The Legendary Man

Chapter 1228 The Decoy
Seboxia specialized in handling life force and was extremely sensitive to the movement of vita.
Even Jonathan could sense that something was amiss with that elderly man. Something's not right about this place.
Stellario fiddled with the small knife in his hand. “Jonathan, since we all agree that there's a problem here, why don't we go on a
night walk?”
“A night walk?” Jonathan pondered Stellario's words and nodded slightly. “All right then. Let's proceed with the idea.”
It was already evening when the two arrived. By the time they finished taking a break, the sky had completely darkened.
“It's about time, Jonathan,” Stellario whispered a reminder.
Jonathan assumed a seated position on the wooden bed, subtly stretching his muscles and joints upon hearing the words.
“What's happening out there?”
Stellario had a cluster of small insects surrounding him.
The Mallory family's art of manipulating parasites for their benefit was truly enchanting. Not only were they able to employ
parasites to vanquish their adversaries, but the fact that Stellario utilized them for investigative purposes also opened Jonathan's
eyes to their capabilities.
“Just as you expected, this village may seem calm, but it's heavily guarded. There are at least thirty advanced-phase God Realm
cultivators stationed just a few meters away,” Stellario reported.
“Thirty...” Jonathan's face changed.
Although thirty individuals might not seem like a formidable number, they were more than enough to dominate strategic positions
from all directions, effortlessly sealing off any possible escape routes for the two of them. What are those villagers afraid of?

Jonathan's fear continued to grow.
He had an ominous premonition that if they did not leave, both he and Stellario might meet their untimely end.
“Proceed with the original plan!” Jonathan said, simultaneously reaching out and tossing the bronze handbell to shield them from
above.
After confirming that their spiritual energy was contained within the handbell, Stellario extended his hands. From the back of his
hands, a swarm of black insects swiftly emerged, taking over the two wooden beds.
In just a few moments, those densely packed insects, under Stellario's control, gradually took the form of two people lying on the
beds.
“I need your blood essence!” Stellario uttered.
A surge of spiritual energy traced a cut across Jonathan's fingertip, and he flicked his hand, letting his blood fall onto one cluster
of insects.
Stellario, too, followed suit by dropping his blood essence onto another group of insects.
As their blood mingled with the insects, it was as if drops of water had fallen into sizzling oil, causing the insects to fiercely
compete for nourishment.
Stellario then performed a hand seal, causing the two groups of insects to undergo a transformation, gradually taking on the
likeness of Stellario and Jonathan.
Jonathan closed his eyes and took a moment to sense the situation. Then, he looked toward Stellario in astonishment.
He could sense that the two clusters of insects closely resembled them in terms of aura and spiritual energy. If one were to rely
solely on spiritual energy to detect their presence, it would be impossible to discern whether they were real people or not.
“The Mallorys are indeed good at exercising such terrifying tricks.” Jonathan gave Stellario a thumbs-up.

Stellario casually popped a couple of Spirit Rejuvenating Pills into his mouth and let out a chuckle. “You haven't seen the more
terrifying ones!”
Jonathan controlled the protective range of the bronze handbell above their heads, narrowing it down to only encompass himself
and Stellario. Then, he slowly released the two forms.
Cautiously, they waited for several minutes, attentively listening for any signs of activity outside. Only when there was no other
noise or movement did Jonathan proceed to form hand seals, activating Elemental Extrication Technique.
The two of them gradually sank into the ground, descending to a depth of about thirty meters.
Inside the small world, God Realm cultivators' spiritual sense could extend a few meters underground at most.
Nonetheless, the distance they had traveled was sufficient to ensure their safety.
Beneath the ground, Jonathan proceeded forward for quite some time, walking for over ten minutes before slowly ascending
toward the surface.
The house that the old man had arranged for them was situated on the outskirts of the village. Although they had not traveled a
great distance, they were considerably far from the village center.
Upon returning to the ground's surface, Stellario released his grip on Jonathan's arm. “What kind of technique was that? You
could freely move through the ground, yet I had to hold onto your arm. That's just weird!”
“Do you think I enjoy being gripped by a man?” Jonathan retorted with a scowl on his face. “Enough with the banter. If we want to
leave safely, we have to return to the cave by the cliff. When we arrived just now, I had Seboxia keep an eye on the portal
formation. It's a two-way portal, so we should be able to return to the pond.”
Stellario let out a helpless sigh after hearing that. “Had we teamed up with Seboxia during the day and gotten rid of Abraham and
his men, we wouldn't have needed to go through this trouble and ventured out in the middle of the night.”

“You're just a Monday morning quarterback,” Jonathan scoffed, “I mean, sure, Seboxia can handle them during the day, but how
would we escape from the snake den?”
“How about the time we were on our way here?” Stellario retorted.
“Why didn't you suggest earlier?” Jonathan asked indifferently while staring at Stellario.
Speechless, Stellario could only tilt his head and glance around.
He observed that the village was nestled amidst a unique topography, with peaks encircling it like the mouth of a volcano.
As for the cave connected by a ropeway, it was easily noticeable by simply lifting one's gaze upward.
The two swiftly made their way through the fields outside the village and soon arrived beneath the ropeway.
“Jonathan, no one has used this ropeway since we arrived. Wouldn't it be too bold for us to escape using it?” Stellario
questioned.
“Feel free to stay if you don't mind dying here!” Jonathan responded nonchalantly.
He then swiftly took out a slender device that resembled a lower leg with four wheels.
Utilizing his spiritual energy as an extension of his arm, Jonathan ascended swiftly, skillfully landing on the steel cable.
Click.
The crisp mechanical sound seemed exceptionally clear in the darkness of the night.
Stellario looked at the device on the cable, feeling a bit bewildered. “What exactly is that thing?”
“It's a rope-climbing device—one of the special tools used by the special forces,” Jonathan replied with a cheerful grin.

He then flipped his hand and produced a magical rope, giving it a light swing before wrapping it around the device.
“Hold onto the rope!” Jonathan instructed with confidence.
“This is what happens when cultivators fail to keep up with technological development,” Jonathan remarked.
With that, he lightly pressed the button in his hand, and the rope-climbing device emitted a sharp sound, propelling them swiftly
toward the end of the steel cable.
“That's cool!” Stellario suppressed his excitement.
It would have taken them at least twenty minutes to run up the cable toward the cave in the distance, but the rope-climbing
device brought them closer to the cave nestled within the clouds and mist in no time.
In less than three minutes, they found themselves in close proximity to the cave.
As Jonathan retracted the magical rope, he and Stellario landed gracefully.
At that speed, even if someone had noticed, the two of them had already left far behind.
However, just as their smiles of relief were about to grace their faces, Jonathan suddenly felt a chilling gleam shoot directly at
him, targeting his face.