NOVEL SIMPLE Taking the Initiative
Despite having had their discussion till late the previous night, the party left the inn early next morning, just as the first light of dawn was starting to peek over the horizon.
Ye Cangyu had sent his clothes to the inn last night as instructed, so the party easily picked them up before heading out to the river once more.
Having already been there once, they no longer required Xian He’s directions this time.
There was no need for further instructions upon arriving at the river either. Instead, the party immediately got to work.
The first thing they did was check on their earlier traps to see if they had been activated.
Unfortunately, not.
Then again, they had already expected as much, so they were not too disappointed about this result.
Even so, the party did not remove these traps. Instead, they merely proceeded to add another layer of traps, setting them up with Ye Cangyu’s items as bait.
After which, Pu Feixiang donned Ye Cangyu’s clothes and wore a big hat to hide the majority of his face, trying to make it seem as though he was the middle aged smith in person.
He then sat down comfortably by the river bank and set up his fishing rod.
Pu Feixian was ready this time, and no longer had to resort to skipping stones.
As for the rest of the party, they concealed their presence and disappeared from sight, once again leaving only Pu Feixiang to be the bait.
It was going to be yet another long day ahead.
Minutes went by, followed by hours.
Originally a dimly lit environment that accompanied the onset of dawn, the surroundings slowly grew brighter and brighter, until the sun was hanging directly above their heads.
Pu Feixiang had managed to catch a few fishes by now, carefully settling them in a wooden basket that he had borrowed from the innkeeper.
He had been extremely bored initially, but was slowly starting to revel in the joys of ordinary fishing methods.
But each time the trees rustled, he had to suppress the feeling to immediately check out the situation.
There were various reasons for the rustling of trees – wild animals, birds, or even just the wind.
He was afraid that should reveal the fact that he was alert each time something caused the trees to rustle, then he might end up discouraging the one that he was truly waiting for.
Discipline and self-control were important if he wanted to act as a proper bait!
Alas, all his efforts were for naught.
The sun slowly descended from the zenith, and yet there were still no signs of their beloved kidnapper.
Rather than that, they could only see a few monkeys that continued to stare at him curiously from the other bank of the river.
How he wished that one of these monkeys had black arms instead!
“Forget it, Junior Martial Brother Pu,” Mo Mian removed his camouflage and walked over to Pu Feixiang.
“Hmm? Senior Martial Brother Mo?” Pu Feixiang exclaimed in surprise. “What’s the matter?”
The original plan was to wait till the end of the day at least, but Mo Mian was already approaching him even though the sun had yet to set.
This was unlike the party leader that Pu Feixiang knew.
“I don’t think this is going to work,” Mo Mian said while sneaking a peek at Pu Feixiang’s basketful of fish. “If the monkey demon were going to bite, it would not have waited this long.”
“If you say so,” Pu Feixiang got up without complaints. It was not as though he loved doing this anyway.
“What’s our next step, then?” Chu Han walked up to them along with the others. “Shall we try again tomorrow?”
By now, all of them had exited their respective hiding spots.
“No,” Mo Mian shook his head. “We can’t just sit around and wait for days. The villagers need to be able to continue with their usual fishing activities, or they are not going to survive.”
“How about we just tag along with the fishing team then?” Gui Longcan suggested. “This way, they can still continue to fish. If the demon attacks them, we can also step in immediately.”
“What do you think, Junior Martial Brother Chu?” Mo Mian asked.
“What about you, Junior Martial Brother Zhao? What do you think?” Chu Han redirected the question to Zhao Yunxiao.
“Me?” Zhao Yunxiao glanced at Chu Han in surprise.
He realised that Mo Mian would usually ask Chu Han for advice before making a decision.
At the same time, Chu Han seemed to be the only one who would pose such questions to him.
“Don’t worry and just speak your mind,” Chu Han encouraged with a smile.
“Well, if you ask me...” Zhao Yunxiao turned his gaze towards the other side of the river. “I don’t think any amount of waiting will work. It is just a feeling, but I think the demon is unlikely to show up as long as we are here.”
“Hmm?” Pu Feixiang was surprised to hear that. “Why do you say so?”
On the other hand, the rest of the Mystic Cavalry had turned to look at where Zhao Yunxiao was facing.
Over at the other bank, a few monkeys were comfortably resting on tree branches.
These harmless looking monkeys had their attention fully locked onto them, not turning their heads to look away even when their gazes matched.
“It seems like I’m not the only one thinking this way,” Mo Mian smiled wryly.
“It is just an assumption,” Zhao Yunxiao added.
“And a reasonable one as well,” Chu Han agreed. “I share the same sentiments.”
“So that’s it?” Gui Longcan frowned. “It seems we have been too careless.”
“What? What is it?” Pu Feixiang was the only one who seemed to have missed Zhao Yunxiao’s point.
“Nothing you need to know,” Gui Longcan rolled his eyes. “Just follow instructions and that will be enough.”
“I will follow instructions, but shouldn’t you also tell me what is going on?” Pu Feixiang retorted.
“What’s our next step, then?” Gui Longcan ignored him and asked.
“Hey!” Pu Feixiang grumbled.
