That night. The town is in utter chaos.
Everyone is protesting on why they were not allowed to get out of the town.
But there was no reply.
After some people tried to use money, status, and even forced to get out of here and were completely shut down, the chaos temporarily ceased and everyone went back into the town.
If this situation is confusing enough, then the next was completely unfathomable for everyone else. The Inner disciple called for all the farmers in the town who either owned the land or farming for some organization to come for a meeting in the Townhall.
The context of the meeting was completely unknown.
The Inner disciple looked at all the farmers and said.
"A person named, Red who acts as bandit around the area has been bought out by the Fiend tribe and he took up the task of destroying the produce of the whole town."
He made the announcement calmly, at least his representation of calmness.
The farmers were all stunned and they didn't know what to do at the moment. All they could do was to urge the young master to give more details, but before they could raise their voice, the young master continued.
"From the information I got, Red managed to bribe a few farmers and placed some kinds of objects in your fields. Currently, our men are searching the fields and looking for these objects. But we don't know which farmers are involved in this. So, we cannot have you all get out of this place for the moment."
As soon as he spoke, the farmers reacted.
"No way, how can we stay here while our fields are in danger. We cannot stay here." One man yelled back.
"That is right. I am not staying here. We need to go there and take a look ourselves. Months of hard work will be wasted."
They started protesting. But the young master is having none of it.
He looked at them and yelled back coldly.
"Nobody is getting out of this room alive unless I say so. If that object is not found, the product will be gone, and the vitality and nutrients of the land will also be dismissed. The whole area will turn into dead land. I am not going to let any of you go until I find out the reason for what happened."
After he said that, he ignored the protests and went outside.
"I want all the farms to be empty, even the houses. Tell the guards to set up the concealment formations around all fields. All the beasts should work instantly and harvest the produce in one hour.
I think, losing all the products will be suspicious. So, steal fifty percent and replace it with the withered debris.
Leave the rest as it is. And make sure that you steal at random places."
"One hour? Many of the herbs will be damaged?"
"Of course, they would be. But we are 'saving' the herbs from such a 'deadly object'. How can they be completely unscathed?"
With that everyone just silently went away and did their tasks.
Meanwhile.
Sam, Noah, and Kumar are watching the activities of the guards carefully. They couldn't help but feel a bit lost by this intense reaction of the Inner disciple.
"Please tell me, this is within your prediction as well."
Sam asked both of them.
But they didn't reply for a second and only sighed.
"I only thought that he would lock down the town and harass the people. I didn't expect his reaction to being this extreme." Kumar spoke from the side.
"What do we do now? Do we proceed with the same plan?" Sam asked once again. Even though the situation changed a bit, they might necessarily not have to change their plan. They could just do some slight modifications and deal with them.
While they are brainstorming on what to do next, the guard captain who went outside came with a man in tow. He was captured and kept on yelling. From the distance of surveillance, they couldn't hear what he is saying but could only make up what he is saying through lip reading.
But they got little information and without any context, they couldn't find much. The most they could understand is that the inner disciple might have suspected this guy.
"We need to make a move as soon as possible if we have to proceed with the original plan. The guard captain has a higher cultivation level than us. We need to lure him into the trap and weaken him. If the reaction of the young master is as we expected, then we would have had an easy time luring them out. What should we do now?"
Kumar asked both of them. He knew he is not as good when it comes to planning. So, he didn't bother overthinking from his side.
After some time, Sam said.
"We will get and set the trap as usual. I will find a way to lure them in. But are you sure the trap would work properly? He is a middle-stage transcendent cultivator of the Astral Plane. If we need to have any chance of defeating him, he should at least be a little weaker than the initial stage transcendent cultivator of the Astral Plane."
"I have the perfect blueprint for the trap. In fact, I tested it repeatedly and it worked many times. With the right ingredients, it can even work against someone higher."
"If you say so. What do you want me to do?"
Noah took out a large gourd and said.
"Drink this poison."
Sam was stunned for a second and looking at his expression she chuckled and said.
"I know about your hydra bloodline. I learned about it a bit. Your hydra seems to be a variant, then you should have that ability right? Absorbing and secreting poison?"
Sam nodded and took the gourd from her before asking.
"Where did you learn that?"
"From our sect."
Sam looked at her for a moment and turned away silently. He just took the poison and started chugging it down like it is some chilled beer.
Within a few seconds, he was done and he sat cross-legged as he absorbed the energy from that poison.
This is one of the most potent poisons he ever consumed. He didn't expect it to be this strong.
After some time, he opened and asked.
"Just what kind of poison is this?"
"I concocted it myself. It contains the plant toxins of eighteen realms."
Sam was dumbfounded for a second and just sighed. It seems like he has been neglecting the players a little too much. They managed to learn too much about him in all these exploits, while he failed to learn anything about them.
This would be detrimental if he were to fight them unprepared, particularly if he has to fight multiple players simultaneously.
He calmed down and focused on secreting the poison.
With the hydra secretion, the poison would not just be more potent, it also has some adverse effects and acts faster than normal. It would be harder to cure as well. Even if someone manages to find the cure for the poison that was secreted from the plants of eighteen realms, they wouldn't be able to cure this poison that easily.
After he gave the poison back to her, she said.
"We need to get out of here without making anyone suspect us. Do you have a way to do that?"
"I do actually. But I don't know if it falls under the rules we established before."
He spoke as he took out three formation discs and started tinkering with them and within no time, three holograms of the three people appeared exactly like them.
Noah looked at them in shock. She doesn't know that Sam creates such a perfect hologram.
If not for her spiritual sense, she would definitely think that they are real clones.
Kumar who is standing beside was quick to recover as he nudged her out of it.
"No problem use it anyway. I also want you to record the harvesting process of these guys."
With that, Sam set the formation in the room creating an illusion that they are here with the help of holograms and the illusion formation.
After that was done, the three of them sneaked out.
Noah took out formation blueprints and they need to uproot some trees and plant them in a different place.
Sam decided to do that while Kumar started setting up different spears in different positions according to the formation.
Noah started using the poison on different trees in the formation.
Sam observed the blueprint and easily understood what the formation is supposed to do and he is very impressed with Kumar and Noah's efforts. This is a very good trap and it has a high success rate and with the added guarantee that Sam would definitely lure them here, this would definitely succeed.
After they are done with laying the trap down, the three of them went back in.
Sam collected the recorded process and made copies of them.
They observed the situation a bit more waiting for the farmers to be released and see what kind of actions that the inner disciple would take.
