An Enemy Spies

Before sunrise, a few dark clouds gathered in the sky, looking like it might rain.

Zhang Yang stood in the small fort, his expression grim. This was the only defensive structure in the village at the moment. He had originally planned to dismantle it after a while to build a larger castle.

But reality was always so cruel. He had just eliminated the Deer Demon, a formidable enemy, and now new enemies had appeared again.

Just moments ago, a Village Imp reported to him that enemies were lurking around his village.

Specifically, three Ghost Tribe Recruits were hiding over ten meters underground, constantly circling and observing the village. Under normal circumstances, Zhang Yang would never have detected them, not even with Level 2 Vision. But he had recruited a Village Imp yesterday.

That guy was a coward. It was supposed to have left the village last night to explore the surrounding area, but without Zhang Yang supervising it, it had only searched a small area around the Wood Demon Tower.

Then, early this morning, it discovered traces of the other three Village Imps active underground near the village.

When Zhang Yang first received the information, he was almost furious. Now, having calmed down, he continued to inquire.

"What exactly did those three Village Imps scout out from us?"

"Village Chief, those three imps should know how many people we have and how many warriors. The village has no walls. However, they didn't discover me, nor did they discover the Wood Demon Tower, because they are as weak as I am and dare not approach within fifty zhang of a warrior."

"What does 'warrior' mean? Are there specific criteria?" Zhang Yang asked. The Village Imp had said this more than once.

"To answer you, Village Chief, this is how our Abyssal Ghost Tribe, also known as humans, assesses them: Skin like rock, bones like fine iron, sinews like a great bow, surging blood, healthy internal organs, and strength of 300—that is a warrior. The next level up is a martial artist, whose standard is skin like an iron wall, bones like fine steel, internal organs like a fortress, blood like a river, and strength of 900—that is a martial artist."

"According to this standard, our village has a total of four warriors, one quasi-martial artist, and 23 elite soldiers. As for you, sir, those imps cannot detect you."

After listening to the imp's explanation, Zhang Yang nodded, his gaze thoughtful. According to the imp, their Abyssal Ghost Tribe and the humans were very likely the indigenous inhabitants of this world.

As for what "strength of 300" meant, Wu Yuan had also mentioned it just now. It should refer to captain-level strength, but the exact numerical value was unclear.

"From now on, you don't need to leave the village to scout, but you must keep an eye on the enemy's imps for me. Under no circumstances can you let them get close to the Wood Demon Tower."

After issuing new orders to the imp, Zhang Yang quickly made arrangements. First, he ordered Wu Yuan to personally lead a team, comprising Song Dachui and three others, to patrol the outskirts of the village. If they found anything amiss, they were to retreat quickly.

Then he ordered Qin Yidao and ten other elite archers to enter the small fort, where they would be enhanced by the Demon Soul of the Great Horned Deer. As for the other elite soldiers, they were to seize the time to continue reinforcing and strengthening the fort's defenses.

The reason for this was that the enemy's strength was unknown, so defense was paramount. Thus, the ten captain-level archers became very important.

Next, Zhang Yang allowed himself to calm down completely and analyze the cause and effect of the situation.

First, the owner of those three imps must undoubtedly be a Village Building Order binder, meaning he was his competitor and enemy.

Second, the fact that they could extend their feelers on the very day the Deer Demon's power ceased to exist indicated that they must have known about the Deer Demon's power early on. Perhaps both sides were evenly matched, so neither dared to act rashly.

Finally, now that the Deer Demon's power had been destroyed and his village's strength had been thoroughly scouted, the enemy would likely seize the opportunity to launch a swift attack, catching him off guard.

Or, even if the enemy wouldn't be in such a hurry to attack, this war was absolutely unavoidable. In other words, this mysterious enemy would definitely attack. The only difference was whether they would use elite forces for a lightning sneak attack or a large army to overwhelm them.

It's too late to make Imprisonment Spears now. If the enemy's army has already set out, fortunately, I still have a trump card.

Zhang Yang took a deep breath, his gaze falling upon the results of Wu Yuan and the others' work from yesterday.

A full 300 carved arrow shafts, 100 polished wolf fangs, and trimmed Red Hawk feathers—all materials were ready. The only thing missing was connecting these three materials to form a complete whole.

He didn't know what kind of glue was used to make feathered arrows on Earth, but clearly, Wu Yuan and Qin Yidao couldn't connect these materials and make them combat-effective.

Picking up a carved arrow shaft, Zhang Yang nodded to himself. Wu Yuan's carving skills were impressive, at least master-level. This arrow shaft was 1.3 meters long and 3 centimeters in diameter, heavy in the hand. For an ordinary soldier, it could even be used as a short spear. Yet, this was an arrow shaft used by captain-level archers, which showed how much destructive power it would have once successfully made!

Without rushing to use his magic power, Zhang Yang first used his Soul Force Field to nourish each arrow shaft. According to his previous experience, this could also significantly improve the material of the arrow shaft, making it easier to connect with magic power later.

After nourishing 30 arrow shafts in one go, Zhang Yang picked up another wolf fang that had been ground into an arrowhead.

Azure Wolf Demons were very large, especially when first seen. Often, panic would make them seem even larger and more terrifying. For example, Zhang Yang once thought the Azure Wolf's fangs were at least as long as an arm, but in reality, the longest wolf fang he saw at that moment was only about thirty centimeters, and after being ground down to make a Wolf Fang Arrowhead, it was only ten centimeters long.

Even so, this Wolf Fang Arrowhead was extremely sharp and had strong armor-piercing capabilities.

Normally, if it were an ordinary wolf fang, the method of installation would be to simply insert it into the arrow shaft, or if it were an iron arrowhead, it could be fitted onto the arrow shaft.

However, the teeth of this type of wolf demon had a diameter of over five centimeters. Just grinding their shape was very strenuous. Yesterday, Qin Yidao and the others spent a full day and night grinding on large stones to produce 100 wolf fangs, each of them utterly exhausted. One should remember that their physical quality was equivalent to five or six adult Earth humans, so there was no hope for more refined grinding.

Hmm, the arrow shafts can be nourished by the soul, but the arrowheads must have grooves carved with magic power. My 0.01 unit of magic power can probably only make ten Wolf Fang Arrows.

Zhang Yang quickly thought, and his Soul Force Field swiftly spread out. That wisp of magic power attached itself to the arrow shaft. Aiming at one end of the Wolf Fang Arrowhead, he gently pressed, and the hard wolf fang felt as soft as tofu.

When he withdrew his Soul Force Field and retracted his magic power, the Wolf Fang Arrowhead and the arrow shaft had already perfectly fused together.

At this point, Zhang Yang took a Red Hawk feather. Even after being trimmed, this thing was as large as two of a person's hands. Faint red light subtly flowed across it; this was innate Demonic Energy, an excellent material for making fletching. To be honest, the true power of this Wolf Fang Arrow, whether it could fly fast enough and accurately enough, depended entirely on this fletching.

So Zhang Yang didn't dare to be careless. With his Soul Force Field enveloping it, he held the arrow shaft in one hand and the Red Hawk feather in the other. With a slight release of magic power, the feather cut into the arrow shaft.

Finally, after carefully inspecting it with fine soul threads and finding no issues, the Wolf Fang Arrow was complete.

I'll make as many as I can.

Zhang Yang looked up at the sky, then glanced at the ten elite archers in the small fort who were about to complete their enhancement. Each person needed to be allocated three Wolf Fang Arrows.