More than a thousand Western Liang cavalrymen crowded together, making the already narrow road feel tighter still. Hearing the screams that kept drifting from afar, they exchanged looks of alarm and uncertainty.
Beyond the dense thorn bushes, distant screams rose one after another. From the voices, it was clear they came from the Western Liang cavalrymen who had taken the other fork. It seemed they had most likely run into an ambush by the Great Chen Kingdom's army.
Without hesitation, the Western Liang cavalrymen turned their spears around, preparing to retrace their steps and rush to their comrades' aid.
None of them noticed the dozens of ghostlike figures descending from the gnarled branches of ancient trees in the gloom. Hanging upside down like bats in the night, they hovered silently above the Western Liang cavalrymen.
It happened without warning. Large hands dropped from above and clamped over the mouths and noses of several dozen cavalrymen at the rear. Before they could react, sharp daggers had sliced through their throats...
After a brief spasm, the cavalrymen went limp. Even the sounds of their bodies falling were drowned out by the clatter of armor and the footsteps of the great mass of men.
The dozens of ghostlike figures had already scrambled back onto the gnarled branches like agile apes and vanished.
The same scene played out again and again along the Western Liang cavalrymen's retreat.
Only when one cavalryman, his throat slit and his hands pressed against his streaming neck, struggled in his death throes and summoned all his strength for a hoarse cry, then slammed his spear heavily into the rider ahead, did the others discover in horror how many comrades had died along the way.
Hanisha, the deputy general leading them, flew into a rage, but suddenly understood. The cunning