"Retreat!" Dantai Ming ordered.
The Dantai Family cultivators fought as they fell back, moving toward the north side of the warehouse. The Wuming Sect cultivators were fewest on the north side—only seven or eight of them—making it the thinnest part of the encirclement.
Wu Yin saw Dantai Ming's intent and immediately shifted men to block the north side, but the battlefield was too chaotic, and it took time for orders to be relayed.
Dantai Ming seized the chance and sent a Wuming Sect disciple on the north side flying with a palm strike, opening a gap. The Dantai Family cultivators filed out one after another and charged out of the encirclement.
The black-clothed man leader chased after them, his long saber chopping toward the last Dantai Family cultivator in the rear. That cultivator turned to block, was jolted back several steps, and spat blood, but he did not fall. Borrowing the force of the rebound, he rushed out of the encirclement.
The Dantai Family cultivators broke out of the encirclement and ran north along the street, quickly vanishing into the night.
Wu Yin did not pursue them. He had his subordinates tally the casualties. The Wuming Sect had lost five disciples and had twelve wounded. The hired cultivators had eleven dead and nineteen wounded.
Corpses lay scattered in disorder before the warehouse doors, and blood soaked through the bluestone slabs.
The black-clothed man leader walked to Wu Yin's side and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "Lord, the Dantai Family people got away, but the grain is still here."
Wu Yin nodded, his gaze falling on the warehouse doors. The warehouse was piled full of grain sacks, enough to feed the Wuming Sect's people for several months.
"Move it. Take it all away."
The black-clothed man leader