Chương 42: Bait.
"You need to be on guard."
Mei Kongxu's voice snuck into Li Yang's ears as they hurried after Xingguang and the others, the words squeezed through her pursed lips. Her pupils were quivering slightly but maintained a strict vigil. She probably hadn't seen the light in Li Yang's eyes and understood what he was thinking, it was most likely just her own intuition.
"It's probably not those monkeys, too dumb. But the position of the cloth is strangely apparent, it might be bait. If it leads us to a wounded person then it's definitely meant to be bait, so be prepared to get ambushed."
Her voice was quiet, barely a whisper as she made sure that it stayed between the two of them. It was just about the same conclusion that he had reached after seeing how close that scrap of cloth was to the valley's entrance, and she, just like him, had elected not to tell the rest.
Now granted, Li Yang chose not to tell the others because dangerous things like this were more often than not also interesting, and thus a perfect way to shatter some boring eyes. But Mei Kongxu, she had no such thoughts, she was a different breed from him after all. So why didn't she alert the others at the same time so that they could be better prepared? He didn't know, but it was interesting.
"Ah, my perfect Wifey is so beautifully observant and learned. And just cruel enough to let the others get caught right in the mess while we watch the fun."
He held her hand tenderly as he spoke, gently tracing her knuckles as he kept pulling on her, an act that made her shudder. A bit of Qi seeped into his hand from their touch, his flesh and skin quietly twisting and forcing him to halt his actions with a well-hidden grimace. There was no time for the two to share any more words before they reached the scrap of cloth that got stuck on a small branch.
Xingguang quickly snatched the scrap from the branch and studied it intensely. Li Yang couldn't see anything special about it, but since it originated from a robe of her sect there was probably something in it that only other sect members could see to help with identification, even Li Yang's Deepsea King sect had something like that. And sure enough, Xingguang's blue eyes narrowed dangerously after but a short moment.
"This belonged to Junior Sister Jue Ji's robe. She entered the valley with her group about five days ago, but the blood's still fairly red so it can't be too old, probably just half a day or so."
There was something Xingguang purposefully left out as she muttered to herself. That Junior Sister of hers had entered the valley from the entrance that was the furthest away from theirs, it would be quite a long, and not to mention pointless, walk from there to here. So she found it... unlikely, that her Junior Sister walked here and then got attacked, the truth was probably a bit darker. But, in the end, they belonged to the same sect, she had a duty to ensure that she was at the very least found.
"There are more tracks over there, we'll follow them. There's likely been some struggle, otherwise, she wouldn't have bled. If you don't want me to report you to the higher-ups in the sect then I expect all of you to carry your weight and fight should a battle come up. That goes for the two of you as well, okay? It would be a damn shame if we all died here because someone wasn't feeling quite well, wouldn't it?"
Her gaze slid towards Li Yang and Mei Kongxu as she spoke, her expression a bit sunken. The two of them were the only ones who hadn't taken part in the battle against the monkeys, not even after Xingguang stepped forward and said that they needed to end the battle quickly. Mei Kongxu was still fine, she at least looked uncomfortable, it looked like her insides were tossing and turning as she stood there. But Li Yang just had that lopsided smirk of his, as if he was just standing back to look at a play.
"Ah, of course, Fairy Sister Xing, of course, we'll fight. You can put your trust in me! You can even rest your head on my shoulder and just watch, I'll let you see a grand fight."
Li Yang pat his chest in a grandiose gesture, declaring his stance so confidently and loudly that Xingguang almost winced. Her hand clenched for a moment but she quickly calmed it down, he hadn't yet reached a level of annoying that would need her to beat some sense into him. She wasn't her brother, after all, she would need a bit more reason before she beat him down, otherwise, it would make the temple look bad.
"Good, as long as you understand. Let's move out and keep our eyes open, the ultimate end goal is still for everyone to get out of here alive."
Xingguang took the lead as she finished speaking, quickly creating a path for the rest of the group to follow. The tracks she was following were small things, broken branches, small drops of blood, and indents in the dirt. Alone they showed nothing, but when they connected they showed the path of someone who seemed to have rushed through the forest.
The group quickly followed in her steps, some of the members keeping an eye on the surroundings while others just looked for resources they could quickly nab. They weren't members of the temple so it really couldn't be expected of them to care about the lives of those that came from the temple, they probably wouldn't even follow Xingguang now if it wasn't for the item she was given to keep them in line.
"Ah, perfectly normal people, don't you think? Perfectly normal, perfectly dull."
Li Yang and Mei Kongxu were at the very back of the group, Li Yang's narrowed eyes sliding across those ahead of them. His lips were still curved up, but his eyes weren't smiling. Gods, they weren't even hiding their intentions as they moved about, they were so blatant and dull that it almost made him fall asleep. Li Yang was looking at the people ahead of them, as well as their surroundings, but Mei Kongxu seemed focused on something else.
"...Somethings coming."
Her voice wasn't even a mutter as it came out, as uncertain as they came. Her eyes were also swimming slightly, as if they were trying to lock onto something she couldn't even see. Li Yang's gaze slowly slid away from those ahead of them, landing on the now-frowning girl next to him.
"Something... So you don't know what? Or from where?"
He had spent a fair bit of time with Mei Kongxu at this point so he could semi-confidently say that he had some understanding of her. And she was anything but vague when it came to important things, so if she said something was coming but she didn't give specifics then it was likely that she didn't have any.
