Chapter 75: Captured.

"Sir, I see the clearing for the ravine." One of the men shouted as they approached their destination. The leaves rustled beneath their feet as they walked in unison toward the cliff face.

"I see. Come on men, Not long to go now. Once we get past this opening it will be smooth sailing." The man carrying the rail gun said as he led the group of thirteen people toward the cliff face.

A few seconds went by and he crouched down just before they approached. He looked at the ground and brushed a pile of leaves out of the way. "A footprint… This isn't a boot print…" He said as he looked down at the footprint from Jake's trainers.

"Looks like we have company. Stay on guard." The man with the rail gun said to one of his men as Haru slapped Jake on his back.

"Are you an idiot? How can you leave footprints behind?" Haru asked him and Jake reached back to rub the spot that had just been slapped.

"Hey, We're not all cultivators who can walk without leaving footprints. We will just have to face them head-on." Jake said raising his hand like he was about to activate a spell.

Haru grabbed his arm. "No, we are not. You're going to stay here while I fix this." He said sternly and then let go. Jake looked at him with anger. But it didn't matter to Haru. He wanted to keep his friend safe even if it meant making him angry.

"Fine. I guess I will just stay here then. I'm useless anyway. I can't even hide my footprints." Jake said angrily and then turned away.

"That's not what I meant… Forget it." I will be back in a few minutes." Haru then vanished from the spot where he was previously laying down.

The cover from the trees created enough darkness that he was able to use The Breath Of Shadow technique. He vanished without a trace. As the enemy were getting bolder to try to force Haru and Jake out of hiding.

They weren't sure where or how many people were in the forest with them but the footprint they found was a good enough indication to suspect they weren't alone. The soldiers all huddled together before splitting into two groups.

One of the groups walked around to the other side of the cliff to try to look for another way through without passing through the ravine. The man with the rail gun stayed behind with a group to make a plan.

"There is probably a whole group of them hiding in the ravine. We should avoid going through there at all costs. I don't want to send my men into a knowing ambush. We are lucky I spotted that footprint." The man with the rail gun said and then looked over to one of the people in his group that weren't paying attention.

"Hey, you. I have a task for you." He shouted toward the man.

The man lifted his hand and pointed it toward his own chest. "Who me?" He asked. The man with the rail gun nodded with a sigh. Was this really the quality of soldiers he was commanding? They all seemed so pathetic. It was like they were picked up of the street and forced to be here.

He looked at the six men remaining in front of him. Two of them were tall and quite muscular and the other three were scrawny and short. They all had the same facial expression of fear. The last man, being short and chubby. He had a constant smile on his face like he was constantly thinking about something that he loved. When he spoke he sounded dopey.

The man with the rail gun sighed again. 'I didn't agree to come along with a squad like this. Why would they even assign me to this group? And only as a second in command. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they hear the stories of my heroism. They will reinstate me with my previous position.' He was lost in idle thought.

"Uh, Sir? You said you needed me?" The small chubby man asked him. It broke him from his thoughts as he remembered what he was going to say

"Ah, Yeah. I want you to go into the ravine and look for traps." He said and then knelt down and took off his backpack. He reached in and pulled out a small red tube.

"If, You run into any trouble. Shoot this flare into the sky and we will come in and get you out of there." The man looked hesitant but reached out his hand to grab the flare.

The man with the rail gun reached out and put his hand on the man's shoulder. "Don't worry. I promised I will get all of you home. We will be on stand by in case you find something." He explained to the man and then without any second thought he took the flare and walked into the ravine.

Haru was currently hiding inside a shadow as he watched what was going on. He was so hidden that he was less than a metre away from them as they spoke so he heard every single word they had said to each other. He then quickly moved to sit down on a tree branch.

'Wow. This is convenient. I don't even need to do anything. He will come back and say that the place is clear. I will then be able to capture them in the array.��� A few minutes went by and the first group came back.

"Sir. It's a dead end. There is no other way through." One of the men said as he walked over leading his group.

"It's just as I thought then. If they really did set an ambush for us then it will be inside this ravine. There is no other way for us to get back." The rail gun man said.

A few more minutes went by as the short chubby man came back through the entrance, Still holding the flair. "Um, Sir? There is no one there. I just walked through to the other side and there wasn't a single sign of life." He said and then handed the flair back to him.

'Did I overthink this? Maybe it was a hikers footprint? It didn't look like any type of combat boot had made it. I guess I'm just a little paranoid. There should be nothing to worry about.' The man thought to himself as he came up with his next order now that all of his men were back

"Okay, If that is really the case then we can go through. But be on guard. If any of you see anything suspicious then alert the rest of us right away. Now follow me." He said and then stepped forward to lead the men through the ravine.

Haru smiled as he watched them from above. They walked right inside the array. It was just a simple array. In fact, it was the same one he used to keep Chen safe but just on a bigger scale. And as far as he knew they didn't have anything on them that was strong enough to break it once they were caught inside.

Their leader stepped into the array first. He looked around as he approached the entrance to the ravine. And then just as the rest of his men stepped into it he noticed something on the ground. He shifted the leaves with his foot and say the writing on the ground.

"What is that?" He asked himself as he saw it but he was too late. Haru activated the array and golden light flooded the whole forest as a film of light covered the area they were standing in.

The man with the rail gun began to panic and he ran forward on instinct.

CRASH.

His head hit the thin layer of solidified Qi and he collapsed on to the floor. He held his face in pain as blood ran from his nose. "What the fuck is this thing!?" He screamed as the rest of his men all began to struggle to try to barge there way through the Qi.

The sound of laughter made its way through the forest. The men who were all trapped inside the bubble of Qi looked around desperately trying to find the source of the laughter until Haru showed himself.

He seemingly appeared from the shadows as he walked over to the bubble.

"Y-you. You're that kid from earlier!" The man with the rail gun said and then looked at Haru with anger.

"Is this your doing!? I had you in my scope for a while. I should have just killed you then this shit wouldn't have happened. I guess this is what I get for trying to be nice." He complained and then looked at Haru who was smiling.

"Do you think you could have killed me? I knew where you were from the beginning. But I do have to thank you for not shooting. Thanks to you being nice I had time to think of a counter-attack and then I passed the info onto the leader of the convoy." He explained through a grin.

Jake then flew down from the top of the cliff. The man watched Jake as he floated from the sky with a spiral of wind beneath his feet.

"Of course, You guys are fucking mages. You fuckers are the reason we lost the war. I regret not killing you all." The man yelled.

"Lost the war? You are from the states? What are you doing in China?" Haru asked. The man just shook his head in return.

"None of your fucking business!" He shouted and then sat down on the floor. Jake interrupted their conversation by standing in front of Haru.

"Now, that we have captured them what are we going to do with them?" He asked confused and stilled sounding pissed off from what happened before. Haru looked at Jake for a few seconds.

"What are we going to do with them? I wonder?" He said as he walked toward the bubble of Qi.