The sun was blazing, and the whole world lay sluggish in the heat.

That day the Ning'an Army, together with the fifty thousand men Qi Yuanzhong led, reached Dragontrap Valley.

On one side of Dragontrap Valley rose sheer cliffs, and on the other a steep hillside. It would be easy to hide troops there.

Ning Chen had kept Yuan Long sending out scouts all along, but he was still uneasy.

He ordered the army to halt and rest where it was.

Then Ning Chen sent out scouts in large numbers to search the place carefully.

In his tent, Ning Chen sat at a low table, head bent over the map.

Past the mouth of Dragontrap Valley, the hillside on the right was crowned with a forest of strange rocks, stone spires and odd boulders of every kind... If he were the one laying an ambush, he would hide his men in that stone forest, and when the army passed below, he would send down rolling rocks and falling logs.

The floor of Dragontrap Valley was not wide. Once rocks and logs came rolling down from above, there would be nowhere to go.

Ning Chen did not dare rush the army through Dragontrap Valley. If they were ambushed, the dead and wounded were bound to be beyond counting.

Pan Yucheng came in, saw Ning Chen staring at the map lost in thought, and did not dare disturb him.

Ning Chen took his eyes off the map and looked at him. "Old Pan, what is it?"

Pan Yucheng said, "The scouts report all clear. No sign of the enemy."

Ning Chen frowned slightly. Somewhere inside he felt uneasy!

Dragontrap Valley was a perfect place for an ambush. Would Xiliang really pass up a chance like this?

"Old Pan, have the scouts go look again!"

"All right!"

Pan Yucheng turned and went out.

Ning Chen hesitated for a moment, then followed him out of the tent.

He rode out to the edge of the army.

The setting sun was the color of blood. (TL Note: 殘陽如血, "the dying sun like blood" — a…