Trap — The Terrifying Gnoll Geniuses

The three Kaman warriors were Third-rank Battle Generals, but their inscribed genes were mediocre and their actual combat strength was nothing to speak of.

Against Zhou Er, who had already inscribed Lord Grade genes, they never had a chance.

His battle blade swept like Death's own scythe, cutting all three down.

Zhou Er cast a contemptuous snort at the bodies on the ground and turned toward the shimmering spatial gate entrance behind him.

Within these ruins, certain sections existed inside pocket dimensions. Unexplored ones might still harbor treasure — but if someone had already been through, it was almost certainly a dead end.

Just as he was about to step through, a surge of lethal danger hit him like a cold blade. His pupils snapped tight, and he hurled himself sideways.

**Fwt! Fwt! Fwt!**

Three ice lances struck the spot where he had stood, their freezing aura rolling outward.

Zhou Er glanced back at them, and something savage rippled across his face.

Then his expression shifted again — flames erupted across his body without warning, searing his fur and skin.

He snorted and surged Spirit Power through his body to smother the fire by force, though patches of his fur were already singed black.

"Who's there?!"

Zhou Er bellowed, wheeling toward the direction of the Spirit Power fluctuations.

He swung his battle blade and unleashed a blade aura dozens of meters long, slashing toward the crumbling walls and broken eaves.

**Boom!**

The ruins exploded apart — and Lu Yuan's group of three was revealed.

Ice crystal shields coalesced around Si Tingxue, while rings of fire blazed into being around Rebecca.

As for Lu Yuan, the attack couldn't have breached his defenses even if he'd stood still. Scattered rubble was hardly worth noticing.

Zhou Er's face stiffened at the sight of them, then curled into a cold sneer.

"Humans? I see it now — Great Qi Star." His eyes narrowed. "You're here to assassinate me, aren't you?"

Si Tingxue's expression remained ice-cold as she began forming a volley of ice spears.

Rebecca swept her Staff in an arc, and a cluster of orange-red fireballs materialized in front of her.

She let out a light laugh. "Since you've already figured it out, why not be a good boy and stand still while we finish the job? How does that sound?"

Even as she spoke, the attacks were already in motion — ice spears and fireballs streaking toward Zhou Er in unison.

Zhou Er's body blurred into an afterimage as he dove aside.

The impacts thundered in the space he'd vacated, the shockwave tearing through the ruins and leaving them worse off than before.

He spared the wreckage a glance, utterly composed, and scoffed.

"Did you really think we didn't know what you were planning? We've been waiting."

An instant later, his shadow began to writhe.

Four separate shadows split away from his, and four Gnolls slowly rose from within them.

One wore black robes and clutched a Staff. Another held a longbow. A third bore a massive shield and heavy armor. And the last wore blood-red robes and carried a scepter.

All four radiated immense power — the one in black robes put out an aura that matched Si Tingxue's own.

*A Third-rank genius already inscribing his first King Grade gene,* Lu Yuan noted.

The sudden appearance of four more Gnolls bleached the color from both Si Tingxue's and Rebecca's faces.

"Heiming, Congbang, Xinluo, Luosijin..." Si Tingxue's voice went tight. "Four more geniuses from the kill list?"

Every one of them was Third-rank with Lord Grade Transcendent Genes inscribed — and Heiming's most recent inscription was King Grade. His talent rivaled Si Tingxue's own.

They had come to hunt one Zhou Er, and now five enemies stood before them.

A well-rounded team at that: Guardian Type, Assault Type, Elemental Type, even a healer. The only thing missing was an Assassin Type.

Si Tingxue and Rebecca weren't fools. The realization was instant — Zhou Er had been bait all along. The Gnolls had known hunters were coming, so they'd turned the tables, concealing the rest of their team inside Zhou Er's shadow using Heiming's technique.

Noticing the shift in their expressions, Heiming smiled — a strange, unsettling curve of his lips.

"Not bad concealment Combat Technique, wouldn't you say? Consider it a little surprise prepared just for you."

His gaze swept over them, and cold killing intent settled in his eyes.

"Didn't expect three human geniuses, though. Three of you to take down one Zhou Er — that's either very careful planning, or just plain cowardice."

The other Gnoll geniuses broke into laughter.

