They discussed the current situation, but in the end decided they still lacked information. Thus the two teams were formed – Nick and King Kong in one and YunYun with Bambi in the other. They would watch the people in the valley to recognize their patterns and make further plans later. Snow would carefully inspect the surrounding mountains and look for their trail – it was impossible for these people to appear from a thin air and it was highly likely that behind some mountain they had a hidden camp.
Before everyone scattered, Nick seriously warned them, "It's possible we're dealing with experienced formation masters, therefore, even if you notice something suspicious, check thrice before touching or approaching! In addition, Snow, if you find their camp – under no circumstances go near it! I know you will get away if needed, but we might spook them and they might regroup or even run. Look at this as a hunt and a hunt where we have to catch every single pray!"
The rest of the day was boring – nothing happened even when each team tried to observe two groups of ambushers and, after the sunset, two humans and the three beasts met at the same spot. While Nick and YunYun could only shake their heads in disappointment, Snow pointed his nose towards the south west.
"You managed to find their camp? Is it far? Are there many people?" Nick asked one question after another and received a nod after each.
"Alright, lets listen to what these people want to tell us" He grinned and started changing into his black outfit. When he saw the curious gazes, he explained, "YunYun and I don't have your camouflage skills and we have to change our clothing instead. This time we're going to approach their camp real close so we can hear what they say, therefore it's pivotal to remain hidden."
"Turn around so I can change." YunYun pouted.
Nick, of course, stepped aside and turned around as soon as he started to change – they have done this countless times, but YunYun for some reason felt abashed from the two male beasts.
Up until now they have treated them as humans and she just couldn't take her clothes off and change in front of them. Both Snow and King Kong turned around in confusion, but then understood – there had to be some secret why she was doing that! It was probably a special technique that will be performed behind their backs, therefore out of curiosity both of them inconspicuously peeked, but couldn't notice anything special. Thus they decided to inspect the process more carefully the next time.
Snow was right, the camp of ambushers was quite far – they got there only after midnight. It was located to the west from their current position on a mountain slope behind cliffs and was so hidden the people inside even allowed themselves to carelessly make a larger bonfire. Or maybe it was because of their confidence, since they didn't lower their voices at all.
"Ahr! How long we still have to sit in this dump?" One of the people complained, "It's been over two months and we haven't seen our pray yet!"
"Sigh, do you think any of us wants to be here? Every day is basically a copy of the previous and even our conversations are the same. But there is no way for us to change our assignment and we have to stay on this damned continent until the thing is over and maybe even after that." Another added.
"Damn, there's no booze in these woods as well!" One men cursed.
"Watch out! If the elder hears you are drinking alcohol, you're done for!"
"I'm just saying what every single one of us has on his mind. No booze, no women!"
"At least we have it better than those who have to lie on their stomachs waiting for the tiger to appear."
"How are we better? We'll have to switch with them the day after tomorrow! During the last shift I already started seeing things and took some random wolf for a rank six beast."
"That's why we are only on a shift for five days. That's our limit, even with elder Jan's medicine."
Until now Nick was leisurely listening, but at this moment he froze.
'Elder Jan's medicine? The Holy Order? Here, on the Eastern continent?' He was shocked, but immediately felt intense impulse to charge over and slaughter every single one of those people.
"Why is it so cold all of sudden?"
"Who knows, these mountains are weird at night."
The people at fire noticed Nick's killing intent, but took the chilly feeling it for a natural phenomena and just threw more wood in fire, but the beasts looked at him in shock. YunYun pinched him hard and only then Nick realized his emotions were running wild and lowered his head while closing eyes and normalizing breath.
"Maybe it will be our last shift anyway or maybe guys have already caught the beast." The conversation continued.
"If they had captured him, someone would've long informed us. Maybe our tactic is wrong. Or maybe the tiger has long moved to the other side of the border and now hunts in the Styx kingdom. We don't have enough information about its habits. Remember? When the plan of catching the flame wolf failed, we couldn't find it even when it was together with its cubs."
"True. How can a three meter tall, a couple tons heavy beast vanish without anyone noticing?"
"Actually you might have a point. In two months we haven't seen as much as one mark on the ground. Maybe we should inform the elder and suggest to search for real clues? Just because some hunter saw the beast in this region few years ago doesn't mean it'll show up here anytime soon."
