"But... it's time to draw in the net." Jiang Tianhao's eyes turned cold, and a sneer curled his lips.
He then took a thumb-sized pebble from inside his robe. The character for "seven" had been written on it in cinnabar. After a moment's hesitation, he clenched his hand, crushing the pebble to powder.
Immediately afterward, everyone felt their vision blur for a moment. Something before them seemed to have changed, but they could not say what.
Just then, someone pointed back the way they had come and cried out in terror, "The way we came in has disappeared!"
"What?" Everyone was startled and hurriedly looked behind them.
Sure enough, the path they had taken was gone, replaced by a stone wall. It, too, was utterly seamless, as though it had grown out of thin air.
Elder Mo and the other two exchanged glances, unable to suppress their unease. None of them had noticed how the stone wall had appeared. It had come without a sound, and that was far too eerie.
"What do we do now?" Some of them were already panicking.
"What else can we do? Our retreat is cut off. Going forward is our only chance of finding an exit," Jiang Tianhao said gravely.
He paused, then continued in a ringing voice, "Everyone has suffered such terrible losses on this expedition because of our Jiang Family. I am deeply ashamed. From here on, our Jiang Family will take the lead."
Hearing Jiang Tianhao's words, the experts from the other three families immediately gave him looks of admiration.
"Young Master Jiang really is a good man..."
"Young Master Jiang is honorable and righteous..."
But Qin Wenhan and Shen Beichen, who knew Jiang Tianhao best, exchanged frowning glances. They could not help wondering, *Jiang Tianhao has never been this noble