32: Chapter 32 Laying Out a Trap

The third twilight in the rock crevice, and the gray-purple mist surged as usual.

Lin Xuan had been lurking here for two full days and nights.

Yet there was not a trace of impatience in his eyes, only the focus of a hunter.

Over these two days, he had noted every detail:

The snoring pattern of the Purple Lightning Sable was extremely stable—it lasted about three hours each time, with a pause of about one hundred breaths in between.

During the pauses, it did not seem fully awake; it was more like turning over or adjusting its posture in a half-asleep state, as the sound of its heavy body moving was very sluggish.

The activities of the Thunder-Light Bugs were closely synchronized with it.

When the snoring was steady, the six Thunder-Light Bugs would fly nimbly around the Purple Lightning Sable's mouth, nose, and ear holes, feeding on the dissipating pale purple aura.

Their flight paths appeared random, but they actually followed a certain pattern: they would not stray more than three feet from the Purple Lightning Sable's head and always avoided the direct airflow of its breath.

When the snoring paused and the Purple Lightning Sable stirred slightly, all the Thunder-Light Bugs would immediately stop feeding, fly away rapidly, and return to the patch of purple moss by the water pool that emitted a faint thunder light, vanishing from sight.

They would not fly out again until the snoring resumed.

"That patch of moss is their nest and also a backup food source."

Lin Xuan stared at the blurry purple spots of light in the bronze mirror and analyzed in his heart, "Thunder-Light Bugs feed on pure Thunder Spiritual Energy. The 'essence' dissipated by the Purple Lightning Sable is of the highest quality; the moss itself can slowly gather and purify the Spiritual Qi in the air, which is of secondary quality, but its advantage lies in its stability."

He touched the jade box in his embrace—this was the one that previously held the mist heart orchid, with simple isolation runes carved on its surface to prevent the Spiritual Qi from leaking out too quickly.

"Go directly to the moss patch to catch the bugs?"

Lin Xuan immediately rejected this plan. The moss patch was right by the water pool, less than five zhang away from the sleeping Purple Lightning Sable.

Any movement to approach could wake this giant beast. Furthermore, if the Thunder-Light Bugs were startled, they might hide directly back beside the Purple Lightning Sable, leaving no further opportunity.

"They must be lured out to a safe distance."

Lure them... with what?

The Thunder-Light Bugs craved pure Thunder Spiritual Energy. They could feed on the Purple Lightning Sable's essence at any time, so why would they risk leaving?

"Unless... there is something more tempting to them, or, at a time when they are most 'hungry' and their vigilance is lowest."

Lin Xuan's eyes flickered.

The Purple Lightning Sable would "exchange breath" every noon and midnight; at those times, the dissipated essence was most abundant, and the Thunder-Light Bugs were also at their most active.

But those were also the moments when the Purple Lightning Sable was half-awake, so the risk was higher.

Perhaps... could he strike just after a "breath exchange" had ended, when the Purple Lightning Sable had fallen back into a deep sleep, and the Thunder-Light Bugs were still in a state of being "satisfied but still wanting more"?

No, that wasn't enough.

The bait itself also needed to have sufficient appeal.

Lin Xuan slowly circulated the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder Art, and a wisp of pure Thunder Spiritual Energy condensed at his fingertips.

This Spiritual Energy was pale purple, deeper in color than the Spiritual Energy of ordinary Thunder Cultivators, with faint, tiny electric arcs leaping within it, carrying an aura of pure, biting cold—that was the "Heavenly Thunder After-rhyme" brought about by the long-term feedback from the thunder-attracting vine and the tempering of his Cultivation Technique.

He controlled this wisp of Spiritual Energy at his fingertips, sensing it carefully.

"Compared to the violent and scorching nature of the Purple Lightning Sable's essence, my Thunder Spiritual Energy is gentler, but in terms of quality... because of this trace of Heavenly Thunder After-rhyme, perhaps it is not inferior in 'purity'?"

Lin Xuan put away the bronze mirror and the bamboo pole, and silently retreated from the rock crevice.

He did not move far away immediately, but retreated to a depression about fifty zhang outside the entrance of the mountain col, surrounded by a few giant boulders—his line of sight was blocked here, but he could faintly hear the movements inside the mountain col.

He needed to make a tool.

From his Storage Pouch, he took out that piece of spare purple bamboo—this was the "Lightning-Struck Purple Bamboo" unique to the canyon, with a tough texture, a slight affinity for the thunder attribute, and a hollow bamboo tube. It was about four feet long and as thick as a wrist.

He then took out the jade box and opened the lid.

There were still a few broken leaves of the mind-calming herb remaining at the bottom of the box—it had held medicinal herbs before and hadn't been cleaned thoroughly.

Lin Xuan's heart stirred; he did not sweep away these broken leaves, but instead took out a paper package from his Storage Pouch and opened it, revealing two complete leaves of the mind-calming herb inside.

These were rewards from Deacon Wu, and he had been reluctant to use them all up.

