On the night of July 18th, 932 of the Black Iron Calendar, deep within the mountains 300 kilometers east of Coldwater City on Hicks Peninsula...
Whoosh... In the darkness, a crossbow bolt shot out like lightning from within a red pine over fifty meters tall beside a mountain valley. In an instant, it struck the foremost member of a team feeling its way forward through the boulders on the slope.
The lightning-fast heavy bolt pierced through the man's soft armor. Amid a burst of blazing fire, the flames erupting from the bolt's shaft instantly engulfed him.
One arrow, one hit—there was no room for luck.
Firelight stood out especially sharply in the darkness. The moment the flames erupted, they illuminated several thousand square meters of the dark valley at once.
There were only four people in the ambushed team. The instant the man at the front was hit, the remaining three reacted. Their bodies sprang in different directions, avoiding becoming the next target. Even while airborne, one of the three, holding a metal repeating crossbow, pulled the trigger. With a soft twang of the bowstring, the three bolts from his crossbow shot in a triangular formation into the foliage of the red pine that had just fired the arrow.
With a muffled groan, a shadow fell from the towering red pine and crashed heavily to the ground.
"Kill..." With a low, savage roar, seven Holy Alliance Empire warriors with snake-scale tattoos on their faces suddenly charged out of the bushes. Like a pack of wolves, eyes red, they rushed at the three remaining people they had ambushed.
Of the seven charging men, at least five displayed different Battle Qi reactions at that moment, revealing their Battle Qi Totems—two Black Spiders, one Centipede Beast, one King Snake, and one enormous Blood