A Chaotic World

Chapter 40: Bait

The appearance of the assault party helped Lu Tianzi get out of his previous predicament, but at the same time it came with its own problems.

Since each of the three teams in the assault party was led by an Essence Condensation realm martial artist, Lu Tianzi knew that whoever this team was led by, he must have already detected Lu Tianzi's presence.

Otherwise, there was no way that the team would so coincidentally launch an ambush on the demons who were pursuing him.

Lu Tianzi had met with all three of the team leaders in person before, though they were on different occasions. Because of that, the likelihood of his identity having been exposed was exceedingly high.

For Essence Condensation realm martial artists, it was almost impossible for them to forget the features of someone as prominent as the greatest genius of Ivory Rock City.

Since his identity had already been compromised, Lu Tianzi figured that he might as well return to aid them in their battle. This way, he could at least save his peers from the threat of the demons.

On top of that, Lu Tianzi still intended to reveal Hu Yuanbo's crimes before the masses of Ivory Rock City in the future. At that time, what weight would his words have if he was already known as someone who would abandon his fellow members of humanity in the face of danger?

If Lu Tianzi were to continue escaping rather than turn back to help, then he would truly be labelled as such by the assault party!

Lu Tianzi naturally did not wish for that to happen.

However, Lu Tianzi never expected that he would join the fray only to realise that this was the team led by Hu Shenwei.

Lu Tianzi had never forgotten about the exact words spoken by the servants of the City Lord Manor, about how he was a threat to Hu Shenwei's future position as the leader of Ivory Rock City. That was also one of the reasons why Lu Tianzi was chosen by Hu Yuanbo as a sacrifice to the demons.

To repay this debt, Lu Tianzi had sworn that as long as the opportunity arose, he would never allow this father and son pair to live!

The situation right now was definitely not the kind of opportunity that he was looking for.

"Tianzi!"

"Lu Tianzi!"

The members of the team called out in joy as they recognised Lu Tianzi who had just charged out from behind dense vegetation.

Many of the members hailed from the Ivory Rock Martial Academy, either as Lu Tianzi's seniors or even his instructors. Thus, they were people who knew Lu Tianzi on a personal level.

None of them suspected a thing even as they noticed Lu Tianzi's appearance either.

The Holy Guardians of Ivory Rock City were given a mission to roam the wilds in search of remnant pockets of humans so as to point them back to the safety of Ivory Rock City.

On top of that, the group was currently extremely close to the demons' fortress, so it was likely that Lu Tianzi had tried to challenge the demons but failed, resulting in a need to escape.

In fact, all that remained in their mind was the previous scene of Lu Tianzi facing off against numerous demons, domineeringly staring them down.

How impressive was that?

As expected of the number one genius of Ivory Rock City!

And now, this same impressive genius was coming to their aid in battle, so what more was there to be afraid of?

The members of the team felt their bodies brimming with strength as their morale surged to unprecedented heights. Even the powerful demons before them were no longer able to hold them back for long!

One by one, the members of the team won their respective battles while Lu Tianzi and Hu Shenwei picked off the rest.

However, Lu Tianzi no longer demonstrated the strength that he used earlier when he slayed demons with ease, toning it down a notch. As for the materialisation of Spiritual Essence, Lu Tianzi did not utilise that at all.

Even so, with his superior speed and agility, Lu Tianzi was still able to defeat demons at the same cultivation realm as himself, though taking a much longer time compared to before.

Seeing the human killing machine from before return, coupled with the existence of another human martial artist who exceeded the Essence Building realm, the demons were scared out of their wits!

One by one, they hurriedly fled the scene. Those who failed to find an opportunity to shake off their opponents were eventually ganged up upon by the team of human martial artists, and their fates could be imagined.

Lu Tianzi pulled his sword out from the corpse of the last demon before realising that the rest of them were all looking at him with awe in their eyes.

"Tianzi! To think that after such a short time, your strength would have increased by this much!" one of them came up to pat him on the shoulders. "As expected of you! Even if we were to spar right now, I fear that I might not be a match for you! I truly feel proud to know that I have once been your instructor!"

"You are joking, Instructor Nie. I will always be grateful for your pointers that corrected my unnecessary movements. Without you, there will definitely not be the current Lu Tianzi," Lu Tianzi smiled gently at the man whom he knew too well.

"Hahaha! Good!" Instructor Nie nodded in satisfaction as he let out a hearty laughter.

He was also at the Peak Essence Building realm, and had the chance to be one of Lu Tianzi's instructors when he first entered the martial academy. Of course, when Lu Tianzi's skills started to show, he was quickly passed on to the more capable instructors in the martial academy to be groomed as the talent that he was.

"It is good to see you again. It seems like you are doing well," Hu Shenwei walked up to greet Lu Tianzi as well.

"Sir Hu!" Lu Tianzi clasped his fist in greeting, not showing the least bit of disrespect.

As the son of Hu Yuanbo and an Essence Condensation realm martial artist, Hu Shenwei commanded a significant amount of authority within Ivory Rock City as well. No matter how Lu Tianzi felt towards the man, he was not nearly stupid enough to let it show right now.

"Mm," Hu Shenwei nodded as he accepted Lu Tianzi's greeting. "Let us move. This is not exactly a place to talk at lengths."

"Sir Hu has a point," Lu Tianzi readily agreed.

The rest of the team had no objections either, and they quickly left the area.

