The higher up one went, the tighter the encirclement grew and the denser the Yao troops became, making the fox demons' chances of escape ever bleaker.
Their mind-bewitching arts were of little effect against Yao soldiers bolstered by origin power.
"The nearest Yao squad is less than a hundred zhang from us." He Lingchuan already had a plan in mind. "We need to find a suitable team—at most three people, and on the taller side."
"No good," Dong Rui flatly rejected. "The Yao search squads have at least seven or eight men to a team."
He had been keeping a close watch as well.
In hunting down the Baitou Ridge fox demons—especially with a greater demon among them—the Yao army was extremely cautious; no search party had fewer than six men.
The two hid by the crevice and observed for a while before He Lingchuan pointed to a squad ahead to their left. "They'll do."
This squad was farthest from the main force, sweeping across a low slope.
"There are seven of them."
"Not a problem. But remember: no spilled blood, and don't damage their armor!"
This seven-man squad was exceedingly careful as they reached the mountainside.
Desolate grass rustled bleakly in the wind, as though ghosts lurked in every shadow.
"Word just came down from above to watch out for suspicious outsiders as well," the captain told his men. "If you see anyone of unknown origin, arrest them immediately."
"Huh? Aren't we here to catch foxes?" Why arrest humans too?
"Didn't you hear the music earlier?" The captain glared at him. "Can foxes play music? Someone definitely snuck up the mountain."
"The higher-ups said anyone coming up the mountain right now has ill intent. Treat them as spies and seize them."
As they moved forward, a sudden squeak of a fox rang out twice. The grass ahead swayed without any wind, and whatever was hiding within bolted.
A glimpse of something fluffy, like a tail, flashed through the undergrowth.
"Foxes—not very big." But they split in two directions. "There are two of them!"
In a situation like this, they ought to call for reinforcements, but the captain glanced left and right and saw no other squads nearby. Ahead, the foxes were scurrying so fast that they would disappear in the blink of an eye.
Making a snap decision, he split his squad into two: "You four head east! You two come west with me!"
They were just small foxes—the only trouble was catching them, not overpowering them.
If they ran into a demon fox, they could always loose a command arrow then.
His men acted briskly. Four broke off and gave chase into the distance, while the captain led the other two deeper into the weeds.
Soon, they trailed their quarry behind a large tree.
"Careful, the cliff here is—"
Before the word "close" could leave his mouth, two dull thuds came from behind.
The captain whipped around in shock, only to find one of his men slumped on the ground and a masked stranger standing behind him, gripping the other soldier's head and smashing it into a rock.
That heavy thud was the sound of a skull cracking open, blood spilling.
"You—" The captain was about to draw his saber and charge when sharp pains shot through his right arm and neck without warning, and darkness took his vision.
He Lingchuan lowered him gently to the ground and said to Dong Rui, "Strip those two of their armor. Fast."
Lingguang leaped down to assist as well, clumsily tugging at the garments.
He Lingchuan could have finished them off much faster had he drawn his blade, but doing so would have inevitably stained the armor with blood.
Once the two had hurriedly donned the Yao soldiers' armor and helmets, He Lingchuan began casting the Mind-Shadow Transmission technique on the captain.
This was a secret art Xi Yunhe had taught him, capable of briefly controlling a living person's speech and actions while inducing temporary amnesia, leaving the victim with no memory of what transpired during that time.
Of course, it had limitations: it only worked on the weak-willed, the frail, or the unconscious.
The Yao captain fit the bill.
The spell took hold without a hitch.
Within a few breaths, he opened his eyes, stood up, and strode forward.
Clad in Yao armor with Yao sabers at their waists, He Lingchuan and Dong Rui followed closely behind, secretly controlling the living puppet in front of them.
That way, even if outsiders spotted them, they would only see a Yao captain hurrying along with two subordinates.
Such scenes were playing out all over the mountain.
In truth, several small figures trailed behind them as well—
The ones who had mimicked the foxes' cries to lure the Yao squad into splitting up were the ghost ape and the bat demon puppet.
Having completed their task, they had leaped down from the crag and circled around to rejoin their masters.
Lingguang walked alongside them.
Disguised as Yao soldiers, He Lingchuan and Dong Rui strutted down the mountain, brushing past four or five different squads along the way.
Two squads even called out in greeting to the Yao captain; he merely nodded and hurried on, saying the higher-ups had assigned them a new task.
Even if others found it a bit odd, nobody pressed the matter.
After all, their quarry was foxes, not humans; anyone could tell them apart at a glance.
The three of them moved against the flow of troops all the way down, nearing the mountain foot.
Ahead, bright torches illuminated the night as soldiers formed ring upon dense ring—a dark, swarming sea of troops.
This was the outermost perimeter of the Yao encirclement.
Once they breached this cordon, they would be home free.
"Hurry up," Dong Rui whispered. "Time is almost up. Don't forget, the Yao are hunting for us too."
Earlier, they had blown the xun as a signal to summon the fox demons. General Chongwu had overheard it and added any uninvited persons on the mountain to the search list.
He Lingchuan gave a slight nod.
They had to keep behind the Yao captain, which had made the descent agonizingly slow.
Once they melted into the Yao ranks ahead, it would be far harder for anyone to spot them.
