A squad of four Xiongnu scouts had just stepped onto a stretch of withered yellow grassland within Donghu territory when three Blood-Clad Army warriors lying in ambush in the grass precisely locked onto them.
The Blood-Clad Army warriors did not strike at once. Like patient hunters, they tailed them from afar, using the cover of night and the grass to follow them soundlessly for several miles. Only after the scouts had ventured deep into the heart of the grasslands, completely cut off from any possible route of retreat, did they suddenly launch their ambush.
One Blood-Clad Army warrior raised a heavy crossbow and aimed at the rearmost Xiongnu scout. His finger lightly squeezed the trigger. With a sharp whoosh, the bolt pierced straight through the man's heart from behind.
The rearguard scout's body stiffened, and he fell without a sound.
The other two Blood-Clad Army warriors sprang from the grass like tigers pouncing on prey. Their long blades swept out two flashes of icy light. With two soft shk! shk! sounds, they dispatched the remaining three Xiongnu scouts in an instant.
The entire hunt was clean and decisive, taking no more than the time it took to burn an incense stick. No signs of battle remained; even the bloodstains had been carefully covered with sand and dirt, as though no one had ever passed through this place.
Another squad of Xiongnu scouts chose to cross a muddy swamp, believing that such an unfrequented place would be entirely undefended.
But the moment they entered the reeds at the swamp's edge, they were spotted by Blood-Clad Army warriors lying in wait there.
The warriors held crossbow bolts smeared with poison specially formulated by the Mohist Pavilion, their arrowheads glinting with an eerie dark green hue.
Without the slightest hesitation, they pulled their