"Kill!"

"To the west, to the west! There's a pack of wolves heading that way, quickly intercept them!"

"Ah! I'm down! Where are my teammates? Help me, teammates!"

"You moron, I hit a teammate!"

The chaotic battlefield was filled with the thrilling scenes of humans and beasts locked in combat. Blood and flesh flew, dust swirled, and the dazzling brilliance of activated gu insects illuminated the scene.

This was the second day of the hunt, the first encounter with a formidable pack of beasts. The coordination among the gu cultivators, to say the least, was far from seamless and lacked any sense of harmony.

...

"Do you understand what tactics mean? Do you understand the art of command?"

"There are seven or eight big ones, all heavily injured!"

"I led this wave, I take credit for the success, hahaha!"

"Damn it! Retreat! Ignore them!"

This was the seventh day of the hunt. The coordination of the main force became more structured, and the cooperation within small teams grew increasingly skillful. The efficiency of killing enemies also improved rapidly.

Another large-scale battle ensued.

After the battle ended, facing the devastated battlefield, the gu cultivators were no longer at a loss as they were at the beginning. Instead, they skillfully cleaned up the battlefield, treated the wounded, assessed the gains and losses, and reorganized their ranks.

During this process, Zhou Ming diligently engaged in fishing and slacking off in every battle, struggling hard to do as little as possible.

He had to suppress his strength so that no one would notice his flaws, and at the same time, discreetly intervene to help his teammates when they were in danger, without leaving any traces. It was more exhausting than going all out and causing a massacre.

Of course, after the battle was over, it didn't matter how to work.

At this moment, Zhou Ming and Zhou Hao were working together to dismember a Wolf King, peeling its skin, chopping its claws, dismantling its bones, and carving its meat. Their movements were swift, indicating their excellent talent on the assembly line.

"Something has happened in the family," said Zhou Hao, breaking his silence while they were working.

Zhou Ming, who was curious about why Zhou Hao was unusually quiet today, was startled by these words.

"What happened?"

"There's a Rank 5 demonic gu master who commanded a pack of beasts to attack the Warm Pool Valley and took advantage of the chaos to ambush the clan leader. In the end, the clan leader fought back, injured the pack of beasts and the Rank 5 demonic gu master. Now the Warm Pool Valley is on high alert."

"What!"

The exclamation did not come from Zhou Ming but from Zhou Yu, who was next to them, dealing with another wolf corpse.

After these days of battle, Zhou Yu had vented a lot of his frustration, and he appeared much brighter and more cheerful than before, no longer as gloomy and serious.

His exclamation immediately attracted the attention of many people around, who turned to look in their direction.

"It's nothing, it's nothing. We were just joking, hahaha," Zhou Hao quickly laughed and explained.

Once the gazes of the people around them dispersed, Zhou Hao slapped Zhou Yu's head.

"You're asking for trouble, shouting so loudly!"

"I... I couldn't help it," Zhou Yu lowered his head, speaking in a much lower voice.

But soon, his curiosity got the better of him, and he continued to ask, "Captain, was what you just said true? How did you find out?"

Zhou Hao looked around, seeing that apart from their three teammates, no one was paying attention to them, so he whispered, "I overheard it. Don't spread it outside."

"You know about Zhou Lin, the grandson of Elder Zhou Mang, right?"

"Yesterday, I saw Zhou Lin receiving a message gu, and after reading it, he looked very solemn. During the battle, he seemed absent-minded. So, I secretly observed him."

"And then, I overheard his conversation with Zhou Heng and learned about what I just told you."

Zhou Lin and Zhou Heng were both geniuses with Rank A qualifications in their generation.

Apart from the clan leader who had reached Rank 5, there were three elders in the family with Rank 4 cultivation. Among them, Elder Zhou Mang had the oldest qualifications and the greatest power.

"Where did a Rank 5 demonic gu master come from? Why would they suddenly attack a powerful clan with another Rank 5 gu master?" Zhou Ming frowned, sensing that this matter was not simple.