Zhou Er snarled beside them. "Did you honestly think we'd let you walk in unprepared? I walked out here alone — I was never afraid of you. Now it's your turn to die quietly."

Si Tingxue didn't waver. She gripped her Staff and kept her eyes fixed on Heiming, cold and still as midwinter ice.

Rebecca sent a private message through the mental link. *Xiaoxue, A-Yuan — what do we do? We've been set up. Should we run?*

Just then, Lu Yuan laughed.

"Hiding right in front of me and planning a sneak attack — I'm a little insulted, honestly."

His arm shot out like lightning, reaching past Rebecca to grab something behind her.

The air shimmered, and suddenly a Gnoll in black leather armor — twin short swords in hand — was dangling from Lu Yuan's grip by the throat.

A chill ran through the Gnoll. He had no idea how he'd been spotted.

But his reflexes were razor-sharp. His swords flashed with murderous light, thrusting straight for Lu Yuan's eyes.

Lu Yuan's fingers closed first.

*Crack. Crack. Crack.*

Bones splintered. Lu Yuan crushed his throat bare-handed.

The Gnoll's eyes glazed over — a last flicker of rage and terror — and went still.

Lu Yuan tossed the body casually into the open ground between the two groups.

It struck the earth with a dull thud, and for a long moment, everything went silent.

All five Gnolls stood frozen, eyes fixed on the corpse, then on Lu Yuan. Disbelief was written across every face.

Si Tingxue tightened her grip on her Staff and glanced briefly at the body before shifting her gaze back to the five Gnolls.

Rebecca flinched, staring at the assassin's corpse.

She always kept her fire shields up, but this assassin was no weakling. If he had gotten close enough to strike, even she would have been in serious danger. Belated fear surfaced in her amber eyes, quickly chased away by fury.

"I can't believe you Gnolls are this underhanded! You distract us up front and slip someone in to stab us in the back?! You call *us* cowards?! You're the scheming ones! Hmph! Lucky for us A-Yuan is so strong — you almost actually pulled it off!"

Even as she grumbled, she quietly edged a little closer to Lu Yuan and sent a private message.

*A-Yuan... are there any more assassins hiding around?*

Lu Yuan sighed. "None left. Relax — I've got this."

*Absolutely spineless,* he thought.

At the same moment, the Gnolls' expressions had turned ugly. Heiming fixed his glare on Lu Yuan.

"How did you find Binnu?!"

"I used my eyes," Lu Yuan said simply.

"That's impossible!" The Gnoll with the longbow roared. "Binnu's assassination Combat Technique was Lord Grade — how could you see through it?!"

Lu Yuan just smiled and said nothing.

*Two King Grade genes at peak cultivation, plus three Sovereign Grade armaments stacked on top — how sharp did they think his perception was?* Not even a King Grade concealment technique could hide from him.

He'd literally watched Binnu creeping toward Rebecca the whole time, the Gnoll apparently convinced no one had noticed.

Lu Yuan had to fight down a laugh.

Si Tingxue's voice came through the mental link. *Can we win this?*

"Definitely. I'm here, aren't I?"

Something shifted in Si Tingxue's gaze. She looked at him for a moment, then gave a single decisive nod.

"Good."

Frost mist began coiling around her as she readied for battle. Si Tingxue was the type who let her actions speak for her.

Sensing the surge in her aura, all five Gnolls hardened their expressions and locked their stares on the trio.

Congbang, the Guardian Type Gnoll warrior, tightened his grip on his massive shield.

"You really think three of you can handle five of us?!"

Heiming's voice dropped cold and flat. "Binnu's dead — so we go straight in. Luosijin!"

At the back, Luosijin in his blood-red robes gave a nod and swept his scepter.

Threads of crimson light poured into all five of them.

A bloodred radiance bloomed around each Gnoll, and their auras surged sharply.

A buff-type Combat Technique — and a team-wide one at that. Lu Yuan glanced briefly at Luosijin with genuine interest. *A technique like that was genuinely rare.*

Then Congbang let out a war cry. Dark iron light blazed along his great shield, and he launched himself at Lu Yuan like a cannonball. Zhou Er followed close behind with a savage grin.

At the same moment, Heiming jabbed a finger at Lu Yuan, and a mass of black arms tore out of his shadow, seizing his legs to pin him in place.

