One hundred li, fifty li, thirty li, ten li…
The four warriors of the Stone Giant Clan grew steadily larger in Elder Peng's eyes — from tiny black dots to ever-expanding silhouettes.
In the blink of an eye, they had entered the ambush zone. They were still on the outer edge, but once they crossed into it, it essentially meant that the four warriors of the Stone Giant Clan had fallen into their trap.
"Hold your positions! No one moves until I give the command!"
Elder Peng was worthy of being a powerhouse of Myriad Abyss Island and a clan elder of the Xiahou family. At this moment, though the targets were closing in and wild elation surged through him, his composure remained unshaken. If anything, he was growing calmer by the second.
He knew full well the berserk fighting prowess of the Stone Giant Clan. If they were discovered prematurely, it would absolutely not bode well for the Wind Cloud Sect.
The reason was simple — the targets had only just entered the trap zone. The Wind Cloud Soul-Dispersing Powder had not yet spread, had not yet fully infiltrated their bodies.
Before the poison took full effect, the berserk combat strength of the Stone Giant Clan was still terrifying. Clashing with them head-on at this stage would be, without question, a foolish move.
When people fell into despair, they often developed a frantic resolve — a willingness to drag their enemies down with them. The explosive power born of such last-ditch desperation was fearsome.
There was no need to engage them directly right now.
Elder Peng calculated in his mind, waited, waited for these four warriors of the Stone Giant Clan to realize on their own that something was wrong.
The Wind Cloud Soul-Dispersing Powder was not the kind of poison that triggered on the spot. It was a insidious toxin that worked silently, like spring rain seeping into the earth. Its victims lost all resistance without the slightest awareness. By the time they discovered the truth, it was usually far too late.
This was precisely why they had been able to capture so many human warriors in one stroke at the entrance to the Sunken Fragrance Valley.
It wasn't that they lacked the strength to take those people. But to capture them all without a single blow being struck — that was nearly impossible under normal circumstances.
That was the power of the Wind Cloud Soul-Dispersing Powder.
The art of poison was wondrous precisely because, when caught off guard, it mattered not whether you were a Celestial Position powerhouse or an ordinary Spirit Realm warrior — any one of them could fall victim if caught unawares.
In the ancient era, countless figures of supreme power had perished under mysterious and bizarre poisons. And so the art of poison, from the primordial age through the ancient era and into the present day, had remained immensely popular across the Divine Abyss Continent.
Moreover, lineages that specialized in the art of poison were always in high demand.
Everyone held their breath. Not a single soul dared make the faintest sound, for fear of startling the four Stone Giant Clan warriors and tipping them off ahead of time.
Their trap zone covered a vast area with an enormous radius of influence. This was why the Gold-Munching Mouse clan had concluded that any living creature entering within a ten-li radius would never emerge alive.
There was good reason for that assessment.
Time crawled onward.
Elder Peng's elation grew with every passing moment, because he could already see it — the four Stone Giant Clan warriors were visibly slowing down.
What did that mean?
It meant the Wind Cloud Soul-Dispersing Powder had already begun affecting the four of them, unnoticed. Once clear symptoms manifested, it would confirm that the poison had taken deep root.
Elder Mo glanced toward Elder Peng. Elder Peng gave a slight nod, signaling him to wait a little longer.
Just then, the Stone Giant Clan warrior sprinting at the forefront suddenly faltered in his steps and let out a wretched roar.
Immediately after, he began chattering and squawking at his companions.
The other three responded in kind, all of them squawking and chattering.
Their expressions appeared intensely agitated.
Elder Peng's elation peaked in that instant. He knew the four Stone Giant Clan warriors had realized they were poisoned.
This meant it was time to close the net.
"Move!" Elder Peng waved his hand, and figures of the Wind Cloud Sect burst forth one after another from the shadows, forming a ring around the four Stone Giant Clan warriors within a perimeter of one to two hundred meters.
The group was not large — only several dozen.
But Elder Peng and Elder Mo stood noticeably above the rest — both were Celestial Position powerhouses.
As for the rest, every single one was an Emperor realm expert. They appeared agile and formidable, their strength even surpassing that of ordinary Emperor realm warriors in the human domain.
The people who emerged from Myriad Abyss Island were indeed extraordinary, every last one of them.
These were the true core forces of the Wind Cloud Sect — the trump cards the sect master had never once revealed.
His current undertaking of building the Wind Cloud Sect and recruiting strong cultivators from the human domain — the Eight Dharma Kings, the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits, the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends — all of that represented only a fraction of the sect's strength. These people were the true elites he had brought from Myriad Abyss Island, and the real foundation of the Wind Cloud Sect master's confidence.
The four brothers of the Stone Giant Clan stared with bell-sized eyes, glaring at these people with furious expressions, all of them letting out various bizarre cries.
Elder Peng chuckled coldly. "Enough with the wailing. Speak like humans."
The four Stone Giant Clan brothers were clearly putting on an act as well. But for the Stone Giant Clan, such performance was an excruciating ordeal.
After all, acting had never been their forte.
To pretend they were poisoned when they were not, and to feign both anger and terror on top of that — for them, this was an enormous challenge.
Jiang Chen had taken into account the Stone Giant Clan's limited acting ability, so he had not demanded perfection. All they needed to do was roar and shout at the critical moment.
The Stone Giant Clan had no talent for theatrics, but following Jiang Chen's instructions to the letter — that, they could manage just fine.