Jumping silently from tree to tree, the three man party moved stealthily through the forest looking for their next target. The stone lions had become wary over the last six months since they had begun to be hunted. Hong Zhao signaled Li Wei to move to his three o'clock position while Li Wuhan was signaled to the nine o'clock. They scanned the area within three hundred meters apart from each other. If one found an enemy, they would send a signal via qi shot.
Hong Zhao's eyes were turned down to the ground as he propelled himself from one tree to the next, keeping a visual. It had been a rough six months since they began their training. At first, he had to keep an eye on the Li siblings at all times. He had to keep them reigned in at least fifty meters from him just in case they ran into trouble, which even with that limitation, they still managed to surprise him.
It had been somewhat tedious teaching them qi shot, and even more so the tactics that would allow for a stealthy takedown. Li Wei had grasped it fairly easily with her qi fans, yet Li Wuhan wanted to charge in and challenge each enemy, which made him prime target. Hong Zhao had originally thought that having Li Wuhan draw the attention of the beasts would make it easier for them to gain the advantage, by surrounding the enemy and lighting it up with qi shots and qi fans, but the beasts seemed to catch on to that tactic quite easily. Instead, Hong Zhao stopped Li Wuhan whenever he looked to be ready to strike a stone lion. Instead, he sent the boy further out to form a triangle around the enemy. They each used eagle vision to increase their sights, and then used qi shot after qi shot to send the beast to a final rest.
Though battlefield tactics took long, it was nothing compared to the art of espionage. Hong Zhao had infiltrated numerous villages along the border to the forest and gained intel each night. He would use the rooftops at night to silently gain ground, then pause in a window where a crowd might be gossiping in order to hear the latest news. Li Wuhan and Li Wei thought the practice to be an invasion of privacy. With the qi blocking suits on, the formation within the mask kept their presence from being detected. Even if they were right in front of someone, they would only be able to sense their presence through their eyes. Such methods of tracking were useless to cultivators, seeing as though they could sense the qi within another and know where they were only through their cultivation ranks.
Hong Zhao had to stick with the siblings for the first month to make sure they didn't mess up. Even though no one could sense their qi, the siblings stomped on the roofs as they jumped, making noise and sending eyes towards them. Because it was night, the onlookers would only see silhouettes in the night, but that was still enough to send the village guard after them. The three companions had to spend hours losing the guards through the forest before they could rest, which threw off their training time.
Seeing the problem, Hong Zhao incorporated silent tracking movements into their battle routine during the day. Now, they could no longer talk or make a sound while moving. Qi shot was the method to gain the attention of the other, as well as hand gestures to signal what the other had found. At no time should a voice be heard, unless it was someone other than them.
With this small alteration, through muscle memory Hong Zhao had changed the siblings approach on the rooftops at night. It had taken another month, but he was able to train them well enough that he was confident enough to send them to other villages ahead to increase the flow of information they could gain in a night.
It wasn't until they reached half way to Yuan City that Li Wuhan had heard whispers of two experts being sent to a small village at the end of the forest. Hong Zhao knew immediately that these experts were sent to deal with the situation in Rantori Village. As far as he could learn, the experts had a way to suppress their qi. When they caught up to them, he could only sense the qi of two eighth star student ranked cultivators, yet he could sense something else, as if in his peripherals. He could feel that there was something not right with the two men, yet he couldn't put his finger on what it might be.
Since then, Hong Zhao and the Li siblings trained at night, and followed the men on their path, only stopping when they did. They still had a while before Rantori Village came into view, at most a few months. The experts were not in a rush. They stayed in the finest inns in whatever village they came across. They ate for free and walked at a leisurely pace down the road to Rantori. It was as if they didn't care what the outcome of the battle might be. They didn't cultivate at night or in the day, nor did they practice their abilities. There was nothing Hong Zhao could pick up from the two that might aid them in the fight to come. Though they seemed to be a lower level than him, he still got goose bumps when he watched them.
As his thoughts ran wild, a qi shot went past his eyes and hit the tree in front of him. It came from his three o'clock. He looked over at Li Wei who had eyes on a stone lion. He smiled. 'She's going to be one hell of a woman one day.' He thought to himself as he saw his companion's growth within the abilities and tactics he taught her. He sent the signal to proceed and a qi fan launched down to the lion so silently, not even a whistle in the wind could be heard as it decapitated the creature as it walked the earth.