Chapter 24 — Ambush in the Mountain Pass
The road practically chose them. They rolled into the mountain pass just after noon the next day. The terrain had been narrowing all morning, but here, the path truly squeezed in, hemmed between sheer rock faces and ancient pines clinging to the slopes like gnarled fingers. Loose gravel crunched under the convoy's wheels. The wind played strange tricks too, sometimes slicing through the pass in sharp gusts, other times vanishing entirely, leaving the air unnervingly still.
Yuzhen didn't like it. And apparently, neither did the elders.
Up front, one of the Core Formation elders raised a hand, and the entire Bia procession slowed as one. Guards shifted positions, tightening the outer escort line. Even the servants hushed their chatter.
Wenxiu rode up closer and muttered, "This place looks like it was built specifically to kill merchants."
Anhe, on Yuzhen's other side, replied, "That's incredibly reassuring to hear."
Lanyue, a bit ahead, didn't turn back when she said, "Then stay alert instead of talking."
For once, nobody argued.
Yuzhen let his eyes scan the rocky ridges. Nothing seemed out of place. No visible movement, no fresh carcasses, no broken trees. And yet, the quiet felt… wrong. Not a peaceful quiet, but a *held* quiet, the kind that settles when all the smaller creatures have already scurried for cover.
A moment later, the lead elder's voice carried back, "Maintain formation. No one leaves their position without orders."
That settled it. Something was definitely off. The junior group tightened around the convoy's middle, shielding the attendants, supply cases, and lighter carriages. Foundation Establishment guards fanned out wider, their spiritual sense probing the surroundings. The Core Formation elders remained at the front and rear, their steady presence a reassuring anchor.
Yuzhen kept one hand near his sword, the other relaxed at his side. Inside him, the pressure of his nearing breakthrough hadn't eased. If anything, the tense atmosphere of the pass seemed to sharpen it. Not unstable, just… closer.
A pebble skittered down from the left ridge. Everyone looked up. Nothing. Then, the first beast struck from the right. It moved so fast it was barely a blur at first – a dark gray shape with too many hooked limbs and a mouth full of needle-sharp teeth. A Level 2 beast. Behind it came another, then three more.
"Inner line hold!" a guard yelled.
The pass erupted into chaos. Level 2 beasts rained down from both slopes, dropping from ledges and bursting from the scrub between rock formations. Some were wolf-like, others leaner and longer, with plated backs and glowing eyes. Their coordinated movements were too deliberate to be random. A pack. No, more than one pack, driven together.
A Bia guard sliced the first beast out of the air before it reached the supply line, but the second slammed into a spirit beast harness, sending a smaller cart sideways. Servants cried out. A young outer disciple nearly lost his footing before Zichen grabbed his sleeve, yanking him back into formation.
"Don't break formation!" Lanyue snapped.
Yuzhen's sword flashed free. The first beast to reach him was fast, low to the ground, and utterly ravenous. He sidestepped rather than retreated, cut across its neck as it passed, and spun in the same motion to kick a second one away from the nearest carriage wheel. Wenxiu was already fighting two at once, his usual aggressive style. Anhe moved with surprising speed, using short bursts of force to keep the beasts at bay rather than trying to overpower them head-on. Runze hesitated for half a beat at the first impact, then forced himself into motion, joining Shuyin on the left flank. The younger group held. Barely.
Then the pressure shifted. A roar from high above the pass crashed down like falling stone. Yuzhen's head snapped up. A massive shape stood silhouetted on the western ridge – scaled shoulders, a horned skull, a spine ridged with dark plates glinting dully. Its eyes burned a deep iron-red. A Level 4 beast. Late Stage. Even before it moved, its presence slammed into the pass, making weaker attendants go pale.
Wenxiu swore. Runze's face drained of color. Even the spirit beasts hitched to the carriages panicked against their restraints. The creature opened its mouth and roared again. That roar carried command. The beasts below answered instantly.
