Chapter 75: Ambush

Wolf Fang Ridge lay within Qingshan Commandery, a region of tall mountains and dense forest where peak after peak rose like cones of every size, giving the terrain a peculiar appearance.

Deep in the mountains, Xiang Wuren, Nanzhou's fourth-rank Cavalry Guerrilla General, had secretly led his forces here and was accompanying Yan Duo as he surveyed the situation.

They stood on a shaded slope beneath the forest canopy. All around them, men and horses sat or lay under the trees. Every soldier had changed out of the imperial court's regulation uniform and into close-fitting clothes of assorted colors. If not for the weapons laid beside them, no one would have guessed this was an army. Each man gnawed on a coarse mixed-grain flatbread. No one dared light a fire and send smoke into the air.

"Wolf Fang Ridge used to have a bandit gang known as the Wolf Fang Bandits. I led troops in yesterday and wiped them out in one stroke. Once the target arrives, we'll raise the Wolf Fang Bandits' banner and attack under the guise of mountain bandits."

Xiang Wuren pointed toward his men in their mismatched clothing as he explained.

Yan Duo mocked him. "More than ten thousand men, including over a thousand cavalry, daring to attack a regular army? Even someone who knows nothing about military affairs can tell they're impostors."

Xiang Wuren shook his head. "That isn't important. The moment we move, the other side will probably guess anyway. We only need a pretext. If things truly go wrong, I'll admit that I had already colluded with the bandits. The men below merely followed orders and know nothing of the true circumstances."

He gestured for Yan Duo to follow him to another vantage point. They crossed one slope. Below them ran an official road cut through the surrounding mountains. Xiang Wuren pointed down at it.

"This is the only road into Canglu County. Once the target's party arrives, my men will strike from both sides and surround them, tying them down. As for taking the target's head amid the chaos, that will depend on you cultivators."

Yan Duo studied the terrain and nodded slightly. The two descended the slope, crossed the official road, then climbed the opposite hillside. After going some distance into the forest, they reached the troops hidden on that side as well.

Yan Duo waved Xiang Wuren away to attend to his own duties, then went to the foot of a mountain. Several dozen cultivators were standing or sitting there, not one of them looking pleased. Some still held the personal tokens being used to coerce them. Yan Duo sighed softly.

They hid in the mountains and waited for nearly half a day. As evening approached, the troops lying in ambush suddenly stirred and began getting to their feet. Yan Duo and the others had been meditating cross-legged at the foot of the mountain. The disturbance alerted them too. Yan Duo flashed away. With a few rising and falling bounds, he drifted to Xiang Wuren's side. Before he could ask, Xiang Wuren had already nodded.

"The forward scouts have sent word. It should be the target. Cultivator, please prepare yourselves."

Yan Duo immediately turned back to gather the cultivators... The wilderness was desolate. Farmland lay abandoned. White bones littered the road. Several thousand people traveled at an unhurried pace. The four thousand infantry Feng Ruojie had assigned to his younger sister were already in place. Niu Youdao sat on horseback and repeatedly surveyed the surroundings.

Ever since they entered Qingshan Commandery, everything he had seen and heard was plainly far worse than in Guangyi Commandery. Everywhere he looked was a picture of people struggling to survive. Now and then they passed corpses rotting beside the road with no one to collect them. Bones gnawed completely clean by unknown creatures were even less remarkable. It was obvious that the Commandery Governor here was far less capable than Feng Lingbo.

No wonder Feng Lingbo's territory had no shortage of manpower and dared resist the imperial court. When common people here were struggling merely to survive, of course they would do everything possible to flee toward Guangyi Commandery. Lan Ruoting, also on horseback, kept taking out a map to study it. Suddenly he leaned toward Shang Chaozong and said something.

Shang Chaozong looked at the ranks of peaks rising along the far edge of the open country ahead, raised a hand, and shouted, "Halt!"

At the same time, he signaled Feng Ruonan to stop the march. Feng Ruonan waved her hand and halted the troops.

When Shang Chaozong and Lan Ruoting rode over, she asked coolly, "What is it this time?"

Lan Ruoting pointed toward the mountainous terrain ahead.

"Princess Consort, those mountains are called Wolf Fang Ridge. The terrain is dangerous, and this is the only road into Canglu County. If anyone intends us harm, this would be the best place to strike!"

Feng Ruonan gazed toward the distant mountains.

"Other than the imperial court, no one has the ability to ambush several thousand regular troops here. Do you think the court dares? Our scouts have already traveled back and forth several times without discovering anything suspicious. What do you propose?"

Lan Ruoting smiled. "Princess Consort, caution can do no harm."

He looked toward Bai Yao.

"If several cultivators capable of ranging swiftly over the terrain could go deep into the mountains and investigate, confirming there is nothing there, that would be safest."

"Hmph!"

Feng Ruonan gave a disdainful snort. In truth, she did not think there was anything wrong with being cautious. She simply disliked Shang Chaozong's people telling her what to do. She pointed at Niu Youdao.

"Don't you have a cultivator of your own? Send your cultivator to investigate."

Niu Youdao looked back, immediately clenched one fist, and thumped his lower back.

"Ow... We've been riding for so long. When are we finally going to rest? My back is practically broken!"

Feng Ruonan gave him a contemptuous look.

"Spineless coward. Despicable petty man!"

Since the request itself was reasonable, Bai Yao saw no harm in greater caution either. He turned toward several Tianyu Sect disciples behind him.

"You four, go take a look."

