About a few hundred miles away from the Silver Mist City.
A small carriage was slowly approaching the city, and guarding it were three middle-aged men with a cold expression.
One in the front, and two behind, all of them alert and ready to fight off against any ambush as they sat on their Ferghana horses.
Outside the carriage were a maid and the driver of the carriage.
It was unknown who they were, but what they didn't know was the fact that a huge event was about to occur upon their arrival in the city.
….
*flap*
A map was laid open on a table, and six people closed in, staring right on the map.
These people were none other than the Gracious Sword Sect entourage, and the map was the one on which Jun Xie had marked all the arrays throughout the city.
"Is there a way out?" Yuan Shuchun asked.
Jun Xie took a breath and said, "I am trying to assess the situation."
"Can anyone here help you with this?" Xiao Ming suggested.
Jun Xie shook his head, "I wish. Actually, there are different types of arrays here - with different ranges."
"Sigh, I made a small mistake - didn't mark the range of the arrays."
"Uh… how are you going to assess them then?" Xiao Ming asked in confusion.
"Don't worry; everything's fit in my mind. It's just I didn't think of saving time by marking it on the map."
"Well, mark it right now then," Ye Tian Yun chipped in, "If you can visualize it on paper, things would be much easier for you."
"Alright," Jun Xie nodded his head; taking out a quill, he began to draw circles around the arrays, marking their expected range.
After a minute or two, Jun Xie raised his head and let out a long breath, "Here, guys."
Then pointing at a certain area on the map, he continued, "This is the Ao Ba Clan - the place where we think Wu Qingwu is supposed to come."
Ye Tian Yun was silently leaning on the wall frowned for a moment before getting back to his nonchalant expression.
"Sister Yuan, this location is under your supervision. How's everything going there?" Jun Xie added.
Yuan Shuchun replied, "I set up everything last night. However, you should come with me tonight. With your illusion technique, we will be able to strengthen the traps."
"Hm, alright." Jun Xie nodded, and staring at the map; he continued, "Now, we need to prepare an escape route - from Ao Ba Clan to any exit. The closer to the city, the better."
Ye Tian Yun asked with a frown, "Are you guys going to ambush the Wu Kingdom people in front of the Ao Ba Clan?"
Jun Xie nodded his head, "I think that is the perfect place to ambush because they will be confident that no one would be stupid enough to attack them in front of their ally and the heart of the city."
"Things will be much harder if we ambush them outside the city because they will be highly alert at all times."
"Hm," Ye Tian Yun nodded, "That's a valid argument, but I don't understand why are we choosing this exact location? Why not a little far off from here?"
"Because the farther we go, the harder it will be to ambush them," Yuan Shuchen replied to him this time.
Ye Tian Yun was puzzled, mainly because he wasn't a part of their earlier discussion. He didn't even know why someone from the Wu Kingdom would visit a random clan in a small city?
"Remind me, what was the relationship between Ao Ba Clan and Wu Kingdom people?" Ye Tian Yun asked directly; his normal and confident voice helped him avoid any suspicions.
"Kai Yang, didn't we just discuss it yesterday?" Xiao Ming replied to him with a disdaining tone, "Ao Ba Clan had some relationship with the Wu Kingdom, and they might possibly have migrated to this city a few years prior."
"Hmm, I remember now," Ye Tian Yun nodded his head, and then looking at the map, he said, "In my opinion, we should not look for the nearest exit, but the farthest."
"What do you mean?" Jun Xie frowned.
Ye Tian Yun stepped forward and pointed at the map as he said, "You see this path? This path goes to the nearest exit - but there's one problem - it's through the Ao Ba Clan territory."
"Now this," Ye Tian Yun dragged his finger through another path while saying, "This path leads to the second closest and possibly the exit that you're looking for. But there are two things you need to keep in mind before you choose this - first of all, this exit is closer to the Jia Lei Clan, and considering our closeness to the Zheng Clan, I am pretty sure they have already heard about us, and also consider us an enemy even if they don't know our identity."
"The second thing that you need to note is actually a question - what will you do once you get out of the city?"
"What if things get a bit out of hand, and even though we succeed in capturing the target, the enemies chase us. And trust me, my instincts tell me that this is most likely to happen."
"It will be easier for them to chase us through the forest because of the marks and exhaustion we will have. However, in the city, we have much higher advantages. Therefore, this path is actually not very ideal."
Ye Tian Yun raised his head and found everyone contemplating over what he had just said, thus he took a small pause and continued after a few moments, "Here."
Pointing at another path from the Ao Ba Clan, he said, "This is the path we need to choose. Not only is this the longest, but in fact, it's as if this path was made for us!"
"What do you mean?" Jun Xie asked.
Ye Tian Yun smiled, and dragging his finger all the way to the exit; he said, "This area is under none other than the Zheng Clan!"