Hearing this, the figure opposite let out a cold snort. "A mere intermediate martial academy, yet such big talk."
Yet harsh though his words were, he vanished without a trace the very next moment.
"Who was that?" Kenpa turned his head toward the female archer, his expression grave.
What they had just been discussing was somewhat illicit, and in his heart, he still cared quite a bit about the bigger picture and proper standing.
The female archer pointed at her bloodshot eyes. "Use my eyes any more and I'll go blind. Are you going to provide for me?"
Helpless, Kenpa glanced at the youth, harboring a bit of resentment. "How did you miss him?"
Wu Youren spread his hands helplessly. "Might be a grand knight... or someone with special abilities."
He was genuinely speechless. If three knights couldn't detect him, what did they take him for—a grand knight or an ability master?
"I recorded it," Manna said in a deep voice. "I'll have Master identify it later and see if there are any clues."
Then she glanced at Kenpa. "You're the one who said anything goes as a joke on the battlefield... Couldn't we just have been joking around?"
"Heh," the female archer scoffed disdainfully, rolling her bloodshot eyes.
"Let's go!" The middle-aged knight couldn't take it anymore. Glancing at the youth, he said, "The two of us will scout the barbarian situation nearby."
"Well... all right," Wu Youren hesitated, then slowly nodded.
Promptly, the two slipped out of camp before the sky turned completely dark.
Once they had left, the female archer spoke up. "You're clearly the one who wants to take on the barbarians. Why do you keep prodding Kenpa?"
"Kenpa?" Manna raised a brow slightly. "Weren't these ideas cooked up by the little guy?"
"He was pressured into it," the female archer remarked dismissively. "He's timid. You two adults are just bullying a kid."
Was that so? Manna pondered for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Doesn't matter. If anything goes wrong, he couldn't shoulder the blame anyway—it would still fall on us."
Neither woman realized how three knights had been led step-by-step into a pit.
Kenpa and Wu Youren roamed until the dead of night before quietly making their way back.
Arriving at the camp, the two were a bit surprised. "Hong Da isn't back yet?"
"Doesn't matter, it's the same whether she's here or not," Manna answered casually. "Even if she were, it wouldn't be convenient for her to show her face. It would still come down to us."
The female archer asked in return, "Did you find a target?"
"Found eight spots," Kenpa answered offhandedly. "At least two we can hit... Little Wu's stamina is honestly not bad at all."
As a knight, running around for this long was nothing, but for an apprentice knight, it was quite remarkable.
"Strike now?" The female archer seemed eager to try. "Why wait until tomorrow to settle a score?"
"The smallest group has over twenty people," Kenpa replied seriously. "Without Guizu-luring agent, wiping them out entirely will be tough."
"That would blow things out of proportion," Manna shook her head slowly. Using Guizu-luring agent to draw Guizu... did they really think the authorities couldn't trace the residue?
"We can snipe from a distance to spark panic first," Kenpa said, glancing at the female archer. "You said you wouldn't join close combat, right?"
"Look at my eyes!" The female archer pointed at her face. "Sniping is fine, but long range... that's asking too much!"
Manna glanced at Xiao Ha perched on the youth's shoulder. "A pity the little guy is too small to fly."
They had seen Wu Youren playing with the little snow harrier. Though the critter grew fast and already had quite a few feathers, never mind flying—it couldn't even run properly. It stumbled and wobbled, slower than an ordinary person walking.
For it to truly fly, it would need at least another two to three months, including a molt in between.
Although a harrier by name, the snow harrier was a large bird of prey with a lengthy maturation period. Once it could actually fly, it would indeed be useful in situations like this.
"We could let it run," Wu Youren mused. "Though doing that... might be a bit cruel, wouldn't it?"
The female archer shot Manna a look that made her feelings plain: *Are you ever going to stop egging on a kid?*
"I'll take responsibility," Manna decided outright. "Just tell us, how do we do it?"
The youth thought for a moment before answering, "First, we need to find a rocky spot and dig a hole..."
He spoke haltingly and hesitantly, but the three knights' eyes grew wider and wider as they listened.
"Let's do it!" Kenpa slapped his thigh. "In that case, why settle for a small group?"
"Let's take it slow," the female archer said, leaning toward caution. "Test it on a small squad first."
"Mhm," Manna nodded. "Little Wu, do you have any Guizu-luring agent?"
"Only a tiny bit," the youth replied softly. "Used as bait for Xiao Ha's food—enough for two uses at most... and that was only by pinching every scrap."
No matter how much Hong Da favored him, she wouldn't hand out supplies like this freely; letting the little snow harrier have a pinch on its food was already the absolute limit.
If Wu Youren managed to scrape some together, that was his own skill—stashing a little away for emergencies wasn't considered a serious infraction.
"Then let's get moving!" The three knights made their decision in unison.
Fortunately, the two who had remained at camp hadn't lit a bonfire out of caution, allowing the four to slip out with ease.
The location they chose was over six kilometers from their camp. There were barbarians closer, but they had to avoid suspicion.
