The search party slowly pushed deeper into the mountain range. The dense forests on either side of the main peak's path grew ever more shadowy, sunlight almost entirely blocked by the luxuriant canopy overhead, while the air was thick with the scent of damp earth.
Wang Hezheng reined in his horse, his gaze sweeping over Zhao Baihe ahead. His fingers had quietly settled on the sword at his waist. According to the plan, once Zhao Baihe took another fifty steps and entered the designated ambush zone, he would give the order for the various Changyun forces to close in and seize this elite cavalry unit in one stroke.
But at that moment, earthshaking battle cries suddenly erupted from the dense forest to the left, accompanied by the sharp clash of weapons and soldiers' screams. In an instant, the silence of the mountain path was shattered.
"Not good!" Wang Hezheng's eyes narrowed, and the hand he had been about to raise to issue an order abruptly froze.
Without the slightest hesitation, a grandmaster's power surged through his body. A faint golden radiance spread around him, and he vanished from horseback like an arrow loosed from the bow, leaving only an afterimage as he sped toward the source of the fighting.
Cao Heng froze for an instant before immediately reacting. This was not a disturbance they had arranged!
He hastily stirred several streams of inner force within himself, stamped down, and followed behind Wang Hezheng like a gale. His heart was filled with alarm and suspicion. Who would dare make a move at a time like this? Could it be Zhao Baihe's reinforcements?
Wang Hezheng reached the battlefield first, and the sight before him made his pupils contract sharply.
In a clearing within the dense forest, dozens of martial artists dressed in