Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough-Chapter 2026: Scheme Backfires

"What... What is that...?" Not yet having understood what He Jie had done as they had been too focused on dealing with the giant blood worm at the grandmaster realm, the group of bandits alongside their leader couldn’t help nervously turning towards the bloody mess that had been left on the ground by He Jie. Not because they were attracted by the bloody mess that had been created, but instead because the ground beneath their feed had begun trembling and terrifying sounds could be heard coming from the direction of that bloody mess on the ground.

ROOOAR-!

This eerie situation that had caused the battle to halt for a good few seconds finally seemed to end as a powerful demon beast no weaker and maybe even a bit stronger than the giant blood worm emerged from the thick foliage. Eyes filled with killing intent as it briefly glanced towards the bloody remains of what had once been a powerful heart before its gaze shifted towards the group of bandits.

From just that single look, everyone present felt a shiver run down their spine, as they realized that this demon beast belonged to the exact same species as the demon beast that had been killed by He Jie.

The killing intent sweeping towards them like an overwhelming wave was more than enough to understand what He Jie’s intentions were, as he had directly pinned the blame of the now dead demon beast on to them. The brutal grinding of the heart becoming clear, as outside of being the most valuable part of the body, it was also the one with the strongest smell. Allowing this demon beast belonging to the same race to pick up the smell from afar and hurry over.

If it was just this one demon beast, the bandit leader would still have been confident in being able to escape alive to fight another day, but as he stood there frozen in fear alongside the giant blood worm and his companions. More demon beasts began to emerge.

Even worse, the commotion didn’t just draw over the demon beasts belonging to that one race, but also other demon beasts, causing the number of demon beasts at the grandmaster realm to swell from only one single giant blood worm to over a dozen, a number that would even make a powerful Martial Arts Lord retreat out of fear.

BOOOM-!

And when the bandit leader thought things couldn’t get worse, an even more terrifying demon beast suddenly emerged, causing all the surrounding demon beast to cover in fear as they began backing away.

"This... He attracted a lord realm demon beast!?" A sight that caused the bandit leader’s knees to go soft, as he looked towards the towering demon beast that had just emerged in fear. Knowing that there was no way out for him.

Still, he couldn’t understand why He Jie had dared to attract so many powerful demon beasts just to get revenge on him and his friends for ambushing him. After all, though he might have had the ability to hide himself from a grandmaster realm demon beast, there was no way he would be able to remain hidden in the face of a lord realm demon beast.

If anything, this was the only thing that made the bandit leader feel a tiny bit of happiness amidst the despair of his current situation.

"Damnit! How did that little heart manage to attract the attention of a lord realm demon beast!?" And like the bandit leader had expected, He Jie was indeed panicking with the arrival of the lord realm demon beast, as he had never expected this kind of terrifying demon beast to appear. Especially considering he was still on the outer edges of the Giant’s Valley where even grandmaster realm demon beasts were considered difficult to encounter under normal circumstances.

In fact, not to mention attracting a lord realm demon beast, he hadn’t expected to attract more than two or three grandmaster realm demon beasts with his little sacrifice.

What he didn’t know was that just a short distance away from where he and the bandit leader were clashing, a precious spiritual herb had emerged, causing grandmaster realm demon beasts that were normally scattered far from each other to gather. Even a lord realm demon beast that originally never left the core of the valley had been drawn out.

Now faced with this sudden change, He Jie had no tears to cry, as he understood that everything happening was his own fault. Having been eager to take revenge on the bandits daring enough to try and rob him.

As for escaping... He understood that it was impossible the second the lord realm demon beast appeared, as outside of gazing towards the group of bandits, it also swept over him. Having already seen through the concealment technique he had been using to keep himself hidden from the grandmaster realm demon beasts.

The reason why he and the bandits hadn’t attempted to run away yet was because the demon beasts hadn’t yet jumped forward to attack out of fear that doing so would make them the target of the lord realm demon beast.

Because of this, the situation boiled down to waiting for the lord realm demon beast to choose a target, as the ones not targeted would then be able to potentially take the opportunity to cling to life and escape.

Problem for the bandits was that their larger group made them a far more desirable target in the eyes of a powerful demon beast at the lord realm...

Unfortunately for He Jie, the lord realm demon beast belonged to the same race as the demon beast whose heart he had crushed and ground to a paste not long ago and while the other demon beasts might not have been able to see through this scheme of his due to not being capable of seeing through his concealment technique, the lord realm demon beast didn’t...

Roar? ROOOOAR-! 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Seeing through not just his concealment, but also the fact that he was the one behind the awful death of his fellow demon beast, as some of the powerful scent from the heart inevitably still lingered around He Jie.

"Damnit! Why is there a lord realm demon beast in the outer region of the vaaaaallley!" Causing the person in question to curse out loud as he immediately took off and escaped. Knowing that the lord realm demon beast had already chosen its target.

"Hahahaha! That is what you get, you scheming bastard! Everyone run!" In turn, seeing this, the bandit leader could not help laughing out joyfully before calling out to his companions to escape in the opposite direction of He Jie. Knowing that of the two of them, he was now the one that stood a chance at escaping alive, while He Jie wouldn’t be able to escape no matter how fast he ran.

After all, the difference between the lord realm and the grandmaster realm wasn’t something that could be easily closed. Even more so considering that outside of the lord realm demon beast, more than half of the grandmaster realm demon beast had decided to follow the lord realm demon beast in chasing down He Jie. Leaving behind only three or so grandmaster realm demon beasts alongside the giant blood worm to chase down him and the other bandits.

Dangerous as the situation was, as a Martial Arts Grandmaster himself, he was more than confident about escaping the current deadly situation. After all, he doubted all the grandmaster realm demon beasts would focus on him, as his dear friends would also help provide him with cover as he escaped.

In the end, as he ran, it didn’t take long for the bandit leader to discover that none of the grandmaster realm demon beasts had ended up targeting him. Allowing him to smoothly slip away without encountering any danger along the way.

Even if he ended up losing over half of the bandits that followed him in the process, this was by far the best-case scenario considering the deadly situation he had been in.

"Hm? Someone is here?" However, as he was patting himself on the back for a job well done after reaching the entrance of the valley, he suddenly noticed someone standing at the entrance to the valley looking towards him.

Guarding himself against a potential ambush, he soon enough began relaxing his guard after discovering that the other party didn’t have the slightest bit of cultivation. Looking closer, he guessed that it might be some random villager who had accidentally ended up wandering inside the valley, something he had seen happening in the past as there were quite a few villages around and hunters within the forests around the valley itself, as the animals outside the valley rarely ever become demon beasts and could be considered far safer than most forest, as any demon beasts that did emerge generally ended up entering the valley.

But as he moved closer to this villager that had wandered into the Giant’s Valley by accident, he couldn’t help feeling an odd yet tangible fear spreading throughout his body...