章 127: Lying in Wait
After hearing from Village Head Fu Du, the Mystic Cavalry decided that their next stop would be the river where all the incidents had occurred.
Initially, Fu Du wanted to personally lead them there, but that proved too much for his ailing body. So, just like before, he was forced to ask his attendant Xian He to do so instead.
The river in question was not far from East Stream Village.
In fact, if one knew their way around the woods, traversing through that path would only take one less than ten minutes to get there from the village entrance.
As a local who was familiar with the area, Xian He did just that, leading the party through the woods to quickly arrive at their destination.
The river itself was not exactly the largest, which probably explained the name of the village.
It was only about twenty metres from bank to bank, and the clear waters looked no deeper than the river span.
The flow of water was constant but not too fast – not nearly enough to sweep someone away as long as they were careful with their footing.
One might even be tempted to soak in the water on a hot summer day.
The vegetation was dense along both banks of the rivers, with huge trees that formed a canopy overhead for shade.
There were also numerous thick vines that connected the trees on both banks, hanging loosely over the river as though they were miniature bridges.
When Zhao Yunxiao and the rest of the Mystic Cavalry arrived, their attention was instantly drawn to these thick vines.
That was because on many of these vines were small pieces of talisman paper, hung at regular intervals.
"Are those what the village head was talking about?" Mo Mian turned to Xian He. "The protective talismans that have been drawn by a visiting monk?"
Xian He nodded in response.
Zhao Yunxiao glanced at Xian He curiously.
Ever since they met, Zhao Yunxiao had yet to hear Xian He say a single word.
Fu Du might have said that Xian He was not fond of speaking, but perhaps he was actually mute?
"What do you think?" Mo Mian posed his question to Chu Han this time.
As the array master of the party, Chu Han was naturally in the best position to comment about the talismans.
"Something is strange about those talismans," Chu Han furrowed his brows. "Let me take a closer look."
"I will go take one down for you," Pu Feixiang stepped forward.
"No, don't do that," Chu Han stopped him immediately. "Touching anything might result in corresponding changes. I will go and take a look myself instead."
"If you say so," Pu Feixiang shrugged.
Chu Han went closer to one of the overhanging vines and squinted his eyes at the talismans. At the same time, he extended his spiritual sense to probe them as well.
"How is it?" Mo Mian asked again.
Chu Han let out a helpless sigh before shaking his head. "These talismans might look legit, but they are completely devoid of spiritual energy. They have either been drained of their energy, or it is also possible that they have been drawn by a bogus monk in the first place."
"Probably the latter," Mo Mian seemed to have already come to a conclusion regarding this matter.
"Indeed," Chu Han agreed.
Zhao Yunxiao silently agreed with their conclusion too.
After all, cultivators who were affiliated with the Buddist path were widely known for their altruism and benevolence.
What were the chances that a powerful monk would help the village draw up protective talismans, yet neglect to stay and confirm that these talismans would work against the demon?
Even if the monk was not the match of the demon, the monk should have at least done something like requesting for help.
But from Fu Du's account, the villagers were the ones who thought of seeking help from the Black Tortoise Sect after feeling like they were truly at the end of their rope.
And if it was indeed a bogus monk as they had guessed, then it was no wonder that these talismans did not work.
In any case, it would appear that they would not be able to get any clues about the demon through examining these talismans.
"There are some traps around too, though I have to say that they are rather sloppily done," Gui Longcan said while fiddling with a taut rope that had been camouflaged behind some thick vegetation. "These are probably only good enough for trapping animals. Against demons? Pretty much useless."
"These traps should have been set up by the villagers. They probably know just as well that these traps won't work against the demon, so the traps are likely just there to give them peace of mind," Mo Mian answered. "Stop playing with them and hide them back."
"Fine," Gui Longcan readjusted the vegetation to hide the existence of the ropes once more. If one did not pay enough attention, it would indeed be difficult to spot the trap.
"Over there! The monkey!" Pu Feixiang suddenly shouted.
Everyone immediately went on alert and turned their attention towards where Pu Feixiang was looking.
Indeed, there was a monkey over at the other bank of the river, perched comfortably on a tree as it looked straight at them.
However...
"Can you not freak out over every random thing? Did you not hear from the village head that the hair on the monkey demon's arms is supposed to be black?" Gui Longcan chided in irritation. "Does that look black to you?"
