20: Chapter 20 Where to Chop First

"Go down the mountain to kill?"

Sect Protection Elder pressed the torn map onto the table, causing the paper to wrinkle; blood stained its edges. The scent of medicinal herbs on him turned bitter under the heat of the hall's fire, and his scabbard lay across his knees like a threshold that no one was allowed to cross.

Sect Master Di Kun sat at the end of the long table, the new bandages on his shoulder already soaked through with red. He did not correct Sect Protection Elder's words, tapping his fingertips lightly on the map; when he reached the location of Red Snake Sect's main mountain, he paused for a brief moment before moving his hand away.

Life-Skill Player squatted by the table with the door-panel ledger on his lap, his charcoal pencil whittled to a sharp point. Tower Defense Youth leaned against a broken pillar, repeatedly winding a charred piece of rope around his fingers. Speedrun Youth lined up the waist tokens, Talismans, and incomplete route maps scavenged from the enemy Cultivators. Chuunibyou Youth stood in the most unruly posture, leaning half his body against the wall, holding a bundle of beast tendons in his arms.

On the night Sect Master Di Kun succeeded, this Sect Master's Hall was left with nothing but desolation and ruin; now, there were knife marks on the walls, bloody footprints on the floor, and the enemy's tokens pressed onto the table.

They were no longer discussing how to survive until tomorrow.

Sect Protection Elder raised his scabbard and pointed to the location of the Spirit Pool.

"The Spirit Pool is bottoming out, the wounded are everywhere, and the mountain gate is half-destroyed. Red Snake Sect lost an Inner Sect Disciple; as long as the one who escaped has a breath of life left, he can report this matter to the Sect Affairs Bureau. If you go down the mountain now, Taichu Sect will have no one to guard it, and those who go out may not be able to return."

With every point he made, the scabbard struck the map. The wooden table emitted a dull thud, and cracks crawled outward from the old damage.

"Sect Master, this old man is not afraid of a fight." Sect Protection Elder looked at Sect Master Di Kun. "This is suicide."

Tower Defense Youth opened his mouth, then closed it. He was usually the most talkative, but at this moment, the rope wound faster and faster around his fingertips, the charred fibers cutting through his skin and drawing beads of blood.

Sect Master Di Kun placed the small porcelain bottle containing Beast-Taming Powder on the table, then set the black bone nail beside it.

As the two items touched the wooden table, the gazes of everyone in the hall converged upon them.

"Red Snake Sect has the motive to annex our Sect, the advance preparations for a beast tide, survivors who returned, and connections with the Sect Affairs Bureau." Sect Master Di Kun laid the points out one by one. "If we wait, they can write their complaints first, mobilize people first, seal off the mountains first, and wipe the trail of the beast tide clean."

Life-Skill Player lowered his head to write on the door panel; when he reached the words "seal off the mountains," his charcoal pencil snapped.

Sect Master Di Kun pressed his fingertips against the edge of the map.

"By then, the little bit of Spirit Pool, the few people, and the meager Materials left in Taichu Sect will all be ground away by them using their rules."

Sect Protection Elder stared at him. "You want to attack the main mountain of Red Snake Sect?"

"We cannot attack now." Sect Master Di Kun spoke quickly. "Step one: intercept the survivor. Step two: obtain evidence of beast taming. Step three: raid their peripheral resource points. Step four: investigate who provided their connection to the Sect Affairs Bureau."

Speedrun Youth pushed out a remnant Talisman; on the back of the paper was half a place name, with one corner burnt away by fire.

"Agreed." He tapped the remnant Talisman with his fingertip. "That guy needs to return to the main mountain after escaping; along the way, he must change medicine, replace Talismans, and report the news. Red Snake Sect just lost a team, and their peripheral strongholds haven't had time to pull back yet. The window of opportunity is very short."

