Chapter 267: Chapter 225: Night of the Full Moon, Sharp Pattern Copper Ore

Three months slipped away like sand through the fingers.

Lu Zhao sat cross-legged in his dwelling.

"Senior." Zhao Xiaoshu’s respectful voice sounded from outside the dwelling. He had received Lu Zhao’s summons and had been waiting for some time.

Lu Zhao waved a hand, and the main door swung open. Zhao Xiaoshu hurried inside and presented a cyan Jade Scroll with both hands. "Senior, this is a summary of the intelligence we’ve gathered from observing the Anteater over the last three months."

Lu Zhao accepted the Jade Scroll and probed it with his Divine Sense. The information was concise and clear: the Tier Two Middle Stage Anteater, which resided in an underground cave, went out to forage once a month—a frequency far higher than other Demon Beasts of the same tier.

Furthermore, it tended to venture out around the full moon, and its targets were specific: various types of anthills.

’Once a month... That’s remarkably frequent. This beast either has a voracious appetite, or it needs a massive amount of pure ant Essence Qi for its cultivation or to maintain some sort of state.’

Lu Zhao’s finger tapped lightly on the Jade Scroll. ’This is a good opportunity. Its frequent excursions mean it’ll be easier to lure into a trap.’

「One day later.」

Lu Zhao quietly appeared at the entrance to the Anteater’s underground cave, hiding himself in an inconspicuous nearby rock crevice.

’This is the place.’ With a subtle command from his mind, several figures materialized noiselessly at his side.

To his left was Li Xuerou, clad in a plain white dress. Her face was pallid, and a barely perceptible, chilling deathly aura coiled around her. Deep within her vacant eyes, two points of crimson light shimmered faintly.

To his right was the thirty-foot-tall Tier Two Lower Grade Strong Demon Ape Corpse Puppet. Its body was a uniform dark gold, and it stood as silent as a mountain, emanating a heart-stopping Evil Qi.

Behind the Demon Ape Corpse Puppet stood three smaller, but no less formidable, cyan-black Iron Ape Corpse Puppets. The auras of the four were faintly connected, forming a simple Battle Array!

’Scatter. Conceal yourselves. Await orders.’ Lu Zhao issued the command with his Divine Sense, his instructions concise and clear.

Li Xuerou’s form blurred, and she became an almost transparent white shadow, slipping silently into the shadows of a sparse grove of dead trees to the left. Her aura retracted completely, as though she had become one with the environment.

The Strong Demon Ape Corpse Puppet led the three Iron Ape Corpse Puppets, their heavy footsteps falling with an eerie silence. They quickly disappeared behind a large cluster of weathered rocks to the right. Their huge bodies were perfectly hidden by the jagged stones, and their Evil Qi was instantly reined in.

As for the Red Feather Fire Sun Bird Puppet and the Nine Bends Lock River Formation, Lu Zhao kept them hidden.

The former was too conspicuous, and its fiery aura would easily startle a Demon Beast with keen Perception. As for the latter, it was difficult to predict the beast’s movements, and forcibly setting it up at the cave entrance would be no different from tipping his hand and scaring it off.

However, with his current strength—comparable to that of a top Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator—combined with Li Xuerou and the Corpse Puppet Battle Array, he was fully confident he could take down the Anteater in a surprise attack.

With his preparations complete, Lu Zhao took a deep breath and activated his Breath Concealment and Shapeshifting Skill to its full extent.

In an instant, his aura became faint, almost nonexistent, as if he were a stone devoid of all Vitality. With a flicker, his body vanished behind a boulder dozens of feet high, melting into the shadows. Only his deep eyes remained, peering through a crevice in the rock, locked onto the cave’s entrance.

The wait began.

Time trickled by in the silence. The chirping of insects and the calls of birds in the mountain forest continued unabated. The sun rose and the moon set, painting the landscape in shifting light and shadow.

Lu Zhao was like the most seasoned Hunter, his Heart Spirit as tranquil as still water. He lay patiently in ambush, his Divine Sense spread out like an invisible spiderweb, blanketing the area for hundreds of yards around the cave entrance.

Half a month went by in a flash.

This night was the night of the full moon. A full moon like a silver platter hung high in the sky, its cold, clear brilliance washing over the mountain forest and stretching the shadows of the strange rocks long and thin.

Suddenly!

A cold, tyrannical pressure, thick with the mixed stench of soil and blood, erupted without warning from deep within the fissure!

The aura was like that of a slumbering beast suddenly awakened. It surged higher and higher, instantly reaching the Tier Two Middle Stage!

This aura was filled with greed and hunger. It rolled outward like a tidal wave, startling nearby roosting birds into a chaotic flurry of wings. The chirping of insects abruptly ceased.

The entrance to the cave then shook violently, and a massive figure shot out of the darkness like a cannonball!

The Anteater was nearly fifty feet long. It resembled a giant pangolin, but looked far more ferocious.

It had just awoken, famished and ready to gorge itself.

’It’s here!’ A sharp light flared in Lu Zhao’s eyes. He instantly broke out of his state of Meditation, his muscles tightening like a powerful bow drawn taut.

Without the slightest hesitation, his mind raced as he instantly issued the prepared command!

’Awaken! Encircle!’

The order, like an invisible bugle call, instantly reached the two hidden positions.

In the grove of dead trees to the left, the two scarlet points of light deep within Li Xuerou’s vacant eyes suddenly blazed with intensity! An even stronger, purer, chilling deathly qi erupted from her. With her at its center, the temperature within a hundred-foot radius plummeted, and the ground even frosted over—the Three Yin Realm was unleashed!

She shot forward like a phantom, her plain white figure leaving a faint afterimage in the moonlight as she charged directly at the Anteater. Her speed far surpassed that of an ordinary Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator!

To the right, behind the cluster of rocks, the dark gold body of the Strong Demon Ape Corpse Puppet trembled violently as a ferocious light flared in its eyes! A low growl rumbled in its throat, yet it made no sound.

Its massive body lurched into motion. With the three Iron Ape Corpse Puppets in tow, they charged from their cover like four mobile war fortresses, their advance a thunderous rumble. Their target was not the Anteater directly. Instead, they moved to cut off the path to the right—where they predicted the beast would flee—in order to form a pincer attack with Li Xuerou, who was approaching from the left!

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