Trell's Trap

Before the maid could react, Minos already made his way to the door, opening it to reveal a familiar face.

This was one of the many people Minos had purposely hired to keep a lookout for Yola, and finally after months of working, one of them succeeded.

"Merth, Merth, I found her!" The man said with excitement, still thinking about the reward Merth promised for the first person to spot her.

"Oh? Where did she go? As long as I catch her, that reward is yours." Minos said, his eyes stern.

The man wanted to ask for the reward right away, but seeing Minos's dagger-like eyes, he could only forcefully swallow his words, deciding to trust Minos's word.

"She was heading towards Abyss Cliff, as long as you leave now, you should be able to catch her before she can get away!" The man said quickly, not wanting to delay.

"Good, I'll be back soon, and hopefully your words are true, otherwise…" Minos didn't say anything, only gently placing his hand on the man's shoulder before slightly gripping.

"Ahh ahh, mercy mercy! No need to worry, Merth, I wouldn't lie about something like this." The man groaned.

"I trust you. I'll be back quickly then." Minos replied, before turning to his maid.

"Treat my guest well until I come back."

"Ahh, of course Master Merth. This gentleman, please come in!" The maid said, guiding the man inside as Minos headed out towards Abyss Cliff.

…

After taking his horse from the stable boy, Minos headed directly towards Abyss Cliff. Once he exited the city, he began recalling all the information he knew about Abyss Cliff.

It wasn't very far from where the sect was established, however its deadly nature earned it its title, with no one who ever fell down it ever coming back alive.

Below Abyss Cliff was the Abyss Forest Range, which was another popular hunting ground, but was also known to house Inner Heaven Realm beasts within its core.

It was one of the very few places in the area capable of nurturing Inner Heaven Realm demon beasts, which also meant it was one of the few places one could acquire Inner Heaven grade resources.

Even its outer ring was dense with demon beasts and all sorts of riches needed for Mortal Renewal cultivators, making the entire Abyss Forest Range a treasure trove.

It was likely the main reason why the Thousand Split Sword Sect was established so close, allowing the cultivators to take advantage of this proximity to further strengthen themselves.

Minos had yet to actually travel to the Abyss Forest Range, however, but if he had a chance in the future he would naturally check it out.

After making sure he was far away enough from the sect, Minos pulled his Diving Eagle back out from his spatial ring.

He was naturally aware that this was a conspiracy, but what exactly the trap was, he still wasn't sure, fortunately he had built his Diving Eagle at the perfect time.

The Diving Eagles greatest purpose was to serve as a scout, being able to send alerts down along the puppet string and to Minos.

Minos was curious to know if he could just directly build a device into the Diving Eagles eyes that could record what it saw, and then send that information back to him, but for now he had to stick to this archaic method.

Controlling the Diving Eagle to leap into the sky, Minos played around with it for a bit to make sure his control was good enough, before sending it further into the sky.

The Diving Eagle quickly took to the skies, soaring further and further up. Once Minos felt it reached a reasonable height, he stopped it, now having it circle the sky to keep an eye out.

It didn't take much time for a slight vibration to come back down from the puppet string, directly into Minos's finger, signaling to him that the Diving Eagle had seen something.

Soon that vibration turned to two, then three, and eventually more than a dozen, letting Minos know there were at least a dozen creatures in the surroundings.

The Diving Eagle couldn't actually tell the difference between demon beasts and humans, and would only send a vibration back once it saw any sort of life, but it was better than nothing.

Considering how close this area was to the sect, it was very unlikely there were any demon beasts here, much less a dozen of them, so it went without saying that these were Trell's men.

He still wasn't aware of what Trell's plan was, but seeing how many men he had prepared, it was definitely not a one on one battle.

Minos naturally wouldn't head directly where Yola was, instead he first wanted to get rid of the onlookers, such that this final battle was more interesting.

With the alert sent by his Diving Eagle, Minos soon found the person closest to him. The person was leaning on a massive Bow Cannon as he waited for Trells signal.

