On the other side, 200,000 Jianghu people, led by Yan Qihuan and Gongyang Ying, stealthily approached the Soul Stealer’s location.
In fact, they were heading toward the place where Xia Dalian was now...
Gongyang Ying’s spies had already reported the exact location of Xia Dalian’s 50,000 people. Along the way, they also silently neutralized any traps, allowing the Jianghu people to advance unobstructed and quietly.
When they arrived, they saw scattered campfires in the forest. Gongyang Ying took a deep breath and said, "We can’t advance any further from this distance. Spread out and immediately start the assault on the Soul Stealer."
They couldn’t get too close, otherwise they would be discovered by the patrolling Soul Stealers...
But if they were too far, the Soul Stealers might escape. Therefore, it was necessary to carry out an encirclement tactic. Thus, Gongyang Ying ordered the troops to disperse into a circle, divided into ten groups of twenty thousand each.
Once everything was ready, Gongyang Ying gave the command, "One group after another, don’t make a sound, assassinate stealthily!"
With that, group after group moved stealthily toward the direction of the campfires.
"Enemy attack, Boss, the encirclement army is here!"
Soon after the first group made their move, they were discovered by the patrolling Soul Stealers, and cries rang out from all directions.
Of course, it was the 66th Army that intentionally made those sounds.
With these sounds, the campfires in that direction went out one after another, as if the Soul Stealers were thrown into disarray.
"Kill..." Gongyang Ying made a quick decision and shouted forcefully.
Group after group charged toward the extinguishing campfires.
The shouting grew louder, and the ten groups almost completely sealed off the Soul Stealers’ escape routes; there was no way out in any direction.
"Shihun, I, Yan Qihuan, have come. Come out and face your death."
Yan Qihuan’s team was the first to arrive, and he mercilessly swung his Sword Radiance at a silhouette.
However, the next instant he froze; the one cut down did not scream at all, and it felt like cutting through weeds.
The once fierce Yan Qihuan’s expression solidified as he fiercely turned around...
His eyes widened; damn it, the cut-down silhouette was actually a straw man.
Then, his gaze fell on the motionless silhouettes beside the campfire. Yan Qihuan felt something even more off, and his True Qi surged out, causing a rustling sound as the silhouettes all scattered into weeds.
Yan Qihuan felt a relentless chill all over his body; they were all fake, straw men assembled from grass.
Gongyang Ying also arrived at the scene and stood dumbfounded before yelling, "It’s a trap, this is a trap... The Soul Stealer isn’t here."
She too felt a chill all over her body; things weren’t as perfect as she had imagined.
"Everyone, be careful, get ready for battle!" Gongyang Ying quickly warned.
The Jianghu people, who were just filled with Battle Intent, became panicked, gripping their weapons tightly and scanning the surroundings, searching for the real whereabouts of the Soul Stealers...
According to the habits of the Soul Stealers, they would surely launch a surprise attack after setting traps; they had to be vigilant!
But as time ticked away, they found nothing.
When the darkness before dawn gave way and the sky began to lighten with the first light of dawn, they still hadn’t faced any surprise attacks from the Soul Stealers.
"What in the world is the Soul Stealer up to?"
Zeng Yuanxi murmured lowly, feeling it was impossible. With such an excellent opportunity, how could the Soul Stealer not launch a surprise attack?
"Moon Soul Fairy, a squad of twenty thousand people has disappeared."
Just then, a stammering voice rose; it was unmistakably that of an elder master.
And the crowd was shocked; they discovered that twenty thousand of the 200,000 Jianghu people had vanished without a trace.
All at once, everyone’s scalp tingled with numbness.
Though the sun was about to rise, a chill persisted around them, as if a cold wind howled; a full twenty thousand people had just vanished under their watch.
In this moment, Gongyang Ying was still relatively calm, speaking softly, "They must have been ambushed during the scattered attacks, and the enemy’s tactics are silent and terribly frightening."
Although she was calm, her voice trembled slightly.
Defeated, they had suffered a disastrous defeat upon first contact.
It was her order to disperse that had led to the disappearance of those twenty thousand, and now there was an even more horrifying possibility—all the information they had gathered before might be false.
The messages they had received before were all deliberate deceptions by the Soul Stealers.
Cunning, they were too cunning.
"Miss Gongyang, what should we do now?" Zeng Yuanxi couldn’t help but come over and ask.
Gongyang Ying’s pearly teeth parted as she spoke in a low voice, "Someone was just putting out the bonfires, which means there must be traces left by the Soul Stealers. We should search for clues first before taking any action, and we must not be careless again."
And so, they began to search for traces...
Traces of the extinguished bonfires and the escape, as well as those of the group of twenty thousand who had suddenly vanished...
They soon found them; although the traces were wiped clean, there were still many clues left behind.
"This direction... No one should scatter, everyone must stay close to the main force."
Gongyang Ying could not afford to repeat her previous mistake, for the Soul Penetration Mountain was the territory of the Soul Stealers, and they had to be careful. Thus, the group followed the direction of the clues.
However, when they reached the endpoint of the traces, everyone was stunned again.
They had actually arrived at a steep cliff, the traces ending at the edge of the cliff, with no visible paths to leave by. Unless they all mounted flying demon beasts, it was impossible to descend from the cliff...
Gongyang Ying’s expression shifted wildly as she shouted, "Everyone be alert, watch your back..."
Everyone’s hair stood on end; the Soul Stealers had deliberately lured them here, obviously planning to attack from behind and force them to a dead end at the edge of the cliff...
Therefore, they immediately turned to face the back, remaining vigilant.
But in the next instant, Gongyang Ying shouted again, "No, the back is definitely safe; we still have forces following us."
Yes, a team of five hundred from the Daoist Martial Team was secretly trailing behind them. If there had been any issues at the back, they would have reported by now.
But there was nothing.
More importantly, Gongyang Ying had hidden a Moon Soul Group behind them. She might not trust the five hundred members of the Daoist Martial Team but had high trust in the Moon Soul Group, meaning the route they had just taken had to be clear of problems.
With this in mind, Gongyang Ying’s expression changed again, "Retreat, immediately pull back from the cliff’s edge."
She felt inexplicably that there was a problem with the cliff. If there was no issue behind them, then they needed to leave immediately.
But... it was too late.
With a loud noise, the cliff suddenly fractured, a huge gap opening beneath their feet.
The Jianghu people screamed in terror, their True Qi bursting forth in an attempt to escape...
But some were too close to the cliff and plummeted down as it broke away, their screams echoing continuously.
And when the cliff finally gave way, they lost tens of thousands more...
They had no idea that below in the forest, a Deputy General of the 66th Army was whispering, "Quick, catch and knock them out one by one; the Boss has ordered them to be captured alive, or we’ll face his wrath!"
In an instant, the plummeting Jianghu people were dumbfounded. The Soul Stealers actually wanted to capture them alive?