Including the lookout, the group of ten moved swiftly through the mountain forest under Butcher's lead.
Rather than taking the main mountain road, Butcher led them over a small hill.
He was likely taking a shortcut.
Li Ban still made sure to scan their surroundings with his right eye.
Some assassins looked tense, while excitement gleamed in the eyes of others.
Li Ban wasn't just watching the people; he was watching the path.
He was still hard at work memorizing the terrain.
Perhaps the spiritual rhinoceros was also gradually enhancing his brain, because Li Ban felt his memory was much sharper than when he had first arrived.
Soon, the group silently made their way down the mountain, coming to a halt at a steep cliff.
The path was tight, choked by waist-high weeds and low-hanging branches on either side. At a glance, it was entirely unsuited for a carriage.
Yet the escort agency had specifically chosen this route. Had they anticipated a robbery and split their forces to avoid being wiped out in one fell swoop?
In the distance, Li Ban spotted several figures approaching.
Most wore wide bamboo hats for shade and carried weapons.
Li Ban did a quick count: thirty-three people in total.
However, probably fewer than fifteen of them possessed an identity.
As they marched, they constantly glanced left and right, scanning every spot where an enemy or wild beast might lurk.
In the center of their formation, they surrounded a horse-drawn carriage.
A wooden box, three chi square, was bound to the carriage with thick hemp ropes.
The contents of that box had to be the Assassin Hall's target.
From their high vantage point, Li Ban and the others were well hidden.
But the escort guards didn't rely solely on their eyes.
Just as the carriage wheels crushed the grass, barely squeezing into the cliff passage, one of the guards suddenly looked up at them.
‘Did he spot us?’
Li Ban immediately gripped his saber hilt, waiting for Butcher's command.
Butcher had keen eyes as well and instantly realized the man hadn't just glanced up by chance.
He was on high alert.
“Attack!”
Butcher didn't hesitate. Without waiting for the guard to sound the alarm, he issued the order.
The command had barely left his lips when the two assassins hiding beside Li Ban charged down the slope.
Meanwhile, the men positioned further back rose to their feet and fired their bows.
Three arrows were loosed at once, whistling straight toward the three guards at the very front of the convoy.
“Ah!”
Two men were immediately struck and crumpled to the ground, but the man at the very front nimbly dodged.
“Raise shields! Return fire!” the heavily bearded Chief Escort roared.
Instantly, the men surrounding the carriage grabbed several small shields from beneath it, protecting their vitals.
Another group quickly unslung the short bows from their backs. With barely any time to aim, they unleashed a volley at the assassins.
For ordinary men, their reactions and movements were remarkably agile.
But rushing to meet the enemy meant their arrows lacked both power and accuracy.
Not a single assassin was hit.
Li Ban, who had deliberately lagged behind, simply raised his hand and slapped an incoming arrow aside.
With his dynamic vision, watching the sparse rain of arrows was like watching in slow motion.
If he had wanted to charge, he would have already overtaken the two assassins ahead of him and clashed with the enemy by now.
But Li Ban was in no rush to be at the front.
Butcher had told them before setting out: once the fighting started, they were to kill without mercy.
They were a temporarily assembled squad, so there was no need for complex tactics.
Just kill.
However, whoever secured the cargo first would get a larger cut of the reward.
Because of this, many of the assassins were eager to push forward.
Li Ban, on the other hand, was only putting on a show.
The first to charge wouldn't necessarily get the cargo.
And the first to get the cargo wouldn't necessarily survive.
Sure enough, the first assassin to reach the cargo was caught by the Chief Escort, who drove a heavy palm into his shoulder.
With a sharp crack, the assassin's shoulder caved in.
The man was tough; he gritted his teeth and swallowed his scream.
But his advance was halted, forcing him to turn and fight the Chief Escort.
At that moment, Li Ban also met his first opponent.
The low-level grunts had mostly perished in the initial volley; almost everyone left standing was a Spirit Practitioner.
Seeing Li Ban hanging back, one of the guards assumed he was a soft target and charged at him with a raised saber.
Among martial artists, the saber was the most common weapon.