The mind-calming herb had a gentle nature, contained the vitality of plants, and could soothe the mind. Did it have a similar effect on Yao Beasts? At the very least, its aura should not provoke hostility.

Lin Xuan carefully laid one mind-calming herb leaf at the bottom of the jade box. After thinking for a moment, he crumbled a little of the other leaf to let the fresh scent of the herb juice diffuse slightly.

Then, he sat cross-legged, holding the jade box in both hands, and began to circulate his Cultivation Technique.

This time, he extremely carefully drew a wisp of Thunder Spiritual Energy from his Dantian, tempered and purified it through the specific pathways of the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder Art, and finally transformed it into a pale purple airflow as thin as a hair but as dense as substance, slowly injecting it into the inner walls of the jade box.

It was not injected directly into the air, but rather the Spiritual Energy was allowed to permeate into the material of the jade box itself, and then slowly and continuously emitted from the inner walls.

During this process, he deliberately controlled the intensity of that trace of "Heavenly Thunder After-rhyme"—it could not be too strong, or it might alarm the Purple Lightning Sable; it could not be too weak, or it would fail to attract the Thunder-Light Bugs.

This was delicate work, taking a full half an hour.

Only when the inner walls of the jade box faintly glowed with a layer of pale purple halo, continuously emitting an extremely faint yet exceptionally pure and gentle Thunder Spiritual aura, mixed with the fresh herbal scent of the mind-calming herb, did Lin Xuan stop.

He left the box lid slightly ajar—not closed tight, but leaving a gap so that the aura could escape without being too obvious.

Then, he took out thin string and a dagger, and began to process the piece of purple bamboo.

At the opening of one end of the bamboo tube, he wove a stable support frame with thin string that could just hold the jade box in place, with the box opening facing outward.

He also set up a simple mechanism inside the bamboo tube near where he would hold it—a very thin beast tendon string passed through a small hole in the inner wall of the bamboo tube, with the other end connected to the lid of the jade box.

As long as the beast tendon string was pulled, the lid would quickly close under the action of the mechanism.

After finishing all this, the sky was already near twilight.

Lin Xuan tested the mechanism several times. The sound of the lid closing was slightly crisp in the open space, but it was not prominent amidst the sound of the wind in the canyon and the faint beast roars in the distance. However, he still wrapped the edge of the lid with a piece of soft cloth to further dampen the sound.

"The tool is ready." He stroked the cold bamboo tube, "Next is the choice of timing and position."

He returned to the vicinity of the rock crevice he had observed before, but did not go in; instead, he found a better position about twenty-plus zhang away to the side—a crevice formed by a pile of collapsed giant boulders, with dense gray-purple shrubs blocking the front and a retreat path at the back.

This place was about thirty zhang from the entrance of the mountain col, farther than the rock crevice, but more concealed, and the angle was just right to catch a glimpse of a small area inside the entrance—that was the route the Thunder-Light Bugs might pass through after flying out.

"Action at midnight." Lin Xuan made his decision.

Although noon also had opportunities, the light and mist flow during the day were not as stable as at night.

At midnight, the vast majority of Yao Beasts and Disciples in the canyon would be silent, and the Purple Lightning Sable's "breath exchange" would have just ended not long ago; this was exactly the time when it would fall back into a deep sleep, and the Thunder-Light Bugs might still be "wanting more."

Moreover, the darkness and thick fog of the night were the best cover for his Breath Concealment Technique.

Waiting.

Lin Xuan curled up in the rock crevice, closing his eyes to adjust his breathing. He adjusted his state to the best, repeatedly simulating the action steps in his mind:

Midnight arrives—the Purple Lightning Sable's "breath exchange" ends, it falls back into a deep sleep—about a quarter of an hour after the snoring begins, the Thunder-Light Bugs should have started to become active again—slowly extend the bamboo tube, aim the jade box opening towards the mountain col entrance—extremely slowly release that wisp of mixed aura—wait for the Thunder-Light Bugs to be attracted—if a bug approaches, stay steady—wait for it to enter the range of the jade box—pull the mechanism—regardless of success or failure, immediately retract the bamboo tube, and hide with all effort—if the Purple Lightning Sable is alarmed, then activate the emergency plan...

He even thought of the retreat path in case of failure: the stone golem puppet in the Storage Pouch could be activated at any time to cover his retreat; the God-Speed Talisman was stuck to his leg; the Golden Light Talisman was held in his left hand...

The sky darkened completely, and the canyon fell into a deep darkness wrapped in mist.

Occasionally, a few hisses of nocturnal Yao Beasts came from the distance, making it even more silent.

Midnight was approaching.

Lin Xuan opened his eyes, his pupils slightly contracting in the darkness. He first swallowed a Miasma-Repelling Pill, and then held a Qi-Recovery Pill under his tongue—it could be quickly swallowed to restore Spiritual Qi when necessary.

Then, he gripped the purple bamboo tube.

The snoring in the depths of the mountain col stopped on schedule.