Great Wilderness Demon Lord

The operation to capture the jackals began at dawn the following day.

Zhao Meng and Tieshan each led thirty-five soldiers, and set off in two separate routes to the northeast.

Shi Biao led ten guards ahead to investigate the patrol patterns and terrain details around the jackal tribe. Xiao Yunlan, on the other hand, stayed at the ruined camp to oversee the preparation of the riverbank fortifications.

On the banks of the Shuoshui River, the hard labor has already begun.

Under the supervision of soldiers, the convicts waded into the icy river to dredge the mud and sand from the bottom.

The chill seeped into their bones, quickly numbing the hands and feet of these lightly dressed people, turning their skin an unnatural bluish-purple. They toiled in silence, hauling basket after basket of wet, heavy mud and sand ashore, piling them into mounds.

Craftsman Lao Chen measured and planned the route for water collection and pouring, preparing to use wooden boards as a mold to pour the mixture of ice and soil layer by layer.

Inside the camp, the remaining soldiers intensified their efforts to strengthen the temporary defenses.

They used the stones scattered in the ruins to build low walls; they dug pits and set up barricades in key locations.

The entire camp was shrouded in a tense silence; no one spoke, only the cold wind and the sounds of labor mingled together.

Everyone could feel the invisible pressure—they were fighting for precious time against the barbarians who were about to migrate south, and against the increasingly frigid weather.

At dusk, Shi Biao returned to the camp with two guards, covered in dust.

"Captain, we've figured it out." Shi Biao knelt on one knee and spoke quickly, "The jackal tribe lives on both sides of a dry riverbed, with about five hundred tents and a simple wooden fence around them."

Each patrol team consists of ten people, and they patrol once a day at Chenshi (7-9 AM), Wushi (11 AM-1 PM), and Youshi (5-7 PM), with an interval of about two hours.

There is a water source to the southeast of the tribe, where the jackals, women, and children often fetch water.

Xiao Yunlan looked at the simple drawing hand-drawn by Shi Biao: "How about the defenses?"

"The guards are less strict during the day, but the gates are tightly closed at night. There are four watchtowers, each manned by two guards." Shi Biao paused. "However, the jackals have an extremely keen sense of smell and live in close symbiosis with jackals and dogs. They often patrol with jackals and dogs, making them difficult to approach."

Xiao Yunlan pondered for a moment: "Where have Zhao Meng and Tieshan gone?"

"We have arrived at our designated positions as planned and are lying in wait, ready to make our move at midnight tonight."

Midnight is the darkest time of the night, and also the time when the jackals have the longest breaks between patrols.

Xiao Yunlan nodded: "Order Zhao Meng and Tieshan to proceed according to plan. Prioritize capturing lone patrol teams. If that's not possible, then ambush the jackals drawing water from the source. Remember, I want them alive; try not to alert the main force."

"Yes, sir!"

Shi Biao accepted the order and left, his figure quickly disappearing into the twilight.

Xiao Yunlan stepped out of the tent and looked towards the northeast.

The night sky was starless and moonless, thick clouds hung low, and the cold wind was even stronger.

The eerie green aura of the Demon of Deception within him flickered slightly, conveying his anticipation and hunger for this conspiracy.

The cunning strategist coldly calculates all possible contingencies and devises countermeasures.

He pressed his hand against the Soul-Stabilizing Jade on his neck, the warm current barely suppressing the restlessness of his demonic thoughts.

This night was destined to be long.

-----------------

As midnight approached, twenty miles northeast of the north wind plain, a dried-up riverbed stretched out.

Zhao Meng lay in ambush behind a clump of withered, yellow alkaline grass, his body covered with coarse linen cloth of the same color as the surrounding environment, with only his eyes showing.

Behind him, thirty-five soldiers, also disguised and lying in ambush, held their breath and focused.

The jackal tribe not far away was shrouded in darkness, with only a few tents emitting faint firelight.

