Rise of The Demon General
Chapter 231. The Existence of the Jue Apes

Chapter 231: Chapter 231. The Existence of the Jue Apes

During the night, after everyone slept, a shadow sneaked out of the fort before proceeding to leave the Midnight Autumn Village. Out of the ten stationed soldiers, only three stood watch during the night. They didn’t notice this shadow sneaking out.

The shadow proceeded to move through the woods before arriving at the cave he had entered earlier that day. The shadow was Amon, clothed in a full-body black suit.

Amon reentered the cave and continued the exploration by himself. He was one of the teams that discovered the underground network. He was already aware this cave had another exit when he felt a draft while he was inside earlier today. He also found something that the others hadn’t. This something was the traces of the Jue Apes.

He knew about Jue Apes not only from Ha Gild’s lecture but also from the Encyclopedia of Spirit Beasts inside his space ring. He knew what Jue Apes’ tracks looked like and had seen them during their exploration earlier that day. He just didn’t share it with the group.

Completing this mission had now become a secondary objective for him. His first objective was to stay alive, which meant he had to prepare for when those seniors decided to take action. To do that, he needed to know the terrain. This was what he was doing now. to familiarize himself with the underground network before the others did.

Even though he was in haste, he wasn’t reckless. He made sure to always be cautious in his every step. He was lucky to do so because it turned out more spirit beasts roamed the cave at night. In particular, the cave mantle cats. Amon encountered more of these cats during his night exploration.

He tried to avoid them as best he could. But even with his Concealed Ghost Body, he couldn’t avoid them all. The ones he couldn’t avoid, he slew using poison knives. He was now a Beginning Transformation Stage cultivator. With his expertise and poison, he had no problem dealing with these cats. The cats were agile, but they were predictable. He only needed two flying knives to slay one cat. The first knife was to lure them to dodge. The second was the poison knife for the kill shot.

This time, the cat’s corpse was not too damaged so he could salvage its parts. After checking the corpse, he learned the valuable part was only the unusually long sword-like nail from the cat’s front paw. This nail could easily cut the flesh of an Intermediate Transformation Stage cultivator. If he used it to produce a flying knife, it would be a better weapon than his current batch.

One cat had only one nail. After learning that he could utilize its nail, he no longer avoided the cats. He slew all the cats he encountered. He took their nails and stuffed the corpses into his space ring.

He found some tracks of the Jue Apes again during his exploration. He avoided where the tracks led. The Jue Apes were stronger than the Cave Mantle Cats. The worst thing was the Jue Apes always traveled in groups, unlike the Cave Mantle cats that roamed by themselves. He would be in trouble if he was beset by a group of Jue Apes.

After spending the night roaming the cave, he exited and dug a hole in the woods. He dumped all the Cave Mantle Cat corpses into this hole. He took out a bottle and poured its contents onto the mound of corpses. A hissing sound was heard. The corpses started melting.

The liquid Amon poured onto the corpses was a new poison he created from a recipe inside the 101 Primal Poison Tome. This poison was called Flesh Melting Poison. It acted like the strong acid from his past world, if not more potent.

Within seconds, the mound of corpses was reduced to a pile of bones. He shoved the dirt back into the hole, covering it. If anyone found these bones, it would look like a mass grave made long ago.

He returned to the village before sunrise. He didn’t go back into the room. He stayed outside and waited for the others to come out, pretending that he woke up earlier than them.

He repeated this the following nights. Thanks to his demon body, which needed no sleep, he had no trouble doing this every night.

On the third night, he started doing something else, which was preparation. He began his preparation in the woods. He cut branches and vines from the trees. Using those materials, he fashioned them into deadly traps by combining them with the weapons in his space ring. He had bought a lot of low-tier engraved weapons using his wealth. He stored those weapons in his space ring in case he needed them, like this moment.

After assembling the traps, he stored the traps into his space ring. He entered the cave and retraced the path he had taken before. He placed the assembled traps in several inconspicuous positions. He placed them only inside the underground network and on the path he and Xian Mei had passed through.

For the mission, the students had no reason to return to the path they had walked before, so there was little chance for the traps to get triggered by the students. If the students did other things outside the mission parameters, that’s another matter. Only the seniors would have such an ulterior plan. So, he didn’t mind if these traps caught those seniors. Still, he hoped they didn’t. He needed these traps in case the worst happened.

There was also the chance these traps got triggered by stray spirit beasts. But after going through these caves for two days, he did not see that many spirit beasts. It was even more so after he slew the Cave Mantle Cats during the first two nights. He didn’t see those cats anymore on his third night.

He continued doing this the next night, placing more traps.

During the gathering on the evening of the fifth day since they arrived, one of the teams finally reported something related to their mission. Inside the underground network, Tuang Yin and Wei Cao found a cavern with a stream running through it. It was there they laid eyes on some Jue Apes drinking water from the stream. The Jue Apes they spotted were only a group of five. If those were the only Jue Apes, they didn’t need to bother the kingdom army. They needed to continue checking to better ascertain the number of Jue Apes in the area.

Amon saw Gao Xiong and Xian Mei exchange glances when they heard this report.

That night, Amon again went out to explore the caves. After five days, he already caught the pattern of how Gao Xi decided which caves the teams should enter. He surveyed three caves Gao Xi was most likely to pick for Xian Mei and him tomorrow.

One of these three caves had a dead end. The other two were connected to the underground network. He roamed the place until he found the way back to the area where he had placed the traps. He then retraced his step and placed more traps in the direction he entered from.

He figured the seniors would act soon, if not tomorrow. He came to this conjecture based on two things.

Firstly, the number of caves they were entering was dwindling, which meant the area they were searching was shrinking. The other teams, which entered the caves from different sides, were getting closer to each other. If they got too close, Gao Xi’s arrangement to alienate him would be pointless. He believed the seniors would act before that happened.

Secondly, the glance between Gao Xiong and Xian Mei just now wasn’t casual. It meant something. Amon suspected it had something to do with their ulterior plan involving him.

Hence, the extra preparation this fifth night.

*

The next morning, everyone departed and entered the caves according to Gao Xi’s instructions, the same as they did the days before. The difference was that after Amon and Xian Mei entered their cave, Gao Xiong and Gao Sou didn’t leave. They stayed there and waited with Gao Xi.

Not long after, Yan Woo and Liang Tao, who should have entered the previous cave, came to them.

"It’s finally time, eh?" Yan Woo said after arriving.

"It’s about time!" Gao Sou exclaimed. "I’m sick of waiting."

"Thank goodness there truly are Jue Apes," Gao Xiong said. "I’ve been worried there was no strong spirit beast around here. Now that we have found one, we can carry out our plan. We will lay the blame on those Jue Apes."

"Make sure the body is badly mangled," Gao Xi told them. "Jue Apes use brute force to break their prey’s bones. Make it look like it was those beasts’ deed."

"Don’t worry. We know," Gao Xiong assured.

"What about the Siren Stone?" Liang Tao asked. "If Lin Mo uses it, we might not have enough time before Tutor Yong comes."

"Wu Chun will deal with that," Gao Xiong said.

"I will also go and meet Yong Ling to make sure she goes to Wu Chun instead of Lin Mo," Gao Xi said.

"All right, people. This is our real mission. Move out!" Gao Xiong exclaimed.