Meanwhile, Xinluo with his longbow and Luosijin unleashed a barrage of powerful attacks at Si Tingxue and Rebecca.

In the brief moment before the clash, they had settled on a strategy: Lu Yuan was the strongest of the three, so Heiming, Zhou Er, and Congbang would handle him. The other two would hold Si Tingxue and Rebecca in check. Once the three of them brought down Lu Yuan, mopping up the others would be easy.

They had every reason for confidence. With Heiming's King Grade inscription supported by two peak Battle Generals carrying Lord Grade genes, their combined strength could challenge an opponent one or even two full tiers above their level. Skilled teamwork multiplied strength many times over — and no Gene Warrior was without gaps to exploit.

Their plan was solid. Against the Lu Yuan of the past, it might even have worked. Those shadow arms alone might have bought a few precious seconds of control.

But the Lu Yuan standing here now was not that person.

He simply stepped forward — one unhurried stride.

The shadow arms snapped apart like dry kindling. No effort. No resistance. As if they'd never existed.

Ice shot down Heiming's spine.

"Watch out—!"

His warning barely left his mouth before a tremendous impact rang out.

Somehow, Lu Yuan was already in front of Congbang. His boot slammed into the massive shield.

The shield buckled inward on contact. Congbang's eyes shot wide, raw terror flashing across his face — and then his body was hurled backward like a ragdoll, whipping past Zhou Er to his right, smashing through wall after wall before crashing to the ground hundreds of meters away.

That powerful body lay completely still.

He was dead.

The silence that followed was absolute.

Si Tingxue — in the middle of gathering her ice spears — let her lips part, faintly pink as cherry blossoms, her usually impassive face flooded with shock.

Rebecca went completely slack-jawed.

The four remaining Gnolls wore the same expression.

They knew better than Si Tingxue or Rebecca just how formidable Congbang's defense had been.

And this human had kicked him to death. Once.

All four of them looked as if they had witnessed something that simply could not exist.

Zhou Er, who had been charging right behind Congbang, was trembling all over. Cold sweat drenched his fur. He locked up completely, unable to move a muscle.

*Charge forward and this human would kick him. Fall back and this human would come to him. Either way — a kick. Either way — death.*

When Congbang had hurtled past him, the shockwave alone had let him feel a sliver of Lu Yuan's strength. He was quietly thanking his luck that he hadn't been directly in Congbang's wake — he might have been sent flying too. At best, critically wounded.

Heiming stared at Lu Yuan, disbelief burning in his eyes, and snarled through clenched teeth.

"What are you?! Are you even Third-rank?! Are you some senior disguised as one of us, coming here to cut down juniors?!"

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow, genuinely puzzled.

"What are you filling your head with? Just look me up when you get back — you'll have your answer."

Lu Yuan vanished from where he stood. The sheer velocity left a ring of displaced air spiraling outward — and then he was standing where Zhou Er had been. Zhou Er was already airborne.

His defenses were weaker than Congbang's. Blood erupted from him mid-air, and his body nearly came apart entirely.

Lu Yuan blinked again — and found that Heiming had already dissolved into a flash of white light and disappeared.

His kick passed through the white light and struck the ruins behind. The ground plowed open like soft earth, leaving a deep trench.

Lu Yuan glanced at the lingering light and frowned slightly.

*A Departure Crystal.*

Third-rank Departure Crystals were far rarer than First or Second-rank ones, but geniuses at this level would have them. A minor oversight — they should have anticipated it.

Not that it mattered much. Leaving via Departure Crystal locked you out for four days. Heiming was out of the picture for now. When he came back in, Lu Yuan would be waiting.

He blinked toward the remaining two Gnolls.

The moment they saw Heiming use his crystal, both reacted without hesitation — and used their own to flee.

Lu Yuan's kick connected with empty air.

He surveyed the area. Six Gnoll geniuses. Three dead.

*Acceptable enough,* he decided.

He turned to Si Tingxue and Rebecca with a calm smile.

"It's over."

Both of them were staring at him — even Si Tingxue, who was normally as expressive as a slab of ice, was standing there with her mouth open.

His words pulled them back to reality.

The looks they gave him were... difficult to describe.