The outline of the wooden fence was blurred in the night, and a figure dozing with a spear could be vaguely seen on the watchtower.

Further away came the low barking of jackals, which was quickly drowned out by the sound of the wind.

Zhao Meng glanced at the hourglass beside him—it was midnight.

He made a gesture. Fifteen soldiers quietly rose and, like ghosts, crept towards the southeast of the tribe.

That is where the water source is located. During the daytime observation, jackal women and children often fetch water at dawn and dusk, and there may also be guards at midnight.

On the other side, Tieshan also led his team to begin their operation.

His target was a smaller gate on the west side of the tribe, where the defenses were relatively weak and it was close to a rocky area, making it easy to approach from a concealed position.

Zhao Meng led his men to the vicinity of the water source. It was a shallow pool that had seeped from the ground, surrounded by leather bags and wooden buckets used for fetching water.

Sure enough, there were two jackals on guard by the pool, warming themselves around a small fire, rubbing their hands and stamping their feet from time to time.

Zhao Meng signaled his soldiers to disperse and break the encirclement. He personally nocked an arrow and aimed at the throat of one of the jackals.

"Whoosh—"

The arrow pierced the air, precisely striking his throat. The jackal clutched his neck and collapsed with a muffled groan.

Another jackal jumped up in surprise, about to shout, when three or four soldiers pounced out of the shadows, some covering his mouth, others binding his hands, and quickly subdued him.

The whole process took only a few breaths and didn't make much noise.

Zhao Meng strode forward and examined the jackal who had been shot—he was already dead. He frowned and whispered, "Drag the body away and clean up the blood. Take the survivor with you."

The soldiers moved swiftly. But just as they dragged the body into the shadows, a low, mournful bark suddenly came from behind the pile of rocks beside the water source.

A jackal, about the size of a wolfhound, poked its head out. It was clearly the mate of the two jackals, having just been dozing behind the rock and now awakened by the smell of blood.

The jackal bared its teeth and growled, about to bark wildly as a warning.

Zhao Meng's expression changed, and he was about to order the shooting when a dark figure suddenly pounced out from the side—it was Shi Biao.

He had stealthily approached without anyone noticing, and with a short, barbed blade in his hand, he pierced the jackal's neck with pinpoint accuracy, twisting the tip of the blade to sever its trachea.

The jackal let out a short, mournful whine before collapsing to its knees.

Shi Biao flicked the blood off his blade, grinned at Zhao Meng, revealing his gleaming white teeth.

Zhao Meng breathed a sigh of relief and gestured: Continue.

Within an hour, Zhao Meng and Tie Shan's two teams attacked and killed four patrol teams, capturing 22 jackals alive and killing more than 30 jackals and their dogs.

But the action eventually alerted the tribe.

When the Iron Mountain team attempted to attack the fifth patrol, a jackal barked an alarm in advance.

In an instant, torches lit up the village, barking filled the air, and large numbers of jackals rushed out of their tents.

"Retreat!" Tieshan made a decisive decision and led his team to retreat along the planned evacuation route.

Zhao Meng's team also quickly broke away, leading the prisoners and heading southwest at high speed.

Shi Biao's guards were responsible for covering the rear, shooting down several pursuers with crossbows and setting up tripwire traps to slow down the pursuers.

In the cold night of Shuofeng Plain, a chase unfolds across the wasteland.

The jackal cavalry roared angrily and gave chase, but Zhao Meng and his men were familiar with the terrain and had made preparations in advance, so they quickly shook off the pursuers.

In the darkest hour before dawn, the three groups of people returned one after another to the ruins of Wangbeibao camp.

Zhao Meng and Tieshan counted the prisoners: a total of thirty-seven jackals, including thirty-two able-bodied men and five old and weak men. They were forty-four short of the required eighty-one.

Xiao Yunlan looked at the jackal prisoners who were bound to the ground and struggling in terror, his face expressionless.

"We'll continue tomorrow," he said calmly. "Forty-four more people are still needed."