"No. I can just... feel it. Within three days, maybe two... something will come here."
Feel it. If she could feel it then it could only be one thing, something tied to the visions she was having. The whole reason they came here was to see if they could unearth something about her visions anyway so some information coming to them wasn't exactly a bad thing. But that was precisely why Mei Kongxu looked at Li Yang with a strong gaze.
"We need to be careful, you know that, right?"
They had come here to look for information, the important thing to take away from that sentence was that it was their choice to come here. They thought, they decided, and then they moved. But now something was coming to them, and that meant that it was likely by the choice of someone else, it was something they couldn't control. As such, they needed to be very careful with it, especially if it turned out that Mei Kongxu had a past life that was similar to Li Yangs.
How many enemies did the Pristine Tyrant have? Or what about the other lives, how many would love to ensure that a being like that never rose again? And if Mei Kongxu was the same? Li Yang may have rejected the past memories, but this was an unreasonable world so it was only to be expected that there would be many who would want to kill him if they learned the truth. So, now that someone else had made the choice, they needed to be careful.
"Don't worry, I can't enjoy my beautiful wifey and the hundreds of other Fairy Sisters that this world has to offer if I'm dead you know, I'm going to live long enough to enjoy myself thoroughly. But this is also a good chance, this is the first time we've found something that might be a living clue, we'll have to keep our eyes peeled. While also staying careful of course."
An early death, a pointless death. Gods, how boring wouldn't that be? He'd be as bad as those he mocks if he suffered that. Not to mention, he'd never manage to reach the peak if he was dead, and he'd never get to laugh at all those painfully dull people that were always oh-so-serious as they threw away everything they had just to cultivate a bit further. And that, that would be unforgivable.
"The tracks are getting clearer, we're close."
Xingguang's voice cut through the forest after the group had walked for a few minutes, the air around her tensing up along with her body. There were still footprints on the ground so it at least didn't look like something had just dragged along a body to produce these tracks, that meant that there was a chance that they were still alive.
The rest of the group also tensed up slightly, at least those on the lookout for beasts that might ambush them. Their pace was picked up slightly until Xingguang finally found the end of the tracks, a short yet wide tree, easily wide enough to need seven men to hold hands to circle it. A small hole had been crudely carved into the very base of the trunk, just big enough to fit a young person if they crawled to get in.
"Junior Sister Jue Ji, are you there?"
Xingguang called out, but her voice was subdued and she crouched down, clearly wary of any ambushers that might be lurking in the area. She crept closer to the hole, a sharp gaze observing her surroundings.
"Senior Sister Xingguang?"
Just as she was about to get close enough to see into the hole, a weary and raspy voice leaked out from within. Li Yang obviously hadn't heard the voice before, but judging by how Xingguang lit up it was probably who she was looking for. But just as Xingguang skipped forward in joy, the voice came from within the tree again, more rushed and panicked this time.
"It's a trap, Senior Sister! By the gods, it's a trap, please run!"
There was a small rushing sound that cut through the air as the voice was warning them, but the sound practically merged into the wind so it was nearly imperceptible. Li Yang saw Mei Kongxu's arm reach out as he turned his head, a subdued clinking sound reaching his ears.
Nearly invisible crystalline arrows covered in long grooves had arrived right by them, blocked by Mei Kongxu and her law of twisting. They weren't the only ones attacked at the same time, a few groans coming from the rest of the group as two or three failed to dodge. But most of the arrows came for Li Yang and Mei Kongxu, likely owing to the fact that they were at the very rear.
"Ah, thank you. I actually mean it for once."
He spoke to her, but Mei Kongxu momentarily ignored him because of the lopsided smirk on his face. But for once, he did in fact mean it sincerely. He would have been able to defend against the arrows on his own, she probably knew that too. But even so, she had gone out of her way to block for him as well and for that, he would have to sincerely thank her.
She stopped up for a second when she glanced at his eyes and saw that he was actually being sincere, the smirk had probably just engraved itself on his face at this point. She was slightly taken aback because his moments of sincerity and seriousness were few and far between, but she knew when to capitalize on something.
"You don't have any proper ranged capabilities so you can show your sincerity by blocking the attacks coming my way while I focus on weeding them out."
It wasn't her favourite thing to admit it, but Li Yang was strong in close-quarters combat, he had the technique to amplify his strength. His ranged attacks however left a lot to be desired, it was only to be expected when he geared his laws more towards his close-quarters combat style. The corner of Li Yang's lips twitched for a moment before his hand reached out, gravity in front of them lightening so that the incoming arrows rose above them.
"Ah, my dear wifey has learned how to hit where it hurts. It would warm my heart if you weren't using it on me right now. But very well, what sort of hubby would I be if I didn't defend my wifey?"
Ranged capabilities... yes, he had neglected them he couldn't deny that. Force, Speed, Gravity, it wasn't exactly that they couldn't be used for ranged attacks, it was all just a matter of application in the end. But they didn't particularly excel in it, even if he did use the proper application. His hand moved again, tapping against the side of an arrow that pierced through his gravity and blasting it aside.
The others in the group were already busying themselves with taking care of the wounded and taking down the attackers, who made great use of the surrounding forest to hide. Li Yang, however, started to quietly think about what law he should look for to cover up his lack of proper ranged options. And all the while, both sides were unaware of the figure crouched within some bushes, a tilted head curiously looking at them.
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