Springing the Trap

After agreeing to the terms and discussing the details, Hu Huan used some of his confidants to discreetly contact Shen Shuren, warning her that Du Hu was planning to make a move on her territory soon.

After putting Shen Shuren on high alert, the next step involved luring Du Hu into Shen Shuren's territory. This job inevitably fell to Yan.

For better or worse, Du Hu was an incredibly small-minded man. Even the most insignificant slight against him would not go unforgiven. Securing Hong Wu under his thumb left Du Hu unsatisfied. Yan was still at large somewhere in the sect, and until he held her sect token in his hand, he would not allow his underlings to rest.

Du Hu made many attempts to have Hong Wu give up her friend. Du Hu never met Hong Wu in person after their initial encounter, he believed himself too important for that. Instead he sent Liao Yin to offer leniency if she was willing to give up her friend's location. At first, promises of absolution from her one-hundred merit point quota for one month was offered, then two months, then three.

Hong Wu brushed off Du Hu's measures, responding with since she had lost her ability to enter the Drifting Cloud Quarters she had lost contact with Yan. If Hong Wu were any other person Du Hu would have quickly switched from carrot to stick and sent Li Yu in to force the information out of her, but after mentioning the Drifting Cloud Quarters Du Hu showed an uncharacteristic measure of caution.

Although he hid his worries from Hong Wu well enough, it could not be said he was living a carefree life with Hong Wu now under his umbrella. Learning he had just plucked one of Gu Fei's flowers from his garden, a cold sweat began to accumulate on Du Hu's back.

Du Hu liked to think of himself as an important figure within the sect and normally acted as such, treating others in grey robes with little regard. Besides the few well known cultivators he considered to be rivals, all other outer sect disciples were not worth looking at. Most of his time was spent in secluded cultivation anyways. The primary reason he gathered so many followers was to focus on his cultivation while his subordinates gathered resources for his continued progress. Cut-off from the rest of the world, Du Hu knew little of the sect's current events. As such, Du Hu paid little regard for Hong Wu at first. After Hong Wu's off handed comment about the Drifting Cloud Quarters that changed.

In a frantic dash to make sure he had not offended anyone he couldn't afford to offend, Du Hu sent out his subordinates to gather information about the sect's new arrivals. To his relief, reports came back that Hong Wu had already fallen out of favor with Elder Zhao once before and was likely not heavily favored in the sect. Finding information on Yan proved to be more difficult, but he was able to at least learn that Yan had disappeared from the public early on with little ceremony.

Seeing as the higher ups did not signal that the two held any significance, Du Hu felt he was in the clear to act. Breathing a sigh of relief that the two he had conflict with were not like the rest of the rest of the unreachable girls from the Drifting Cloud Quarters, Du Hu quietly resumed his hunt for Yan.

Oblivious to Du Hu's worries, Hong Wu and Yan continued with their plan to lure Du Hu into their trap. After an extended deliberation, the two girls decided on the date and went about preparing for their retaliation.

***

Yan silently made her way towards the western part of Du Hu's territory under the cover of Shrouding Fog. After getting into position, Yan found one of Du Hu's lackeys to attack before briefly escaping.

The call quickly went out for all outer sect disciples under Du Hu's management to assemble near Yan's last known location. Hong Wu arrived only after most of the other cultivators were present so as to throw off suspicion. If she arrived first on the scene, it was possible Du Hu would begin to suspect she knew where Yan would be and put him on guard. When dealing with Yan, Du Hu wanted to make his attack quick and clean, taking care of this problem of his once and for all. Once the entire party arrived, orders were given to quickly track her down without hesitation.

Li Yu made use of his strange tracking abilities to lead the group on their hunt. The group made little progress before reaching the stream that acted as the divide between Du Hu and Shen Shuren. "The tracks lead into senior sister Shen's territory. Senior brother Du Hu, do we pursue?"

Hong Wu's heart clenched; the entire plan hinged on what Du Hu decided at this moment. Du Hu showed a pensive expression, inquiring "How close are we?"

"She can't have passed more than five minutes ago. If we hurry, we can get in and out without anyone noticing."

Du Hu clenched his teeth in frustration. He cast a quick glance towards Hong Wu, who was trying to maintain as cool and collected a composure as possible. After a brief deliberation, Du Hu barked, "In and out, if we don't find her in fifteen minutes we bail and wait for another opportunity."

The rock sitting in Hong Wu's heart landed after hearing this. 'The first hurdle is cleared. Now comes the hard part.'

Following Li Yu closely, the group made their way closer and closer to Yan. "There she is!" one of the cultivators under Du Hu called out spotting Yan running deeper into Shen Shuren's territory.

Du Hu grinned with excitement crying, "Don't let her escape!"

The weaker cultivators began shooting off spells and more of those paper fireballs in an attempt to slow Yan down while the rest flanked Yan on either side. Yan made a valiant effort dodging each spell with an expertise that few could mimic, but there were simply too many. One of the fireballs sent her way exploded onto a tree near her. The impact spread, knocking Yan off her feet. She quickly recovered to stand and summon her flying sword, but by this time hunting party had already almost encircled her.

Li Yu was quick to warn his fellow cultivators, "Be careful of that sword! It is incredibly fast and sharp!"

Before the rest of the group could realize the severity of the statement, Yan sent the sword hurtling towards a rather unassuming young man. In a panic he raised his hands to cover his face and tried to jump out of the way. Unfortunately for him Yan spent many hours practicing her sword skills. Adjusting the trajectory, Yan cleaved the man's right arm clean off. Before he could howl in pain, Yan had already commanded the sword to make its way to her next victim, leaving a deep laceration upon this person's back.

As the sword was making quick work of those in front of her, Yan charged for the opening she just made. Before she could escape, a frozen blade hurtled straight for her, forcing her to adjust her trajectory and turn to the source of the attack.

Yan's eyes widened with rage. She howled, "What's meanin of this Hong Wu!?"

Hong Wu revealed a complicated expression. "I'm sorry Yan, but this is how it has to be. No matter what we do, we can't escape Du Hu. Give up now and maybe he will show some leniency."

Yan's voice cracked with pain as she spat back, "I shouldn't have trusted ya. All ya ever did was leech off of me. Without me, an ugly weaklin like ya would of never gotten as far as ya did."

Hong Wu expression revealed how much these words hurt her. "I did what I had to in order to survive. If given the choice to follow you or Du Hu it is clear which option is better."

The argument between the two was interrupted by Du Hu's boisterous laughter. "Well said, well said. Now then, let's end this shall we? You have causes quite the headache for me little girl. Poor Brother Li's fingers, and now an arm too. Your debt to me just keeps increasing. Why don't you hand over that sword to me girl? Give it to me and I promise I will only take a hand and leave you with the arm. Such a magnificent magical tool matches my regal bearing perfectly."

As if in response to Du Hu's last statement a cold snort reverberated throughout the area. "You think far too highly of yourself Du Hu!"