Volume 1, Chapter 161 – Bait

On the warship’s deck, Shi Lan sat astride her horse, with a hundred mounted martial artists behind her. These were one hundred Innate Realm martial artists Bai Weiyang had reassigned.

Bai Weiyang still would not let Shi Lan go alone. Leaving aside that a lone figure was too small a target and not weighty enough as bait, as long as the people on this warship were not all dead, how could they let a woman go out by herself as bait?

Dozens of sealed wooden barrels, along with more than a dozen large buckets of clear water, were carried up onto the deck by over ten Demon-Suppressing Army soldiers.

“Bang—”

The lids of the barrels were pried open one after another, and a faint, somewhat strange fragrance spread out.

Inside the barrels was a pale gray powder. The Demon-Suppressing Army soldiers poured the powder into the water buckets. After stirring it to dissolve, they splashed the liquid over Shi Lan and the others.

Once the powder met water, the faint fragrance gradually faded, no longer as noticeable as before.

The Demon-Suppressing Army and the demon race had been fighting since ancient times. When it came to dealing with the demon race, they naturally had their own methods.

This pale gray powder was refined from the essence of a second-grade spiritual material called Soul-Luring Grass, mixed with dozens of other ingredients. Its attraction to demon beasts at the Innate Realm and below was exceedingly strong.

However, this powder had no effect on high-level demon beasts. It was only used when hunting low-level demon beasts.

The Demon-Suppressing Army rarely took the initiative to attack. Most of their effort was spent clearing beast hordes close to the border. This powder was not used very often, and the stock they had on hand by now was already quite low.

…

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On the first level of the warship, Bai Weiyang summoned Ren Kaiyang, Lü Anqing, and several other Commanders of Ten Thousand, as well as Lei Wuji and Lin Yusheng, the strongest two fighters aboard, into her quiet room.

After they received the orders to finish readying all troops and, once the bait set out, lie in wait to launch a surprise attack on the beast horde, Ren Kaiyang and the others were all somewhat puzzled.

“General, wasn’t this just supposed to be a probe? Are you planning to launch a full-scale battle directly?” Ren Kaiyang asked, confused.

“That demon king will think the same way. A probe doesn’t mean we can’t start a battle,” Bai Weiyang said calmly. “Right now, the upper-end combat strength of the demon race is far above that of our human race, and they move around a great deal. There are too many unstable factors. The longer we drag this out, the more variables there will be.”

As she spoke, Bai Weiyang looked toward Lei Wuji and Lin Yusheng.

“Capture the ringleader first. This time, I would like the two of you to act together with me and kill this demon king, aiding the main army in catching the beast horde off guard and crushing it as quickly as possible before the other two beast hordes can react.”

“We obey the order.”

“In this battle, Shi Lan’s unit will be temporarily taken off the deployment roster. Just pull out those few Earth Fiend Realm martial artists from it,” Bai Weiyang said.

Her divine sense swept across the deck. Looking at Shi Lan and the others, she let out a regretful sigh. She had not originally intended to put Shi Lan in the position of bait. On the battlefield where they were breaking the beast hordes, Shi Lan’s strength could play a role far greater than that of a mere bait.

Moreover, with Shi Lan serving as bait, he had one less Commander of a Thousand in his hand, and his control over the battlefield was undoubtedly a bit weaker. The reason he had rejected those Commanders of a Thousand when they volunteered earlier was also this.

If a demon king that had taken human form could so easily leave its beast horde, it would not be a demon king. And in a time of open war between the two races, these demon kings, already cunning by nature, would only be even more cautious.

This so-called “bait” was nothing more than a smokescreen. The danger was far less than everyone imagined. But unfortunately, those martial artists all wanted to protect themselves, and in the end, not a single man had the courage that a woman did.

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Bai Weiyang’s decision to use Shi Lan this time carried more than a little hint of quiet satire.

