Though scouting was perilous work, a scout carried immense sway.
A single word from the Jin youth had essentially sealed the fate of the caller.
Namuzha immediately chimed in, "I have no objection!"
He couldn't sense the other party's true situation in the slightest, so naturally he threw his unconditional support behind his teammate.
Their own safety came first. As for whether that person out there was human or Guizu, what did it matter to him?
Instructor Hong nodded. "Good. Unless we can be a hundred percent certain it's human, we don't lift a finger!"
No one disputed the order. Still, upon hearing it, Namuzha cast a subtle, sidelong glance at the youth beside him.
No wonder Hong Da had forbidden revealing his identity. Otherwise, this scene alone might have provoked suspicions.
Could this Jin hostage seize such opportunities to intentionally sabotage Liang warriors?
*Forget it, forget it. Don't overthink it,* he told himself. *Even if he sabotages someone, better them than us falling into a trap.*
It took them two full days to finally reach the vicinity of their previous main camp.
Even though the route was familiar, it had taken twice as long this time.
Along the way, they had slain eight Guizu-transformed creatures, and that was without actively seeking trouble.
Yet they had only harvested a single Guizu relic—an elemental one, which was relatively common.
Such an income-to-expenditure ratio basically ensured they wouldn't operate at a loss, but it was far from making a massive profit.
The cave they had excavated last time was still there, though the surrounding Guizu-transformed vines felt considerably stronger.
"Dig a cache and bury some supplies," Instructor Hong instructed once more. "This place isn't suitable as a main camp."
In her plan, this spot could only serve as one of their hidden caches, set aside for emergencies.
Hong Da didn't even intend to establish a main camp. "...A main base doesn't make much sense. Where was that Guizu aura pillar you scouted last time?"
A team backed by a grand knight possessed an entirely different level of confidence. What she meant was that wherever the team went, they would build a temporary camp on the spot.
Beyond that, burying supplies in a few locations as temporary replenishment points for unexpected needs would suffice.
It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, yet no one questioned it.
Battles between humans and Guizu had never followed rigid rules; whatever worked was best.
Wu Youren took the lead, guiding everyone toward the Guizu aura pillar. Having led the way last time, he was already thoroughly familiar with the terrain.
He even emphasized, "There are quite a few Guizu-transformed birds around here. They're easier to hunt than outside—a rare opportunity... Huh?"
The Guizu aura pillar he saw this time was thicker by twenty percent compared to before, and more importantly, it was steadily rising higher!
The surrounding Guizu relics and entities had increased considerably as well.
About seven or eight kilometers from the aura pillar, Instructor Hong selected a spot. "We'll build the camp right here."
This time, she made the call herself without asking the Jin youth for scouting assistance.
A senior instructor still needed to preserve her dignity, after all.
Wu Youren said nothing, merely nodding slightly. A grand knight was a grand knight; once she got serious, her site selection was indeed superb.
With seven knights in the team, constructing a camp was effortless. Just three people working were enough to keep it swift and discreet.
The rest handled guard duty, vigilance, and the like... Every responsibility had someone assigned to it.
Wu Youren finally understood what it felt like when people said, *In all my life, I've never fought such an affluent battle.*
Unfortunately, he couldn't remain a mere spectator. Once the earthworks were finished, it was his turn to step in and set up mechanisms.
On the bright side, one of the newly arrived knights was also an expert in mechanisms and traps.
She was a woman named Daiqisi, looking not much older than Ailin.
Wu Youren couldn't help feeling a bit curious: just how much did Liang people look down on trap craft that only women seemed to study it?
Of course, he kept the thought to himself. Instructor Hong was also a woman, and that fist of hers... was something he had no desire to experience.
Still, it had to be said that Daiqisi's mastery in setting up mechanisms was truly formidable.
Not only was she better than Ailin, but she was also slightly ahead of him.
She possessed solid, systematic knowledge that was remarkably comprehensive.
Fortunately, Wu Youren wasn't inferior across the board; when it came to practical trap placement for real combat, he had a slight edge.
It felt like the difference between an orthodox sect disciple and a rogue cultivator.
Once the camp was settled, the squad began hunting Guizu-transformed creatures. No one dared touch the mutating Guizu aura pillar.
Everyone chose directions leading away from the pillar.
The hunts were conducted with strict discipline, split into two squads.
Before heading out, Instructor Hong would have Wu Youren sense which directions were relatively safe.
The others raised no objections.
Almost imperceptibly, everyone had come to assume that the ability the youth was about to awaken was of the sensory type.
The two squads hunted Guizu creatures with tremendous efficiency. Under the aegis of a grand knight, even inching closer to the aura pillar was nothing to fear.
Among the six new knights, there were actually two archers, one of whom was a woman with extraordinary marksmanship.
Instructor Hong clearly had an agenda of her own. She didn't explain it in detail, only giving specific arrangements.
She suggested that her knights prioritize hunting Guizu-transformed birds whenever circumstances allowed.
