Dusk always arrived with particular haste in the Magical Beast Mountain Range. The sunset's golden radiance had barely washed over the treetops before thick twilight crept up from the valley floor, slicing the forest's light and shadow into scattered fragments.
With a medicinal herb basket on his back, Xiao Yan "staggered" through a dense patch of shrubs. His Dou Qi had yet to fully settle after the expenditure caused by resonating with the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame Fragment Map. He deliberately slowed his steps, stopping every few paces to brace himself against a tree and catch his breath, as though merely remaining upright had exhausted his strength. Most of the low-grade herbs had spilled from his basket, smeared with dirt and grass clippings, making him look even more bedraggled.
He was waiting.
From Pu Ang's fragments of memory, Xiao Yan had already learned that the Mo Family had arranged a contingency in the mountains—the elderly Dou Shi lurking in the shadows would never willingly let the Mo Family's plans come to nothing. And right now, Xiao Yan was the perfect prey.
Sure enough, as he rounded a massive gray-green boulder, he suddenly felt the ground give slightly beneath his feet. Almost simultaneously, a cold glint flashed through his eyes, but his face took on a perfectly measured look of panic.
"Oh no!"
He gave a "startled cry" as his body plunged uncontrollably downward. The trap's walls were steep and slippery, studded with sharp wooden spikes—a carefully prepared deathtrap. Xiao Yan deliberately adjusted his position in midair to land back-first, while channeling a trace of Dou Qi to protect his vital areas. With a muffled thud, he crashed heavily onto the bottom, sending dust billowing up.
"Cough, cough..." Clutching his chest, he coughed violently, a trickle of blood "seeping" from the corner of his mouth—a deception achieved by rupturing capillaries inside his mouth with Dou Qi. When he raised his head, a stooped figure had appeared at the pit's rim. It was the Mo Family's elderly Dou Shi, his hair and beard snowy white.
"Young friend Xiao Yan, I trust you've been well." The old man looked down at Xiao Yan, his face devoid of any smile, bearing only icy killing intent. "Had you not meddled, how could the Mo Family have fallen to such a state? Today, you'll pay with your life for our family's fallen!"
He held a rust-covered iron spear, its tip gleaming coldly in the dim light. Clearly, he intended to kill Xiao Yan outright.
Xiao Yan shrank back in "terror," his eyes filled with "despair." "O-old sir, this had nothing to do with me! Pu Ang and the Wolf Head Mercenary Group attacked first. I just happened to be passing by..."
"What a silver tongue!" the old man roared, thrusting his iron spear toward the bottom of the pit. A fierce rush of wind followed the shaft; he was clearly holding nothing back.
Xiao Yan rolled "clumsily" aside, dodging the strike. The iron spear plunged deep into the earth, jolting countless bits of stone into the air. He "struggled" to get up, only for his legs to buckle and send him tumbling down again. He looked like an arrow at the end of its flight.
"Give up," the old man said, slowly pulling out his spear. Dirt dripped from its tip before Xiao Yan's eyes. "This trap is thirty feet deep, and its walls are coated with grease. With your third-stage Dou Qi, there's no chance you can climb out."
With that, he actually sat down at the pit's edge, as though savoring his prey's final struggles. Clearly, he was in no hurry to strike. He intended to let Xiao Yan die slowly in despair.
Xiao Yan lowered his head, concealing the chill in his eyes. It was almost time.
Seemingly helpless, he pressed his hand into the soil at the bottom of the pit. His fingertips quietly touched an inconspicuous purple poisonous plant—the "signal" he had deliberately noted when passing through earlier. A ripple of soul power, so faint it was almost imperceptible, seeped from his fingertips and silently spread along the plant's roots toward a concealed cave nearby.
It was the den of the Red-Eyed Demon Wolf, a Tier 2 Magical Beast.
Red-Eyed Demon Wolves fiercely protected their own and were extremely sensitive to fluctuations in soul power. The "markers" Xiao Yan had left nearby earlier combined the aura of Heavenly Flames with the scent of wolf cubs. Now, a slight stimulus from his soul power was tantamount to telling these savage beasts that an enemy had invaded their den.
Sure enough, within a few breaths, several shrill wolf howls rang out in the distance. They drew closer and closer, laden with savage fury.
The old man's expression abruptly changed. "What's going on?"
He had barely risen when several red shapes shot out of the forest like arrows loosed from a bow. Leading them was a powerfully built Red-Eyed Demon Wolf, its eerie green eyes gleaming blood-red in the twilight. The moment it saw the old man beside the pit, it lunged without hesitation.
"Damned beasts!" The old man swung his spear to block. Iron struck the wolf's claws with a piercing metallic clang. Though he was a Dou Shi, Red-Eyed Demon Wolves were renowned for their ferocity. With several attacking at once, they immediately left him scrambling to fend them off.
At the bottom of the pit, Xiao Yan curled up in a corner "amid the chaos," seemingly trembling with fright, while in truth taking everything in. He had calculated that the old man would choose a spot very close to the wolves' den for his ambush—the terrain offered concealment, and the magical beasts' presence could mask his tracks. The old man had never imagined that he would end up drawing fire upon himself.
The old man was indeed formidable, holding the wolf pack in a fierce deadlock for a time. But he had clearly never expected this turn of events. With his composure shattered, openings gradually appeared in his attacks. A slightly smaller wolf seized its chance and lunged from the side, raking its claws viciously across his back.
"Aaah!" the old man screamed. Blood instantly stained his clothes red. He turned and drove his spear through that wolf's neck, but in doing so left his front exposed. The leading Red-Eyed Demon Wolf seized that fleeting opportunity, leaping up and sinking its sharp fangs deep into his throat.
With a sharp crack, the old man's struggles abruptly ceased, and his body slumped to the ground.
The wolves howled in victory, gathering around the old man's corpse to tear into it. The nauseating stench of blood immediately filled the air.
Xiao Yan let out a well-timed whimper of "fear" and buried his head still lower. Only after the wolves departed with their prey and deathly silence returned to the forest did he slowly raise his head.
The wooden spikes lining the pit walls resembled ghostly claws in the twilight. The old man's blood dripped from the rim, gathering into a small, dark-red puddle below. Xiao Yan stood and brushed the dirt from his clothes. His earlier "weakness" and "fear" had long since vanished, replaced by icy composure.
He approached the wall and pressed a hand against the grease-coated stone, quietly circulating the Dou Qi within him. Several barely noticeable protrusions interrupted the seemingly smooth surface—footholds he had secretly created with Dou Qi during his earlier falls.
Hooking his fingertips around the protrusions, he climbed with the agility of a monkey. Within moments, he leaped out of the trap and landed on the grass beside it.
Xiao Yan glanced down at the remains of the corpse, gnawed to pieces by the wolves, without the slightest ripple of emotion in his eyes. The Mo Family's remnants had now been completely eradicated. He turned and headed straight into the depths of the forest, never sparing the trap another glance.
Twilight enveloped the mountains completely. Only the occasional distant roar of a magical beast bore witness to the cruelty of this land. Xiao Yan's figure soon merged into the darkness, leaving only the fragment map tucked against his chest still emitting faint, mysterious pulses with every step.
The road ahead was clear.
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