Chapter 1290

At this moment, the marching army also ran into a problem: with no sunlight inside the canyon, nightfall would rob them of all visibility. If they used torches or other light sources, they would very likely be spotted by the enemy ahead of time; but without any light, the army would easily suffer missteps, trampling, and other sudden mishaps.

At the critical moment, the Third Imperial Prince Li Chun produced a large quantity of luminous stones and quickly distributed them.

Luminous stones are a special kind of ore that gives off a faint glow at night. To enemies in the distance the light is not obvious, but for an army marching in secret, this dim glow is more than enough—as long as they can see the direction ahead, accidents become far less likely.

As for the scouting squad at the very front, they needed no light at all; darkness was the best camouflage for scouts of the Eternal Night Legion. Even after three hours of rapid movement, the squad's vigilance had not slackened in the slightest. The closer they got to the middle and tail of the canyon, the more taut their nerves became.

Finally, after rounding yet another bend, a clear light appeared ahead, and the squad leader at the front immediately said in a low voice.

"Take cover!"

The rest immediately pressed themselves into the shadows along the canyon walls, their watchful gazes slowly looking over.

"Looks like a merchant caravan?"

"Boss, what do we do? Want me to make contact?"

The squad leader at the front was weighing the situation. There was no way for them to slip past unnoticed; even if they did, the army behind them certainly could not.

"Let's keep watching a bit longer. Something feels off—how could there be a merchant caravan at a time like this?"

Merchant caravans generally did not spend the night inside the canyon. Choosing to pass through during the day let them avoid many dangers that only appeared at night, such as all manner of poisonous creatures.

Though the canyon was long, it did not require a full day and night of travel. A fast caravan could cross it in as little as half a day. Only because they were an army of four hundred thousand was it impossible for everyone to pass through the narrow canyon in a single day; at the fastest, they would only get through by noon tomorrow.

"Get a little closer and take a look. I think they're very likely enemy soldiers in disguise."

Once the order to close in was given, the squad leader and another scout, both nimble and light-footed, crept slowly toward the caravan.

What puzzled the squad leader was that, while the group looked like a merchant caravan on the surface, the ratio of more than twenty people gathered around a campfire to only three carriages simply did not add up. Moreover, a caravan's cargo wagons were usually open-bed freight carts, whereas these looked more like comfortable passenger compartments. And the most important point of all—there was no cargo!

This left the squad leader deeply puzzled: no cargo, so what were so many people doing here?

Every sign indicated that the group's purpose here was far from simple. Although they were numerous, the sentries on night watch had long since dozed off from laziness, which gave them their chance.

Soon the two of them had crept close enough to observe the situation inside the three carriages. One carriage held a man and a woman, snuggled together in sweet slumber; the other two carriages were filled with all kinds of armor, not a trace of cargo.

"Captain, you were right—they really are enemies in disguise. Should I?" The other scout said coldly, making a throat-slitting gesture.