Tower Defense Youth immediately followed up. "Don't touch the main mountain; dismantle the periphery first. Supply lines, beast-taming points, outer courtyard outposts—hit them in stages. We can't treat this like a siege; we have to treat it like slicing up a dungeon instance."

Chuunibyou Youth scoffed. "Speak human."

"Human language means: first chop off their hands, then their feet, and finally see if their heads are hard enough." Tower Defense Youth slapped the rope knot onto the table. "Besides, if we go down the mountain, we can't leave the mountain empty. I can redeploy the remaining traps; as long as the servants don't run around, holding off one wave of base-raiding won't be a problem."

Life-Skill Player raised his head. "Don't brag, we only have enough Materials to hold off half a wave."

"Then half a wave it is." Tower Defense Youth gritted his teeth. "Half a wave is still better than leaving the gate wide open."

Sect Master Di Kun looked at Life-Skill Player. "Result of the dismantling?"

Life-Skill Player turned a page of the door-panel ledger, which was filled with dense numbers.

"The bones, teeth, and hide of the Demon Mastiff are valuable. There is only one complete demon core, and three cracked ones; they can be exchanged for Spirit Stones or ground into formation powder. Among the Magical Artifacts on the Red Snake Sect Cultivators, five can be repaired, and three can only be dismantled. There aren't many Spirit Stones in the Storage Pouch, but combined, they are enough for the Talismans and medicine needed for one small-scale sortie."

He paused, then pushed a blood-stained ring onto the table.

"This Inner Sect Disciple's storage ring cannot be opened; the Restriction is still active. Give me half a day, and I can pry a little bit of it open."

Speedrun Youth looked at the ring, his eyes brightening. "Opening a blind box?"

Life-Skill Player held the charcoal pencil out in front of him. "If you open it wrong, it will blow up in your face; you want to do it?"

Speedrun Youth retracted his neck. "Leave professional matters to the professionals; I'm only responsible for cheering from the sidelines."

The oppressive atmosphere in the hall finally eased by half an inch. Tower Defense Youth chuckled, then winced as the injury on his shoulder pulled.

Chuunibyou Youth slung the beast tendons over his shoulder. "Leave half of the defense to me. I'll go give the servants a lecture."

Life-Skill Player raised his eyes. "What will you teach them?"

Chuunibyou Youth pointed outside the hall at the servants who were still moving corpses, his voice serious. "I'll teach them the first article of the Taichu Sect Temporary Defense Regulations: when the enemy comes up the mountain, don't call for your mother first; pour the oil out first."

Tower Defense Youth immediately gave a thumbs up. "Very spirited, but I suggest changing the second article to 'don't pour the oil on your own feet'."

Sect Protection Elder's mouth twitched, but in the end, he didn't laugh.

A sound of wooden boards dragging came from outside the hall. Dark Souls Youth was supported by two servants as he entered; his face was still pale, and he held his broken wooden sword in his arms, the tip of the sword scraping along the ground all the way, leaving a shallow mark.

Life-Skill Player stood up immediately. "You aren't lying by the Spirit Pool; are you running here to seek death?"

Dark Souls Youth leaned against the door frame, standing with great difficulty. He looked up at Sect Master Di Kun, the lingering fatigue still pressing at the bottom of his eyes.

"I won't rush to the front," he said. "I'll take the high-risk mechanism probing position. Someone has to see the guard patterns of the peripheral strongholds first."

Sect Protection Elder's brows furrowed. "You have already fainted once."

Dark Souls Youth nodded. "That is why I know what it feels like before passing out. The others do not."

No one replied.

Sect Master Di Kun's gaze fell upon the hand with which Dark Souls Youth held his sword. That hand was still shaking, yet it never let go. The Spirit Pool only had enough for one high-quality restoration; this sentence still hung behind Sect Master Di Kun's mind like a cold nail.

He moved his gaze back to the map.

"We are not gambling on restoration this time." Sect Master Di Kun's fingertip traced from the main mountain of Red Snake Sect to the periphery. "The primary goal of all operations is to return alive. Steal if you can, burn if you can, rob if you can; we are not going to show them any upright majesty."