"That's not a bad suggestion. We can ask the other group to relay this message when they will go report to the base after their shift."
"Hahaha! You just don't want to say anything to the elder yourself because you're afraid he will just kill you in annoyance."
"You would be right if this was elder Sonor. Of course, in that case he would've just charged around the mountains with his sword up high trying to look for the poor tiger! Hahaha!"
The group merrily laughed while Nick beckoned his friends to follow and they soon were at a safe distance. If in the beginning of the conversation he couldn't be hundred percent certain, then hearing about 'elder Sonor' and his sword was definite proof of this group being his old enemies.
"These people are from an evil sect called 'Holy Order'." Nick explained and YunYun finally understood why he lost his composure. "They are here not only to capture you, Snow, but they want to enslave you with a special rune formation."
Snow got visibly angry and together with King Kong started to growl in a low voice.
"Just don't make too much noise, it's already embarrassing enough that I lost composure." Nick smiled awkwardly. He thought that after becoming Qi master, he would noticeably grow, but it looked like only his physical and Qi capabilities improved and not his stability of mind.
"You want to wipe them out?" YunYun grinned seeing Nick blush.
"Of course, but did you hear – they have a base somewhere and one of the elders is there. If it's not some new elder, there are only two reasonable candidates and most likely it is that one handed bastard Jan those men mentioned." When he felt the questioning gazes around, Nick explained, "Elder Jan lost one of his hands when he tried to capture my friend Angel – the rank six shadow eagle. Even when Angel was poisoned, he managed to wipe out almost a third of that sect."
The three beasts were visibly overjoyed hearing about the victory of another beast.
"Let's focus and create a plan. What we want to achieve is to wipe out all of these people and find their base, then kill the elder as well." Actually Nick had no further plans to investigate the Holy Order's actions on the Easter continent. He wanted to pass this task on to the queen Hu, because she had much more manpower. In addition, only she could investigate the Chu family that in some ways was connected to the Holy Order.
"Any suggestions on how we should proceed?" Nick asked.
'Pam!' King Kong slapped his palm on the ground.
"Actually that might not be a bad idea." YunYun agreed, "If we wipe these people out, the ones who are waiting for their replacement will not be able to stay there any longer and will come and check. They said there is some medicine that allows them to stay in the ambush for five days, but it's maximum, right? When they come to investigate, they will see a massacre over here, recognize it as a beast attack and will definitely go and notify the elder in their base. All we'll have to do is to patiently wait and then follow."
"Good strategy!" Nick was impressed, "Since this has to look like a beast attack, probably King Kong and Snow should be the main attackers. How do you guys want to proceed?"
Obviously Nick wanted to help as well, but both kings snorted and disappeared towards the distant camp.
"Let's just wait. It'll probably be over even before we get there." Nick sighed.
Two kings soon returned and the group decided to rest till the morning.
At dawn Nick went over to take a look at the 'job' King Kong and Snow did and came back satisfied. It looked bloody enough and there was no way someone couldn't tell it was a beast attack. Now all they could do was wait.
They discussed multiple possibilities how the group near the traps will act and decided that the most plausible scenario will be for them to wait for an extra day and then few of the ambushers, most likely two to four will come and check. Afterwards one or two will go back to inform the others while the rest will hurry to their base and then the team would follow them.
To guard against any unexpected situations, they spread around the destroyed camp and patiently waited. They guessed correctly – today and the next day nobody came, but on the third day four people rushed over, probably two pairs of partners from the two edges of the octagon formation.
What they saw in the camp caused them great shock and even panic, but soon they calmed down and decided that two will go and report to their base and the second pair will call the rest over. It was too risky to remain split and they needed elder's decision on how to proceed.
Nick already warned beasts to not touch those who will go and call others. It will be much easier to catch all in one swoop compared to running around the woods and hunting them down one by one. And in case they wouldn't go to the base for some reason, they can find these people later.
To Nick's great surprise, the pair who were going to the Holy Order's base traveled directly north west. He expected the base to be closer to the capital to south west or to the south, but instead it was deeper in the mountains. The next surprise was that these people traveled for three days until they reached their destination. Although they were not as fast as Nick and YunYun, they still were Qi masters and ran at full speed while resting only few times. This route was double or even triple the distance from the place they laid their traps to the lake Tai.