Chapter 1327: Human Nature Versus Psychology?
Chapter 1327: Human Nature Versus Psychology?
Everyone looked at each other and their expressions changed drastically!
If it was really true and the enemy had taken another route... yet they themselves had removed all their people from the two sides of it, would it not be a smooth and easy passage for the enemy?
Would it not be really miserable?
They themselves had acted together to create a smooth and easy path for the enemy?
Every one of the Supreme Martial Artist experts had a feeling of eating sh*t and all of them turned red in their faces when they thought of this.
They thought in their minds, "Have we become so retarded? Such that we are toyed by our enemies?"
At this moment, everyone was furious!
"Send our forces in both directions! Return immediately!" The leading Fifth Grade Supreme Martial Artist was about to vomit blood. He quickly made the arrangements and was anxious to leave for the mission.
"Then... Elder, our people on this side... what should we do?" asked the Supreme Martial Artist who was originally guarding this road while being flustered.
"What to do? You tell me what should you do?" The Fifth Grade Supreme Martial Artist was raging with anger and continued, "The enemy had taken another route, you tell me what should you do?! Pig!"
His voice had not even faded and he flew away speedily!
This time, it was full of hatred.
He was ashamed, angry and frustrated at the same time!
He had been in the martial world for over a thousand years, yet he was toyed by a young junior. This was really unbearable!
As he flew past, he continued to grit his teeth and muttered, "If I managed to capture these few young juniors, I would be sure to peel off their skin and pull out their tendons while they are alive..."
It was a messy movement of people and those on the two sides instantly disappeared without a trace.
Leaving behind only the ones guarding this road originally.
"What are you waiting for? Hurry and split yourselves into two groups and catch up with them!" The leading Supreme Martial Artist stomped his legs and shouted, "Why is everyone behaving like a dumb bird?"
The crowd answered in a fluster and divided themselves up immediately before they rose up and moved out...
...
Chu Yang and the others were hurrying through the forest with caution, and therefore they were only mid-way through the forest by now. It was no wonder that the Li Clan did not destroy this forest. It was actually an area that connected various places together.
Regardless of its hardness and flexibility, it was already numerous times greater than that of a normal forest.
Furthermore, this forest had too many epiphytes within. They were all vines that were as hard as steel that intertwined together. It was almost as if the entire forest had been intertwined with vines into a single body...
To walk within the forest was definitely a difficult task.
Everyone was very careful to neither break any branches nor leave any traces. To do so, everyone had to display acrobatic moves...
At this time...
Suddenly, there was a sense of tyranny coming from not far away. The group dressed in white came speedily from the sky, dashing toward that road.
There was a faint evil cursing sound that came over...
Human white shadows flashed everywhere and there was no exact idea of how many people had gone over.
Seeing all the things that had happened, everyone was full of respect for Chu Yang.
They thought in their minds, "He actually predicted it all correctly..."
"The opponent really went back..."
They could not help but think of what would have happened if they had still remained on that old route... It would be equivalent to a pincer attack by the enemy!
Everyone broke out in cold sweat as they thought of this possibility.
"Let's pick up our pace!" Chu Yang reminded quietly. Everyone came to realization and dashed ahead.
The opponents were weaving through left and right in both directions. In between them, it was only a mere five or six miles apart.
It was basically equivalent to... When you came over and I would go right back.
Even amongst those who had previously discussed a game plan, they would not be able to have such good tacit understanding...
Whiz whiz whiz...
Leading the group, Chu Yang dashed out of the forest and onto the main road without any hesitation at all. Immediately after, he continued on full speed ahead!
Right now, there was no intentional decrease in speed, but rather, they were running as quickly as they could.
Shua shua, they had already gone a few miles ahead. Suddenly they heard a whistle coming from that side. It was obviously a call to gather the forces, "Come quickly, the enemy has escaped from this road..."
...
On the other side, the faces of a few Supreme Martial Artists turned solemn as they looked at the series of footprints that Chu Yang had left behind.
"They have indeed escaped from here..." The face of the leading Fifth Grade Supreme Martial Artist was serious and also hiding a furious emotion within that was ready to explode anytime.
"This... with all due respect, Seventh Elder, these footprints, especially the first one, looked a little too deep in my opinion. It is almost as if he was afraid we would miss it out... I'm afraid that it may be a deceptive tactic to mislead us! I'm afraid that their real route is still elsewhere," said the other Supreme Martial Artist dressed in white robe carefully.
"Utter rubbish! This is absurd! What do you know!" The Seventh Elder flew into a rage.
The Supreme Martial Artist dressed in white robe met with a strong rebuff, but he was still a little unconvinced. Although he did not dare to rebut anymore, his facial expression was definitely disapproving of what Seventh Elder said.
"All your years of experience in the martial world has really gone down the drain!" The Seventh Elder looked into the skies and sighed. "Having such a mediocre man like you in the Li Clan is exactly the reason why we have failed to ambush and capture a few enemies, despite having so many of us."
The Supreme Martial Artist dressed in white robe was even more unconvinced. Finally, he could not help but rebut, "May I request Elder to instruct and explain to us? So that it may help subordinates like me resolve the doubts in our minds."
"Let me ask you, where is this footprint?" The Seventh Elder did not want to explain initially. However, seeing that quite many people were in doubt, he had no choice but to suppress his own anger. Nevertheless, his expression was still one that looked as if he wanted to eat them up.
