Chapter 46: Treachery from Within

Chapter 46: Treachery from Within

Li Yan had set up a trap on the mountainside platform, a kind typically used by hunters to capture large demonic beasts. To say "capture" is generous, this was more of an execution trap.

He had arrived two days early. According to his calculations, he had roughly a day and a night to prepare. Unexpectedly, due to Strategist Ji's naturally suspicious nature and tendency to overanalyze everything, he overlooked the very clues Li Yan deliberately left behind.

The silk map was intentionally left by Li Yan. Judging by current events, Strategist Ji had indeed mistaken it for something Li Yan had accidentally left behind in his haste to flee.

After leaving the city and entering the mountains that day, Li Yan began creating various false trails and disguises along the path, with the goal of confusing Strategist Ji and buying more time for himself.

Once at this location, he spent nearly half a day selecting two spots to set his ambushes.

On the platform, what caught his eye was the massive boulder. The boulder, weathered by years of wind and sun, had loosened slightly from the ground, though it was still deeply embedded due to its weight.

Li Yan brought two stone pillars, each as thick as a baby's arm, from the mountains and used simple tools he had prepared in advance, among them, the sinew of a demonic beast.

Of course, he hadn't been sure what kind of terrain he'd find here, so he'd done his best to prepare thoroughly based on the map.

The tools, too bulky to purchase outright without raising suspicion, were mixed in with farm tools and bought gradually in separate trips.

His black robe was oversized. After many secret tests, he figured out just how much he could conceal within it without arousing suspicion from his escorts, Chen An and Li Yin.

Once he picked the spot, he slowly hollowed out the area beneath the boulder and used the two stone pillars to hold it in a precarious balance.

He then tied one end of the demonic beast sinew to a main rope extended from the two stone pillars.

The next step was to tighten the sinew, hiding most of it in the gap beneath the boulder, with only a small portion visible, looking for all the world like a "Strong Foot Crossbow" ready to fire.

He had seen this mechanism in a military camp once and decided to adapt it here.

Then, from this sinew rope, he extended a looped cord, looping the other end back and tying it to the top of the boulder. So when someone reached to remove the "Strong Foot Crossbow" under the boulder, it would be like triggering the mechanism themselves, disturbing the balance.

The boulder, having been hollowed toward the cliff side, would then slide off rapidly. This would tighten the rope loop; anything caught in it would be hoisted up and dragged down with the falling boulder into the ravine.

Each link in this trap had to work in perfect harmony, any mistake and it would fail.

The hardest parts were twofold: first, Li Yan occasionally had to sit atop the boulder himself. During those times, he couldn't disturb the supports beneath, or he would be dragged down with it.

The second challenge was timing the spilling of water, when to tip over the water pouches so the spillage would just happen to soak the beast sinew, all without arousing suspicion.

When Strategist Ji had seen the water pouches earlier on the platform, he grew suspicious. Shaking each bag, he noticed they were all still half full or more.

After some thought, he understood that this was part of Li Yan's ploy. After all, no one drinks from every water bag, they usually open one and keep drinking from it before moving to the next.

But one thing puzzled Strategist Ji: Li Yan couldn't have known exactly when he would arrive. Strategist Ji hadn't acted immediately upon arriving either, he'd waited a long time.

Yet the water bags seemed to have only been tipped once. If Li Yan had done it multiple times, Strategist Ji might have grown suspicious. So how did Li Yan time it just right?

He couldn't figure it out, but he was sure Li Yan had used the water bags repeatedly to lure him in.

After hearing Li Yan's words, Strategist Ji fell silent. He stood and walked over to Li Yan. By now, he had recovered enough spiritual energy to perform the Spirit Absorption Technique. He didn't want to waste time talking, too much risk of something going wrong.

Standing in front of Li Yan and with only his right hand usable, he pulled Li Yan up and propped him against a tree.

Once Li Yan was settled, Strategist Ji sat cross-legged beside him and tapped Li Yan a few times. Li Yan immediately felt his body loosen, his restraints undone.

Just as he was about to make a move, a large hand clamped down on the top of his head. A powerful suction erupted from it, and all the strength in his body vanished in an instant.

Li Yan felt the spiritual energy in his dantian qi sea surge uncontrollably toward the top of his head and was instantly alarmed.

Strategist Ji had to remove the restraints to allow the spiritual energy to flow freely for him to draw it out. He wasn't afraid of Li Yan resisting, so long as he had one hand on Li Yan's crown acupoint, Li Yan was helpless.

Li Yan panicked. He knew his life was hanging by a thread. If Strategist Ji kept drawing his energy like this, in less than half a quarter-hour, he would be completely drained and die.

In his shock and anxiety, his thoughts grew chaotic, and his spiritual energy surged even faster.

"Only one chance left. If I die, you're dying with me!"

Fierce resolve flared within Li Yan. He decided to reverse the nature of his spiritual energy, transforming all of it into fire-attribute energy.

This decision came from repeated experimentation. Strategist Ji cultivated a technique called Dark Night Cyan Curtain, which was wood-based, so he needed wood-element energy to help him break through.

In his regular cultivation, Li Yan had discovered that only wood-attribute energy would interact calmly with the suppressed fire poison near his dantian. Other attributes, especially fire, agitated it severely, likely because they shared the same elemental nature.

