Remnants' Cunning, Ambush for Another Battle

The wind swept yellow sand past the mouth of the valley. Chen Wuya's fingers were still pressed to the sand as Misaligned Force slowly seeped underground. The tremor was deeper than before, like something moving slowly beneath the earth—not hurried, not slow, but rhythmic. He did not look up. He merely stared at the trail of footprints left by the routed soldiers ahead—far too neat. The distance between each step was almost identical, even their depth the same.

Bai Zhi stood half a step behind him, the cloth wrapped around her right arm already soaked through with sweat, blood spreading from the edge of her sleeve. Following his gaze, she furrowed her brows slightly. "Something's wrong."

"They weren't fleeing," Chen Wuya said quietly. "They walked out."

Before his words had faded, another horn call came from deep within the valley, low and drawn-out. Unlike the previous hurried warning, it sounded more like a response. Immediately afterward, several shadows atop the rock walls swiftly vanished, their movements perfectly uniform. They had clearly been prepared.

He sprang to his feet and flung out an arm before the group. "Stop!"

The soldiers behind him could not halt in time; some staggered several steps before finding their footing. A squad leader panted, "Brother Chen, what is it? We're about to catch them!"

"Catch them?" Chen Wuya gave a cold laugh, his gaze sweeping over the steep rock faces on both sides of the valley mouth. "They'd love nothing more than for us to go in."

Bai Zhi understood at once. Drawing her flexible sword, she held it across her chest to block the soldiers behind them and passed down an order in a low voice. "Press against the walls, backs inward, form a semicircle!"

Before the order could travel through the ranks, seven or