Zhao Yunxiao took a quick glance at the rest of the members.


    All of them seemed to be fully focused on the monkey demon in front of them, doing their best to inflict damage on it little by little.


    Had none of them realised?


    “Senior Martial Brother Chu!” Zhao Yunxiao yelled.


    Since Mo Mian was engaging in close quarters combat right now, Zhao Yunxiao wanted to distract him as much as possible. So, he decided to address Chu Han instead.


    “What’s wrong?” Chu Han asked with a frown.


    He had a bad feeling about what was to come.


    To suddenly call out to him in the middle of a battle, it was very likely that Zhao Yunxiao had something urgent to say.


    “Something is coming!” Zhao Yunxiao did not beat around the bush.


    His words instantly drew the attention of everyone in the party, including Mo Mian whom he had not wanted to distract.


    Thankfully, the monkey demon was still under the suppression of the Terra Seal Formation, so this single moment of distraction did not result in any terrible consequences.


    “What do you mean?” Chu Han asked. “What is coming?”


    “I don’t know...” Zhao Yunxiao answered frankly. “But it is not normal.”


    The speed of approach was far too quick for it to be an ordinary person or animal.


    “How much time do we have, then?” Chu Han asked in a solemn manner.


    “Thirty seconds.”


    Zhao Yunxiao’s answer caused everyone to freeze for a moment.


    “That’s not long at all,” Gui Longcan remarked. “There’s no way that we will be able to take down this bastard within thirty seconds.”


    The monkey demon might be riddled with wounds now, but its vital signs were still going strong.


    Even if they were to increase the pace of their assault, it would still take more than thirty seconds to slay the monkey demon for sure!


    “I will go check it out for now,” Zhao Yunxiao suggested. “If possible, I will try to buy us some time.”


    “You will...?” Pu Feixiang questioned. “You aren’t thinking of leaving the formation, are you?”


    Should Zhao Yunxiao leave, the Terra Seal Formation would inevitably be disrupted.


    Even though they could form it again with the four of them, the effects would be weakened with one person missing.


    On top of that, who knew what the monkey demon would do during the short interval when the formation was down?


    “Some things still need to be done,” Chu Han’s opinion differed from Pu Feixiang’s. “Rather than remaining here like sitting ducks, it is better to find out exactly what is coming. It is good if it is benign. But if it bears any malicious intent, we need to be ready for it as well.”


    “Go, Junior Martial Brother Zhao,” Mo Mian gave the instruction after hearing them out.


    “Don’t worry, I will be staying here,” Zhao Yunxiao’s response confused everyone.


    But in the next moment, everyone immediately understood what he meant.


    Behind Zhao Yunxiao, the earth rose up to form a humanoid figure.


    Its features rapidly became more and more distinct, while its body changed in both colour and texture to resemble clothes.


    Before long, a second Zhao Yunxiao could be seen standing right behind the original. They looked identical, making it almost impossible to differentiate the two.


    “I see. A clone technique,” Mo Mian smiled. “This works too.”


    Zhao Yunxiao did not wait for any further instructions.


    Zhao Yunxiao Two quickly headed off.


    His goal – to find out just who or what this newcomer actually was!


    ***


    This newcomer was not approaching from any new location that was previously unknown to the party.


    In fact, it was actually coming over from the direction of the monkeys’ nest, moving along the path of traps to get to them.


    Now that most of the traps along this path had already been activated, there was nothing much left to even attempt to hinder its advance.


    With the two individuals moving straight towards each other, it did not take long before Zhao Yunxiao Two encountered this newcomer.


    But one advantage that Zhao Yunxiao had over the newcomer was information.


    With the help of the alerts, Zhao Yunxiao was able to track the exact location of the newcomer.


    This allowed him to hide his clone just before encountering the newcomer, so that he could watch the newcomer from within the shadows.


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    He had read up on monkey demons before coming on this mission.


    From what he understood, monkey demons seldom abandoned their offspring, often opting to live together instead.


    No matter how he looked at it, this new monkey demon looked physically superior to the other one by far!


    In fact, rather than calling this newcomer a monkey demon, it might be more intuitive to call it an ape demon instead!


    Zhao Yunxiao had two options now.


    One option was to inform the rest to temporarily give up on their assault on the monkey demon, making the necessary preparations to greet this ape demon instead.


    The other option was to buy time – attempting to distract this ape demon long enough for them to take down the monkey demon. The possibility was low, but in the case of success, they would only have to deal with the demons one at a time.


    Zhao Yunxiao had about five seconds to make his decision.


    If he did not do anything within the next five seconds, this ape demon would simply pass his clone right by to reach the rest of the party.


    The answer was obvious.


    </a> Boom-!


    </a> Rahhhh-!


    The ape demon roared in rage as it felt a sharp pain start to spread throughout its body.


    It was only at this point that Zhao Yunxiao Two was finally willing to step out of the shadows.


    “


    The ape demon’s roars reverberated across the forest, reaching even the members of the Mystic Cavalry who were currently slightly further away.


    “What was that?” Pu Feixiang asked in shock.


    “Is that what you mentioned earlier, Junior Martial Brother Zhao?” Gui Longcan added.


    “It’s an ape demon,” Zhao Yunxiao explained, having sensed everything through his clone. “And it is strong as well.”


    “Stronger than this guy?” Pu Feixiang asked, referring to the monkey demon.


    “Likely,” Zhao Yunxiao nodded, causing everyone to freeze momentarily.


    “How is the situation? Are you able to delay it somehow?” Chu Han got to the point.


    “I’m trying to lure it away from here, but I am not sure how long that will last,” Zhao Yunxiao answered.


    “Sounds like a race against time then,” Mo Mian let out a wry smile. “This is the last sprint, everyone. Let’s permanently relieve this poor monkey demon of its unpleasant memories from the past!”


    “Got it!”


    Everyone answered in unison as they drove their dantians to the limit.


    They had been taking their time to slowly whittle the monkey demon down in a safe and systematic manner, but that was not possible anymore.


    After all, time was no longer on their side.