Four Tianyu Sect disciples immediately launched themselves into the air. Each rise and fall carried them nearly a hundred zhang. A single bound of two or three hundred meters looked somewhat unscientific to Yuan Gang. A trace of envy appeared in his eyes, though it was not something he found impossible to understand. Niu Youdao had explained the principle to him during the journey.

After launching themselves forward, the cultivators were simply using qi control to glide on their initial speed. Their released qi force spread into wing-like forms, allowing them to glide on the lift of the air. Yuan Gang could not see those qi wings.

But a cultivator like Niu Youdao, if he channeled qi into his eyes, could see the wings spread from a cultivator in flight. The outwardly released qi force carried a faint color, a color that existed in another form of energy, almost as though one needed a filter to perceive it. Niu Youdao had once compared the underlying principle to what they had called dark matter. Ordinary people could not see it.

Ghosts were similar. Ordinary people could not see them, but Niu Youdao could if he channeled qi into his eyes. This was what cultivators called the Dharma Eye. Anyone capable of gliding that far in a single bound had probably already reached the Foundation Establishment Realm. A Golden Core Realm cultivator could glide farther, but that was still because their higher cultivation allowed a more powerful initial launch. When it was time to land, they still had to land.

There was no way around it. They could only jump so high, and without continuous propulsion they could not glide forever. Once they touched down, they had to find another point of leverage and launch themselves again. Of course, if they leapt from a high mountain, they could glide a very long distance. But the difference between the Foundation Establishment and Golden Core Realms was substantial, and air resistance could not be ignored.

The qi wings were not physical objects and lacked sufficient density and mass. When gliding at high speed from a great height, friction with the air caused the outwardly released qi force to dissipate extremely quickly, draining spiritual power at the same time. A Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator could not sustain it for long.

By comparison, Golden Core Realm cultivators possessed deeper, stronger cultivation. Their spiritual power could sustain greater expenditure, while the density and strength of their qi force were likewise beyond anything a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator could match. Their losses to friction during high-speed gliding were therefore smaller, allowing them to remain aloft longer and travel farther.

Even so, to ordinary non-cultivators who did not understand what they were seeing, there was effectively no difference between Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators and Golden Core Realm cultivators in such moments. Either looked like true flight.

It was more than enough to shock common people into regarding them as immortals who could soar through the heavens and burrow through the earth. If one's cultivation reached the still higher Nascent Soul Realm, however, matters became entirely different.

The Nascent Soul Realm itself carried the meaning of new birth, of shedding the old body and being remade. Cultivation had reached the point of transcending the limitations of the flesh. Qi force could be freely wielded through the space between Heaven and Earth.

The problems faced by Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators and Golden Core Realm cultivators no longer existed. Frictional loss from qi wings, continuous propulsion in midair—none of it remained a problem. At that level, one could truly fly, soaring freely between Heaven and Earth. To ordinary mortals, such a cultivator truly was something like a god. Niu Youdao's current cultivation was still inferior to the men they had just watched. Naturally, he could not glide so far. But leaping several dozen meters in a single relaxed bound was no problem.

Nor was borrowing the surface tension of water to skim across the waves, enough to leave ordinary people staring in awe. If nothing else, it was useful for showing off. Before long, the Tianyu Sect cultivators vanished among the mountains ahead. Those on the road watched them disappear. The people hidden in the mountains, however, had seen them coming.

"Not good!"

Xiang Wuren groaned. Yan Duo, concealed beneath thorny brush, turned toward the Cavalry Guerrilla General beside him.

"They're sending cultivators deep into the mountains to search. With this many people gathered here, I'm afraid we can't stay hidden."

Xiang Wuren clenched both fists. Their ambush plan was probably ruined. He ground out a curse.

"The scouts already searched the road back and forth several times. Why send cultivators in to search all over again? How can they be this cautious?"

To prevent the scouts from discovering them, Xiang Wuren had kept the troops hidden deep in the mountains the entire time. Even now, he had not dared bring them too close to the road. He had been cautious upon cautious himself.

Seeing the four cultivators split into four directions and sweep deeper into the mountains, Xiang Wuren still clung to a sliver of hope.

He turned and ordered, "Everyone hide properly!"

The men beside him quickly signaled those behind them to conceal themselves. A wave of movement passed through the hidden force as men scrambled for cover. It was no use. Before long, one of the searching cultivators was already gliding above the treetops, scanning the forest below. He had noticed birds suddenly rising from this area. Looking more closely, he saw clear traces where grass, brush, and thorny undergrowth had been trampled down. With so many people moving in haste, it was impossible to leave no marks.

Following the direction of those traces, he quickly spotted some of the concealed men.

Shing!

The cultivator drew his sword and abruptly shouted a warning.

"Careful! There's an ambush! Withdraw!"

Among the other three who had come with him, some had already discovered irregularities of their own.

At the warning, all four swiftly turned back. The four cultivator scouts rapidly glided away. Yan Duo and the others slowly emerged from hiding. Yan Duo turned toward Xiang Wuren.

"We've been discovered. We've already alerted the snake by striking the grass. An ambush is impossible now. If you can't tie them down, the chances of catching the target afterward are slim. We should withdraw. They're far too cautious. Explain the reason for the failure properly to the Provincial Governor."

He had been looking for an excuse to stop all along.

"How do you know they'll definitely flee?" Xiang Wuren ground out. "A person like Feng Ruonan may not turn tail merely because she caught the scent of danger. We may still have a chance!"

He abruptly turned and shouted, "Pass the order! Assemble the troops! Launch the attack!"

[End of Chapter 75]