Chapter 366: Chapter 367: Just Relying on You

Within the forests and waters between two states, a team was advancing, hugging the ground as they flew towards their destination to avoid detection by the Qin Dynasty’s operatives from the high skies above.

Their target was the Wilderness River in Shunshui State. Upon reaching Wilderness River, everyone planned to proceed stealthily and wait quietly for the Vanguard Army of the Qin Dynasty to pass by before launching a surprise attack.

Naturally, this team was led by the treacherous Elder Eight and included operatives from the three factions, with Lin Qian among their ranks.

For this operation, Fang Ziqian, Li Yunfeng, and Yang Tianhao had not accompanied them; the three elders had other matters to attend to.

As for Lei Qian and Gao Benli, Lin Qian had already sent them with a contingent of the Huaxia Empire’s Imperial Army to launch a sneak attack on three border towns of Shunshui State.

The main forces of the Qin Dynasty were assembled behind the three-tier border. Capturing these three towns would mean dragging the frontline directly into the territory of the Qin Dynasty, striking a significant blow to them.

Elder Eight, leading the way, would occasionally glance back at Lin Qian, who appeared relaxed and was carelessly looking around. A smile crossed Elder Eight’s face before he turned back.

However, as his gaze returned to the path ahead, his expression was cold and dark, “You audacious brat, daring to humiliate me in public, this time I’ll make sure you’ll have nowhere to be buried.”

“If I bring Lin Qian’s head to Emperor Qin, it should count as a great achievement. At the very least, I could be ennobled as a Marquis and govern a state, ha ha ha.”

Thrilled by this thought, Elder Eight walked even more briskly, leading the group towards the planned location.

After entering the territory of Shunshui State, everyone dived directly into Wilderness River, unaffected by the surging currents.

Once Elder Eight and the others reached the wide riverbed of Wilderness River, everyone stuck close to the riverbed and quietly readied to wait for the Vanguard Army of the Qin Dynasty.

“Why do I feel so uneasy?” At that moment, a senior elder from the Carefree Sect with a bulbous nose felt uneasy, sensing that something bad might happen.

As he was thinking this, a violent disturbance of Soul Power suddenly emanated from above, followed by streams of Soul Power attacks piercing the river, heading toward their position.

This unexpected assault took everyone by surprise, and they hurriedly dodged in all directions.

“Rise up!” At that moment, someone infused with Soul Power shielded themselves from the river water and bellowed loudly, the sound reverberating throughout the river.

Hearing this, everyone hesitated no more, they all ignited their Soul Power and burst through the water to the surface.

But as they emerged into the mid-air of Wilderness River, their expressions shifted upon witnessing the scene around them.

Without their knowledge, the area was now surrounded by armored soldiers of the Qin Dynasty. The gilded patterns on the soldiers’ armor clearly revealed their identity.

The Vanguard Army of the Qin Dynasty.

The group, stunned by the sight before them, took a moment to grasp what had happened. Wasn’t the plan that they would ambush the Vanguard Army of the Qin Dynasty?

The situation seemed reversed; it was them who had walked into an ambush.

“How did the information leak!” Seeing the Vanguard Army encircling them, the senior elder’s face darkened as he looked around, puzzled.

The details of this operation had been highly confidential. How did the Qin Dynasty know of their movements and, in turn, set up an ambush?

“There’s a spy!” The thought instantly surfaced in the mind of the Grand Elder, who repeatedly scanned his surroundings, trying to determine who the traitor was that had betrayed them.

The expressions on the faces of people from the other three forces darkened with despair as they took in the situation around them.

The group they had brought with them totaled no more than a hundred thousand, yet the Imperial Vanguard Army of the Qin Dynasty laying in ambush had close to three hundred thousand.

There was no chance of victory for the three forces if they were to face off directly in battle.

“No need to look further, the spy is this Eighth Elder.” Seeing the Grand Elder still wearing a look of doubt as he surveyed everyone, Lin Qian found it somewhat amusing and spoke up directly.

As soon as Lin Qian’s words came out, they caused the Grand Elder and those around him to be utterly astonished, their gazes quickly turning towards him.

Not just them, even the Eighth Elder, who was in fact a spy from the Qin Dynasty, turned towards Lin Qian with an unexpected look on his face.

Knowing his current situation, he feigned a look of panic and did not rush to reveal himself, wondering how Lin Qian had figured it out.

In that moment, when the Eighth Elder saw the almost smiling look on Lin Qian’s face, he suddenly worried, could this man have known his identity all along?

But upon further thought, he found it unlikely.

If Lin Qian had known about his identity all along, why would he follow him here to face certain death?

“Eighth Elder!” At the same time, the Grand Elder looked towards him incredulously, slowly shaking his head, unable to believe what Lin Qian had just said.

However, to his disappointment, the Eighth Elder had already left their group, now standing next to a general of the Vanguard Army.

“Yes, I am indeed a person from the Qin Dynasty. I was sent by Emperor Qin to live in your territory before Li Xiaotian became the Sect Master, then infiltrated the Sect and rose through the ranks step by step.”

“My purpose was to contribute to the dynasty when the time came.”

“Now I have achieved my goal, you can no longer escape. The victory of the first battle and the head of Lin Qian, that will be a great achievement, ha ha ha!”

With these words, the Eighth Elder couldn’t help but burst out laughing, obviously very proud of himself.

Hearing the words of the Eighth Elder, many people felt ashen, realizing that letting a spy from the Qin Dynasty lead a team to ambush the Qin Dynasty’s Vanguard Army was akin to courting death.

The Grand Elder trembled with anger as he stared at the Eighth Elder, who was laughing heartily, desperately wanting to rush forward and tear him apart.

Yet, he still restrained himself; right now, he had to do his utmost to ensure that the others, especially Lin Qian, could get away.

Before leaving, the Third Elder had specifically instructed him to protect Lin Qian at all costs, even risking his own life.

“I already said to leave everything to the Huaxia Empire, you shouldn’t have come to cause trouble, and yet, you wouldn’t listen.” At that moment, Lin Qian’s unexpected voice arose, drawing the angry gazes of people from all three forces.

Now that everyone was facing a desperate situation, Lin Qian’s words seemed particularly audacious.

“Huaxia Empire? Is that the small country from Coastal State? I’ve heard they recently won over five small neighboring states. Such a minor accomplishment and yet you’re so arrogantly confident you can defeat the Qin Dynasty?” The Vanguard Army general standing beside the Eighth Elder sneered, “Even if the Huaxia Empire’s army were to come a million strong, I suspect a mere thousand of us could handle them.”

“Ha ha ha…” After the general finished speaking, the soldiers of the Imperial Vanguard Army behind him all burst into raucous laughter.