The second Minos saw the Bow Cannon, he knew what Trell's plan was, coupled with the location choice being Abyss Cliff, Minos quickly put all the clues together to recreate Trell's thought process.

He couldn't help but appreciate his cleverness, unfortunately he had done all this on the basis that his enemy was Merth, who wasn't exactly known for being the smartest.

But his true enemy was Minos, who would never fall for such a juvenile trap. Minos couldn't help but chuckle slightly, before heading towards the man who was close to dozing off.

The man was clearly not yet in the late stages of Mortal Renewal, and his senses weren't much stronger then normal humans, which allowed Minos to quietly sneak up behind him.

He had long since left his horse behind far out of hearing range, not wanting to let anyone know of his arrival yet.

After reaching close enough, Minos suddenly shot his arm out, putting the man into a chokehold before he could even react.

Given the massive disparity in strength between the two of them, the man could only flail like a chicken, his face going red as he used all his power to escape Minos's grip.

His struggles would soon prove worthless, and his flailing body began weakening, eventually coming to a stand still.

Minos could hear the man's heart come to a complete stop, confirming his death. Gently placing his body back onto the ground, Minos headed towards his next target.

While he could have used his sword and ended their lives in a single slash, that would have also been very bloody.

Given Trell's cultivation, once the scent of blood began dispersing in the area, it wouldn't take long for Trell to be alerted, which Minos naturally didn't want.

Meaning he could only choose to kill in a bloodless way, hence choking was naturally the first choice, and it also had the benefit of silencing his enemies, not giving them a chance to scream and alert others.

Using the same technique as he did on the first man on the second, Minos once again gently laid another corpse onto the muddy floor.

With this method, Minos headed through the trees from person to person, leaving a corpse behind every time.

Soon enough his kill count reached a dozen or so, and after sending his Diving Eagle back into the sky, he only got two alerts, meaning he had already gotten rid of most of the problem.

He was aware of Trell, but considering the Diving Eagles alerts, he knew this second person was also close to Trell, likely standing right beside him.

The only question is who exactly was so close to Trell, and what was their strength like? Minos didn't know Trell, but he knew enough.

There were only a handful of Ninth Layer Mortal Renewal cultivators in the sect, and Trell wasn't likely to work with any of them for fear of having his treasure stolen.

Which meant that at best, this person was only at the Eighth Layer of Mortal Renewal, of course that wasn't guaranteed, but Minos felt pretty confident in such an assumption.

Worst case scenario, he could use a levitation talisman to jump directly off Abyss Cliff, hence he already had a perfect escape route planned out.

With that, he no longer worried too much about who this second person was, instead deciding to just see first hand.

After walking for a little longer, the trees began dispersing, and soon enough a massive cliff came into sight.

The cliff overlooked an endless forest range that seemed to go on forever. After appreciating the view for a moment, Minos turned his head, finally seeing Yola, who was exhausted and breathing heavily by the cliffside.

Yola also noticed 'Merth,' her face going pale in fear. She tried crawling away as Minos got closer, but she no longer seemed to have the strength.

Each of Minos's steps was like an explosion going off in her heart, and finally Minos was directly above her. With one hand, he lifted up her body, bringing her head right next to his.

"Yola, I don't recall this being part of the plan." Minos said as he leaned in and whispered in her ear, making sure no one else could hear him.

"Forgive me Master! They forced me." Yola said between tears.

"Fire!" Before Minos could even reply, he heard a loud shout come out from the forest. Yola wasn't sure of Trell's entire trap, but given how close she was to 'Merth' at the moment, anything meant to kill him would surely do the same for her.

Her body went completely limp as she realized this fact, knowing that in the very next moment, her death would be secured.

But as Yola waited for death, nothing happened. Confused, she opened her tightly sealed eyes, only seeing Minos with the same gentle smile he always had.

"It's good to be alive, isn't it?" Minos said directly to Yola.