"Have all your injuries from these past years fully healed?" Li Derong asked calmly, her tone still cool.
Wang Hao smiled and replied, "Thank you for your concern, Sister Li. My wounds from last time were only superficial—I fully recovered back at the Qingyuan Market some time ago!"
"Hm, that's good." Li Derong said no more. After checking on him, she returned to the Li Clan's camp. Wang Hao had nothing further to add. He helped settle the Li Clan members, offered them some gifts, and withdrew.
The Wang and Li Clans rested for three days before putting their plan into motion.
Their strategy was simple. To avoid being overwhelmed by large numbers of first-order demon macaques, they would first eliminate smaller, lower-ranked long-armed macaques. For maximum efficiency, they split into teams and hunted lone stragglers.
Wang Hao led one of those teams, which included familiar faces like Wang Wenzhi and Wang Wenmei.
The long-armed macaques had occupied Mount Ruojun for over two centuries and were no fools, making them tricky opponents. Fortunately, Wang Hao carried the map in his mind; even though it showed only a five-mile radius ahead, that was enough to handle lower-ranked demons.
He drew the nearby terrain on the ground with a stick and told the others, "The macaques are numerous and strong. A direct assault would be reckless—any slip-up could draw reinforcements. Yet their intelligence is limited, far below ours. We can pick them off one by one."
As he spoke, he circled a valley on his map and said, "Here we'll set an ambush—lure a few in, then seal off the exits and wipe them out in waves!"
Wang Wenzhi and the others cheered at the plan. The Wang Clan would reward merit after the battle, and the more lower-rank macaques each team killed, the greater their contribution.
"Then let's split up and prepare!" Wang Hao ordered.
Under his command, everyone spread out to reshape the terrain and erect a grand formation overnight. Only once their traps were ready did Wang Hao tell them to rest and replenish their mana, delaying the strike until the next day.
At dawn, Wang Hao led some members toward the macaques' territory and began hunting smaller, unclassified monkeys for food. Those on the outskirts were all unclassified or low-rank—and fell easily, unable even to sound an alarm before being struck down.
But deeper in, they encountered medium-rank macaques. One might be manageable, but these beasts hunted in packs of three to five.
"Stick to the plan!" Wang Hao instructed.
They all nodded and attacked, making noise deliberately. After slaughtering their targets, they withdrew swiftly, leaving Wang Hao behind as bait.
Sure enough, the surviving macaque shrieked in alarm.
Soon a party led by a high-rank long-armed macaque, accompanied by several mid-ranks and over twenty low-rank ones, charged in.
The leader roared furiously at Wang Hao and led the pack forward. Wang Hao launched a few talismans and felled several low-rank macaques.
Seeing their numbers were not overwhelming, Wang Hao—confident in his strength—held his ground and summoned the Earth-Chaos Seal.
The seal expanded in the wind to the size of a house and crashed down, crushing the pack. The high-rank macaque leader was pulverized before it could react.
Wang Hao formed hand seals and, with his left hand, unleashed a fire-dragon spell, while his right hand conjured a fire-crow; at the same time a phoenix of flame manifested around him.
The dragon and crow incinerated the low-rank macaques—any who touched their flames burst into ash. The fire-phoenix swept fiery feathers at any escaping monkey.
In no time, only one of the more than twenty macaques remained. Wang Hao let it live, intending to lure in more of its kind.
The lone macaque let out a sharp warning cry.
Before long, three more high-rank macaques led thirty or forty others in a desperate charge.
Wang Hao did not relax. After casting a few spirit-talisman wards, he turned and fled!
He was only twenty miles from the ambush site—a distance he could cover in fifteen minutes. But the macaques were swift. By the time he'd run fifteen miles, a high-rank macaque caught up. It lashed out with its claws, but Wang Hao spun and cleaved it in half with his sword. Demon beasts may have tough hides, but they pale beside Wang Hao's Ice-Bone Jade Body technique.
Wang Hao cast a mocking glance at the pursuing macaques and broke into a sprint toward the valley entrance.
Their limited intelligence—driven by instinctal rage—kept them chasing him, howling all the while.
"Brother, hurry in!" Wang Wenmei beckoned.
Wang Hao nodded and dashed into the heart of the great formation.
Once every macaque was within the formation's bounds, Wang Hao halted and shouted to the hidden cultivators in the canyon, "Attack now!"
They exchanged looks, then swiftly activated the Scorching-Flame Formation. Banners unfurled in their hands, unleashing searing flame that turned the entire ravine into an inferno.
The canyon's exits had been sealed, and Wang Clan cultivators guarded both ends, leaving no escape. Even the high-rank macaques screamed as they burned!
"Haha, what a haul! We'll each earn at least a flask of Yellow-Dragon Pills!" the Wang cultivators cheered.
"Focus on wiping them all out!" Wang Hao bellowed.
The others steadied themselves and concentrated their magic on the trapped beasts. For a time, many macaques fell to their combined spells.
"Awooo!" Suddenly, a high-rank macaque roared in the canyon. Its cry rallied the survivors—they ignored the flames and surged toward one flank of the ravine.
The front ranks fell to the firewalls, but the pack stamped over their fallen as they pressed forward.
"Demonic beasts!" Wang Hao felt a pang of respect. These creatures were no mere fodder—their collective ferocity exceeded his expectations.
The Scorching-Flame Formation was purely offensive, not a true prison. The Wang cultivators had to hold both exits. If the macaques broke through as they advanced, the formation would collapse.
By then, everyone had been fighting for some time, exhausting their mana to sustain the formation. Only Wang Hao—at the peak Qi-Refinement level with vast reserves—remained composed. The others were already pale with strain!
Seeing the dire straits, Wang Hao swiftly tossed out a flask of Spirit-Recovery Pills. "Quick, take these!"
"Spirit-Recovery Pills?" Wang Wenmei's eyes lit up. She popped one, and her spirit-energy recovered by fifty percent, her cheeks flushing. She passed pills around to the others.
Wang Hao took his position at the formation's core and, drawing on half his spirit-power, condensed an enormous fire-phoenix crowned with nearly a hundred flaming feathers upon his body.