The very next hour, Damon departed from Crane Ridge Villa in the waning afternoon sun.
His three subordinates for this instance followed closely behind; Chen Yuan donned in a traveling robe with his sword sheathed at the hip, Sun Liang holding a scroll pouch tight to his chest, and Xue Rou clad in fitted leathers, her eyes sharp with anticipation.
Behind them, a few silent guards recently recruited from among the rebels trailed as security as well as Xu Baochun, who was still playing the role of eccentric elder but was dressed much better than before.
They moved without fanfare, traversing the southern roads of Xiangyang toward a location most dared not mention by name aloud, which was the forbidden zone, Ghost Valley.
It took hours of hiking into the fog-wreathed forest ranges before they found the place as the path had no markers. There were no carved stones or banners, no patrolling sentries, just eerie silence.
