The shadows of the bushes still clung with the night dew as Ye Fan walked at the very front, his boot soles crushing a patch of damp green moss. He could clearly hear the breathing of the others behind him—Su Qingxue's breathing carried a faint hint of agarwood, Lin Zhaoyue's was as crisp as a newly quenched sword blade, Chǔ Hóngzhuāng's held the light rustle of a Gu Insect's beating wings, and Qín Wǎnshuāng's was the heaviest, measuring the distance of every step.
"The secret guards are already lying in ambush three miles to the southeast, and flint has been buried by the brook to the northwest," Qín Wǎnshuāng said suddenly, her fingertips still resting on the jade plaque at her waist. Moonlight filtered through the leaves, falling across her brow and casting a pale glow over her unhealed sword scar. "If we are ambushed, the signal can be ignited within three breaths." As she turned, the black cloak belted around her waist brushed against Chǔ Hóngzhuāng's silver bells, ringing out with a clear *ding* and startling several Gu Insects into buzzing blindly against Lin Zhaoyue's scabbard.
Lin Zhaoyue's sword immediately gave a light hum. She reached out to press the hilt, her gaze sweeping across the cliff wall to her left—it was choked with dark green wild kudzu, and half a Blue Stone Slab was faintly visible among the vines. "Wait," she stopped abruptly, the tip of her sword flicking up a fallen leaf tangled in the vines.
Chapter 358