"It's outside the second gate, about 150 feet away from it." The Supreme Martial Artist estimated the distance using his eyes and answered Seventh Elder fluently.
"You are right; If you were them, when crossing such a gate, although you know that there is obviously no one around, would you still be exceptionally anxious?" The Seventh Elder displayed a look of intelligence.
"Yes... Yes, I would." Putting himself in their shoes, this sentence was hard to deny.
"Hmph, therefore when crossing this gate, a normal person wouldn't be able to help it but hold his breath and activate the highest level of his cultivation. He would put on his highest vigilance as he goes past the place. However, after passing the place, he would then realize that there is no one attacking him."
The Seventh Elder continued to explain confidently, "At this moment, would you let out a sigh of relief and even have an urge to laugh, almost as if you were thinking that all the anxiety is a waste and there is really no one around. Would you?"
That Supreme Martial Artist considered for a moment before nodding his head and said, "Yes, I would do so indeed."
"However, let me ask you, when you let out this sigh of relief, don't you need to change your breath? In other words, you are exhaling the foul air from your body and breathing in another mouth of fresh air, right?"
"Absolutely."
"If that is the case, changing your breath under such an emotional roller coaster, would your body posture remain uniform?" The Seventh Elder acted like he was a cat who had just caught a mouse, asking step by step and jokingly.
"Erm... not possible." That Supreme Martial Artist had been utterly defeated as he retreated backward, breaking out into a whole face of sweat.
"Therefore, they would then leave such a footprint!" The Seventh Elder smiled indifferently, seemingly filled with wisdom and farsightedness. He added, "After leaving behind such a footprint, he immediately realized his own mistake and then corrected it. Hence... the second footprint would become much lighter and the third footprint even lighter. By the time it reached the fifth footprint... it was almost invisible, just a tiny trace of it. As for the sixth footprint... it totally disappeared... That means to say, he had already managed to regain his composure!"
"If that was the case... why is there only one set of footprints on the ground?" That Supreme Martial Artist was still a little unconvinced by the explanation.
"Stupid! You are so stupid! How could our Li Clan have such a stupid person like you?" The Seventh Elder was speechless as he continued, "There are variations even within our ten fingers... With the same logic, other people's cultivation may be higher and their ability to concentrate may be stronger. Therefore, they would not make such a mistake. Amongst the group of enemies, only this person's mentality was slightly weaker... Do you understand?"
"In other words, for example, if both me and you were in the same circumstances as the enemies and both of us were going past here. I would never leave behind such a footprint, whereas for you, it may not be so."
The Seventh Elder continued to lecture.
That Supreme Martial Artist thought in his mind, "I would definitely not leave behind any footprints. In my opinion, the one to leave behind the footprints would instead be you, you old..."
However, in his mind, there was no longer any doubt.
"Seventh Elder is really wise!" The crowd cheered.
The Seventh Elder was triumphant and looked pleased with himself. He added on with meaningful and heartfelt words, "One is never too old to learn; this point, we have to bear in mind. In this world, many things can be reasoned out by using analogies. Today's case of the footprints for example. At first glance, they looked like just a set of normal footprints! However, if you managed to link the footprints with the enemies' current circumstances, together with the current battle situation and even their mentality, you would then be able to deduce the best answer!"
"To do this, you would need to understand human nature, the mentality of human thinking, good coordination, meticulous analysis and rigor deduction... anyone missing would be equivalent to a failure! Therefore, even though all of you claim to have great experiences in the martial world, all of you are still rather fresh in this aspect. In the future, follow and learn more from me!"
That Supreme Martial Artist interrupted the Seventh Elder's boasting and said, "Based on your explanations, then our enemies have escaped from here?"
The Seventh Elder replied unhappily, "If not, could it be false? Why don't you analyze the situation for me?"
"No... What your subordinate means is... we should chase after them as quickly as possible," that Supreme Martial Artist replied.
"What's the hurry? Since we have determined their route taken, it would be almost impossible for them to escape from us! Everything is within my control!" The Seventh Elder stroked his beard and continued confidently, "Now, listen to my command!"
"You! Send a signal to those in front immediately. Tell them that our enemies are on Route 3! Inform those at the third gate to gather at the third gate of Route 3."
"You! Contact our people from both sides to move over and surround this place!"
"You! Bring people to follow on from the back and comb through both sides of the forest carefully. Ensure that no enemies are hiding inside, especially areas distinctly around yourselves. Otherwise, that would be terrible!"
"All the remaining people, follow me and give chase at full speed! Let's move out!"
"Seventh Elder is really wise and brilliant, your ability to predict the unknown is really above us all!"
...
A continuous stream of loud howling sounded off from that side. The people dressed in white came over from all directions and gathered over there... The murderous intentions were bursting into the skies!
Chu Yang and the others started to change the way they moved when they heard the loud howling. They stuck to the side of the road and closely against the ground as they moved. Nine of them were dressed in white robes, wearing white hats. Against the snow-white ground, it was really a good camouflage that even those staring directly would find it hard to spot them. Needless to say, it was even more difficult for those flying past in the skies...
Ahead, it was full of people gathering at the third gate.
With a few shuffling sounds, the people dressed in white and the people gathered at the third gate stood up and went ahead to reinforce the Seventh Elder.
With the stern command from the Seventh Elder, who dared to neglect it? Naturally, they would all be gone on the command...
The moment they stepped out, Chu Yang and the rest flew over, like a change in defense just nice filling up the void...
Thereafter, it was a direct path forward, without any resistance.