Dawn had barely broken, and the dust on the mountain road had yet to dry. Chen Wuya leaned against a cartwheel, his fingertips still retaining the sensation of the cloth strip he had felt the night before. He had not slept long, yet he had not closed his eyes again either. He merely kept his head lowered, feigning drowsiness as he had the night before. The guards beside the covered wagon had changed shifts. Their movements at the cuffs were more discreet than before, but that barely perceptible pause still did not escape his notice.
He had just begun to shift when a sharp cry suddenly rang out from the rock wall overhead.
The howl of wind-splitting projectiles bore down from all directions. Dozens of black-clad men leaped from the cliffs on either side, landing without a sound, cold glints already flashing from the short darts in their hands. They formed groups of seven, arrayed before and behind, sealing off the entire mountain road in an instant. The dart shadows wove like threads, layer upon layer. Rather than flying straight, they traced spiraling arcs through the air, forcing the two escort fighters at the front back several steps as blood sprayed from their shoulders.
"Seven Star Chain!" the deputy escort chief roared. "Form up! Meet them with the Sky Eagle Whirlwind Form!"
The escort fighters immediately spread out, their long sabers whirling as they tried to deflect the force of the incoming darts with rotational momentum. But the enemy's dart technique was bizarre. The seventh dart in every volley carried a twisting force, resonating with the other six and making the saber blades hum without end. An older escort fighter had just knocked aside three darts when the fourth swept in at an angle, piercing the leather armor at his