From farther up the pass, three larger shapes burst from cover – Level 3 beasts, each one far more dangerous than the swarming creatures already engaged. One had a bone-plated head and shoulders like a battering ram. Another moved with the sleek speed of a cliff-cat, but twice its normal size. The third dragged a scaled tail that cracked stone with every sweep. The attack had been organized. Perhaps not by human intelligence, but by a powerful beast leader shaping its pack into something resembling it.
"Core elders with me!" the lead elder barked.
The pressure of Core Formation power surged like a wave. One elder shot upwards toward the ridge. Another broke right, intercepting the larger beasts before they could penetrate deeper into the convoy. A third moved to anchor the rear. Simultaneously, the Foundation Establishment guards surged outward. Steel flashed. Spiritual force collided. The entire pass became a layered battlefield in an instant.
The Core Formation elders engaged the Late Stage Level 4 beast. The guards intercepted the Level 3 beasts. And the younger generation was left to deal with everything else. Which meant nothing had become easy.
A Level 2 beast lunged for a servant carrying medicine cases. Yuzhen intercepted first. His blade cut cleanly through one foreleg, then he slammed spiritual force into its ribs hard enough to hurl it sideways into the rock wall. Before it hit the ground, another beast was already coming in low from behind the carriage wheel.
"Right!" he shouted. Anhe reacted instantly, driving a strike downward and pinning the beast long enough for Wenxiu to split its skull.
The battle line shifted. That was the real problem. Not that the Bia convoy lacked strength – it had plenty. The issue was the narrowness of the pass, the layered nature of the attack, and the speed of the lower-ranked beasts, making it impossible to cover every gap simultaneously. Wherever a guard stepped out to support the Level 3 front, a small hole opened elsewhere. Wherever servants stumbled, the line bent. Wherever spirit beasts panicked, chaos widened.
"Hold the middle!" Lanyue shouted again. Shuyin was already there, driving back another beast with short, efficient movements. Zichen pulled a younger cousin behind the carts, then turned and struck the eyes of a lunging beast before it could scale the side rail. Runze took a slash across his sleeve and nearly lost his balance, but this time he recovered immediately, forcing the beast back with a wild strike that somehow connected. Wenxiu, naturally, was making more noise than necessary. "Die already!"
"That's not a technique!" Anhe snapped.
"It's a valid wish!"
Yuzhen would have answered if he'd had the breath for it. Instead, he cut down another beast and finally felt it – the pressure from above. One of the Level 3 beasts had partially broken through the guard line. Not enough to reach the juniors directly, but its momentum and spiritual force spilled into the center of the convoy like a thrown boulder. A Foundation guard intercepted it head-on, and the collision shook the entire pass. Stone cracked. A carriage wheel splintered. One of the hitched spirit beasts screamed and reared. The supply line lurched open. Three Level 2 beasts dove for the gap.
"Move!" Yuzhen shouted. He didn't think after that. He moved. One step onto the broken axle. One push off the cart frame. One slash downward as the first beast leapt. Blood sprayed hot across his sleeve. The second beast twisted mid-air and went for the servant behind him instead. Yuzhen abandoned his follow-through, drove his left hand out, and blasted a burst of qi directly into its chest. The impact threw it off course, but the strain tore sharply through his meridians. Not damage. Pressure. The third beast got through. It hit low, fast, and too close for a sword angle. Yuzhen turned his body, taking the impact on his hip instead of his stomach, and used its force to drag the beast sideways into the side of the carriage. Pain flared. So did fury. He drove his blade down into its throat.
For one heartbeat, everything narrowed. Breath. Blood. Spiritual force. The scream of a panicked beast to his left. The sound of stone splitting above. The pounding pressure in his own spiritual sea, suddenly drawn tight enough to feel almost bright.