Pale silver text emerged at the edge of his vision, spreading out coldly.

Initiate a counterattack against Red Snake Sect. Complete one peripheral stronghold destruction. Reward: Secondary Sign-in Enhancement. Summoning progress for the second batch of Disciples increased by 20%.

Sect Master Di Kun's fingertip paused.

He did not make a sound, yet the Sect mark on the back of his hand grew slightly warm, and silver light flashed along his knuckles. Several players looked up almost simultaneously, like wolves that had caught the scent of meat.

Tower Defense Youth was the first to lean in. "Sect Master, did you just see a mission?"

Speedrun Youth's eyes were even brighter. "What is the reward? Don't hide it; we are all grasshoppers on the same rope now, and information sharing improves the clearance rate."

Sect Master Di Kun looked at them.

"Secondary Sign-in Enhancement," he said. "Summoning progress for the second batch of Disciples, increased by 20%."

The side of the long table was silent for a moment.

Chuunibyou Youth slowly straightened up, the beast tendons sliding off his shoulder and hitting the floor without him caring. Dark Souls Youth raised his broken wooden sword, lifting the tip off the ground. Life-Skill Player looked down at the ledger and quickly circled the "insufficient Materials" he had written earlier twice. Tower Defense Youth hung the charred rope knot on his waist, his whole person looking as if he had been reignited.

"The second batch..." Speedrun Youth licked his cracked lips. "This snowball can be rolled."

Sect Protection Elder watched their reaction, rubbing his fingers on the hilt of his blade. The old man had never seen any "player missions," but he had seen human hearts rekindled from the ashes. The faces that were still suppressing fatigue just a moment ago were now all staring at the map, as if staring at a piece of meat about to be carved open.

Sect Master Di Kun circled several peripheral locations.

One was a medicinal field, close to the outer courtyard of Red Snake Sect, with many guards. One was a supply post, near the official road, easily running into the eyes and ears of the Sect Affairs Bureau. One was a wasteland forest gully, not marked on the official map, leaving only half a beast paw print on the back of the remnant Talisman.

Speedrun Youth flipped the remnant Talisman over and pointed at the half-print. "This is not an ordinary stronghold. The Beast-Taming lineage of Red Snake Sect uses this kind of paw print to mark secret lines, making it convenient for their own people to recognize the path, while outsiders would just see it as a stain."

Sect Protection Elder leaned over to take a few looks, the scent of medicinal herbs settling down.

"The wasteland forest gully; it is neither too far nor too close to the main mountain, convenient for hiding things, and also convenient for killing witnesses."

Life-Skill Player said in a low voice. "The evidence of beast taming is highly likely to be here."

Tower Defense Youth poked his finger at the other side of the map. "Hit this, get the evidence, grab the Materials, and dismantle the nest while we are at it. By the time the main mountain wants to react, it will be at least after daybreak."

Sect Master Di Kun's fingers tapped lightly on the table.

Once, twice.

All sound in the hall ceased.

He looked at that wasteland forest gully, looking at the thick lines surrounding it representing mountain roads, valleys, and rocky slopes. Red Snake Sect thought Taichu Sect would shrink back on the mountain to lick its wounds, waiting for official action, waiting for retaliation, waiting for the next round of mountain siege. Then let them wait in vain.

Sect Master Di Kun reached out and pressed the black bone nail onto the location of the wasteland forest gully.

The tip of the bone nail pierced the map and drove into the wooden table, emitting a dull thud.

"Tomorrow, the first blow." Sect Master Di Kun's thumb pressed against the tail of the nail. "Chop here first."

The candle flame was tilted to one side by the draft, and the wasteland forest gully on the map sank into half a shadow; the black bone nail was nailed to the center of the shadow, and the lingering stench in the holes of the nail body seeped out bit by bit.