21 Ambush at Dawn

As the first light broke on a cold, snowy morning in the hills and valleys of the untamed wilderness of Mount Longhua Shan, the landscape took on a desolate and lifeless feel. Yet amidst these vast expanses of untouched nature, three points shone like strong beacons of human civilization: the He An, Feng Zhi, and Xiong Mao clans.

The sun's rays cast a golden glow upon the snow-covered peaks, illuminating the rugged terrain below. Trees stood tall and bare, their branches weighed down by the weight of the freshly fallen snow. In the distance, a herd of deer could be seen, their breath forming clouds in the crisp morning air as they grazed on patches of grass peeking through the white blanket.

In the Feng Zhi clan, within a modest home for the level of a Gu master but far better than what an ordinary mortal could have even after a lifetime of hard work, a young Gu master of merely 18 years old went about his morning routine sleepily. His name was Feng Zhi Ji Ce.

He had to prepare for a patrol mission on the front lines of the war that his team had recently accepted.

This mission was quite dangerous for him, despite having two years of practical experience as a Gu master. He was still only a Rank 1 upper stage, and a C grade with 40% primeval essence.

Of course, this wasn't his first mission on the front lines of the war, and he prayed it wouldn't be his last. But he knew from his various experiences in the war that death came swiftly and suddenly, without warning anyone of its arrival.

"After this mission, I should have enough money to buy the Wind Step Gu." Talking to himself was a habit he had since childhood, which only grew stronger after he left his parents' home.

He came from a normal Gu master family, with his father being a Rank 2 initial stage Gu master and his mother a Rank 1 middle stage Gu master. So, he had a relatively wealthy upbringing due to his father's status. But since his father died in the war three years ago, his life had become much more difficult.

His mother remarried and was living with her new husband, trying to start a new life with him. Since Ji Ce didn't get along with his stepfather, once he reached adulthood, he took his inheritance from his father and moved out to live on his own.

Ji Ce left his house, heading towards the designated meeting place determined by the leader of his team. "Good morning,miss Xing. Is Brother Ge feeling better?" He encountered on the way the grandmother of one of his friends who was heading towards the food market.

"Good morning, little Ce. And you know how he is, a lazy scoundrel. I even suspect this illness is just an excuse for him to lie in bed all day doing nothing!" Ji Ce chuckled awkwardly and nodded. He clearly knew his friend was just hungover from how much he drank yesterday, but he wasn't going to reveal that to his friend's grandmother.

"Ji Ce, you're early today!! Anything special happened?!" A 21-year-old girl who also belonged to Ji Ce's team asked with a curious look.

"Oh, nothing much, Lin Xi... I just wanted to arrive early today..." He had a great love for her and regularly thought about how to ask her out, but his fear of rejection always prevented him from taking any action.

"Really? Are you hiding something from me? You always arrive late, but today you're acting responsible!" She teased him, knowing he had a hidden motive for arriving early, which was to spend some time alone with her while they waited for their teammates to arrive.

"Hmm, I guess I want to be a more responsible person from now on. Does that count?" He thought of any excuse to answer her question before starting to converse casually with Lin Xi while they waited for everyone to arrive.

Gradually, their teammates arrived, making them eight in total. "Okay, okay, now that everyone has memorized the action plan for this mission, we can leave," the team leader Yu Zhong declared before they set out from the clan for their patrol mission.

Ji Ce partially knew the information about the mission since Yu Zhong, the team leader, was a close friend of his father and was the person who helped him the most after his father died.

The reason the rest of the group, aside from the leader, only learned the exact mission details now was to prevent leaks due to spies infiltrating the clan or the carelessness of the Gu masters, which could lead to mission information leakage.

But before they could leave, another group of Gu masters from the Feng Zhi clan came to talk to them, which was normal. However, after seeing the identity of the Gu masters who came to speak with them, Ji Ce couldn't hide the shock from his face.

'Piercer of the heavens!!' Ji Ce thought to himself as he glanced at one of the most famous Rank 2 Gu masters of the clan, who led one of the three strongest Gu master teams in the current Feng Zhi clan.

'So, are they going to patrol the area near ours?! That's truly spectacular' he overheard the conversation between the Piercer of the Heavens and the leader of his team, who was acting in the most polite manner Ji Ce had ever seen in his life, which was not surprising, knowing that he was speaking to the publicly recognized strongest Rank 2 of the clan!

But shortly after the two team leaders finished their brief conversation, which was more of an exchange of information, they left to carry out their patrols, moving out of each other's sight.

-----

"There's a small-scale group of wolves northwest at 100 meters from us, and a large-scale group of deer 70 meters to the east," the team's investigating Gu master provided constant information so they could patrol without unnecessarily running into a group of beasts.

"Let's continue on the planned route for another 50 meters, then we'll- Ahrg!!" But before Yu Zhong could finish his words, he was suddenly attacked as his team fell into an ambush set up by the He An clan.

Before Yu Zhong could do or say anything, the person who attacked him made three consecutive cuts that instantly destroyed the crystal armor around him with just one cut, causing the other two to fall directly onto Yu Zhong's body.

With two clean cuts from a sword made of blood, Ji Ce saw a Rank 2 initial stage Gu master he admired and was deeply grateful for being easily cut into four parts as if he were butter.

"Mortal Killer Move-Bloody Sword Killer Cut!" It was the only thing Ji Ce heard before the person, who was moving too fast for his eyes to track, appeared in front of the vice leader of the team and cut him in half with just one attack, thus killing a Rank 1 Peak stage Gu master as if he were nothing.

But Ji Ce didn't have time to mourn the death of his teammates because he quickly saw a man with a face like that of a bat advancing towards him with a fierce, murderous intent.

Ji Ce didn't think twice before retreating with all the strength he had in his body without even looking back or thinking twice about his teammates who were also under attack by the Gu masters who ambushed them.

"Ahrg, someone help!!" Lin Xi cried out in despair as she was restrained by vines tightly wrapped around her body, preventingher from moving.

Ji Ce didn't look back, although he knew the reason for the desperate cry from the girl he loved because female Gu masters who were captured alive often had a fate far worse than death... 'I'm sorry, I swear I'll avenge you one day!!' He shouted in his mind as tears fell from his eyes, but even so, he didn't go back to save her, in the end his own life was more important.

When he finally saw the light of hope to escape with his life, he heard a loud roar as a tall, strong man advanced towards him with the fury of a tiger!

But just as this man was about to crush his head with a punch, he felt a strong gust of wind coming towards him as a spear of air flew towards the man who was about to kill him.

The man was thrown back by the surprise attack that saved Ji Ce's life. "You Gu masters of the He An clan really have lost your sense of danger attacking my Feng Zhi clan members under my watch!" The one who uttered these words was none other than the legendary Piercer of the Heavens!!!