Refining the Heavens (炼天)

Chapter 9: Traps

Jim bravely ran headfirst into the snare laid out for them, eliciting a series of yelps as he stirred up the hornet's nest.

The ambushers had quickly given up on their hiding place, after what they thought as a scout stumbling onto them.

A clash of weapons shortly ensued, and on hearing that as his cue, Edward fired a series of very precise shots at his targets. Regardless they are visible or not, his arrows struck them heavily on their torsos and limbs, aiding in Jim's escape.

With the archer's help, the young saboteur retreated quickly, twisting around the trees while dodging their foes, he quickly disappeared from sight; only their Soul Perception made it easy to estimate how many pursuers are following behind.

"Looks like we managed to pull out all five teams. Luciette sure is fast in her counterattacks. Everyone, it's time to head back!" Kairos laughed like a hunter who had just snared a large prey.

The group turned and ran without waiting, letting Jim catch up with them. Their strategy of sending a single person as bait forced their opponents to traverse the difficult terrain, with only a single target to follow.

A moment later Jim reappeared in sight, and now with scrapes and bruises covering him, but no one is anxious for their friend.

Just half a month of intensive cultivation have brought them to equal grounds to the average students. Their swift improvements largely due to the new cultivation method they adopted. Along with their runic weapons and their unique Soul Perception ability, they are definitely difficult to be taken down.

The days where Kairos and his team gets beaten up, even when their group sprung a sneak attack on a single opponent, now seems like a distant memory.

The trackers followed closely behind, just as they expected, a huge success on Jim's part to lure them out.

In fact, the light wounds and bruises on him were purposefully received to encourage the Blue Teams to continue chasing. Every scratch gave the other team hope that they are about to catch their target, but in truth, they might be as well on the other side of the planet. Regardless, it was a pain he was prepared to suffer, for if they found out he could have fought them without receiving a single blow, he would not have made a very good bait.

Perhaps, it is better to say that Jim was in no position of danger from the outset. They only needed to bring their opponents to the right place where they could capture as many targets as possible. Like a fisherman that pulls the net when the fishes are in place.

But first, they have to help their saboteur.

With the distance between them becoming shorter by the moment, Jim waited for the most opportune moment before making an attempt to disengage his pursuers, at the same time Kairos commanded with a hiss, "Now!"

At that instant, everyone stopped fleeing and instead jumped into action. They turned with great haste, towards extracting their friend as the two parties clashed savagely; the five sorely outnumbered by their opponents, chose to concentrate their efforts on falling back to safety.

With resounding success, the two sides parted once again after the short skirmish, creating a small distance between them, but as expected, the blue team did not give up the chase. Fortunately, for now, their pursuers had not noticed anything odd about the entire situation and continued giving chase.

If anything, the short bout only served to motivate the Blue Team's ambushers, but this only caused a smile to creep across their faces.

After all, a lure that is not moving energetically cannot reel in a big fish.