Qingshan County, Langyaling, high mountains and dense forests, each mountain stands like a cone of different sizes, which is quite unique.

In the depths of the mountains and forests, Secret and his troops arrived at the South State Fourth Grade Brave Cavalry Guerrilla General Xiang Wuren to understand the situation in the mountains with Yan Duo.

Standing on the shaded mountain slope, looking at the people and horses lying or sitting under the trees around, all of them changed out of the court's formal military uniforms and put on colorful clothes. If it were not for the weapons around them, they could not tell it was a team. They held miscellaneous cakes in their arms and dared not light a fire.

"The Langya bandit group, which used to be in Langyaling, was wiped out by my troops yesterday, and now our target has arrived. We will raise the flag of the Langya bandits and pretend to be mountain bandits attacking," Xiang Wuren explained to his subordinates in casual clothes.

Yan Duo sneered, "With tens of thousands of troops and thousands of cavalry, you dare to attack a regular army. Even if I don't understand military affairs, I know that someone is pretending."

Xiang Wuren shook his head. "This is not important. As long as we take action, the other party should be able to guess. It's just an excuse. If it doesn't work, I will admit that we have long colluded with the mountain bandits. The people below will follow orders and don't know the real situation." He also reached out and invited him to see something on the other side.

Over a mountain slope, below it is the official road opened up in the rugged mountains. Xiang Wuren pointed and said, "This is a necessary place to enter Canglu County. As soon as the target arrives, we will immediately flank and besiege them, entangle them, and leave the matter of taking the target's head in the chaos to you mages."

Yan Duo observed the terrain and nodded slightly.

The two went down the mountain slope, crossed the official road, and went up the opposite mountain slope. After deep into the forest for a while, they came to the other side where the hidden people and horses were.

Yan Duo waved his hand and asked Xiang Wuren to do his own thing, and he went to a mountain foot. Here, dozens of mages stood or sat, none of them looked good. Some of them even held tokens that threatened them. Yan Duo sighed lightly.

After waiting in the mountain for almost half a day, the ambush troops became restless and stood up one after another.

Yan Duo and others sitting at the foot of the mountain were also alarmed. Yan Duo flashed and floated to Xiang Wuren's side. Before he could ask, Xiang Wuren had already nodded and said, "The scout reported the news. The target should have arrived. Mages, please be ready."

Yan Duo immediately turned around and called a group of mages to prepare...

The wilderness is desolate, the farmland is barren, and there are bones on the road. A group of several thousand people are walking slowly. The four thousand infantry allocated by Feng Ruojie to her sister have already arrived in place.

Sitting on the horse, Niu You Dao looked around from time to time. Since entering Qingshan County, what he has seen and heard is obviously worse than Guangyi County. The scene of people's livelihood is full of misery. Occasionally, he can see smelly corpses lying on the road, but no one cares. The white bones that have been gnawed clean by something are not something rare.

From this, it can be seen that the ability of the county magistrate here is far worse than that of Feng Lingbo. It is also no wonder that the people on Feng Lingbo's side are sufficient in manpower and dare to confront the court. For the sake of survival, the people here have to try their best to escape to Guangyi County.

Blue Ruoting, also on horseback, occasionally took out the map to check. He suddenly turned his head and said something to Shang Chaozong. Shang Chaozong looked at the mountain peaks towering at the end of the barren land in front of him, raised his hand and shouted, "Stop!" At the same time, he made a gesture to Feng Ruonan to stop.

Feng Ruonan stopped the people and horses. When Shang Chaozong and Blue Ruoting approached, she said calmly, "What's the matter?"

Blue Ruoting pointed to the mountains at the end of the front, "Princess, that's Langyaling. The terrain is dangerous and it is the only way to enter Canglu County. If someone wants to harm us, this is the best place to start!"

Feng Ruonan looked around and said indifferently, "Except for the court, who else can ambush thousands of troops here? Do you think the court dares to do that? The scout did not find any clues. What do you want to do?"

Blue Ruoting smiled, "Princess, be careful." He looked at Bai Yao beside him, "If we can send a few mages who can come and go freely to investigate and confirm, it would be the best!"

"Hum!" Feng Ruonan sneered. Actually, she didn't think there was anything wrong with being more careful. She just didn't like the people on Shang Chaozong's side pointing fingers at her. She pointed to Niu You Dao, "Don't you have mages around you? Let your mages go and take a look."

Niu You Dao looked back and immediately clenched his fist and pounded his waist. He groaned, "Riding for so long, when can I rest? My waist is about to break!"

