Iron Cloud Ridge

"Don’t worry!"

Liu San said darkly, "There are people of mine in their caravan. Li Yuan would never dream that I know every move he makes!"

"Chief, someone’s coming!"

At that moment, a lackey came running over. The several people who had been arguing all turned to look.

The Silver-Haired Elder, who had spoken up as a mediator earlier, asked, "How many are coming? Is it the Li Family’s caravan?"

"A fairly large caravan—around twenty carriages. Leading the way are a black leopard and several wolves."

The lackey responded, "The wheel tracks of those carriages are very deep. They’re all being pulled by snow-stepping horses, so the cargo must be very heavy."

"It’s them!"

Liu Sanlong looked excited. "That fellow somehow recruited a beast tamer. He must have gone mad—he actually didn’t hire an escort agency."

"A leopard! Wolves!"

The Silver-Haired Elder furrowed his brows. He always felt that things weren’t so simple.

"A leopard and wolves? Who knows how many of those things I can kill in a day!"

Lai Wu stepped forward. "Since Elder Silver isn’t willing to take charge, then my Lai Family Stronghold will take the lead. Brothers, let’s go!" With that, he ignored everyone else’s gazes and led his men away.

"Let’s go!"

The bald Huang Sa was the second to respond. He also left with over a hundred men.

As if it had triggered a chain reaction, one bandit chief after another led his men away. Seeing this, Liu Sanlong followed them as well. This time, to ensure nothing went wrong, he had spread the news far and wide, and the number of bandit leaders who came was greater than expected.

Liu Sanlong didn’t care, though. He would be the one handling the stolen goods in the end, so he couldn’t possibly lose out.

"Boss!"

The Silver-Haired Elder’s men could no longer sit still, and they stood up one after another.

"Let’s go~"

Although he constantly felt uneasy, the Silver-Haired Elder ultimately still failed to make the right decision. When he saw his men itching to move, he suppressed the unease in his heart and followed with a group of men.

Three li outside Iron Cloud Ridge, a caravan of twenty large wagons and nearly a hundred people moved slowly along the official road.

"Master!"

A tense call rang out.

"Hm?"

Li Yuan was currently riding a fine horse beside Gu Sheng. The Black Wind Leopard’s intimidating presence was too powerful. If Gu Sheng hadn’t made Black Wind restrain most of its aura, the caravan’s horses might all have collapsed with trembling legs.

"Old Wang! What is it?"

Li Yuan asked. Old Wang was an old servant of Li Manor. When Li Yuan left this time, he had refused to remain at the old residence and had volunteered to come along.

Old Wang said hurriedly, "Master, I’ve obtained some information. Liu Sanlong has brought nearly three thousand bandits to ambush us at Iron Cloud Ridge ahead. We should change our route! If we take the mountain road now, we’ll still have enough time."

"Three thousand people~"

Li Yuan was startled as well. He glanced at the lightly defended caravan and, for the first time, began to doubt Gu Sheng’s proposal.

Li Yuan cautiously said, "Brother Teng, why don’t we take another route?"

"No need to worry."

Gu Sheng still looked completely unconcerned. He truly didn’t care much. He had the two Demon Beasts Jade Azure Serpent and Black Wind Leopard. Even an army commanded by a Heavenly Rankings expert could be fought, let alone a mere three thousand people.

To put it bluntly, with his own terrifying physique and limitless stamina granted by Internal Fist, Gu Sheng could single-handedly bring down an army. Never mind three thousand people—even five thousand wouldn’t be enough if he had sufficient time.

"What we need to pay attention to now is how you obtained this information."

Gu Sheng’s gaze narrowed, focusing entirely on Old Wang. "If I remember correctly, you never left the caravan. The ambush may only have been a guess on our part, so how could you know so much? This isn’t simple. You’re hiding a secret!"

"Old Wang!"

Li Yuan’s gaze toward Old Wang changed, gaining a trace of scrutiny. Few people knew today’s route. To hurry, he had even used fine horses worth ten thousand taels for the carriages, making the caravan almost as fast as a group traveling entirely on horseback.

Li Yuan had made so many arrangements precisely for the sake of safety. At their speed, even if Liu Sanlong had received the news the moment he left the city, they shouldn’t have had enough time to gather a large force and set up an ambush ahead of them.

Yet now, all of this had happened. It could only mean that someone within their group who knew the exact details had betrayed them.

"Master, I—I didn’t…"

Old Wang panicked, and his faltering words made the problem even more obvious.

"Then tell me! Why did you betray us?"

A flash of white light passed. Gu Sheng’s blade was already pressed against Old Wang’s neck, and the sudden change in the caravan caused a commotion.

"What did Old Wang just say?"

The caravan continued onward. After seeing Gu Sheng release Old Wang, Li Yuan hesitated for a moment before asking the question weighing on his mind.

Gu Sheng was considering the information he had just obtained and answered without pausing, "Wang Liufang said he was being coerced. His family is in the Liu Family’s hands.

"Besides, he can be considered half a member of the Liu Family. His mother was the daughter of a branch of the Liu Family. He had kept this hidden all along."

"A member of the Liu Family!"

Li Yuan fell silent and said nothing more. The atmosphere also sank into gloom.

Iron Cloud Ridge was a steep slope of considerable height that stretched for several li. A section at its foot ran close to the official road. Its high ground made it easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it had always been a major stronghold for bandits waylaying travelers. The Li Family’s caravan had only just fully entered the area.

"Whoosh!"

A sharp sound suddenly exploded as a signal arrow shot into the sky.

"Hahaha, you’ve really kept us waiting!"

Loud laughter rang out from afar like rolling thunder across the sky. Figures appeared all over Iron Cloud Ridge, revealing a huge mass of men and horses. The sight was intimidating.

As the old saying went: when there were over a hundred people, they filled the roads and needed carriages or canes; when there were over a thousand, they blocked out the clouds and sky; when there were over ten thousand, they stretched endlessly; when there were over a hundred thousand, heads would be smashed and guts torn out.

Although the bandits gathered on Iron Cloud Ridge had yet to reach ten thousand, there were definitely more than a thousand of them. The dark mass was truly shocking, and their shouts made the ground seem to tremble.

"Liu Sanlong, since you’re here, why are you still hiding? Do you enjoy acting like a coward hiding in his shell?"

Li Yuan rode to the front, swung his whip horizontally toward the bandits on Iron Cloud Ridge, and cursed loudly, trying to draw the hidden Liu Sanlong out.

"Hahaha~"

"Oh-ho!"

The bandits opposite him paid no attention to this scene. Instead, they laughed even more loudly. They all felt that this was nothing more than a dying struggle, and that they had already secured this piece of fat.

"Ha ha ha~~~"

Amid a burst of sinister laughter, a figure shoved his way out of the crowd. Liu Sanlong looked down from above with a cold sneer. "Li Yuan, Li Yuan, tell me, wouldn’t it be better to stay alive?

"Why did you have to oppose me? Why didn’t you obediently hand over the liquor formula, taverns, and distilleries to me? Why did you have to involve that fellow surnamed Tie? Did you think I wouldn’t dare touch you just because you brought him along? Let me tell you: not only will I touch you, I’ll wipe out your entire family. As for your wife and daughters, after you die, I’ll take good care of them."