"Of course, it wasn't a sudden attack. That Rank 5 demonic gu master was an old enemy of the clan leader, but they disappeared without a trace these past few years. It's unexpected that they've suddenly reappeared now."

"But..." Zhou Hao hesitated for a moment, lowering his voice even more. "That demonic gu master cultivates the Path of Shadows!"

The three of them were startled, and then they all reacted at once, feeling a chilling shock.

How could a Rank 5 cultivator of the Path of Shadows command a pack of beasts powerful enough to assault a large clan?

A Rank 5 Gu Master of the Path of Enslavement would make more sense!

So, does this demonic gu master have a Rank 5 partner in the Path of Enslavement, or...

"He family? the Miao family? the Yu family?"

"Hush!"

He family, the Miao family and the Yu family were several major clans in this nearby area that had similar strength to the Zhou Family.

The Northern Plains was resource-poor, and the major clans often waged wars to compete for survival resources. It was common for one clan to be annihilated while another rose to power in the Northern Plains.

The ten-year blizzard arrived, bringing several years of peace among the major clans, but it could be shattered at any time.

To seize more resources and survive the blizzard disaster, it was only normal for other clans to wage war against the Zhou Family.

"Enough, let's not discuss this matter anymore," Zhou Hao ended the topic.

"Don't speculate randomly. Trust the family, trust the clan leader and the elders. At the same time, be cautious and alert for your own safety. Until we return to the clan, never let your guard down."

After giving these instructions to the three of them, Zhou Hao ordered everyone to continue working.

Zhou Ming bent down to continue dealing with the wolf corpse, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that something was seriously wrong with this situation. However, he couldn't figure out exactly what it was.

However, there was one question that was glaringly obvious, and Zhou Ming couldn't ignore it even if he wanted to.

That was, how did Zhou Hao obtain such secretive information by eavesdropping?

As a respectable Rank 2 Gu Master, was Zhou Lin really so careless in his actions?

If Zhou Lin intentionally let Zhou Hao overhear, what could be his motive?

If Zhou Lin didn't intentionally let Zhou Hao overhear and it was indeed a "coincidence," then...

Zhou Ming looked up at the sky, remaining silent and speechless.

The night passed without incident.

However, none of the four of them slept well. They were either worried about the impact of the clan leader's injury on the family, concerned about whether the three major families were truly planning to target their own clan, or consoling themselves that everything was just speculation.

However, reality is always so cruel, and the next day, speculation turned into reality.

They were attacked.

At that time, they had just finished clearing out a small-scale beast group and hadn't had a chance to clean up the battlefield when Investigative Gu Masters reported to the Rank 3 elders that a large number of Gu Masters were approaching.

"What? Where did these Gu Masters come from? Why didn't we detect them earlier?"

An irritable elder questioned angrily.

"They used Gu worms that shielded our Investigative Gu. Our Investigative Gu were affected and couldn't detect them in time," the Investigation Gu Master answered cautiously.

"You bunch of idiots!" The elder was about to fly into another rage but was stopped by another elder.

"It's useless to talk about that now. They are still fifty li away from us, and they will be able to catch up in no time. We need to leave immediately while we still have a chance to shake them off!"

The other elders agreed immediately. They issued the order, and the hunting team didn't even have time to clean up the battlefield before setting off, quickly heading in the direction away from the Gu Masters in the rear.

As they moved, the Gu Masters in the rear also hastened their pace and caught up. It was evident that while they were scouting the enemy, the enemy was also constantly scouting them.

"Faster! Faster!"

The Rank 3 elders were so anxious that they were sweating. Based on the information obtained from the Investigative Gu Masters, the number of Gu Masters in the pursuing team behind them was far beyond what they could handle.

Fighting them head-on would be a dead end, so they could only flee, hoping to shake off their pursuers and find a way to survive.

However, after escaping nearly a hundred li, the Investigation Gu Masters from their front also spotted a large number of Gu Masters.

"It's over. It's a trap!"