Feng Ruonan sneered, "Cowardly rat, despicable villain!"

Since the other party has made this request, Bai Yao also thinks that it is not a bad thing to be more cautious. He turned to the Sky Jade Gang disciples behind him, "A few of you go and take a look."

Immediately, four disciples of the Sky Jade Gang flew out, soaring into the sky, landing about a hundred feet away.

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For Yuan Gang, the distance they covered with a single bounce, two to three hundred meters, was a bit unrealistic, and he looked at them with envy. Niu You Dao had explained to him the technique behind this, which involved releasing air energy in the form of wings to glide on the air currents. Although Yuan Gang couldn't see the energy wings, mages like Niu You Dao could see them, as they were visible as a faint color that existed in a different form of energy, requiring special goggles to see. This was due to something called dark matter, which was also why ordinary people couldn't see ghosts, except those with special abilities like Niu You Dao.

Those who could glide such long distances were likely at the Foundation Building level. Those at the Jindan level could glide even farther, but this was only because their cultivation level was higher, giving them more powerful propulsion. However, when it was time to land, they still needed a surface to land on, as there was no continuous propulsion. Even if they could glide for a long time, they still needed to find another point of leverage for another jump to generate the gliding power.

However, if someone were to jump from a high mountain, they could glide even farther. But there was still a significant difference between Foundation Building and Jindan. Air resistance could not be ignored, and air energy wings had insufficient density and mass. The friction between the air and the wings caused significant energy loss, and the faster the glide, the faster the magical power was consumed. Over time, even mages at the Foundation Building level could not sustain it for long.

In comparison, the Jindan level was more profound and powerful, with magical power that could last longer. At the same time, the density and strength of air energy were also higher than at the Foundation Building level. The friction loss at high speeds was naturally smaller, and the duration and distance of the glide were greater.

Nevertheless, to ordinary people who were not mages, both Foundation Building and Jindan would appear to be flying, making them feel like they were seeing immortal beings.

However, if someone's cultivation level was higher, at the Yuanying level, it would be a different story. Yuanying meant a new birth or rebirth, where the cultivation level had reached a realm where one could transcend the physical body. Air energy could be freely deployed in the space between heaven and earth, and the problems faced by Jindan and Foundation Building mages could be overcome. For example, the issue of friction loss of air energy wings and the problem of propulsion in the air were not problems for Yuanying level mages. Flying at this level could be considered true flight, soaring freely between heaven and earth. To ordinary people, it was like encountering a god.

Niu You Dao's current cultivation level was not as high as those he just saw, so he couldn't glide such a long distance. Still, he could easily bounce and jump dozens of meters. He could even use the surface tension of water to walk on it and amaze ordinary people.

Soon, the mages of the Sky Jade Gang disappeared into the mountains ahead.

While the people here watched them disappear, those hiding in the mountains saw them coming.

"This is not good!" cried Xiang Wuren in despair.

Yan Duo, who was hiding behind a thorn bush, turned to the general beside him and said, "They are trying to probe deeper. With so many people gathered here, we won't be able to hide!"

Xiang Wuren clenched his fists, realizing that their ambush plan might have been ruined. He couldn't help but curse under his breath, "Hasn't the scout already probed back and forth several times? Why send mages to investigate again? They're so cautious!" To avoid being detected by scouts, he had kept his troops hidden deep in the mountains, and even now, he didn't dare to get too close to the road. He was as cautious as he could be.

Seeing the four mages fly over and probe into the mountains, Xiang Wuren still held a glimmer of hope and ordered, "Everyone hide!"

The people around him quickly made the hand gestures for hiding and disappeared into the shadows.

In no time, the scouts had flown over the treetops, searching the area below. They had noticed some birds fly up earlier and, upon closer inspection, had seen traces of grass and bushes being trampled on. With so many people moving around, it was impossible not to leave any traces. They followed these traces and found some hidden personnel.

With a whoosh, the scouts drew their swords and shouted, "Be careful, there's an ambush! Retreat!"

The other three scouts quickly caught on and flew back.

The four mages quickly retreated, while Yan Duo and others slowly emerged from their hiding place. Yan Duo looked back at the general beside him and said, "They've been discovered. It's impossible to ambush them now. We can't catch up with our target either. They are too cautious. You'd better explain to the governor why it failed." He was worried about finding an excuse to explain why they had to abandon the ambush plan.

"How do you know they'll definitely run away? People like Feng Ruonan might not run away. Maybe there's still a chance!" Xiang Wuren gritted his teeth and shouted, "Gather the troops and pursue them!"