"The plan's complete. Let's get out of here."
Bai Xiaowen spoke gravely, and the group headed west.
Barely half an hour later, the Mongol army found the site.
Although Bai Xiaowen had killed every member of the hunting party when Temüjin sounded his signal arrow, nearby herders had still witnessed the scene.
On the steppe, herders were warriors as well. They immediately reported what they had seen to a nearby Mongol outpost. The report passed swiftly up the chain of command, and Jochi, Ögedei, Tolui, and the others assembled an army and came from the main camp.
The Mongol army was highly organized. Reporting through the ranks had taken less than an hour longer than it would have taken Jebe to return to camp and muster the troops himself. But that precious hour had been enough for Bai Xiaowen to kill Temüjin.
"Report! There's blood at the scene, and we found the Great Khan's broken arrows, but there's no sign of him."
Ögedei and his two brothers exchanged troubled looks.
Tolui barked, "Follow their footprints! We must find Father."
Ögedei added, "There's a Tiele army camp to the west. Send him a signal arrow and have him bring his troops around to cut them off! We must capture these audacious assassins."
The Mongol Tiele contingent joined Ögedei's forces in the encirclement, but they failed to catch Bai Xiaowen's group. At the foot of a suspicious-looking mountain, they found only a circular stone platform inlaid with glittering crystals.
Kököchu, the Mongol grand shaman, said, "This is a formation made by the southern cultivators. They must have used it to teleport far away, perhaps even off the steppe. We can't catch them now."
Tolui said bitterly, "Something must have happened to Father. Once I conquer Jiangnan, I'll wipe out every last sect