Chapter 88: Chapter 86: Trap
The temperature in the mountain forest was somewhat low.
Ice was beginning to form on some of the pools.
The entire world was a vision in silver and white.
Shen Changchuan moved swiftly through the mountain forest,
occasionally spotting hungry beasts and Demon Beasts wandering through the trees.
But for Shen Changchuan,
these creatures were clearly not much of a hassle.
After all, the last time he had entered the mountains, his Cultivation was only at the Qi Introduction Fourth Layer.
Now that he had reached the Qi Introduction Sixth Layer, his strength was immeasurably greater than before.
They hadn’t posed much of a threat to him before,
so naturally, they posed even less of one now.
As he grew stronger,
the hungry beasts only dared to snarl at him from a distance, not daring to charge.
As for the Demon Beasts with their keener senses,
they sensed the intense danger he represented
and simply fled.
Shen Changchuan couldn’t be bothered to chase them.
However, if he happened upon any Heavenly and Earthly Treasures, Shen Changchuan didn’t mind plucking them and placing them in his Storage Bag.
Of course,
the entire Demon Beast Forest was massive.
So massive that Shen Changchuan himself didn’t know if it even had a border.
The area he was able to traverse was merely a tiny, insignificant fraction of it.
Naturally, Shen Changchuan didn’t dare claim he was invincible in the outer regions.
Therefore, as he traveled,
he remained vigilant.
Fortunately, the journey was uneventful, and he ultimately encountered no major threats.
However, the journey wasn’t entirely smooth sailing.
In fact, the biggest trouble
came from the light snow drifting down from the sky.
The vast expanse of snow had draped the land in a white blanket,
changing the terrain considerably from when Shen Changchuan had last entered the mountains.
This forced him to stop from time to time and survey his surroundings
to make sure he hadn’t lost his way.
As a result,
he was delayed considerably.
But fortunately,
after several more days of effort,
he finally arrived near the cliffs where the Gale Falcon had built its nest.
That’s right.
The ambush spot Shen Changchuan had chosen
was right on the Gale Falcon’s doorstep!
’The last time I was here, I only observed its habits and routines. I never revealed myself.’
’That means in the Gale Falcon’s subconscious, the area around its nest is a safe zone.’
’If I set a trap here, its guard will be down by at least ninety percent!’
The corners of Shen Changchuan’s mouth turned up slightly as he thought to himself.
’If I were to set a trap in Dawan Village, even if I managed to lure it in, the falcon would be on high alert. It might fly off before the trap could spring, wasting my Elixirs.’
’But it’s different here.’
’I refuse to believe you’ll still be on guard after returning to your own home!’
This was a perfect application of exploiting an information gap and the principle of it being darkest right under the lamp.
This was precisely why Shen Changchuan had ventured deep into the old forest instead of making his move in Dawan Village.
To be honest,
if their roles were reversed,
Shen Changchuan didn’t think even he would notice someone setting a trap for him right on his own doorstep.
Let alone a mere beast like the Gale Falcon?
Shen Changchuan wasted no time.
He first scanned the sky,
and after confirming the Gale Falcon had not yet returned,
he quickly got to work.
First, he chose a suitable spot.
Then, he took the freshly picked Spirit Medicine from his Storage Bag. He planted it in an open clearing with a Spirit Stone buried beneath it, allowing it to resume growing.
He then camouflaged the area to make it look like a naturally growing Spirit Medicine.
Next, he laid out the Mysterious Two Forms Array he had taken from the He Mountain Four Fierce.
He also camouflaged the Bronze Jar in a tree, using the accumulated snow.
He also scattered seeds of various vines all around.
Where snow lay thick, Talismans were hidden in the crevices of tree bark...
One by one, he laid his traps.
After that, he cleared out a hollow at the base of a large tree not far away to serve as his hiding spot.
Finally, Shen Changchuan restored the surrounding snow,
completely covering all traces of his activity.
He then slipped into the tree hollow,
and even the entrance to his hiding spot
was almost completely concealed with snow and vegetation.
With that, he settled down in the hollow,
and waited silently.
「Time flew by.」
In the blink of an eye, two more days passed.
That evening,
Shen Changchuan saw a dark shadow flash across the sky, circling several times high above him.
The Gale Falcon was back!
His spirits stirred.
’Finally!’
Shen Changchuan’s mind snapped into focus.
He held his breath, remained perfectly still, and waited patiently.
The Gale Falcon circled high above, surveying the area.
It detected no enemies,
nor did it notice anything amiss.
So, it descended, reassured, flying into its nest on the cliff face to rest.
It seemed that watching Dawan Village for the past few days
had tired it out,
and it needed some rest.
The trap Shen Changchuan had set—the Spirit Medicine serving as bait—had seemingly gone unnoticed.
Or perhaps, even if the Gale Falcon had noticed it, it was simply disdainful,
and hadn’t swooped down.
’Did I fail?’
Yet Shen Changchuan’s face betrayed no hint of anxiety.
He remained hidden in the tree hollow, waiting quietly.
Time ticked by, moment by moment.
In the blink of an eye,
the sun had completely sunk below the horizon, and a black canopy hung over the night sky.
An unknown amount of time passed.
Inside the nest on the cliff,
the Gale Falcon was sleeping soundly.
Finally,
at a certain moment,
under the dim twilight,
a finger gently pushed aside the snow at the entrance to the hollow, followed by a hand.
Then,
an Elixir was flicked out,
landing precisely at the base of the Spirit Medicine.
And with the Elixir’s appearance,
a strange fragrance, one with an irresistible allure for Demon Beasts, began to permeate the air.
In the darkness,
the hand at the entrance to the hollow had long since been withdrawn,
replaced by
a pair of eyes hidden in an inconspicuous shadow.
’I don’t know how intelligent this Gale Falcon is, but simply leaving an Elixir on the ground would be too obvious. It would surely make it suspicious.’
’After all, if a person saw a bar of Gold just sitting glittering on the road, wouldn’t their first reaction be to look around?’
’Now, by using the Spirit Medicine as cover and placing the Beast Saliva Pill beneath it, at first glance, it will seem as though the strange fragrance is coming from the Spirit Medicine itself. That should be enough to further dispel its suspicions.’
’I’ve done so much. I hope this doesn’t disappoint me.’
Inside the hollow,
Shen Changchuan lay in wait.
He held his breath,
not making the slightest sound or movement.
A quarter-hour later,
the fragrance of the Beast Saliva Pill had spread far and wide.
The Gale Falcon, which had been resting peacefully, was irresistibly lured from its nest by the tempting aroma...
