Chapter 112: Trap
A stocky youth flashed past, casting a panicked glance at Leo before continuing his desperate flight.
Judging by the situation, there were probably pursuers behind him. With hundreds of sect teams scattered throughout the Bloody Forbidden Ground, fierce clashes had decimated some teams, leaving scattered survivors lucky enough to escape. Others had been separated by demon beast hordes. Now the forbidden ground was filled with small groups of twos and threes, or solitary wanderers like himself.
Sure enough, footsteps soon followed. Several cultivators. Leo frowned and slipped away, unwilling to be cornered by another team.
"Didn't expect to find another fat target here. Junior Brother Mori, take a few men and cut him off. I'll go after that Supreme Clarity disciple." The Void Heaven Sect team leader, a sharp-featured young man, issued the order coldly. Four cultivators immediately peeled off and gave chase.
Leo thought to himself, "Splitting their forces. Bold move. Don't they worry about running into other teams?" He cursed under his breath and ran, activating Wind Riding Technique.
The four pursued relentlessly. But after a while, they noticed something strange. Using the same technique, Leo was always just a step faster. The gap widened. They were about to give up when another Void Heaven disciple appeared ahead.
"Void Heaven junior brothers, stop that man!" A mature-looking youth shouted.
Dozens of meters ahead, a handsome youth wearing the distinctive silver badge of the Void Heaven Sect stood in his path. Leo's mood darkened. "Perfect. Just my luck." A scattered disciple from another team, and now he was blocked from both sides. He didn't slow down.
The handsome youth, having wandered the forbidden ground for days with nowhere to go, lit up at the sight of his sect brothers. He raised a cyan-scaled spear and charged straight at Leo.
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Leo's expression hardened. He tossed out several Iron Thorn Vine seeds. Thick, black-green vines erupted, whipping wildly. He had only traded for two seeds from Lucid. When he still had a team, he couldn't use them openly—how would he explain having so many? But now, with his team scattered or dead, he was alone. No longer need to hide his tricks.
The handsome youth flinched at the sight of the writhing vines. But he was already committed and couldn't stop. He parried two, but a third wrapped around him. He screamed. A golden flash—Leo's flying sword cut him in two.
Leo scooped up the youth's storage pouch, cast a cold glance at his pursuers, and kept running.
"Bastard! If I see him again, I'll kill him!" The Void Heaven disciples, watching Leo disappear into the tall grass, cursed in frustration.
"Shut up. We're going back." The mature-looking youth's face was dark as he turned and left.
Leo thought, "Not a bad trick—vines to trap, flying sword to kill." After escaping, he opened the pouch. He rolled his eyes. Aside from a mid-grade spirit stone, it was full of low-grade herbs. "Well, free stuff is free stuff." He would sell them for spirit stones when he got out.
A breeze carried a faint metallic scent from the east. Leo tensed. A hundred meters away, two corpses lay tangled together—one in blue, one in red. The ground around them was torn up, scorched by spiritual fire.
The blue cultivator's blade was buried in the red one's chest. The red cultivator's flying cord was wrapped around the blue one's neck. A vicious fight. Their storage pouches were untouched. A dozen yellow-green moths clung to their bodies. More moths fluttered nearby.
Leo hesitated. Sensing no ambush, he turned and walked away. But a few steps later, he found another corpse—this one wearing the small sword emblem of the Ancient Sword Sect. He changed direction. More corpses.
A pattern emerged. Radiating out from the blue and red corpses, cultivators lay dead in multiple directions.
"Either cautious or cowardly—he didn't touch the pouch, didn't get the Nether Moth powder on him. Can't track him now." Hidden in a treetop on a distant hill, a bald yellow-robed monk frowned.
"We've ambushed too many here. Time to move." Beside him, a beautiful woman in yellow smiled. "Look, another one." A thin girl from the Fire Departing Sect darted to the corpses, grabbed the pouch, and fled. Fast. She ran far before looking back. No one followed.
She found a hidden cave and slipped inside. Moments later, the yellow-robed pair set up an ambush at the entrance. When she emerged, a purple and yellow winged serpent struck.
She spun and tried to retreat. The bald monk blocked the entrance. Grinning, he drove his hand through her chest.
"Joining the Seven Poisons Sect was the right choice. Small, obscure, but their methods are vicious. This trap alone—killing stragglers—will yield enough spirit items for one or two Foundation Establishment Pills when we get out." He took her pouch and chuckled.
Leo knew nothing of this trap. His caution had saved him. He hadn't noticed that the corpses and the harmless-looking moths scattered nearby produced a fine powder. Ordinary cultivators would never sense it. But those who raised these Nether Moths could track anyone marked by it, setting ambushes and reaping the spoils.