Although Jiang Yue and the others couldn't claim to know every inch of the heartland world, they had studied the territories belonging to the three academies, along with their geography, mountains, and waterways, in considerable detail.
After carefully analyzing the map, they settled on a stretch of road.
"This is the place. If Jiang Ling and his party want to reach the southern route as quickly as possible while staying hidden, they'll have to cross the vast Tian Gun Mountain Range."
The Tian Gun Mountain Range was a land of absolute desolation, where no crops grew and no livestock thrived. It was scorching all year round, as if a furnace blazed inside the mountains. At the highest peak, a spring boiled ceaselessly. Unlike other mountain ranges, covered in lush greenery, the Tian Gun Mountain Range could barely grow even a blade of grass.
Going around the range would at least double the journey, turning one or two days into four or five. Jiang Yue was certain that, whatever Jiang Ling and the others were plotting, they would still choose the faster route. That made the Tian Gun Mountain Range an unavoidable part of their journey.
"They'll take the outer route, and we'll take the inner one. Their one- or two-hour head start will be canceled out."
"We don't have to catch them before they reach the Tian Gun Mountain Range. We can let them cross it first, then ambush them. That way, we'll be fresh and ready while they're exhausted."
Jiang Yue pointed at the map, laying out the situation in a few quick gestures.
Even as the Chief Grand Scholar of Titan Academy, Jiang Ling wouldn't find it easy to cross the Tian Gun Mountain Range. Even if Jiang Ling himself didn't struggle much, his followers couldn't all be