Ambush... or Bait

Nightfall.

Cui Hao crouched amidst the withered yellow grass, whispering to Lin Luoyu beside him:

"Fourth Senior Sister… are you sure this will work?"

Lin Luoyu replied calmly, "If you had doubts, why didn’t you raise them with First Senior Sister when the plan was first proposed?"

Without hesitation, Cui Hao admitted, "Well, obviously because I didn’t dare."

"And now you dare to change the plan midway?"

"Uh… not really."

"Then what’s the point of saying all this?"

"Just to complain a little. Don’t you ever complain about your superiors when working?"

Lin Luoyu glanced sideways and saw Cui Hao’s face stern, his gaze fixed intently ahead.

The seriousness of his expression clashed starkly with his words.

She chuckled softly. "Are you scared?"

Cui Hao’s expression remained grave. "I am not!"

The place where the two crouched was called—Desolate Ridge.

This was a remote western region of the Xuanwu Kingdom, three provinces away from Yuzhou City.

Since ancient times, people may misjudge, but names never lie.

Desolate Ridge was indeed desolate.

At least Yuzhou City had trees—here, even those were scarce.

Mostly, there were only patches of dry, yellowish wild grass.

Some lands simply weren’t meant to sustain life—drought, sandstorms, landslides.

No fertile soil, just barren, rocky ground.

Plant crops here, and they’d wither without hesitation.

Yet desolation was relative.

For humans, this remote, resource-starved place was no paradise.

But for low-ranking demons, such barren lands were prime territory.

Why? Because there were no people.

Many things came down to perspective.

Desolate Ridge had long been neglected by the Xuanwu Kingdom. The Demon Suppression Bureau knew demons lurked here but couldn’t be bothered to intervene.

Yet sometimes, it was precisely such unremarkable places that birthed calamity.

A tiger demon in Desolate Ridge had stumbled upon a fortuitous encounter, ascending to the Demon King realm—roughly equivalent to the Golden Core stage.

In these parts, that was no small feat.

In this day and age, most true great demons had already submitted to the major sects.

Put nicely, it was "coexistence and mutual prosperity between humans and demons." Put bluntly, it was keeping dogs as guards.

But circumstances dictated survival—refuse scraps, and you might lose your head instead.

Naturally, many had surrendered only after being beaten into submission.

Yet some only realized how good the scraps tasted after trying them.

The resources the sects provided were beyond their wildest dreams.

Wolves weren’t tamed into dogs because humans treated them well—it was because the leftovers were just that delicious.

Of course, some demons still valued freedom above all.

This tiger demon was one of them.

Normally, even if a Golden Core Demon King emerged in such a wasteland, as long as it didn’t stir trouble beyond its borders, it could reign supreme here—king of all demons.

Unfortunately, this was a tiger demon with ambition.

It chose a path unlike its predecessors.

A path shrouded in endless darkness.

It declared: "Demons should not live like this."

And so, a banner was raised over Desolate Ridge.

Perhaps resentment toward humans had truly festered too long.

Countless demons rallied to its call, with many other Demon Kings joining under that banner.

Desolate Ridge was now only a human name.

To the demons, it was—Origin Mountain.

In no time, demonic winds gathered, and the land fell into chaos.

While the Xuanwu Kingdom mobilized its forces, it also sent pleas for aid to the sects within its borders.

Many Golden Core cultivators led their disciples to Origin Mountain.

Yet Nascent Soul experts were few and far between.

None of them struck first.

In the Xuanwu Kingdom, Nascent Soul early-stage cultivators were already the pinnacle of power—a single one could make a sect a top-tier lineage.

With the situation unclear and the possibility of ambushes unknown, no one was willing to risk their ancestral pillars.

Even Golden Core True Persons were hesitant to act.

For now, it was a stalemate—only Foundation Establishment and Qi Condensation disciples clashed with the lesser demons of Origin Mountain.

As for the Central Continent? They only concerned themselves with Central Continent affairs. They’d step in only if things spiraled completely out of control—and even then, at their leisure.

After all, the Central Continent had no interest in playing bodyguard for the other regions.

Initially, Chu Xingchen hadn’t paid it much mind.

Zhao Wanqing had come merely to deliver routine orders before leaving.

She understood Chu Xingchen’s temperament well enough.

But then, his eldest disciple, Li Yingling, offered a different perspective: "Cultivation—should we just cultivate and do nothing else?"

Though Chu Xingchen knew his senior disciple just wanted to join the excitement, her words weren’t entirely unreasonable.

Compared to humans—scheming, unpredictable, and hard to read—demons were far simpler.

After all, you’d never trust a demon’s words anyway.

A little practical experience wouldn’t hurt.

Chu Xingchen, a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, master of countless divine abilities, the equivalent of an adult in a kiddie pool—declared this should be an easy victory.

And so, the only sect to mobilize its entire force arrived here.

For safety’s sake, Chu Xingchen ensured everyone carried a Thousand-Mile Teleportation Talisman.

Everyone was equipped with defensive magical treasures.

Additionally, since Chu Xingchen’s artifact-forging endeavors had hit a temporary snag, these protective treasures had been purchased instead.

Among them, the ones belonging to Lin Luoyu and Cui Hao were the most formidable, capable of withstanding attacks from Golden Core cultivators.

In this context, it was practically like fighting while wearing an impenetrable turtle shell.

The strategy here was simple: low offense, but sky-high defense.

Naturally, anyone who triggered their protective shield would be rewarded with a Tenfold Replenishment Pill personally refined by their master.

This was to ensure the disciples didn’t get too complacent.

Saying their offense was low wasn’t entirely accurate, though—both of them had a passive skill: Calling the Master!

If you couldn’t finish them off within three breaths, the big shot they summoned would obliterate you in one.

This marked the sect’s first full-scale trial mission, and Chu Xingchen wasn’t leading the team this time.

Instead, the responsibility fell to the senior disciple—Li Yingling.

Chu Xingchen merely pointed them in a general direction and left the rest to their discretion.

Ironically, the hardest-working person in this expedition wasn’t the eager disciples itching for a fight—it was Chu Xingchen himself.

He hadn’t slept a wink, keeping a vigilant watch over his disciples to prevent any mishaps.

After all, this was the first time he’d sent them into such a perilous situation.

Since it was a first for everyone, a little overprotectiveness was understandable.

Cui Hao and Lin Luoyu received their assignment from Li Yingling.

A patrol of minor demons roamed the area, and their task was to ambush them, preferably capturing one or two alive to extract crucial intelligence.

Cui Hao didn’t quite understand what kind of critical information they could possibly get from a lowly patrol demon.

Were they expecting one of these grunts to have an uncle who happened to be a Demon King or something?

Moreover…

Cui Hao had serious doubts about Li Yingling’s choice of ambush location.

Who in their right mind would set up an ambush in a small open plain, hiding in a patch of weeds?!

If the patrol demons were outmatched and chose to flee to raise the alarm, scattering in all directions, how were they supposed to catch them?

Having studied countless military treatises, Cui Hao couldn’t help but voice his concerns.

Li Yingling didn’t respond. She merely fixed him with an utterly calm gaze.

Cui Hao understood that look all too well.

He swallowed his doubts and obediently followed his senior disciple’s orders.

Thus, they prepared for a plains ambush…

It dawned on Cui Hao—Li Yingling wasn’t planning an ambush at all.

She was using them as bait!

With an inward sigh, he stole a cautious glance at Lin Luoyu.

Only his naive fourth senior sister genuinely believed they were setting up a proper ambush!

She’d never tasted their master’s infamous pills—no wonder she wasn’t the least bit afraid.