“Enough of waiting,” Mo Mian decided. “Our dear target probably has this place watched all day long. No amount of waiting will help.”
“It does?” Pu Feixiang exclaimed in shock. “How? Why didn’t I notice its presence?”
“If we are not waiting, that means...?” Chu Han looked at Mo Mian.
“We are taking the initiative,” Mo Mian answered resolutely. “Let’s bring the fight to it this time.”
***
The party returned to East Stream Village and headed straight for the village hall, scaring the living daylights out of Fu Du.
After the incident from yesterday, his first thought upon seeing the cultivators was that something else had offended them again this time.
Thankfully for him, he quickly realised that was not the case.
Instead, the party was seeking a map or any form of records that detailed the terrain in the area.
Now that Mo Mian had decided to take the initiative, they naturally needed to make the necessary preparations before doing so.
And the first step to doing so, and probably the most important step as well, was to fully understand what the area looked like.
This way, they could at least narrow down the areas that they had to search.
Yet despite how basic the request was, Fu Du was still unable to provide them with something like that.
That was because even though they had been staying here for ages, the villagers had never bothered to create a map of the area.
Instead, they were used to finding their way around by relying solely on memory and word of mouth.
In the end, the party could only bring together a few more knowledgeable villagers, relying on their combined inputs to create a makeshift map on the spot.
***
Back at the inn, the party stared at the map that had been hung up in Mo Mian’s room.
“Is this really okay?” Pu Feixiang had a doubtful look on his face.
“Do you have a better idea?” Gui Longcan asked.
“Nothing is certain, but at least the villagers came to a consensus that this is at least 80% accurate,” Chu Han said. “In any case, approach this with an open mind. We will be making adjustments to the map as we go.”
“Junior Martial Brother Chu is right,” Mo Mian nodded. “Now that we suspect that our target has eyes planted all over, it is not as though we can afford to carelessly scout the area ourselves either. That might end up alerting our target, backfiring on us instead. Therefore, we can only take this map as a reference while making sure that we are prepared for any unforeseen circumstances.”
“I guess that’s true,” Pu Feixiang nodded.
“Tomorrow, we will be entering the forest in search of our target,” Mo Mian confirmed the plan. “Consider the possibility that any monkey in the wild could be acting as our target’s eyes. For that reason, we will be moving with as much stealth as possible. Junior Martial Brother Zhao, from what I’ve seen so far, you shouldn’t have an issue with that. But do let me know if you do.”
“That should not be a problem,” Zhao Yunxiao assured.
Zhao Yunxiao had always been going on regular hunting trips, so he was already used to moving around in stealth.
“Good,” Mo Mian smiled. “In that case, let’s go through the action plan for various scenarios.”
In order not to be caught by surprise, the party discussed what they would do should they come face to face with all sorts of different circumstances.
This included both what the overall plan would be, as well as each party member’s individual responsibilities.
Some might think that this was a little too much in terms of preparation, but Zhao Yunxiao liked it.
Of course, there were almost infinite possibilities out there, so it was impossible for them to cover every single possible scenario.
However, simply having a base action plan allowed them to easily infer what they should do even when there were variations to such scenarios.
This would greatly reduce any delays in response that came along with hesitation.
And when it came to real life battle situations, a single moment of hesitation could determine the difference between success and failure.
Or, in extreme cases, that could even mean the difference between life and death!
This was exactly why Zhao Yunxiao had always been a firm believer that ample preparation was the key to success!
Upon returning to his assigned room, Zhao Yunxiao lit an incense stick before swallowing a Winterwarmth Pill and sitting cross legged on his bed.
But even as he slowly settled into a state of meditation, his clone started to get busy in the room.
It laid out various items all around the room, filling up just about every surface there was.
On the table.
On the floor.
On the shelves.
Even on the bed beside his main body.
From weapons to array flags.
From raw ingredients to prepared concoctions.
He was taking stock of everything he had, using it to remind himself of all the means that he had at his disposal.
After doing so, he started using the raw ingredients to prepare new concoctions and mixtures, including some makeshift elixirs and auxiliary items that could prove useful considering the information that they had gathered so far.
It was unfortunate, but they still did not have full knowledge of what they would be dealing with here.
So rather than saving up what he had, Zhao Yunxiao would rather prepare himself for various situations and reduce the possibility of danger – even if it was only by a single percent.
Even if he ended up not having to use them in the end, so be it.
After all, money might be important, but his life was even more so!
He only regretted that they were not back at Purple Plum Mountain.
How nice would it be if he could access more of his stashed items, as well as the cauldron rooms at the Alchemy Chamber?
In fact, Zhao Yunxiao was not the only one who had kept himself busy all night. The other members of the Mystic Cavalry were all making preparations in their own way as well.
Pu Feixiang was sharpening his spear, while Gui Longcan focused on simulating battle scenarios in his head.
Mo Mian and Chu Han continued looking at the map while trying to think of anything that they had missed.
It had been an uneventful day, but this was probably the longest night for the party ever since arriving at East Stream Village.
Still, even the longest night would eventually pass.
Before they realised it, dawn had arrived once more.
In Mo Mian’s words, it was now time for them to take the initiative!