table between him and Jin Huahai with a map on it. He pulled the map around to face himself for easier viewing. It had been facing Fu Zuoxuan before. His finger pointed at the previous relay station where they had set out, traced the route, observed the terrain, then suddenly leaned towards the window and asked, “If I remember correctly, is there a canyon ahead?”
He had travelled this road before, but some details were not his main focus. The route was long, and he could not remember every specific part clearly.
A young general riding outside immediately replied, “Yes, sir. About another two li ahead, after the next bend, it should come into view.”
Jiang Yinian asked gravely, “How long, wide, and high is the canyon?”
The young general said, “Roughly seven li long. The valley is called Seven Li Gorge. From my memory of coming and going, the widest part is about five zhang. Most sections are around three zhang wide. The height varies, but averages about ten zhang.”
Jiang Yinian, with his grey-white hair, suddenly felt as if every hair was standing on end. He abruptly shouted, “Order the entire column to stop immediately!”
The young general on horseback instantly raised his signal flag, waved it in code, and shouted loudly, “Entire column, halt!”
The carriage jolted as it was braked hard. Jin Huahai asked urgently, “Old Jiang, are you certain there is a problem?”
Jiang Yinian replied, “I cannot be certain. But I have spent my whole life in the military. From a combat perspective, the Seven Li Gorge ahead is far too perfect for an ambush. Combined with this abnormal fog right now, I have to be cautious.”
Escort official Fu Zuoxuan hesitated. “There are vanguard scouts clearing the way ahead. If there is a problem, would they not discover it?”
“Scouts only clear the path. On a long journey, they cannot search left and right the entire way. Hidden ambushes may not be found.” Jiang Yinian gestured with both hands. “The gorge is seven li long. If I were setting an ambush, I would wait until the whole column entered, then quickly roll stones down from both upper sides of the gorge, burying the entire group at the bottom. The only ones who might escape would be a few so-called experts. How would I explain things then? Lord Fu, we must immediately send sharp and capable men to carefully check the gorge area.”
Jin Huahai had already stepped out of the carriage and stood on the shaft, waving his hand to call out, “Ahead is Seven Li Gorge. Send ten fast riders to carefully inspect both sides of the gorge. Report any abnormality at once!”
“Yes!” Sinan Prefecture personnel accepted the order, gathered men, and galloped off quickly.
Jiang Yinian also gave orders from the window to the military personnel outside. “Send one squad each to the left and right forests. Search along both sides of the road.”
“Yes!”
The carriages and horses suddenly stopped. Yu Qing immediately climbed out from inside the carriage and stood on the shaft to look ahead. He saw two squads suddenly charge into the left and right forests to search. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief. With this sudden stop, they must have noticed something.
He had still been hesitating whether to make up a lie, saying he saw a group of figures running through the deep forest, to lure them into discovering something.
Now it seemed the court forces were not as incompetent as he had thought. At least they were sharper than he had imagined…
“Why did we stop?”
Heiyun Xiao, hiding in the tree canopy and watching, was stunned. The others were also stunned. They had been so close to entering the trap. Why stop suddenly?
The old rat woman asked in her sharp, thin voice, “Did they discover it? That should not be possible. Didn’t we pull everyone back early?”
“Not good. They definitely noticed something abnormal.” Gao Yuan lifted his chin to point. “Look, they have already sent two squads to search the mountains on both sides.”
Heiyun Xiao, in overall command, immediately said, “Pass the message. Have both sides pull back another hundred zhang.”
“Yes.” One of his subordinates accepted the order and left.
The fog grew thicker, making things harder to see clearly. The few of them strained to watch the movements of the Liezhou column. They saw the search teams only checking along the roadsides and not going deeper. They all breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Suddenly a figure flashed up from below. The frog demon Jiangshan leapt onto the tree, holding a branch, and asked, “What is the situation? Why did the column stop?”
Heiyun Xiao replied, “They have started searching the mountains along both sides of the road. They must have noticed some abnormality. But the problem should not be big. If they had really discovered something, the reaction would not look like this. Brother Jiangshan, the search should not find your kin, right?”
Jiangshan scoffed. “All the frogs are hidden underground in the soil. Is it unusual to have frogs in the forest? What could they find?”
Just then, another figure flashed over, quickly climbed the tree, and reported urgently, “Master Hei, things are exposed at Seven Li Gorge. A group from Sinan Prefecture went over. They personally searched both sides of the gorge very carefully. They have already found the preparations we made.”
Everyone was shocked. They immediately focused intently on the reaction of the official column on the mountain road…