The journey itself required little mention; the Guizu presence across the wilderness wasn't severe. There was still a fair amount of stray Guizu aura drifting about, and encountering it at night would enhance its damage.
Yet with Wu Youren leading the way, not a single fight broke out along the route.
The barbarians at this site had lit only a tiny campfire, kept inside a tent.
There were over twenty barbarians, likely including three to five knights.
The night was deep, and they had all fallen asleep; even the guards were snoring softly.
One couldn't assume the barbarians lacked alertness, however; those without skill would have gone extinct long ago in such a perilous wildland.
The four inspected the terrain and set to work according to their assigned roles.
Wu Youren first slipped a ring around Xiao Ha's neck, much like a fisherman fitting a cormorant.
Then he fed the little critter a strip of meat, its tip treated with Guizu-luring agent and poking out from the beak.
The little snow harrier craned its neck, trying desperately to swallow, but it was truly a case of... having the feast, but missing the wine to wash it down!
Its neck jerked rhythmically with the effort, stubbornly refusing to give up.
Meanwhile, Wu Youren cautiously circled the perimeter of the barbarian camp.
Stray Guizu aura nearby was sparse; he had to draw their attention first.
More and more Guizu aura was drawn over, yet it merely chased after him, ignoring the barbarian camp right nearby.
A campfire burned there; while useless against strong Guizu, it still held some deterrent against weaker ones. Nobody liked hassle, and Guizu were no different.
The youth stealthily circled the camp for more than half an hour, then abruptly plucked the little snow harrier from his shoulder and set it on the ground.
*Wait, what the...* Xiao Ha, still struggling to swallow, was utterly bewildered: *What's happening?*
The meat strip nearly slipped to the ground. Fortunately, a snow harrier's beak was hooked; tender though it was, it held fast to the food.
*W-wait for me!* Seeing the figure hurry away, Xiao Ha stumbled after him in pursuit. *It's pitch black, I'm scared!*
Its legs were too unsteady, tumbling head over heels with almost every step.
Even so, it couldn't bring itself to drop the meat in its beak, chasing stubbornly while clamping onto it.
It paid no notice to the vast mass of Guizu aura rapidly closing in from behind.
The youth's silhouette had already vanished, but the little snow harrier caught his scent and stubbornly pressed on.
*Wait for me! Really... a motherless child is like a blade of grass!*
Suddenly, the ring around its neck popped loose.
Xiao Ha had been wrestling with the meat strip for what felt like forever; instinctively craning its neck, it gulped the meat down into its stomach.
The moment the meat hit its belly, the massive cloud of Guizu aura behind it abruptly began to slow.
Inertia carried it forward, so the deceleration wasn't immediately striking, but the Guizu aura had lost its target!
Deprived of a target, the vast Guizu aura began spreading outward, searching in all directions.
*Wait for me...* Completely oblivious, the little snow harrier kept tottering forward in frantic pursuit.
The next moment, it felt a tug on its leg as a powerful force dragged it straight into the dark night.
When it tumbled down, it found a large rock in front of it with a small hollow, uncannily resembling a familiar scene from its life.
Immediately following, a massive boom echoed behind it as a tremendous shockwave rippled out in an instant.
*I've seen this episode before!* Without a second thought, the little snow harrier dove headfirst into the hollow.
Then it raised its head toward the sky and opened its beak wide—next, drops of water should fall!
It had spent so long wrestling with the meat strip that it was quite thirsty! Yet there wasn't a single drop!
Seven or eight hundred meters away, two figures lay prone on the ground.
"Detonating a grenade at this exact moment—the timing was impeccable!" Kenpa muttered under his breath. "Do you ambush people for a living?"
This time it was an ordinary grenade rather than a ghost-destroying mine. It made a tremendous racket with little damage to Guizu, though highly lethal against human practitioners!
Yet ironically, such commotion had a significant impact on Guizu.
Having lost the target they were tracking, they were milling about in confusion; such a racket provided them with a clear direction.
"Not at all," the youth beside him promptly denied. "Only under conditions like this would Xiao Ha take shelter there."
"I was mainly looking out for him... How many barbarians we kill or how many weapons we seize really doesn't matter!"
"Show's about to start," Kenpa chuckled, in no mood to listen to his excuses. "Let's hope those two don't go soft-hearted!"
There were only four of them, split between two ambush positions, and their primary goal was to inflict the maximum casualties possible on the barbarians!
Wiping them out completely would be difficult; they could guide the Guizu aura over, but they couldn't command it.
The group's greatest wish was that even if a few got away, as much of their gear and belongings as possible had to be left behind.
"They react fast enough!" Wu Youren muttered, then fell silent.
He needed to observe the barbarians' specific movements, gather as much intel as possible, and figure out their various habits.
Shaken from their sleep by the explosion, the barbarians reacted extraordinarily fast.
Aside from the guards, five or six men burst out of their tents within ten seconds, falling into combat stances.
Chapter 173