Dai Shenggao trudged through Yellow Wind Ravine. One mont he was alone, the next there was soone walking at his side. He didn’t see him arrive.
The man’s face was all smiles. In his hand he held a thin sheet of yellow paper, glancing between it and the people Dai Shenggao pointed out among the rogue cultivators of Wulong Mountain. Each ti a na was ntioned, he carefully repeated it and wrote it down.
Those being singled out turned their heads to look, each of them startled.
From a distance, Zuo Gaofeng noticed the scene and asked Tan Bajhang next to him, “Who’s that guy? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him on the mountain before. Have you?”
Tan Bajang frowned slightly and shook his head. “No… never seen him either.”
Zuo Gaofeng turned to the four brothers from Guzhang Mountain. “Who’s that man? Any of you know him?”
The brothers all shook their heads. “Never seen him.”
By the ti Dai Shenggao had escorted the man up close, Zuo Gaofeng called out, “Old Dai, and this friend of yours is…?”
Dai Shenggao let out a sigh, his eyes flicking uncertainly. The man beside him seed to sense his hesitation. With an easy smile, he stepped forward and introduced himself.
“My na’s ng,” he said. “Inner disciple of Tianmu Mountain, ninth-ranked; ng Chengzhang.”
The mont the words left his mouth, silence fell over Yellow Wind Ravine. You could’ve heard a single leaf hit the ground.
No one knew how long the silence lasted before Captain Hu finally stamred, “Wanderer Dai... aren’t we going to Baiye Mountain anymore?”
Dai Shenggao looked at him. Then at Mu the physician beside him, at Zuo Gaofeng and Tan Bajhang across the way, at the four Guzhang brothers, and farther off, at the rofue cultivators staring blankly in their direction: Dragon Mountain Wanderer, Old Cripple, Qi Laoqi, Lingling Traveler, Li Fuchen...
He opened his mouth a few tis, wanting to say sothing, but in the end, nothing ca out.
ng Chengzhang answered for him, still smiling. “No need to go. You’ve all spent a year opposing Tianmu Mountain. It's ti you took a rest.”
Another heavy silence fell, so still it felt suffocating. Then Dragon Mountain Wanderer suddenly shouted, “Run!”
Chaos erupted. More than thirty people scattered in every direction, the Yellow Wind Ravine.
ng Chengzhang threw back his head and laughed. “Run? What a joke!” Then he glanced at Dai Shenggao beside him. “Looks like a perfect chance to earn so rit, don’t you think?”
Dai Shenggao sighed. “We agreed. I wouldn’t take part.”
ng Chengzhang didn’t press him either. “Fine,” he said. “Since we’ve made our promise, we won’t make things hard for you. Just sit back and enjoy the show.”
All of sudden, a thunderous roar shook the Yellow Wind Ravine. The ground trembled as if a dragon were twisting beneath the earth. A thick white fog surged up, blanketing everything until you couldn’t see more than a few paces ahead.
ng Chengzhang frowned in surprise. “What the hell is this?”
Dai Shenggao was confused at first, but then sothing clicked. “Wait, it's that Dragon Mountain Wanderer! I rember hearing he had a Five Thunder Soaring Cloud Talisman. I thought he made it up to scare people… didn’t expect it to be real!”
The Five Thunder Soaring Cloud Talisman was no ordinary talisman ; it was a top-grade one, refined by the Western Xuan Dragon Pavilion. The fact that a bandit cultivator from Wulong Mountain actually possessed one made ng Chengchang’s face darken. He snorted heavily. “Desperate fool!” he muttered, paying Dai Shenggao no more mind.
With a bound, he leapt toward a nearby hilltop. Through the thick fog, he caught sight of a shadow dashing away in panic. With a cold smile, he flicked his wrist, sending a feather fan whirling through the air straight toward the runner’s back.
That runner was none other than Li Fuchen. He felt a fierce gust behind him and hastily flung out his dust-whisk to block. But the fan was lightning-fast, its path unpredictable. He couldn’t possibly block it. It struck him in the back, hurling him over ten feet through the air. Blood spurted from his mouth, and it was clear he wasn’t going to make it.
