Chapter 125: The Trap

A faint white light flickered across my eyes, and my spiritual energy coalesced into a rune, which I slammed directly into the creature. The malevolent spirit let out a shrill scream, its ghostly aura erupting and dissipating into the air. I lunged forward with my blade, shredding the spirit into pieces.

Just as I turned to leave, I looked down at the ground in disbelief. After I killed the spirit, it had actually dropped a Nether Crystal—a high-grade Nether Crystal.

"Holy shit, it's real!" I picked up the high-grade crystal and muttered to myself.

I began to laugh, but as I looked up, my smile instantly morphed into terror. Dozens of malevolent spirits were lunging at me, engulfing me in an instant.

My body jolted violently, and I snapped my eyes open. I found myself lying on a patch of weeds under a pale cyan sky. I let out a long, ragged breath. That scared the hell out of me; the sensation of death in the Trial Path was something I never wanted to experience again. It felt far too real.

I stood up and looked around, realizing I was back on Demon King Ridge. I had no idea how I had escaped the Demon King Palace. Just then, I felt something in my hand. I opened my palm, and my heart soared with joy. It was the high-grade Nether Crystal—I had actually brought it back from the Trial Path. Being able to kill spirits in the trial, harvest their crystals, and bring them into the real world was incredible.

"Breton." Millie appeared not far away, calling out to me with a look of pleasant surprise.

I walked toward her and was shocked to notice that her aura had changed.

"You broke through?" I asked.

"I did. I only intended to find the Demon King's Flower, but I ended up merging with the Heart of the Demon King," Millie said with a smile.

"Then congratulations," I replied.

"Back to Spirit City. I will make the damn Benny family pay the price," Millie said, gritting her teeth at the memory of their ambush.

...

In Spirit City, Millie recounted the ambush to her father, the City Lord. Enraged, the City Lord immediately ordered retaliation against the Benny family.

In Millie’s estate, I sat on the steps in front of my room, smoking in silence.

"What are you thinking about?" Lu Zhiruo appeared and sat down beside me.

"Nothing much," I said, glancing at her.

Lu Zhiruo stared at my profile, her gaze momentarily drifting. "You know, you really don't look like an ordinary Nether Cultivator."

"That’s because I’m not ordinary," I said.

"You... you look remarkably like a friend of mine," she remarked.

"Oh," I replied dismissively.

Lu Zhiruo didn't seem to mind. She continued, "I heard you suffered heavy casualties during the Benny family's attack. The City Lord has already decided to take revenge."

I felt a jolt. "Revenge? How do you know that?"

"Because I’m going to participate as well," Lu Zhiruo said, revealing the plan without hesitation.

"Why tell me? If this news leaks, what if I get blamed for it?" I said.

"You are the person Millie trusts most. There’s no harm in you knowing. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be joining us," she said.

That day, I went to Nightingale’s stall, bought some supplies, and left some items behind.

The retaliation against the Benny family came quickly. Just as Lu Zhiruo had said, they first wiped out several of the family’s merchant caravans and destroyed a few of their estates. The core of the revenge mission, however, was to destroy one of the Benny family's mines.

In the small stone hut where I met with Nightingale and the others, she spoke in a low voice: "We received orders from above. They are going to send people around the perimeter to stage a 'snipe and clam' situation—letting the enemies fight while we reap the rewards. We are responsible for the extraction."

I asked for the encrypted message, read it, and crushed it into powder. I remained silent, tapping my fingers rhythmically against the table.

"Leader?" Nightingale asked, watching me with confusion. Although we had received orders, I was the one who made the final decisions for the Dark Cell.

I looked up. "Why do they need us for extraction? We are the Dark Cell; if we are exposed, all our hard work will be for nothing."

"But we are the only ones who know this terrain," Yu Hai added.

I lit a cigarette. "This is indeed a good opportunity, but I have a bad feeling about it. Let’s wait and see. If they truly need our help, we’ll step in then."

The others left one by one, leaving only Nightingale and me in the room. She stood behind me, pulled my head against her chest, and began to massage my temples.

"You’re under a lot of pressure. Relax," she said softly.

I closed my eyes, still holding the cigarette in my mouth. Nightingale took it from me, took a drag herself, extinguished it, and continued the massage.

"After being a ghost for so long, I’ve almost forgotten how to be human," I murmured.

"Do you want me to help you wake up?" she asked.

"How?"

I felt a lightness at the back of my head, followed by a sweet scent as two warm lips pressed against mine. I reached out and pulled her hand forward. Nightingale let out a soft cry as she landed on my lap. We stared into each other's eyes, the desire between us churning. I stood up, lifted her, laid her on the table, and pressed down upon her.