Just then, however, an officer stepped out from the formation ahead and pointed straight at them. "You three, what's your business?"
These three did not belong to his battalion—what were they doing here?
*Hiss.* Dong Rui's eyes darted. The path to success was never smooth. Behind this officer stood hundreds of soldiers; were they going to have to fight their way through?
The captain controlled by He Lingchuan immediately cupped his fist and said in a deep voice, "Sir! The Three-Tailed greater demon just appeared at Bailing Cliff and may be sneaking this way! The General has ordered all southern units to contract their perimeter a hundred zhang toward Bailing Cliff immediately!"
*So they're messengers?* The officer grunted an acknowledgment without thinking.
The Yao captain marched right past him with his two subordinates, staring straight ahead as though rushing off to deliver the order to the next battalion.
"He didn't get suspicious; he stopped looking at you," the soul-snatching mirror gave He Lingchuan real-time updates. "Keep walking, don't look back. Mm-hmm, good, almost out of his sight."
The three continued forward until a low hill blocked the officer's line of sight, and they casually slipped into the perimeter.
The area was teeming with Yao soldiers, each mechanically carrying out orders. Who cared what these three were up to?
He Lingchuan made the puppet slowly fall behind, and seizing a moment when the disciplinary patrol wasn't looking, they successfully slipped away!
After ditching the Yao captain midway and skirting around scattered patrol teams, they ran another two hundred zhang under the cover of night and dense woods before Dong Rui finally blew a whistle.
Before long, three shadows darted over.
It was the two monkeys and the bat.
The bat had taken to the skies long ago, while the monkeys had sat brazenly in the treetops watching the commotion. More than a few Yao soldiers had spotted them, but none had paid them any mind:
Their quarry tonight was foxes, not fat monkeys in the trees!
"Hurry, let's go!" Dong Rui urged impatiently. "There's only a quarter of an hour left on the Ficus Grotto-Heaven!"
In a quarter of an hour, the Yao army would be on their tails again.
"Don't worry." They had already broken out of the encirclement and seized the initiative; even if the Yao army could relocate the three-tailed fox demon, catching up with them would be no easy feat.
This quarter-hour gave them a head start of several li.
The time limit expired.
Three-Tails emerged from the Ficus Grotto-Heaven, glanced around, and looked at them eagerly. "So, is the tracking spell placed on...?"
He Lingchuan led it up the nearest ridge and pointed back the way they had come. "See for yourself."
From their commanding vantage point, it was easy to spot the lights in the distant valley.
Torches were rapidly converging within their field of vision.
And then—
They headed straight in this direction!
Once Three-Tails left the Ficus Grotto-Heaven, General Chongwu's tracking spell functioned once more.
The fact that the Yao army rallied their ranks and pushed their main force this way showed General Chongwu was utterly certain his target had broken through the encirclement and fled southwest!
Yet He Lingchuan could also sense the general's confidence.
As long as the tracking spell remained active, they would never lose the trail.
A hunter had to be more patient than his quarry; sooner or later, Three-Tails would be run down.
"His tracking spell truly was placed on me." Seeing this, the great fox demon was actually pleased, its three tails swaying gently. "Perhaps I was marked when I clashed with the Yao Kingdom's Grand Overseer of the State."
This was tremendous news for the fox clan. Just as He Lingchuan had said, the Yao's objective was Three-Tails; they couldn't be bothered to chase down the rest of the little foxes.
There were countless demons across the Shanjin Plains; they had no interest in small fry.
So long as Three-Tails's offspring fled in good time after the Yao army withdrew, they would be essentially safe.
"Tell your offspring to gather at Chigu," He Lingchuan said to Three-Tails. "General Chongwu is hot on our heels. We must keep moving and find a way to shake them off."
General Chongwu's Yao troops clung to them like a plaster stuck to skin, but Dong Rui had already devised a plan.
If the enemy wanted to track them, let them; so long as their side kept ahead, the Yao would never catch up.
As they spoke, Dong Rui directed the bat demon puppet to fly back and scout the Yao army's movements.
From here on, they could only rely on their feet.
Three-Tails was gravely injured and lacked the strength to fight, but it could still manage to walk. Lingguang treated its wounds and fed it several medicinal pills, lifting the great fox's spirits somewhat.
Sealing the meridians around its injuries with true power, it followed He Lingchuan along the trek.
At a life-or-death juncture like this, it could not afford to drag them down. Exhausted and in pain though it was, Three-Tails uttered not a peep of complaint.
This highlighted the difference between Dong Rui's demon puppets and actual demons.
Whether the ghost ape or the bat, their weight shrank right along with their size, whereas the spider demon sisters and this great fox demon could do no such thing. Otherwise, once shrunk, the fox demon could simply have been carried over Mount Jing by the bat demon puppet, without any need to enter the minor world of the Ficus Grotto-Heaven.
Lingguang frowned, pondering ways to heal its injuries.
Three-Tails voiced Dong Rui's habitual question: "Where are we going now?"
The two had decided long ago. He Lingchuan pointed ahead.
"That place—you've been there before, haven't you?"
In the night, the undulating mountain range was reduced to a silent silhouette—unyielding, ponderous, and tinged with an ominous air.
"Mount Jing?"
Three-Tails flicked its tails again. "I have. A thoroughly unlikable place, that."
Chapter 1156