The wind howling through the jagged peaks of the Viper’s Throat Pass carried a biting, freezing chill.

High above the canyon floor, hidden within the deep fissures of the jagged obsidian cliffs, a lethal array of silent figures stood frozen like statues.

Three hundred elite martial enforcers from the Golden Cauldron Union, completely stripped of their official gold-trimmed uniforms, crouched in the shadows.

They wore rugged, blood-stained leather hides and heavy iron face-masks, the classic attire of the ruthless Black Mountain bandit guilds.

Hidden directly among them were three elder enforcers, their late-stage Golden Core auras tightly restrained beneath advanced, breath-concealing spiritual talismans.

At the very front of the ridge, wrapped in a thick, wind-resistant fur mantle that did little to hide the fierce determination burning in her eyes, stood Bai Ruolan.

Her delicate face was pale from the biting mountain air, but her posture was unyielding.

Down below, the narrow canyon floor twisted like a coiled serpent, a natural bottleneck where a massive transport convoy would have no room to maneuver, turn around, or deploy a wide defensive formation.

"Miss Ruolan," the lead Golden Core elder whispered, his voice dropping to a low rumble that barely carried over the howling wind.

"Our sensory arrays just picked up heavy vibrations five miles down the path. The Tang Clan convoy is entering the gorge. Thirty armored spirit-carriages, drawn by low-grade stallions. The spiritual pressure radiating from the lead carriage indicates at least two Golden Core escorts."

Ruolan’s small hands clenched tightly around the hilt of a pristine, high-grade ice-attributed sword.

Her heart was pounding rapidly against her chest, a thrilling, terrifying rush of adrenaline flooding her veins.

This was her first time commanding an extrajudicial assassination strike, but she forced her voice to remain completely steady, channeling the chilling finality she had seen her Senior Brother Mo display so effortlessly.

"Let the vanguard carriages pass the initial threshold," Ruolan commanded sharply, her voice cutting through the wind like a razor blade.

"Wait until the entire thirty-carriage line is tightly packed into the narrowest bottleneck of the gorge. The moment the lead carriage reaches the shattered boulder marker, activate the Grounded-Earth Array to crush their formations and seal their path. Kill the guards, torch the raw materials, and leave absolutely nothing but ash for the Cao Clan."

"Understood," the elder sneered, a sinister, murderous grin distorting his scarred face.

He raised his hand, signaling the hidden archers who held heavy spiritual crossbows laced with volatile, explosive inscriptions.

Minutes bled by like hours. The tension in the air grew so thick it felt as though the mountain itself was suffocating.

Then, the dull, rhythmic thud of heavy hooves began to echo from the mouth of the canyon. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Through the thick, swirling mountain fog, the massive shape of the Tang Clan transport convoy slowly materialized.

The carriages were colossal, reinforced with dark, heavy iron plates and draped in massive crimson banners bearing the sharp wave-crest of the Tang Clan from Thousand Waves City.

The stallions snorted mists of heat into the freezing air, their heavy hooves crushing the stones beneath them.

From her high vantage point, Ruolan’s eyes locked onto the sheer size of the cargo.

The spiritual arrays woven into the carriage frames were practically humming, leaking a dense, unmistakable aura of premium, unrefined Earth-Purging Moss and Crimson Core Grass.

They really brought an entire province’s worth of emergency stock, Ruolan thought, her jaw clenching tightly beneath her fur collar.

If these herbs reach the city, the union’s foundational market share will be torn to shreds.

Senior Brother Mo, watch me.

I will tear their lifeline apart before your return.

The lead carriage rolled past the first ridge. Then the tenth. Then the twentieth.

The entire thirty-carriage convoy was now fully packed into the jagged throat of the canyon, moving forward in a slow, unsuspecting line.

The lead driver, completely unaware of the three hundred pairs of bloodthirsty eyes locking onto his skull from above, pulled the reins as the carriage approached the massive, shattered boulder.

Ruolan’s blue eyes flashed with a lethal, absolute finality. She violently raised her sword, pointing it downward into the abyss.

"Strike!" she screamed.

BOOM!

In an instant, the entire canyon walls erupted. Brilliant, earth-brown spiritual runes flared to life across the obsidian cliffs as the Grounded-Earth Array was forcefully triggered.

Thousands of tons of jagged boulders and massive rocks, accelerated by gravity inscriptions, rained down like a cataclysmic meteor shower.

The massive boulders smashed directly into the front and rear carriages, instantly crushing the lead drivers and trapping the entire convoy in a chaotic, inescapable tomb of dust and screaming beasts.

"Kill!" the lead Golden Core elder roared, throwing off his breath-concealing talisman.

The three hundred elite union enforcers leaped down from the high ridges like a pack of ravenous wolves, their broadswords flashing with violent, destructive true Qi.

The two escort leaders riding in the central carriages burst through the wooden roofs, their faces twisted in pure shock.

Sensing the immense pressure, they tried to unleash a mock pressure to deter the attackers.

But the moment the union’s genuine Golden Core elders crashed down upon them, the facade shattered instantly.

"Wait! We aren’t actually—" one of the escorts shrieked, his voice cracking in sheer terror as his artificially inflated aura completely collapsed under a real Golden Core’s presence.

They were nothing more than low-stage Foundation Establishment guards disguised with high-grade illusion talismans to look like masters!

"Fake tigers!" the lead union elder sneered, a sinister, murderous grin distorting his iron mask.

Before the terrified guards could even raise their weapons to surrender, the elder’s heavy broadsword swept through the air.

Ccchhh!

The clash was over before it even began.

The union enforcers systematically moved down the line of the convoy, their heavy broadswords slicing through the panicked, weak defenders with chilling, mechanical efficiency.

Slash! Crunch!

Blood sprayed across the pristine crimson banners of the foreign clan, staining the dust-covered road.

Within a matter of mere minutes, the desperate shouts of the defenders completely died out, replaced only by the heavy, ragged breathing of the disguised union enforcers and the crackling of spreading spiritual fires.

The entire escort had been massacred with absolute, effortless ease, proving to be nothing more than a paper tiger.’

Bai Ruolan slowly stepped down the rocky path, her fur mantle fluttering in the wind as she walked onto the blood-slicked canyon floor.

She held her unsheathed ice sword at her side, her eyes sweeping over the carnage.

There wasn’t a single survivor left standing.

But just then...

-x-

A/N:

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