Despite her usual flirtatious and open demeanor, she was as shy as a little rabbit once we were actually together. This contrast only made it more exhilarating, and having been starved of intimacy for so long, I didn't stop until she was completely exhausted.

As I was getting dressed, Nightingale finally recovered. She straightened my clothes and said coolly, "Don't feel any psychological burden. We are just two people seeking warmth in a difficult situation."

"I don't have any burden," I replied.

Nightingale glared at me and pinched my waist hard. I quickly begged for mercy, and the atmosphere between us finally eased.

"Scumbag. You got a bargain. Get out of here," she said, pushing me out of the room and locking the door behind me.

Nightingale leaned against the door, stunned for a moment, before letting out a soft laugh. This kind of relationship wasn't so bad after all.

...

At the Benny family’s mine, Nether Cultivators were patrolling the perimeter. Inside, thousands of Nether Servants and Nether Humans were busy mining and transporting ore, whipped by supervisors at the slightest sign of slack.

Suddenly, battle cries erupted. Nether Cultivators from the Raphael family swarmed in from all sides, and the two factions clashed in a bloody melee.

In a forest about ten miles from the mine, the four of us—myself, Nightingale, and the others—sat together.

"That’s quite a racket. The Raphael family must have invested a lot into this," Yu Hai said with a smile.

"At least fifty or sixty high-level cultivators. If they all die, it’ll be glorious," Gao Pingping added.

"By the way, did they say how many of our people are coming?" I asked.

"No, but it can't be many. A large force deep in this territory would have been detected long ago," Nightingale replied.

"If there are too few of them, they won't be able to do much unless they are all eighth or ninth-rank Onmyoji," I noted.

After a while, the fighting at the mine began to subside, turning into sporadic skirmishes. It seemed the outcome had been decided. Just then, a new ripple of energy surged forth. We all perked up—this was the magical fluctuation of an Onmyoji. Without a doubt, the people we were meant to "reap the rewards" from had made their move.

However, after a short while, my face darkened. "This isn't good. There aren't many Onmyoji. What are they thinking? If they want to take a risk like this, they have to commit. They’re being completely suppressed by the Nether Cultivators. I don't think we'll be playing the fisherman today."

"Leader, what should we do?" the other four looked at me.

"Did we give them the extraction point?" I asked.

"Yes," Nightingale said.

I took a deep breath, placing a hand over my heart as a sense of crisis intensified.

"Retreat!" I gritted out.

"What? We’re not going to extract them?" Yu Hai asked.

"No extraction! Move, now!" I roared.

We all stood up and began to pull back.

*BOOM!*

A terrifying explosion erupted in the direction of our retreat. In an instant, waves of Nether Arrows rained down upon us.

*Clang! Clang! Clang!*

I drew my Bloodfiend Blade, swatting away the barrage.

"Damn it! It’s a trap! We’ve been played! Break through!" I shouted. I still didn't know which part of the plan had gone wrong, but the situation was clear.

We fought through the rain of arrows, but a line of Nether Guards blocked our path, and in the distance, I could see heavily armored guards assembling. I roared, my blade carving arcs of crimson light. Nightingale and the others fought fiercely, felling guard after guard.

*Thwack!*

Gao Pingping let out a muffled groan as a Nether Spear pierced her chest. I turned, my eyes bloodshot, and roared as I decapitated the guard who had struck her.

"Leader, get out of here!" Gao Pingping screamed. She let out a final, fierce cry and plunged headlong into a cluster of guards.

*BOOM!*

Her magical power detonated, turning her into a bloody bomb. A dozen guards were shredded along with her, limbs flying everywhere.

I gritted my teeth and charged forward. The heavily armored guards had finished assembling, forming a wall of steel blocking our path.

"I’ll handle this!" Yu Hai shouted. He rushed forward and hurled dozens of black stones. The stones flared with magical light and exploded instantly, blasting a gap in the armored line.

We surged through the breach, but as soon as we were out, we were met by a line of Nether Knights mounted on beasts. The cavalry charged.

"Die!" I bellowed, leaping into the air to strike one of the knights. Immediately, a dozen long lances thrust toward me. A white light flashed in my eyes, and the beast under the lead knight reared up with a piercing shriek. I swung my Bloodfiend Blade, unleashing a surging sea of blood.

*Boom!*

The heads of two knights flew into the air, but I was sent spiraling backward by the sheer force of the impact. Before I could even land, a thousand attacks rained down upon me.