Chapter 102: Infiltration.
“How long have we been flying?”
Yao Jun stood up and dusted himself off as he spoke, stretching his body and enjoying the sound of his joints popping after he finished. He knew that the trip would take a few days, but he did not know exactly how long.
“15 days of flying, and two days of hiding. We are currently hiding around 10 kilometers away from the town that they have captured.”
Wan Yi stood up alongside Yao Jun, returning Fan Wujiu into her body, as she responded. Yao Jun nodded his head at her words and left the gate, Wan Yi following right behind him. Yao Jun could tell that the others were not inside the gate, so they were most likely waiting outside.
After they left the gate, Yao Jun found that they were currently inside a dark forest, the trees so close to each other that their leaves and branches completely blotted out the sky. Through the small spaces between the trees, he could see a town standing in the distance, surrounded by a large wooden fence. The sun had set not long ago, so the entire town was shrouded by darkness, lit up only by what seemed to be a few torches.
Just as he thought, the others were all sitting on the ground not far from him, chatting with each other and telling stories about themselves. When they notice him leaving the gate, they all stood up and walked over. Guo Luo had a bright smile as she walked next to him an grabbed his hand, holding it tightly. Yao Jun put on a smile of his own and returned the gate into his body.
“Do we know anything about how their people are distributed around the town?”
After returning the gate into his body, he turned to the others and started talking business. Both Lin Ren and Guo Luo could easily spy on the things that happened within the town, so he assumed that they had spent the last two days finding out about the situation within the town.
“They have almost no guards patrolling around the town, it seems like they are trying to make the village look normal. They have the most people at the very center of the town, that should also be where their leader is.”
Lin Ren was the one who responded. He could summon forth the souls he had gathered and insert them into the village, seeing through their eyes to spy on the town. The souls were immaterial, so they could walk through walls without problem. He could even make them transparent and invisible, making it nearly impossible to spot them.
“Do we know anything about their strength?”
Entering the town without at least having an approximate on the enemies strength was foolish. Knowing the enemies strength would allow them to make plans more easily.
“The strongest person I have noticed so far seemed to have reached the 6th Houtian Sky, but I was unable to tell clearly. ”
Lin Ren could see and hear what his souls saw, but there was still a limit to how high the cultivation level he could sense was. He could just barely tell if someone was at the 6th Houtian Sky, but there was of course also a chance that he was wrong.
“We are in luck however. I managed to find out where they are keeping Yang Yuhuan as well as her brother. They plan on using her to force out the remnants of the Yang clan.”
“Force them out?”
Yao Jun couldn't help but be slightly bewildered at Lin Ren's words. Why would the Yang clan be forced out just because the Guo clan had Yang Yuhuan? It would be much better for them to stay hidden and accumulate their strength.
“You might not know, but face is incredibly important to large clans. The Yang clan is severely weakened right now, but they are still a large clan that even has a chance to return to it's peak if they are careful.”
Yun Yantian shook his head and answered Yao Jun. He used to be the future patriarch of the Yun clan, so he obviously knew more about how these large clans worked.
“If word comes out that they refused to save their future matriarch, allowing her to suffer at the hands of their enemies, their face would be completely ruined and they would risk losing the trust and loyalty of their own people as well as the common people.”
Once a clan lost the trust and loyalty of the common people as well as their own people, who would still dare do business with the clan or join them? With no one joining or doing business with them, the clan was doomed to crumble.
“How troublesome is it going to be to get them out?”
Hearing Yun Yantian's explanation, Yao Jun finally understood. Since they knew where to find them, and also how the strength of the enemy was split up, all that remained was to find out how to get them out of the town.
“That depends on you. Sister Luo told us a little about that serpent of yours, Ba-Shei. He can apparently jump into the shadows? If you can get him into the town and to the place where the two of them are being held, and then bring both of them into the shadows and then out of the town, it should not be too troublesome. Is that possible?”
After they spied on the town and learned about the situation within, they had all started discussing how to get Yang Yuhuan and her brother out of the town. While they were coming with ideas, Guo Luo remembered how Yao Jun had mentioned that he could use the powers granted to him by Ba-Shei to enter the darkness.
She had also seen him drag other people into the shadows, so she was certain that he could bring others into the shadows. If he could use Ba-Shei to drag Yang Yuhuan and her brother into the darkness, getting them out of the town would be easy.
“That is indeed possible.”
Yao Jun did not respond immediately, tapping his chin in silence for a short moment as he thought. He could indeed bring Yang Yuhuan and her brother into the darkness and then bring them out of the town. But what if Ba-Shei was discovered while it was inside the town?
The range of it's darkness manipulation was only 50 meters. This meant that it would have to leave the darkness for a short moment every 50 meters, and then jump into the nearest other darkness. He was certain that Ba-Shei would not be discovered while it was inside the darkness, as they had not been able to notice Lin Ren's souls as they were spying on the town.
He eventually made up his mind, he would just have to risk it. If things turned for the worse, he could just have Ba-Shei dodge into the darkness to avoid any attacks.
“Excellent. When do you want to start?”
Yun Yantian couldn't help but get excited. Yang Yuhuan was like a sister to him, she treated him more like family than his brothers ever had. He did not want her to be in the hands of the Guo clan for even a second longer.
“The longer we stay, the higher the risk of being discovered, so let's start immediately.”
Yao Jun stood up and started walking towards the town as he spoke. Since he had made up his mind, what point wast here in waiting any longer. And since the sun had set not long ago, the entire town was shrouded in darkness, this was the perfect time.
The group snuck up on the town, stopping a short distance away from the wooden fence. There were a few deep holes in the ground, as well as large mounds of earth, spread around the area where they stopped. There had clearly been a battle here at some point, which resulted in these holes and mounds.
If he was closer to Ba-Shei, it would be easier to control him properly, so Yao Jun chose to move closer to the town, rather than try to control him from the place where they had previously hidden.
“Guard my body.”
Yao Jun spoke in a low voice. He would put his consciousness into Ba-Shei's body, allowing him to completely control it. This would leave his own body vulnerable, as he would not be aware of his surroundings, so they would have to guard him.
“My lord.”
A black light flashed from his chest and Ba-Shei appeared in front of him, an incomparably excited expression in it's eyes. Ba-Shei's voice was soft and slightly hoarse, the words dragging out slightly. Yao Jun placed his hand on Ba-Shei's head and gave it a gentle stroke, before he put his consciousness into it's body and had it dive into the darkness.