Led by that little mountain sparrow, Zhang Tie made another discovery a hundred meters away...
It was a patch of ground darker in color than the surrounding earth. Here, Zhang Tie could still catch a faint stench of blood and rot. Scattered across over twenty square meters of ground were only small scraps of shredded camouflage combat uniforms. A swarm of ants bustled back and forth, carrying recognizable bits of flesh and bone into their nests...
One look at this scene was enough. After circling the area once, Zhang Tie stopped at a spot and gestured with his hand. An image automatically formed in his mind—a Great Xia field scout replenishing supplies in this maple forest had suddenly spotted an enemy. The enemy was too powerful, so powerful that he could not resist. The field scout's first reaction had been to flee, but unfortunately, he had not escaped. When he ran to this point, the human scout was caught by the enemy. Then, with just one punch or palm strike, his body had been completely shattered into a spray of blood, splashing in a fan-shaped arc across the forest floor and becoming food for the ants...
Following the direction of that fan-shaped spray, Zhang Tie found another matte scout longsword, already warped out of shape, in the bushes several dozen meters away.
Zhang Tie picked up the longsword and inspected it closely. There were no chips in the blade, but its body had been twisted. To cause such damage required at least the rebound force generated by an Earth Knight's protective Battle Qi—or perhaps something even greater.
A brave Hua Clan Warrior had perished soundlessly in this maple forest of the Helan Mountains. Not even bones remained, nor had he left behind a name. Only that twisted longsword bore witness