"Right, the hair on the arms is supposed to be black..." Pu Feixiang scratched his cheek in embarrassment. "Heh, I forgot about that for a moment. It just gave me a shock, sitting there and looking at us like that!"
"It is strange that I don't feel any traces of demonic energy in the surroundings, though," Mo Mian mused. "If it is indeed as the village head has said, and such incidents have been happening a few times a month, there should have been some lingering traces of energy here."
"It is because of the terrain," Zhao Yunxiao answered while still observing the monkey on the opposite bank.
"Junior Martial Brother Zhao is right," Chu Han added with an approving smile. "The elements in the surroundings just happen to resonate with one another, forming what we call a natural cleansing mechanism that constantly renews the world origin energy in the area. Even if the monkey demon has indeed taken action here previously, any lingering traces of demonic energy would be quickly washed away along with the river flow."
"Lucky bastard," Pu Feixiang cursed. "Otherwise, we would probably catch it in no time!"
"I'm not sure if this is the reason why the demon chose this place to strike," Chu Han contemplated. "But if it is, then we might be dealing with a tricky opponent this time."
"We will just have to prepare for the worst," Mo Mian said. "For now, let's set up some traps of our own. If we get lucky, this will be enough to finish the job. But even if they fail to capture the demon, the traps can at least alert us to its appearance and hopefully give us some information on it as well."
"Got it," the rest of the Mystic Cavalry answered in unison.
In fact, they would have done so even without being told.
After all, they had been working together as a party for a while, and this had been their modus operandi all along.
By now, they were already familiar enough with their leader's preferences and usual approaches when it came to different situations, to the extent of understanding exactly what types of traps were needed and where they should be set up.
Zhao Yunxiao quickly caught on to what they were doing, and moved in to help wherever he could.
Seeing this, Mo Mian and Chu Han could not help but exchange looks of surprise.
From this alone, it would not be strange for an observer who was not in the know to misunderstand that Zhao Yunxiao had been part of their party all along!
With everyone working together, it did not take long before the traps were fully set up.
As opposed to the crude traps done by the villagers, the ones that they had set up could be described as completely undetectable to the naked eye.
Unless one was already expecting there to be traps, it would be almost impossible to avoid triggering them!
Of course, triggering them was one thing.
But as to whether the traps alone would be enough to take down their target, that was something that remained to be seen.
"Now then, who would like to be the bait this time?" Mo Mian asked.
"I don't mind," Pu Feixiang volunteered. "My bones have been itching for some action since earlier, especially after seeing just how pitiful the village head is!"
Now that the traps had been put in place, it was only right that someone would have to act as bait. Otherwise, there would be no reason for the demon to appear, even if it wanted to.
And if the demon did not appear, what good was there in setting up the traps?
Since Pu Feixiang had already volunteered, Mo Mian did not mind taking him up on his offer.
Zhao Yunxiao followed the rest of the Mystic Cavalry as they each found their own hiding places a little further away from the river bank.
Not just that, but they also channelled their essence energy to hide their presence even further.
At this point, each of them would be hard pressed to accurately pinpoint where the others were hiding as well.
From the perspectives of others, it would have seemed as though, in just the blink of an eye, all of them had simultaneously vanished from the surface of the earth!
That left Pu Feixiang as the only one who remained by the river bank.
He changed into clothes that resembled those of the villagers and suppressed his aura, making sure that he looked just like any other villager.
In his new attire, Pu Feixiang whistled while casually walking over to take a seat by the river bank.
He then picked up several small stones and started trying to skip them across the surface of the water.
The only problem was that this was not a wide river by any measure.
Thud-!
Within just ten skips, the stone had already crossed the entire river to land on the opposite bank of the river.
Pu Feixiang: "..."
Sometimes, it might not necessarily be a good thing to be too skilled at what you like to do.
What fun was there in skipping stones when there was no longer a way to further increase the number of skips?
After a few more attempts, Pu Feixiang finally let out a helpless sigh before looking up at the sky.
It had only been a few minutes, but he was already bored out of his mind, and was starting to regret having volunteered to be the bait.
Just how was he supposed to survive the rest of the wait?
Was there even anything else for him to do here?
Right, he could just skip the stones in a direction parallel to the river instead!
Unlike Pu Feixiang who had to constantly think of activities to occupy himself with, the rest of them had it much easier.
While waiting for their prey to bite, they could at least close their eyes and enter a state of light meditation, taking this time to cultivate.
And just like that, the party spent their entire afternoon by the river, waiting in vain for a demon that never showed up in the end.
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