A while later, the group settled at a secluded area of the forest. It was a small clearing that was very well hidden from the outside, and it was also where the team had been resting previously. As long as they had someone on guard, it was almost like a safe house within the wilderness.

The team was finally able to relax a little after returning to their camp, and everyone's attention returned to Lu Tianzi once more.

"Tianzi, tell us about what you have been through over the past few weeks!" someone eagerly asked.

"That's right, Tianzi. Your cultivation realm jumped two boundaries in a matter of weeks. You must have come across some good fortune! Tell us all about it!" Instructor Nie's eyes lit up in interest as well.

"It is a long story, and now might not be the best time to talk about it. If there is a more suitable chance in the future, then I will gladly share my story with everyone!" Lu Tianzi gave an apologetic smile as he declined.

There was simply no way that Lu Tianzi could just reveal everything, especially not when Hu Shenwei was right there.

"Is that so? Let's do that then," Instructor Nie was just as disappointed as the rest, but they did not insist.

Since Lu Tianzi did not wish to say anything, then they naturally would not be so untactful as to continue pressing him for answers.

"But what are you guys doing out here away from Ivory Rock City as well?" Lu Tianzi returned the question to them.

As a Holy Guardian, it was perfectly natural for him to be out in the wilderness. However, Lu Tianzi should not have known about the assault party, and thus it was only logical for him to question the current actions of the other party.

"This" the team members turned to look at each other in hesitation before they finally turned to Hu Shenwei.

As the son of the man who gave the orders, as well as the leader of the team, Hu Shenwei was definitely the person most suited to answering that question.

Feeling everyone's gazes land on him, Hu Shenwei got the hint and started to explain, "You might not be aware about this, but a few days ago, demons appeared near Ivory Rock City, attacking the workers who were out at work, resulting in quite a few injuries."

"Demons attacked Ivory Rock City?" Lu Tianzi made the most natural frown that he could muster. "How can that be?"

"What Sir Hu said is the truth," Intrustor Nie let out a heavy sigh. "Quite a few injuries is an understatement. I heard that dozens of workers were affected, most of them never returned alive."

"So the reason you are here is to" Lu Tianzi prompted.

"You guessed it right," Hu Shenwei looked straight into Lu Tianzi's eyes, as though trying to look into his soul. "In response to the attack by the demons, the City Lord decided that we humans should not stay low any longer. He ordered a counteroffensive against the demons, and we are here to do exactly that."

Lu Tianzi took in a deep breath as though he was trying to process all the new information, while Hu Shenwei's stare never left him for a single moment.

"So what are you intending to do next?" Lu Tianzi finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Our numbers are not as large as the demons, and thus our original plan was to strike at small groups that strayed out of the fortress, taking them out without revealing our existence," Hu Shenwei did not bother hiding anything. "But with what just happened, the demons would definitely be alerted to our presence. Thus, I am thinking of changing up our plan a little."

"Hmm?"

This time, Hu Shenwei caught the attention of everyone in the team. None of them had been told of their team leader's new plans yet.

Before anyone could ask, Hu Shenwei turned to Lu Tianzi and asked, "We saw how none of the demons dared to attack you despite having the advantage in numbers. How did you manage to suppress all of them? Pardon my rudeness, but from your combat skills just now, it is hardly enough to fend off so many demons at the same time."

"Eh?"

Lu Tianzi was caught by surprise by that sudden question, but immediately let out a sigh in relief in his heart.

It seemed that the assault party did not witness how tyrannically he killed the demons earlier, instead arriving just a few moments too late.

Thankfully, he had suppressed his combat capabilities during the later skirmish where the assault party helped him out.

This meant that Hu Shenwei along with the rest of the team were still unaware of his true combat capabilities, and continuing to keep that fact hidden would only be to his advantage in the future!

"During the past week, I managed to find a few explosive talismans that were extremely effective in combat. I just used the last of it against the demons, and that scared them into hesitation. It is fortunate that you arrived when you did. Otherwise, I truly do not know what I could do against that huge group of demons still chasing after me!" Lu Tianzi did not even blink as he weaved his story.

"So that's why," all of those present nodded in understanding.

This was a much more logical explanation as well.

It was truly incredible to even think that Lu Tianzi was able to match that many demons on his own!

"As for the demons, do you know if they were waiting for backup to arrive? Perhaps waiting for those at the Essence Condensation realm?" Hu Shenwei continued to ask.

"There are indeed some Essence Condensation realm demons in their group. But for some reason, the only ones chasing after me were Essence Building realm demons," Lu Tianzi answered in genuine surprise. "But how did Sir Hu know that?"

"Considering how the demons were chasing after you despite thinking that they would not be able to take you down, that means they are banking on the fact that someone else would be able to finish the job for them. The most likely possibility would be that they have reliable reinforcements on the way who are capable of doing so, and that would mean that they must have a higher cultivation realm," Hu Shenwei explained.

Lu Tianzi nodded along with the rest of the team.

This Hu Shenwei was truly not simple.

With just a few hints, he was already able to piece together an almost complete picture of the current situation. As expected of the son of Hu Yuanbo!

"Sir Hu is indeed wise. So what does Sir Hu suggest we do next?" Instructor Nie asked curiously, his eyes full of admiration.

"We will lure them into a trap, and try to take out at least one of their Essence Condensation realm martial artists!" Hu Shenwei turned to Lu Tianzi once more. "But for the plan to work, I would have to trouble Tianzi to act as bait!"