In desperation, Li Yan resolved to convert all his energy into fire-attributed energy. Once absorbed by Strategist Ji, it would trigger the fire poison in his body, throwing his energy into chaos.

The result: even if Strategist Ji didn't die on the spot, he likely wouldn't live much longer.

The only risk was this: Strategist Ji would sense the wrong energy attribute the moment he absorbed it. In anger, he might immediately exert pressure on Li Yan's crown, killing him before the poison took effect.

Just then, the sound of swift wind-cutting footsteps rushed from the forest. Two figures flew toward them, robes flapping in the air.

"Haha! Little brother Li, don't worry. I'm here."

As the voice rang out, the two figures landed in front of them. It was Hong Linying and his burly junior brother.

Strategist Ji was startled. He quickly stabilized his energy, but his hand remained pressed to the top of Li Yan's head.

"Strategist Ji, would you say we arrived just in time?"

Hong Linying asked as he came to a stop.

"It's you two? Hmph, such impressive concealment techniques. I searched several li around just now and didn't detect anything unusual. How did you manage that?"

Strategist Ji kept one hand on Li Yan's crown point, speaking without even turning his head.

At this moment, he felt both shocked and furious, this development had come at the most critical time.

Just earlier, to ensure his absorption of spiritual power wouldn't be interrupted, he had searched the nearby area thoroughly. Other than a few small animals and birds in the trees, he found nothing that posed a threat.

"Oh? It seems you already know about my junior brother? In that case, Strategist Ji, it's you who are truly clever, pretending not to know all along."

Hong Linying replied with a counter-question, having picked up from Strategist Ji's words that he seemed aware of his junior's presence.

"So what brings Marshal Hong here? Spying on the training of me and my disciple?"

Strategist Ji also deflected with his own counter-question.

"Haha… What a thing to say, Strategist Ji. We merely admire your sect's techniques. Might we have a look at your sect's secret manual? Considering the current situation, I imagine you're not in a position to refuse?"

Hong Linying became more direct, tearing off the pretense altogether.

"I didn't expect Marshal Hong to have such keen eyes. You want to see our manual? That's not impossible, but I don't carry it with me. How about I return to my manor at dawn to retrieve it for you?"

That Hong Linying arrived neither early nor late, just as Strategist Ji had activated the Spiritual Absorption Technique, meant his timing was nearly flawless.

Once the technique was initiated, it couldn't be stopped, or else it would cause severe backlash. Fortunately, he had only just begun channeling it and could still stabilize the energy flow, but not for long.

Hong Linying knew that even with his junior brother, the two of them together wouldn't be a match for Strategist Ji. So they had taken great caution on this trip.

They also knew one vital fact: in the world of martial cultivation, interrupting someone during healing or energy channeling could lead to dire consequences, anything from severe injury to death from internal deviation.

Therefore, even though they had arranged with Li Yan to strike together, Hong Linying had no intention of acting immediately. He had waited patiently until Strategist Ji captured Li Yan and began healing. Once that happened, all would fall into place.

They were fully aware of Strategist Ji's immense power and dared not approach too closely. But all they needed was to observe his actions from afar.

Strategist Ji, a cultivator at the third level of the Qi Condensation, couldn't send his spiritual sense too far beyond his body. Though his eyes were sharp, he couldn't guard against everything.

When he had gone out to scout, Hong Linying and his junior had retreated. Once he returned, they slowly closed in again.

And the moment he activated the Spiritual Absorption Technique, the two exchanged a glance and revealed themselves.

"How about this, then? Why not recite a few sections of the manual aloud now, so that my junior and I might study them?"

Hong Linying, bald head gleaming, rejected the proposal outright.

"Haha… It seems Marshal Hong doesn't trust me. I am currently training with my disciple, perhaps a bit later?"

Strategist Ji already felt the spiritual power in his body starting to surge violently.

"I-it's… on… the waist…"

A hoarse voice spoke up, it was Li Yan. After circulating his energy for a long while, he had barely managed to resist the suction at his crown point and speak.

"Oh!"

Hong Linying and his junior turned their eyes to Strategist Ji's waist. There, fastened to his belt, was a piece of jade book that glowed faintly in the night, clearly no ordinary object.

They exchanged a glance, then suddenly leapt into action. Up until now, they had kept some distance out of fear of Strategist Ji.

Now, their bodies moved like the wind. The burly junior struck at Strategist Ji's back, while Hong Linying formed a claw with his hand and reached for the jade book at Strategist Ji's waist.

As he moved, Hong Linying shouted:

"Strategist Ji, since you won't hand it over, I'll just come take it myself, how's that!"

There was a thunderous undertone in his voice, he had secretly activated the Buddhist technique Lion's Roar.

These two were seasoned martial veterans, familiar with deadly combat. They knew that disturbing someone in the midst of cultivation was a surefire way to throw them into chaos. So as they attacked, they also unleashed their inner energy to disturb Strategist Ji's mind.

Strategist Ji, having lost one arm and the other still pressed to Li Yan's crown, had no way to block the incoming attack.

Yet he remained facing away from them, expressionless and still speaking:

"I've already scouted this area thoroughly. You two must not have ambushed this place with him in advance. You could only have followed behind me from a distance, observing my every move. But how did you manage to stay on my trail the whole time?"

(Chapter End)