Poor guy... he’d always kept a low profile, careful to the extre, never picking fights or getting involved in trouble. He hadn’t even dared to accept the hero’s post to avenge Tianmu Mountain. And yet, in the end, he still died at the hands of one of Tianmu Mountain’s own inner disciples. Truly pitiful.
ng Chengchang reached the hilltop, finally breaking through the fog stirred up by the Five Thunder Soaring Cloud Talisman. Looking down, he saw the valley below shrouded in swirling clouds, all around the outer hilltops, lights glimred. Those were the spells cast by fellow disciples, stewards, and wardens from both the inner and outer sects of Tianmu Mountain. They illuminated the night as they closed in on the Wulong Mountain bandits.
For this operation, Tianmu Mountain had mobilized more than sixty people, including seven Foundation Establishnt cultivators. Yet for so reason, Elder Lu Boqi, who was supposed to lead the siege, had still not arrived. That was why the net had been delayed by two hours.
No one had expected the Wulong Mountain bandits to have sothing as powerful as a Five Thunder Soaring Cloud Talisman. It made wrapping up the operation that much harder.
Suddenly, flas flared up at the base of the western ridge. ng Chengchang narrowed his eyes. Two of the bandits were trying to break out that way, only to be stopped by a few outer-sect stewards from Tianmu Mountain stationed there. Monts later, a senior brother from a nearby peak swooped in to help, and the two bandits were swiftly cut down.
From the hilltops to the east, bursts of multicolored light lit up the sky. Another group of Wulong Mountain raiders trying to fight their way out. The outco was predictable. The spellfire quickly died down, though no one could tell whether those bandits were slain or captured alive.
After watching for a while longer, ng Chengchang suddenly saw soone burst out of the thick fog, stumbling frantically toward his direction. One glance was enough for him to recognize the man. It was Qi Laoqi, one of the Wulong Mountain bandits he’d just checked off the wanted list earlier.
There was no way he’d let the man escape. ng Chengchang summoned his feather fan once again. After a brief struggle, the fan struck Qi Laoqi on the back of the head. His body went limp and tumbled back down into the swirling mist below.
Monts later, a battle erupted along the mountain path to the left. ng Chengchang recalled that the ones blocking that route were stewards from the vassal Hua family. The man they’d intercepted was another na on the list. A bandit from Wulong Mountain, surnad Mu.
“Don’t kill him; he’s a cultivator of the Healing Path! Just capture him!” ng Chengzhang shouted across the mountain path. Worrying that the chaos might drown out his voice, he even used the True Essence Lion’s Roar technique.
A few of the Hua family stewards heard him and shouted back, “Got it, Senior Brother ng...”
About an hour later, Lu Boqi finally arrived, riding his flying sword. “Martial Uncle!” ng Chengzhang called out loudly.
Lu Boqi landed in front of him, fuming. “That Tu fellow from Gengsang Cave and that Bai from the Zhanglong Sect... nothing but troublemakers! They ca up with every excuse to delay . Our movents have been leaked!”
ng Chengzhang, however, didn’t seem too bothered. “With a commotion this big, it’d be strange if they hadn’t caught wind of it, wouldn’t it? Martial Uncle, Yellow Wind Ravine is sealed tight. No one from the Wulong bandits can escape now. All we have to do is wait for the fog to clear, and we can go down and take them in.”
Lu Boqi squinted into the distance. “I see it… is that a Five Thunder Soaring Cloud Talisman? How in the world did a bunch of bandits get their hands on sothing this good?”
“Martial Uncle,” asked ng Chengzhang, “do you have a way to disperse the fog?”
Of course Lu Boqi did. He mounted his sword again and shot down into the valley. With a flick of his sleeve, he released a pill furnace that weaved through the mist, sucking it in as it went.
Two incense sticks’ worth of ti later, most of the fog that had blanketed the valley was gone, and the view slowly began to clear.
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