The blade in Li Ban's hand and the one his opponent wielded were identical—they could have been bought from the exact same blacksmith.
And now, their masters raised those weapons against each other.
A flash of cold light swept out. Li Ban had already completed a horizontal slash and sheathed his blade.
By the time his enemy's swing fell, it struck nothing but empty air.
A deep gash had already opened across the man's throat.
The enemy had no chance to resist. Having read his movements completely, Li Ban killed him in a single strike.
Nourished by the spiritual rhinoceros, Li Ban's body was gradually catching up to his eyesight.
The instant his opponent moved, Li Ban saw his subsequent sequence of attacks and the glaring opening in his offensive stance.
Li Ban effortlessly dispatching a guard immediately drew the attention of the others.
The men who had been rushing toward Li Ban quickly backed off, pivoting to join other fights instead.
They realized Li Ban clearly wasn't a 1st Tier Spirit Cultivator and knew they had to let a Spirit Practitioner of equal level handle him.
Having just finished off his own assassin, the Chief Escort immediately locked eyes with Li Ban.
Li Ban noticed his gaze right away and tightened his grip on his saber hilt.
With so many eyes on him, he couldn't afford to reveal his other elements; he could only rely on his formidable spiritual rhinoceros and the martial arts he had recently practiced so intensely.
And the Chief Escort appeared to be a 3rd Tier Spirit Cultivator.
He had to strike first!
Just as Li Ban was about to charge, someone surged past him from behind. It was Butcher.
“Go get the box! I'll deal with the Chief Escort!”
Although Butcher only held an Iron Token, his public identity was also 3rd Tier.
With Butcher volunteering to take on the Chief Escort, Li Ban was more than happy to let him.
Both sides had suffered casualties by now. Two assassins were dead, and another, seemingly paralyzed by fear, had actually run away.
Of the remaining seven, two were injured from being ganged up on.
But Butcher had no intention of letting Li Ban help the others; he only wanted him to grab the box and leave as quickly as possible.
Their mission, after all, was to steal the Cyan Silk Algae main stem.
Li Ban immediately dashed toward the carriage.
But just as he closed in, the two men guarding the carriage suddenly erupted with power.
They exuded an overwhelming aura entirely different from before—they were actually 2nd Tier Spirit Cultivators as well!
Fortunately, Li Ban had kept his guard up. Seeing them burst into action—one thrusting a palm, the other launching a kick—he instantly pinpointed the gap in their combined assault and narrowly dodged backward.
But he only took a single step back, angling himself toward the guard on his left.
He didn't know any special footwork techniques; he could only judge the distance with his eyes and forcefully reposition his body.
After just a few exchanges, the situation was already perilous.
The enemy's palms were an alarming, sickening green—clearly laced with poison. Li Ban had to focus the vast majority of his attention on him.
As for the other guard, who excelled in kicking techniques, Li Ban could only do his best to evade him for now.
If worst came to worst, he would shift the Iron Fish Scale onto his body and eat a kick head-on.
Just as Li Ban was tangled up with the two 2nd Tier guards, one of the assassins who had been surrounded by the outriders suddenly broke through.
Taking advantage of Li Ban drawing the attention of the two powerful guards, he rushed forward and slashed the hemp ropes binding the box.
The box was massive, easily large enough for two people to crouch inside.
The assassin vaulted onto the carriage and tried to lift the box, only to find it astonishingly heavy.
Even using almost all of his strength, the box refused to budge.
One of the guards attacking Li Ban had already turned back to secure the cargo.
Li Ban, however, instantly switched from defense to offense. He blocked the poisoned palm of the guard in front of him with his saber, then kicked an arrow lying on the ground.
The arrow's accuracy was average, but it carried tremendous momentum. It tore through the air, hurtling toward the back of the retreating guard.
The guard had no choice but to dodge.
Seizing the brief window, the assassin—who had originally intended to carry the entire box away—was forced to smash the lock off, throw open the lid, and prepare to snatch whatever was inside.
However, the instant the box was opened a crack, an iron arrow shot out from within—piercing straight through the assassin's skull.