Chapter 456 Luring the Enemy In

The initial baiting operation went surprisingly smoothly.

In fact, it went so smoothly that Ling Mo was starting to think the folks from the Eternal Life Palace wouldn’t be so easily fooled. But as soon as they saw the demons making a move to flee, the entire camp almost sprang into action, ready to brawl, acting as if they were rehearsing a play.

However, Xia Xinyan could understand their eagerness, because so far, the information Ling Mo had leaked to outsiders remained pretty limited to lone demon encounters. Plus, most of the rumors about demons were only known to a few core members at the Chicks headquarters, effectively ruling out any potential insider leaks. In this context, they could be said to have an inherent information advantage.

Perhaps to the Eternal Life Palace and Eden, they figured that even if the Chicks had a method of communicating with demons, it would just amount to a down-and-out demon at best. Additionally, their reconnaissance actions had only just begun, so they couldn’t possibly know the specific traits of those demons, such as how they’d willingly become subordinates if threatened by a stronger kind. This successfully left Ling Mo and Xia Xinyan with an informational gap; those guys probably wouldn’t anticipate that those demons were actually responding to human commands until they revealed themselves.

Moreover, it was very likely that this ignorance was precisely why they were so quick to chase after the demons once they began to retreat; after all, they probably didn’t even consider that it was a trap set by others.

To ensure that the other side wouldn’t become suspicious, Ling Mo made the act seem even more realistic—right outside the city, he conjured up a large castle that resembled the one they had seen in Cang Hai City.

The only downside was that his manifestation range was still limited, so he couldn’t recreate the towering height and endless black clouds of that original castle. However, under these circumstances, it was enough to fool people.

After all, this meeting place was carefully selected by Ling Mo and the others, with only the influence of the Eternal Life Palace surrounding it. The rest was just demons, so they didn’t have to worry about any other forces interfering during this operation. And with no one else around, they could comfortably pull off something big.

The ensuing chaos was only going to make things more interesting.

The folks from the Eternal Life Palace were indeed shocked by the sudden appearance of this castle. However, after the shock came excitement—after all, they had seen that massive castle in Cang Hai City during Ling Mo’s meeting, and this one was nearly indistinguishable… well, except for the fact that it wasn’t dark yet and the castle wasn’t quite as large.

But combining this with the unusual behavior of the suddenly appearing demons, the most convincing explanation was that these demons were preemptively attacking them because their probing actions posed a threat to the demon stronghold. Whether this explanation held water was another matter; at the very least, it convinced quite a few people.

Nevertheless, Yan Zigui was the top dog of the Eternal Life Palace and wasn’t going to be so easily swayed by the smoke screens Ling Mo had set up—if everything went too smoothly, Ling Mo and his crew would instead be getting suspicious.

So, Yan Zigui didn’t immediately lead his people to attack this “demon stronghold,” instead telling everyone to stand by outside while he sent a few individuals in for deeper investigation.

His reaction was anticipated by Ling Mo, who also had a plan in place—bring those demons out again to deliver a sneak attack on those guys.

The folks from the Eternal Life Palace thought their actions were pretty stealthy but were utterly unaware that every move they made was being watched by Ling Mo, Xia Xinyan, and the others, effectively under the surveillance of those demons. Hence, it was a piece of cake for the demons to locate the hiding spots of everyone from the Eternal Life Palace, charging in with a reckless smash.

The Eternal Life Palace crew had just taken a breather; their butts barely warmed the seats when they were suddenly ambushed by the demons, leaving them scrambling to fight back, resulting in instant chaos.

However, whether it was the initial attack or this latest ambush, Ling Mo and Xia Xinyan’s goal wasn’t to wipe out the Eternal Life Palace—naturally, they didn’t want those demons to go all out. They merely aimed to weaken the fighting capacity of the Eternal Life Palace, making the upcoming confrontation between them and Eden way more interesting.

And even if the Eternal Life Palace had an insider, not everyone within was aware or willing to be a traitor to humanity. Many must still have been in the dark, so despite Ling Mo’s current ability to control the demons, he couldn’t resort to slaughtering his own kind.

If we’re being honest, this situation doesn’t come down to right or wrong, but rather the sacrifices that arise from differing stances; Ling Mo and his crew could only strive to minimize those pointless sacrifices as much as possible.

However, during times like these, being soft-hearted was the last thing they could afford. For the success of their expedition, they needed to root out all of those insiders and get rid of them today.

Of course, not right now.

After giving the members of the Eternal Life Palace a good thrashing, those demons turned and fled just like they had at the beginning, as if signaled by some unseen cue, without leaving behind even a trace of sentiment. All that remained was a battlefield strewn with chaos and many casualties from the vanguard of the Eternal Life Palace.

Yet, Yan Zigui was a notable figure after all; the demons’ charge hadn’t inflicted much harm on him, but the two unexpected assaults and the sight of numerous fallen subordinates thoroughly enraged him—what’s being described here is an attack that’s not too fierce but is incredibly humiliating. Either you finish the fight or you don’t fight at all; what the hell is with turning tail and running midway? What’s the point? Show off then run away?

Unfortunately, he couldn’t guess what those demons were thinking; all he could conclude was that those guys were batshit crazy, utterly cursed.

So, he didn’t bother waiting any longer. He ordered a portion of his people to stay behind and tend to the wounded while he led an elite team towards the castle.

And just then, it was exactly time for the meeting rendezvous with Eden.

In reality, Eden had already arrived early, but they had scouted the movements of the Eternal Life Palace beforehand and, with the sudden appearance of the castle, they decided to stay hidden to assess the situation. It wasn’t until they just contacted Ling Mo and confirmed that this castle and the demons were sent by him to aid Eden against the Eternal Life Palace, that the people from Eden finally made their entrance.

Yet even now, Ling Mo didn’t plan to meet with Eden’s folks.

His explanation was simple: “The people from the Eternal Life Palace discovered us; they’re currently fighting with the demons I brought. They won’t be coming over any time soon. I need to assist our king with those demons, but don’t worry, I’ve sent a very capable demon to find you, just treat it like a human when communicating. It will listen to you.”

That very capable demon was Meat Can.