The knights guessed part of the reason, but none spoke it aloud—following orders was enough, and it gave them a chance to broaden their horizons.
Hunting birds, however, was noticeably more difficult. Occasionally, a bird on the brink of death would plunge toward the Guizu aura pillar.
Fortunately, with Instructor Hong present as a grand knight, she could land the finishing blow at critical moments, preventing any mishaps.
The Jin youth didn't participate in the hunts. He had another vital assignment: observing any unusual activity in the Guizu aura pillar!
As Instructor Hong put it: *With me around, just focus on sensing danger.*
Wu Youren didn't mind. The hunts took place nearby, so one way or another, he could always leech a bit of experience points.
The Guizu relics harvested by the group would eventually be converted into funds, and he would receive a share.
Though his was the lowest cut, and he didn't receive kill bonuses for gear drops, he wasn't particularly strapped for cash anymore; getting any share was fine.
More importantly, during intervals between sentry duties, he had plenty of leisure time to carefully study the shifts in his experience points.
With so many teammates present, he had to be cautious in his cultivation and couldn't openly adopt training stances.
Most of the time, he preferred to hold back rather than rush to absorb the warm currents in his body, lest someone notice anything amiss—too many watchful eyes were around.
Before long, he made an unexpected discovery: if the experience points in his body weren't absorbed promptly, they naturally dissipated after a period of time.
If explained through the lens of fortune, it made a twisted kind of sense—*Young man, the opportunity was given to you, but you failed to seize it!*
Fortunately, the experience points he gained now came intermittently and in small amounts, so losing a little didn't pain him too much.
In the blink of an eye, five days passed, and the group had actually harvested eleven Guizu relics.
Such efficiency was extraordinarily high. It was almost as if they hadn't entered the Guizu domain to eradicate the Guizu, but had come on a specialized looting expedition.
Starting from the sixth day, their efficiency began to drop, as someone was injured, followed by another suffering Guizu aura corruption.
Fortunately, neither case was severe, and a day or two of rest was enough to recover.
On the eleventh day, while the female archer was lying in wait for a Guizu-transformed bird, she suddenly noticed an unusual movement in the white mist overhead.
The next instant, Wu Youren's voice came through the wrist-comms.
Using the intercom function, he warned, "Careful! An unknown danger may be descending from above. I recommend falling back to camp!"
"Retreat!" Instructor Hong ordered without hesitation. "Abandon the prey you're pursuing!"
Namuzha's squad fell back a little more slowly because they were in the middle of surrounding a horned lizard!
They gave it up decisively, but the horned lizard was already seeing red and pursued them relentlessly.
Moreover, they couldn't retreat in a straight line back to camp, as that might draw even more Guizu-transformed creatures and Guizu.
By the time they wound their way back, two hours had passed, and that was only thanks to Instructor Hong going out to cover them.
When they entered the camp, dozens of fist-sized tiger-head hornets—also Guizu-transformed—trailed closely behind them.
Most were at the level of apprentice knights, with only two having reached the knight realm.
Killing them wasn't difficult, but it took time and risked drawing even greater threats.
They rushed into the camp, and the scent of ghost-dispelling powder immediately made the pursuing hornets falter.
Yet the creatures refused to leave, circling restlessly above and around the perimeter.
After days of continuous fortification, the camp featured firing slits as well as netting mechanisms.
"Take them out!" Namuzha barked irritably. The retreat had been utterly humiliating.
At the same moment, however, several people looked up through the observation slits toward the sky.
The sky had originally been a hazy expanse of mist, but now it had darkened slightly.
Yet this darkness carried a faint translucence, unlike normal storm clouds.
It was as though the other side of the sky were pure black.
Amidst this sprawling darkness, distinct distorted ripples were flowing or... squirming?
The entire sky was squirming, faintly converging toward the northwest.
Not far away, the top of the Guizu aura pillar also seemed to be drifting millimeter by millimeter, swaying and stretching toward the northwest.
Observing the sky from inside the camp, their field of view was somewhat restricted.
Even so, everyone could still see that the northwestern sky was violently oscillating and twisting, emitting a bizarre cadence.
It exerted an elusive pressure, alongside an intensely eerie, sinister sensation.
It was as if some terrifying entity were about to pierce through the heavens and descend.
"Is it... growing?" Instructor Hong murmured softly, unclear as to what she was referring to.
The next instant, a bizarre sound echoed, vast and omnipresent, its syllables following a rhythmic pattern like a chanted incantation.
With the sound's emergence, the distortions in the northwest gradually coalesced into an enormous mass of ripples, quivering faintly without pause.
The center of this mass trembled most violently, and a fissure faintly opened.
It was as though an unimaginably colossal eye were straining to open.
At the same time, countless strands of Guizu aura and Guizu-transformed creatures all around grew agitated.
The tiger-head hornets outside the camp ceased circling, darting up and down erratically as though drunk.
And they were not the only ones; among the nine Red Pine members, the eyes of two had already begun to turn vacant and confused.
Chapter 144