The forest did not feel the same after the split. Sai moved first, slow and deliberate, each step placed where leaves were damp enough not to crack. Behind him, the others were already in position. Ronan crouched behind a fallen trunk slick with moss. Sarah and Eissa stayed low in a patch of brush where thin branches broke their outline. Taylen waited farther left, half-hidden behind a crooked tree, fists flexing and unflexing to keep blood flowing.
No one spoke. They could feel the approaching qi before they heard movement. Four cultivators. One spirit root level 5 above. The other three Spirit root level 5 but controlled.
Sai exhaled through his nose. The bait had worked. He let his own qi leak just enough to be noticed, then shifted backwards, pretending to retreat. A snapped twig was carried in the air. The assassins adjusted course. They were careful. Too careful to be amateurs.
