The Tang Sect party arrived half a day before Spirit Hall.
Bai He stood in an old tree at the forest entrance. When Tang San and the others arrived, he pointed northwest. Someone had propped the bushes back up there, but their leaves faced a different way from those around them. Shallow ruts left by heavy wagons remained in the soil.
"They split into three groups," Bai He said. "More than two hundred people are escorting the heavy wagons down the middle, with fifty Soul Masters on each flank. They change routes twice a day and leave wheel tracks on purpose, hoping we'll have to guess which route is real."
Bai Chenxiang stepped out from behind the tree, wet mud clinging to her boots. She had just finished following the group on the far right. She was a little short of breath and held a black iron spike.
"The right route is a decoy. They bury one of these every ten li, then double back to the middle route. Nearby Soul Beasts avoid the smell on the spikes, so Soul Masters tracking them won't see any traces of herds passing through."
Tang San took the spike without touching its tip. He drew a piece of white cloth from the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges, wrapped the spike, and sniffed it.
"Paralytic poison and the blood of more than a dozen kinds of Soul Beasts. None were very old. It's meant to confuse the scent."
Ma Hongjun wrinkled his nose and stepped back. "They've got three hundred people with them, and they're still playing hide-and-seek."
"They aren't guarding against ordinary pursuers." Dai Mubai looked into the depths of the forest. "If three Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts notice them ahead of time, it's anyone's guess who'll end up surrounding whom."
"The heavy wagons are slow,