"Yuzhen!" someone shouted. He didn't know who. Another shockwave tore through the pass. This one came from higher up – the Level 4 beast. A Core Formation elder smashed it back from the ridge, but the beast's tail whipped across the rock face, sending an entire shelf of stone crashing down toward the convoy's right side. A guard cut apart the largest pieces. Not all of them. One boulder-sized fragment punched through the side of the path and slammed toward the younger line. Runze froze. Only for a breath. Still enough. Yuzhen was closer. He crossed the distance before thinking had a chance to object, grabbed Runze by the shoulder, and threw him clear. The falling stone clipped Yuzhen's side instead of crushing both of them, driving him hard into the packed earth. Air left his lungs. For an instant, he tasted blood. Above him, spiritual energy in the pass surged and folded like a storm pressed too tightly into human space. His own qi responded. Not gently. Violently. It rushed through his meridians in one hot, sharp wave before he forced it back under control. Yuzhen rolled, came up to one knee, and cut the legs out from under a beast trying to use the confusion to break toward the attendants. Runze, pale-faced, scrambled back into position and actually held it this time.
"Sorry—"
"Fight first," Yuzhen snapped. That was enough. The line did not break. It bent. It shuddered. It threatened to split three different times. But it did not break. Because the guards were strong enough. Because the elders were stronger. And because everyone in the middle held just long enough for the heavier pressure above them to shift.
The first Level 3 beast died with a scream that echoed off the pass walls. One of the Bia guards tore his spear free from its eye and spun immediately toward the second. Another guard forced the cliff-cat beast into the stone and pinned it there long enough for a killing strike to land through the spine. Then the Core Formation elder above the ridge shouted, and a brilliant blade-light split the air. The Late Stage Level 4 beast roared once, furious and deep enough to rattle Yuzhen's bones. Then the roar cut off. A body the size of a house crashed from the ridge onto the far slope, shaking half the pass.
Silence did not come immediately. The lesser beasts went mad first. Some fled. Some lunged blindly. Some turned savage with panic now that the command pressure over them had vanished. That was the most dangerous moment in some ways. Disordered violence was harder to predict than controlled assault. But now the Bia family had momentum. The Foundation Establishment guards swept outward, cutting down anything still trying to push inward. The remaining Level 2 beasts were butchered in quick, brutal bursts. Servants were dragged back to safety. Broken harnesses were cut free. Spirit beasts were calmed or replaced. Only when the last shriek faded did the pass finally go still. Not quiet. Just still.
Smoke-like dust drifted through the air. Blood ran dark between stones. Two carriages were damaged. Several servants were injured. Three guards had visible wounds, one badly enough that a steward was already shouting for medicine. The younger generation looked worse than they were. Wenxiu's sleeve was torn open, and blood streaked one forearm. Runze was white in the face. Anhe had a cut across his cheek and looked furious that it existed. Lanyue was still standing straight, but her breath was too fast. Shuyin's blade was red to the hilt. Zichen had blood on his collar that, thankfully, did not seem to be his.
Yuzhen straightened slowly. His ribs hurt. His side hurt more. But what he noticed most was inside. The pressure was still there. No—worse than before. The battle had struck it loose. Not enough to break him open here, in the middle of the pass. Enough that every circulation of qi now felt like it was pressing against a gate that had finally started to crack.
Elder Qiao strode down through the wreckage like an unhappy storm and stopped in front of the younger group. His gaze swept over them all once. "No one dead," he said. Nobody answered. "Good." Then he looked directly at Yuzhen, at the blood on his sleeve and the way he was holding himself just a little too carefully. "You."
Yuzhen met his gaze. "I'm fine."
"That's a terrible answer."
"It's also the one I have."
For a heartbeat, it looked like Elder Qiao might say more. Instead, he turned to the others. "Check injuries. Stay near the line. No one wanders." Then he moved off again, already shouting orders at the outer guards.
Cleanup began fast. It had to. The pass was still dangerous, and the convoy couldn't remain exposed there any longer than necessary. Guards dragged carcasses off the main route. Damaged carts were shifted. Stewards counted losses with grim efficiency. Servants with medical training moved from wound to wound under elder supervision.
Yuzhen had just finished binding his side with a strip of cloth when Xiaoren's voice cut into his thoughts. "Don't stand there like an idiot." He stilled. The voice came through the pendant, sharp and familiar. Yuzhen kept his expression unchanged. "What."
