Ambush

The snow on the road was thick, already deep enough to bury everyone up to their knees.

Fortunately, the many guards all knew the basics of chakra use, so walking over the snow posed no real obstacle. It worked on the same principle as when Yizhe had practiced walking on water, only much simpler.

The reason was probably that snow was denser than water, so it demanded less precise chakra control than water walking.

Still, the poor pack beasts had it rough. Their bulky bodies already struggled to move through the snow, and they still had to haul cartloads of goods.

Even after the wagons had been fitted with snow sleds, Yizhe could easily tell from the beasts' heavily panting nostrils that they were under a tremendous burden.

The group traveled in fits and starts.

As evening drew near, Yizhe spotted a great canyon in the distance.

That canyon was called Frozen Valley, named for being frozen year-round. It was roughly three hundred meters long, with a narrow passage through its center about five meters wide. Qing Shi's group often passed through it in the past, sometimes even spending the night there to shelter from the wind and snow.

But now that the Red Ant Bandit Group had its eyes on the caravan, the canyon was also an ideal place for an ambush. Yizhe did not believe Red Ant would pass up such a perfect opportunity.

"Stop—" Yizhe, walking at the front, shouted loudly.

The caravan stopped nearly a thousand meters outside the canyon.

"My lord, you finally stopped! I thought you were going to lead us straight in?" Qing Shi hurried to the front and spoke up.

Though he was only a merchant and knew nothing of strategy or tactics, he had lived long enough and spent enough years navigating the business world to possess a keen instinct for danger.

The closer he came to the canyon, the more his heart pounded. Besides, when Yizhe had asked him for the map, he had specifically inquired about this location.

That made Qing Shi feel even more strongly that there was something wrong with the canyon.

"What? Are you scared?" Yizhe shot Qing Shi a mocking glance.

"Of course not. I'm just a little... a little..." Qing Shi stammered nervously.

"A little worried, right?" A faintly amused expression hung on Yizhe's face as he continued, "Don't worry. They're already here!"

The moment Yizhe had ordered the caravan to halt, he had activated his Byakugan and surveyed the canyon.

Just as expected, Red Ant was already waiting inside. Through the Byakugan's powerful insight, he clearly saw countless figures concealed along the canyon's steep cliffs.

At a glance, there were no fewer than fifty of them!

"What? They're already here?" Qing Shi cried out.

"What do we do now, Lord Yizhe?" Qing Shi panicked.

"What are you panicking for?" Yizhe snapped.

"Go get a few guards. I need their help with something important!"

"Guards?" Qing Shi was puzzled. Though he did not know what Yizhe needed the guards for, he still hurried off to fetch them, not daring to delay.

Before long, Qing Shi returned with four warriors. The young warrior He Feng was among them.

"Lord Yizhe, are four men enough?" Qing Shi asked cautiously.

"Enough, enough! Go on, leave." Yizhe waved him away.

This time, Qing Shi did not linger beside Yizhe out of curiosity. He had a sense of danger, and after handing over the men, he hurried back toward his own guards.

"Come on. The four of you will scout the way with me!" With that, Yizhe led the four warriors toward the mouth of the valley.

This stretch of canyon was an ideal ambush site for the Red Ant Bandit Group, and it was also Yizhe's ideal battlefield.

Yizhe believed that word of a ninja guard being present in the caravan had long since reached the bandit group's leader. The bandits would certainly reassess the caravan's strength.

A caravan guarded by a ninja was entirely different from one without a ninja. Even if they had two ninjas capable of restraining Yizhe, it was difficult to estimate just how much damage Yizhe could inflict upon the bandit group.

Their strength was still not enough to overwhelm the caravan.

Therefore, directly assaulting the caravan to seize its goods was not their best option.

Only by minimizing their own losses could they maximize their gains. Thus, Yizhe judged that an ambush was their best choice.

The terrain along this route was flat, and this canyon was the only place suited for an ambush. On top of that, it was an exceptionally good ambush site.

If Yizhe had changed the route from the very beginning and avoided this place, depriving them of the conditions for an ambush, he would instead have forced the bandit group to launch a direct attack at any moment.

