My Misfortune Crushed Instances

After the mist dissipated, the Demon Race leader with two tails found that all his subordinates had fallen to the ground, some were lifeless in pools of blood, while others seemed merely unconscious.

Seeing his longtime companions come to such a brutal fate, he was shocked and angry, then fell to his knees with a thump.

"Good sir! We’re own folks!"

Ordinary Demon Race only knew that these sparse-haired, strangely-looking ones were foreigners, but distinguishing between the Western Kingdom, Polar Alliance, and Dragon Country was a bit difficult.

Li Rui tapped his plump cheek with an umbrella: "Shut up. I ask, you answer. If you don’t answer well, you won’t survive."

Yuan Erliang swept away his previous dejection, confidently translating.

The leader kept bowing: "Please ask, please ask."

He was still frustrated inside, thinking that allying with foreigners was akin to grabbing onto a strong thigh, and perhaps he could develop his village, yet he couldn’t understand why this happened.

Li Rui asked, "This place has already allied with foreigners, right?"

The leader hurriedly nodded.

"How many people have you seen?"

"One."

"Just one?"

"Further away there are more, but I didn’t dare to take a closer look." This Demon Race leader threatened Yuan Erliang earlier calmly, yet now he seemed cowardly.

Li Rui said, "What’s the name of the one you contacted?"

"I, I don’t know. Their accents were strange, something like, ’Xi Meng’?"

"Simon?"

Li Rui asked, "Is it a bald man, very dark skin, with one ear missing a piece?"

The intelligence on Simon consisted only of such physical descriptions, which were luckily enough to confirm identity.

"Yes, yes, we’re own folks!"

The leader thought Li Rui was one of them.

"Heh."

Li Rui asked with a faint smile, "Don’t rush, I haven’t completed my questions. I come to Wolf Fang Cliff to find something."

The leader, eager to prove himself, was very obsequious: "What thing?"

"I don’t know."

?

The leader asked: "Where, where is it?"

Li Rui took out a map and glanced: "Wolf Fang Cliff."

"..."

The leader dryly laughed, "Hero, Wolf Fang Cliff stretches for a hundred miles, if you don’t specify where, I’m really..."

Li Rui said, "Just tell me all the rumors you’ve heard, the more detailed the better, nothing should be left out."

He knew, since Chen Cheng ventured a prediction, it indicated the object still existed, merely hidden, not discovered by the Western Kingdom.

Currently, they focused on "military aggression," seizing territories, and battling both Polar Alliance and Dragon Country, thus lacking effort to explore the controlled area.

The Demon Race leader hesitantly asked, "Any rumor works?"

"Anything, as long as it’s not public."

The leader began recalling rumors heard here over the years, from gossip about neighboring tribes’ heirs being illegitimate to talk of a Demon King gaining fame from practicing the Sunflower Manual.

If not eventually providing a useful clue, Li Rui would suspect this guy of deliberately joking around.

"You said there’s a cave at the crossroads of the Ghostly Wind Trail, filled with Evil Qi, right?"

"Yes, yes."

"Mark it, where’s that cave located."

Li Rui pulled out a map, not the directional tool but one traded from a Demon Race encountered halfway.

Once that Demon Race leader marked the target and explained its landmarks, Li Rui again examined his map, seeing a vague question mark region now alongside another ambiguous little question mark.

"I really don’t like solving puzzles."

He still couldn’t decipher the situation, only the journey might reveal more.

Li Rui asked further, "Do you have any treasures?"

The leader stiffened, showing reluctance yet obediently brought out his inventory for survival.

Li Rui glanced around, finding no available trophies but noting an empty treasure chest symbol on the map, evidently Simon had already scoured the area before.

"Alright, final question, how does your camp subsist?"

The other laughed ingratiatingly: "Just ten plus miles west lies the Ghostly Wind Trail, frequented by weaker Demon Races passing by, we rob them. This area sees various trading travelers, if the lord occupies it, it would surely prosper."

His words carried some eagerness and pride, seeming truly satisfied with the site’s location.

Li Rui asked, "After robbing travelers, do you let them leave?"

The leader glanced at Yuan Erliang, whom he earlier thought to cook, chuckling dryly: "If the lord dislikes, we shall release them henceforth."

Li Rui snorted, holding a box of Demon Race treasures in one hand, grabbing Yuan Erliang in the other, silently stepping to the camp’s gate.

The leader felt awkward, unable to move, as the other hadn’t spoken.

He hoped Li Rui would peacefully depart, preferably without saying anything more, dismissing him like air.

Yet when that person turned at the doorway, ultimate internal fear overtook his mind as scarlet flames engulfed the scene.

The Great Fire Bell Spell was a natural nemesis for such vicious Demon Race brigands.

With a roar, this camp housing dozens of ruthless Demon Race bandits, plotting harm, was reduced to ashes.

Yuan Erliang asked, "Sir, if they weren’t murder-robber villains, what would you do?"

"I’d kill too, they’ve already allied with the Western Kingdom, sparing them would invite leaks."

"And why inquire about their daily deeds?"

"It makes me more righteous."

The man and monkey returned to find the mighty warrior, then followed the bandit leader’s directions to locate the Ghostly Wind Trail’s entrance.

This was a mountainous trail, winding upward among wolf-teeth peaks, ultimately reaching the chilly plateau, traversing numerous valley cliffs, quite challenging.

However, Li Rui’s goal wasn’t the summit, but rather a mid-trail junction, according to the Demon Race leader, the spot hidden behind steep cliffs, rarely found.

The guy knew this due to robbing a scholarly Demon Race descending mountain, learning from him.

They once ventured to seek hidden treasures but abandoned due to lack of strength and the ghostly atmosphere.

Li Rui felt grateful for bringing enough food and water, as the exterior ridge was haunted by fierce winds, even the trail felt its invasion, hence almost no vegetation to replenish.

After substantial trekking, the mighty warrior paused his pace.

"Sir, I think this is the place."

Li Rui climbed out of his pack to look, seeing a hollowed side path beside the road, accurately not a path, but a place unfit for footing, riddled with sharp stones like countless short spears growing from underground.

This odd terrain appeared frequently on trails toward the chilly plateau, yet its location and previously crossed places matched the mountain bandit leader’s descriptions exactly, likely correct.

Li Rui said, "Wait here, Yuan Erliang and I will investigate."