The same night, in different directions.
While flames towered into the sky on Zhao Si's side, Wolf traveled through the starry night.
Wolf and the Divine Child of Rejuvenation finally had horses to ride.
Two people, four horses.
Two for riding, two for carrying their luggage.
Everyone at the inn was dead. Wolf naturally helped himself to the supplies and horses left behind.
He also took the precaution of swapping and mixing up the tack.
He was worried someone might recognize it.
If someone on the street saw them and shouted, "Red Guards!"
Wouldn't that give them away?
After several days on the road, the two finally entered a new region-Oshu.
The place name alone might not mean much. Put simply, it was the territory of the One-Eyed Dragon, Date Masamune.
Like Shimazu Yoshihiro of Satsuma, he was a famous daimyo in the Land of Reeds, and both were fierce on the battlefield.
Heading south from Ashina meant passing through Oshu.
Date Masamune belonged to the same faction as Tokugawa Ieyasu, so the Red Guard could naturally pass through his territory.
Interestingly enough, Date Masamune had not been ordered to attack Ashina.
Perhaps the idea was to infiltrate it from within and minimize losses.
Isshin Ashina was powerful, but Date Masamune was no weakling either.
When two tigers fought, one was bound to be hurt.
If Date Masamune was injured because of Isshin Ashina, who already had one foot in the grave, the losses would certainly outweigh the gains.
Besides, Ashina had the traitor Owl, who had leaked all its intelligence to the Interior Ministry.
And the Red Guard were no incompetents.
Wolf had fought his way back and forth through two Interior Ministry invasions in Ashina without encountering any prominent generals.
The Lone Shadows were ninjas following orders.
Even