Now, by taking this route, he had given the bandits an opportunity to ambush them, which in turn gave the caravan breathing room.

The bandit group was strong and well-mounted, with two ninjas in command. In a head-on clash, Yizhe could protect himself, but as for the caravan, they could only pray for heaven's blessing.

Fortunately, the Red Ant Bandit Group's leader was fairly cautious and had chosen an ambush, exactly as Yizhe wished. Had their leader been the reckless sort who charged in directly, even Yizhe would have been powerless to turn things around.

What a pity for the Red Ant Bandit Group. Under the Byakugan's insight, all their careful preparations were nowhere to hide and had become nothing but a joke!

What had originally been a perfect ambush site was about to become their burial ground!

"Boss, someone has come to scout the valley entrance! Should we..." The Red Ant deputy leader hidden in the valley made a throat-slitting gesture at the middle-aged man beside him.

"No! If they all barged straight in without a second thought, that would be the real problem! In a key location for an ambush like this, no ninja would fail to investigate!"

"Don't worry! Our concealment techniques have long reached perfection! What could that little brat possibly discover?" The middle-aged man smugly rejected the deputy leader's request.

Little did he know that this arrogance would mark the beginning of the Red Ant Bandit Group's destruction.

Not daring to linger too long for fear of arousing the Red Ant Bandit Group's suspicions within the canyon, Yizhe pulled out a scroll from the pouch at his waist as soon as he reached the entrance.

Poof—

After opening the scroll, two wisps of green smoke rose, and Yizhe took out the two "great bells" he had previously sealed inside.

"My lord, what are these?" The four warriors who had come to help were greatly startled.

When they heard from Qing Shi that the ninja lord needed help, the four had volunteered to come. They had not expected Yizhe to assign them no tasks at all, only to pull out two battered black cauldrons with broken bottoms.

"You, you—carry these two 'bells' for me! Point their openings toward the inside of the canyon!" Yizhe pointed at two of the guards and ordered them to lift the "great bells."

These two guards belonged to the first group Qing Shi had recruited, not the later batch.

After learning that Qing Shi had recruited more people at the inn, Yizhe had privately asked Qing Shi about the personnel and thoroughly separated the two groups in his mind.

Though the recruits were a mixed lot, the first group was definitely more trustworthy than the second.

Because the second group certainly contained spies from the Red Ant Bandit Group.

"You two, guard me and keep watch on the surroundings. If anyone approaches, kill them without mercy!" Yizhe pointed at the youth named He Feng and another warrior.

"Yes, my lord!"

Although all four were curious about the ninja lord's strange orders, none of them objected. They simply did as they were told.

"Let me bury these sewer rats in Frozen Valley," Yizhe murmured.

The four heard his baffling words and were all at a loss.

"Water!"

With a thought from Yizhe, chakra gathered in his hand. He wiped it across the smaller "bell," and the pitch-black great bell was immediately enveloped in a pale blue current of water.

Then his fingers flew through hand seals as he gathered chakra in his mouth, puffing out his cheeks.

Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!

A fierce gale erupted from Yizhe's mouth, passing through the "great bell" he had made and producing a thunderous clattering roar.

Even with the water Yizhe had formed from chakra wrapped around it, the violent force of the gale echoing inside the "great bell" tore it to pieces in an instant.

Frenzied sound waves, iron shards, and roaring wind rushed into Frozen Valley like a stampede of beasts, crashing and trampling through the canyon without restraint!

"My lord, you..." The four present were dumbfounded. Even without Yizhe explaining, they now understood what he was doing!

"Not good!" "Run!"

Cries of terror rang out from within the canyon! Unfortunately, it was already too late!

Crack, crack, crack!

The sound of something shattering echoed through the canyon!

Boom, boom, boom!

The snowdrifts collapsed, the ice pillars crumbled, and the icicles fell! A massive avalanche had begun!

Whirling fragments of snow were swept up in the violent currents and spread outward, reducing everything to a blinding white haze.

A silver-white flash of sword light gleamed above Yizhe's head!