Arrow pierces the stubborn bandit's brow and falls, blood splatters the green forest, the horse remains unbowed

Eagle Nest Gorge lay amid the mountains at the southeastern foothills of the Greater Khingan Range, a mountain gorge of exceptionally perilous terrain.

The peaks on either side rose sheer as if cleaved by a blade, their rock faces smooth as mirrors, with scarcely any path to climb.

At the bottom of the gorge, only a narrow mountain trail wound its way through, at its tightest allowing just two people to walk abreast.

Ancient trees towered overhead in the mountains, blotting out the sun. Vines tangled like nets, while withered branches and fallen leaves lay in a thick carpet, rustling with a "shh-shh" beneath one's feet.

Countless hidden gullies and traps were concealed amid the grass and trees as well; one careless step could send a person tumbling down to injury.

This was the traditional sphere of influence of the Donghu's Green Owl Tribe. The Donghu tribes that had lived here for generations were fierce by nature, exceptionally skilled at mountain hunting and ambushes. They knew every blade of grass, every ditch and ravine in Eagle Nest Gorge like the backs of their hands—natural-born mountain warriors.

The Green Owl Tribe's elite garrison patrolled and stood watch year-round through the steep forests on both sides of the gorge. With terrain where one man could hold the pass against ten thousand, they had turned this region into an impregnable wall of bronze and iron.

In past border clashes, even when the Yan army invaded in force, breaking through Eagle Nest Gorge had been harder than scaling the heavens.

Even if they paid a tremendous price to force their way through, the Green Owl Tribe's soldiers could use their familiarity with the mountain terrain to scatter, circle around, and lay ambush upon ambush. They could even withdraw successfully to the rear, join with