Zhao Feng turned to look at Lin Taichu, asking with his eyes when they should strike. Lin Taichu shook his head, signaling him to keep waiting.
The column continued forward. The vanguard had already gone two hundred paces out of the gorge, the center had reached the middle of it, and the rear guard had entered about a third of the way in.
Lin Taichu raised his longbow, nocked an arrow, and aimed at the leader of the column's center—a seventh-level Half-Saint elder.
The bowstring drew back with a faint creak. When Zhao Feng saw Lin Taichu drawing his bow, he raised his own longbow as well.
When the other Guards saw Lin Taichu move, they all raised their longbows and aimed at the Dantai Family Cultivators in the gorge.
Lin Taichu released the string. The arrow shot through the air, so fast its path could barely be seen, carving an arc before striking that elder squarely in the throat.
The elder's eyes went wide. Both hands clamped over his neck as blood gushed through the gaps between his fingers. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out, and his body toppled stiffly to the ground.
"There's an ambush!"
Dantai Lie roared and drew the longsword at his waist.
Zhao Feng and the other Guards released their bowstrings at the same time. Twenty arrows flew from the gentle slopes on both sides toward the Dantai Family Cultivators in the gorge.
Several Dantai Family Cultivators were struck and fell, their screams echoing through the gorge. The Cultivators who had not been hit quickly scattered in search of cover.
Dantai Lie looked up at the gentle slopes on both sides. People were moving in the brush, but he could not make out exactly how many there were.
"Archers, return fire!"
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