…

More than half an hour later, the warship reached the predetermined location. Shi Lan and the others quickly went down from the warship along the golden light.

All around them was an endless, vast grassland. A few scattered hills rose here and there, but among the sea of green, they were not very eye-catching.

In the sky not far away floated a familiar demon cloud, very conspicuous.

“That man called Jiyun has followed you the whole way. Right now he’s watching you from just over twenty li to the southeast.”

Shi Lan had run toward that demon cloud for less than a quarter of an hour when Samsara’s voice suddenly sounded in her mind.

Hearing that the man called Jiyun was right behind her, Shi Lan’s heart settled. Although that old man was somewhat headache-inducing, his cultivation was truly at the Heaven-Man Realm.

With such a great expert following behind her, the safety of this trip was already assured. There were some things she could now do with an easy mind.

The distance between Shi Lan’s group and the demon beasts shrank rapidly. The noisy roars of the beasts drew closer from far away.

When the group stepped within thirty li of that demon cloud, the beastly roars grew even more frenzied. The earth began to tremble. The previously still grassland suddenly billowed with rolling dust, and shattered grasses and branches were flung high into the air.

…

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“Your Majesty, there is a group of humans, about a hundred or so, approaching us,” a pitch-black giant python over a hundred zhang long said respectfully. It flicked its tongue as it spoke to a golden-haired man who was lying on the grass, a spiritual fruit between his teeth.

“Crack—”

The man bit into the spiritual fruit. His divine sense surged out like a tide. After sensing the group of rapidly approaching figures, he shook his head.

“The strongest among them is only at the early Earth Fiend Realm, and the rest are Innate Realm. They’re human scouts. Not worth worrying about. Go and kill them.”

“Your Majesty, there’s something off mixed into these humans’ scent. It has quite a strong effect on the beast horde below,” the giant python said slowly.

“Oh?” The golden-haired man raised an eyebrow. His nostrils flared slightly. A few breaths later, he shook his head. “It’s nothing. Just Soul-Luring Grass mixed with some spiritual materials that boost its medicinal power. A small trick, nothing that can be put on the table. It can only tempt brainless creatures.”

The golden-haired man narrowed his eyes. A streak of light flashed in his pale golden pupils. “So the humans plan to wear us down?”

“This is?!”

All of a sudden, the golden-haired man’s expression changed drastically. His pupils shrank, and his gaze turned blazing hot.

…

Listening to the heavy pounding of hooves in her ears, Shi Lan tightened the reins, turned her horse around, and galloped back the way she had come. At the same time, she flipped her wrist and took out the Spirit-Transforming Pill.

Without the constraints of a quiet room, the tide of spiritual qi stirred up by the Spirit-Transforming Pill was even more terrifying. Spiritual mist coiled around it, and faint visions began to emerge.

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The system’s quest was to lure this demon king out. Naturally, Shi Lan had to take out something that could make the demon king’s heart move if she wanted to achieve her goal.

…

The golden-haired man’s burning gaze quickly cooled again. He could feel that the pill in the hand of that leading figure would be of immense use to him. But how could such a treasure possibly be in the hands of someone so weak?

Humans were always full of schemes. This was very likely an attempt to draw the snake out of its hole and lure the tiger from its mountain.

With that thought, the golden-haired man instinctively wanted to call on his two nominal “kin” who were not far from here.

But as soon as he took a step, he hesitated again. There was only one pill. How were three of them supposed to share it? For a treasure like this, expecting the other two to yield was pure fantasy.

Feeling that group drawing farther and farther away, decisiveness flashed in the golden-haired man’s eyes. At a distance of only thirty li, even counting the time needed to kill and seize the treasure, he would not need even a cup of tea’s time.

“Whoosh—”

A wild gust of wind swept past. A dazzling golden light flared as a pair of massive golden wings unfurled from the man’s back.

Space rippled. With a faint beat of those wings, the golden-haired man’s figure vanished from the center of the beast horde.