I asked you to go hunting, and you ended up wearing a yellow robe?

Qi Shan ignored him.

He untied a bundle of thick hemp rope from behind him and tied one end securely around his waist.

He tossed the other end to the five soldiers behind him.

"Tie it around your waist, five people in a group, help each other out, I'll go first."

Before he finished speaking, he had already stepped onto the plank road leading to hell.

Without the slightest hesitation.

His steps were very steady.

Each step felt like it had been measured with a ruler, precisely landing on the most solid part of the stone path.

The mountain wind made his robes flutter loudly.

His figure was like a nail, firmly fixed to the cliff face.

Behind him, two hundred soldiers stared intently at that figure.

The fear remains.

But a more intense emotion rose from their chests.

Commander, Qi Shan, the one who killed Yelü's number one warrior, is walking at the very front.

To pave the way for them.

What else is there to be afraid of?

"Tie the rope!"

A man with a face full of scars growled and was the first to wrap the rope around his waist.

"Damn it. If Lord Qi isn't afraid, why should we be?"

"So what if I die? I'll be a hero again in eighteen years. If I back down today, I'll never be able to hold my head up high again."

The soldiers overcame their initial fear.

Groups of five, bound by their shared fate, embarked one by one on the "Devil's Bane".

The wind is getting stronger.

Yan Zhi went to the battlefield for the first time.

My palms were sweating from nervousness.

He stared intently at the heels of the person in front of him, not daring to make a single misstep.

Suddenly, my foot slipped.

A piece of rock broke off, carrying half of his body as he plummeted into the abyss.

"ah--!"

The brief scream was torn apart by the gale.

The four comrades tied to him changed their expressions drastically and gripped the cliff face with all their might.

The rope was taut and made a sickening creaking sound.

Yan Zhi's body was suspended in mid-air.

The inertia of the fall is enormous.

The other four were also teetering on the brink of collapse.

At this critical moment, a dark figure moved against the flow of people and flashed to the front in a few steps.

It is Qishan.

He had already returned at some point.

He grabbed a protrusion on the cliff face with one hand, and reached out with the other to grab the rope that was about to snap.

"laugh--"

The hemp rope rubbed intensely against his palm.

His arm muscles bulged instantly, and his veins stood out.

With one arm, he managed to stop the fall.

He suddenly pulled his arm up with force.

"Come on up!"

A low shout.

Yan Zhi was pulled back from the edge of the abyss by a tremendous force and slammed heavily onto the stone path.

Qi Shan loosened his grip.

He glanced at his palm, which was bloodied and mangled from being strangled by the hemp rope.

Expressionless.

Yan Zhi, who had been rescued, was trembling all over. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed several times to Qi Shan.

"Thank you... thank you for saving my life, sir."

Qi Shan looked down at him from his high vantage point.

His eyes were expressionless.

"Keep this life, and kill a few more Yelü people."

He turned and continued forward.

Blood dripped from between his fingers and onto the gray stone path.

No one speaks.

The entire "Ghost's Sorrow" was now only filled with the sound of the wind.

And heavy breathing.

The fear had vanished from the soldiers' eyes.

Instead, something almost fiery hot appeared.

Yan Zhi got up from the ground.

He wiped his face hard with his sleeve.

After retying the rope, his steps no longer trembled.

The procession continued forward.

I don't know how much time has passed.

As Qi Shan's feet touched solid ground, the sky was already beginning to lighten with the first hint of dawn.

Two hundred soldiers, not one missing, all passed.

They were exhausted.

Yet, he was more excited than ever before.

They looked at Qishan as if he were a god walking among men.

As Qi Shan faced the dawn, he glanced back at the bottomless abyss behind him, then looked towards the distant camp of Yelü's army.

There, wisps of smoke could be faintly seen rising from chimneys.

"Sir, over there..." Meng Da lowered his voice and pointed to the distant mountain valley.

A wisp of smoke, like a gray thread, rose gently from among the trees.

Qi Shan's pupils contracted, and he made a shushing gesture.

Everyone immediately held their breath and hid behind bushes and rocks.

A simple outpost gradually came into view.

The outpost was built on a protruding rocky plateau, next to which stood a beacon tower about half a person's height, with piles of dry firewood stacked like mountains.

Ten Yelü soldiers were roasting meat around a fire, their weapons casually leaning against them, looking relaxed and obviously not considering this dangerous place a place that needed to be guarded.

Meng Da leaned closer, and his expression changed the moment he saw the beacon tower.

"Sir, what if they set this on fire..."

The plan fell through completely.

Two hundred men would be instantly exposed to the sight of three thousand barbarian cavalry, with no way to escape.

"What's the panic?"

Qi Shan put away his binoculars, his tone as indifferent as if he were talking about a trivial matter.

He glanced around, his gaze lingering on three dark-skinned, muscular soldiers.

All three were hunters from the mountains, and their footwork was exceptionally skillful.

"Meng Da, you, and the other three, come with me." Qi Shan pointed at the three men. "The rest of you, stay put. No one is allowed to move without my order."

The four people who were called on perked up and immediately stood up.

Qi Shan didn't say anything more, but simply drew the sword from his waist. The blade didn't reflect any light in the morning light, as if it could absorb the light itself.

He moved like a cheetah poised to pounce, silently gliding into the forest.

Meng Da and his three companions followed closely behind, imitating him by lowering their bodies to the lowest point, their footsteps making no sound at all on the fallen leaves.

The sentry post was less than fifty paces away.

The air was filled with the aroma of roasted meat and the laughter and curses of the Yelü people in their non-Chinese language.

Qi Shan stopped and made a few hand gestures to the four people.

Two people per group, flanking from both sides, first taking out the two patrolling guards on the outer perimeter.

He himself was in charge of the eight people around the fire.

Meng Da's heart skipped a beat.

One person against eight?

He wanted to offer a reminder, but instead saw Qi Shan's calm, unwavering eyes.

There was no hint of bravado in it, only absolute calmness and confidence.

Meng Da swallowed his words, nodded emphatically, and led a hunter toward the left flank.

The other two hunters darted to the right flank.

The wind howls and cranes cry; even the grass and trees seem like soldiers.

On the right flank, a Yelü sentry yawned and turned around, when a large hand covered his mouth and nose tightly from behind.

Before he could even struggle, a short blade pierced his neck with pinpoint accuracy, shattering his throat bones.

Almost at the same time, Meng Da, from the left wing, also achieved his objective.

After two barely audible muffled thuds, the surrounding area was cleared.

The remaining eight Yelü soldiers were completely unaware of what was happening beside the fire.

One woman was boasting about last night, while the other was chugging wine from a wine jug.

Just then, a dark figure burst forth from the shadows behind them like a ghost!

Qishan moved.

Instead of taking them down one by one, he chose the fastest and most direct method.

The Yelü soldier closest to him had his back to him. Qi Shan took a step forward, grabbed the man's neck with lightning speed with his left hand, and twisted him backward.

"Snap!"