"The beast bodies," Xiaoren said, sounding offended that the answer wasn't obvious. "Useful ones. Don't let them all get carted away without taking your share." Yuzhen's gaze flicked toward the dead beasts being dragged aside. For a moment, all he saw was blood, fang, hide, and ruin. Then Xiaoren continued, "Beast blood, marrow, meat, bones. Are you planning to ignore body refining forever because you enjoy being fragile?"
That sharpened everything immediately. Right. Of course. He had been so focused on survival, on the pressure inside his cultivation, on holding the line and not breaking through in the middle of a mountain pass, that he had looked at the beast corpses only as aftermath. Xiaoren, naturally, looked at them as materials. Yuzhen lowered his gaze slightly so no one would notice the change in his eyes.
"Not the whole corpses," Xiaoren said. "Use your brain. The family takes the main share. But you fought. You contributed. Take the blood, parts, whatever is properly yours. Especially from the stronger ones if merit gets counted." That sounded much more like the truth of things. The Bia family wasn't going to hand a direct-line junior the body of a Late Stage Level 4 beast and smile about it. Nor should they. The Core Formation elders and Foundation Establishment guards had done the heaviest fighting. But merit-based allocation after cleanup? That was different.
Yuzhen walked toward the central supply point where one of the family stewards was recording losses and kill counts. The man looked up at once. "Young master?"
"I want my battle share recorded in materials," Yuzhen said. "Blood and body-refining portions where possible. From the Level 2 beasts at minimum. If the elders allocate from the Level 3 cleanup, include me there as appropriate." The steward blinked. Not because the request was unreasonable. Probably because it was specific. Then he bowed quickly. "Yes, young master. I'll mark it."
"Quietly."
"Of course." Good. That handled it.
Anhe appeared at his side a moment later, glanced toward the dragged beast corpses, and said, "Please tell me you're not planning to eat something disgusting." Yuzhen looked at them. "That was a very fast conclusion."
"You just asked for beast parts."
"For body refining," he said. Anhe stared. Then made a face. Then stared again. "That somehow explains everything less."
Wenxiu, overhearing from a few steps away, said, "No, it explains exactly the right amount."
Lanyue approached more slowly, her own sleeve newly bandaged. "Can you stand?"
"Yes."
"That wasn't the question." Yuzhen looked at her. She held his gaze for a breath, then let it go. "Fine. If you collapse later, I'll say I was right."
"That seems important to you."
"It is."
The convoy did not move again until evening, when the path had finally been cleared enough to continue to the nearest secured stopping point. By then, everyone was tired enough to stop talking unless necessary. The road out of the pass felt strangely hollow after the battle. Every sound carried too sharply. Every shadow looked more deliberate than before. Even the surviving spirit beasts seemed quieter.
Yuzhen sat through the journey in near-silence. Not because he had no thoughts. Because all of them were being dragged inward. The battle. The shove past safe limits. The pressure in his spiritual sea. The way his qi had surged when he'd thrown Runze clear and taken the impact himself. By the time the Bia family finally settled into the night station, he already knew. This was no longer a matter of "soon." The bottleneck had broken loose.He managed to get through the first round of post-battle questions. An attendant offered him a fresh bandage, which he took. He dodged Anhe's increasingly suspicious gaze and ducked into his room as soon as he could without making a scene.
Then he just… sat. One breath, then another. The instant he tried to circulate his spiritual energy, it surged. It wasn't so wild it would hurt him, but it definitely wasn't gentle enough to calm things down. Pressure flared along his meridians, and his spiritual sea churned. The gate leading to Foundation Establishment, which had only felt close before, was now practically ajar, forced open by the buildup of energy over days and the sheer force of the recent battle.
Yuzhen's eyes snapped open in the dark room. Outside, the station was finally quieting down after the roughest day of their journey yet. Inside, his cultivation was no longer asking for permission. He knew he couldn't hold it back for much longer.