"You will have to chip in for sure. Do not expect to get a free lunch," Amon answered. "Can you gather more cultivators in this village who you are certain won’t rat us out to save their own?"
"In the past, I would say almost every cultivator in this village. Now, I can only vouch for the three of us here," Yang Jun answered.
"Very well. We will work with what we have," Amon said.
"What can we do?" Yang Su asked. "We will just be disabled by the curse once we act. We can’t do anything to help."
"You can serve as distractions," Amon replied.
"Distractions?" Leng Ku asked.
"Baits," Amon clarified.
"That actually sounds worse," Leng Ku said.
"What do you need us to do?" Yang Jun asked.
Leng Ku and Yang Su turned to him with surprised expressions. He told them, "I have had it with this situation. I don’t care if I die in the process as long as I can get everyone out of this shit I caused."
"You can’t blame everything on yourself," Leng Ku said. "We are equally at fault. We were there when the thing with Yon Pa happened."
"I was among those who led the mob," Yang Jun said. "I was so scared when Yon Niang had the Pledge Demon execute the villagers who directly had a hand in her husband’s murder. I was so sure she would choose me. Now, I wish she had..."
"Are you done with your self-guilt?" Amon scoffed. "If you are, I will tell you how to redeem yourself. Perhaps you will get what you want by getting killed in the process."
Yang Jun held Yang Su, who was angered by Amon’s scorning. He asked Amon again, "What do you need us to do?"
"I need more information. This time, it’s about Yon Niang," Amon said. "I believe she came out of her house from time to time. Does she have a routine schedule? Or is it random?"
The three thought about the question. Leng Ku said, "She always takes Yon Yu on a walk in the neighborhood around sunrise."
"She does this every day?" Amon asked.
The three looked at one another. Yang Su said, "Most of the time, I think. It’s not like we watch over them every day, but I think it is safe to say we always saw the two walked in the morning if we happened to be in the neighborhood."
"Do you want to take her when she is outside her house?" Yang Jun asked.
"It is better to have our target come to us rather than we go to her. We can choose our terrain instead of playing in the opponent’s field," Amon answered.
Amon pulled a paper out of his space ring. When he laid the paper on the floor, the others saw that it was a hand-drawn map of Grimwich village. They were impressed by the details on the map. Amon drew this map last night from his memory after touring the village during the day.
"Can you show me on this map the route Yon Niang used to take in the morning?" Amon asked.
"Well, like I said. It’s not like we stalk her, so we can’t say for sure," Leng Ku said.
"Just show me where you saw her the most," Amon said.
The three villagers discussed among themselves as they shared their recollections about Yon Niang’s morning walk. After some time, several markings were added to the map. The markings were rather messy, in contrast to Amon’s neat drawing. Amon didn’t care. He was not making a work of art. The map’s purpose was to analyze the available information.
Amon studied the markings on the map while imagining from his memory the actual landscapes around the marked locations.
After a while, he said to everyone, "Okay, this is what we will do..."
Yon Niang only came out for a walk in the morning, so they had to wait at least until the next day before they could make their move. It was not guaranteed that Yon Niang would do the walk every morning. If she didn’t, they had to again wait another day.
Amon and Tuang Yin were hiding at one of the marked locations, while Yang Jun and the others stood nearby in the open. They were to let Amon and Tuang Yin know when Yon Niang showed herself.
Amon chose this place among the other marked locations because it was a small park. The park gave them a wide space to move around. The Pledge Demon could teleport. This ability made it not restricted to terrains, so choosing a terrain with minimum obstacles reduced the Pledge Demon’s advantage to the minimum.
Furthermore, with an open space, there were fewer things Yon Niang could use to hide. They planned to have Amon and Tuang Yin deliver a fatal attack from opposite sides simultaneously. Even if the Pledge Demon could teleport back to Yon Niang in an instant, it could only block an attack from one side.
Everything was down to execution. They had only one chance to pull this off, so they had to make it count.
Yang Jun, Leng Ku, and Yang Su stood at three different sides of the park. They were leaning on the walls of nearby buildings and acted like they were enjoying leisure time. They appeared lazy but were vigilantly watching the different roads coming to the park. If Yon Niang came today, they wouldn’t miss her.
The sun had risen an hour ago. Yon Niang was nowhere to be seen. They started to think perhaps Yon Niang decided to stay home today when Yang Su saw the pair of mother and daughter walking down the street.
"Yang Jun! Want to go check out Granny Sun’s sweets?" Yang Su called loudly.
Granny Sun was an old woman who sold sweets in the village. She was among the few in this village unaffected by the pledge because she was too old to join the mob that killed Yon Pa. She was oblivious to the predicament that had befallen the village. Yang Su didn’t truly want to go buy Granny Sun’s sweets. This was their code to let everybody know that their target had shown up.
Yon Niang was holding Yon Yu’s hand as they walked.
"Ma’am," Yang Su greeted with a bow.
Yon Niang simply flashed him a cold glance. Yang Su remembered when this family first arrived, Yon Niang was extremely gentle and friendly. Now, she was a completely different person. He couldn’t blame her, though, considering what they had done.
"Yang Jun," Yon Niang called when she arrived at the park. She let go of her daughter. The little girl ran inside the park and started playing.
"Yes, ma’am," Yang Jun came to her.
"How are the outsiders? Are they still here?" She asked.
"They are, but there is no need for you to worry. From the look of it, they will be leaving soon."
"No worry? Do you know that four intruders came into my house yesterday? They made a mess of my place. I had to call several people to clean my place up, and it took them the whole day to do it. I also call people to find you, but you are nowhere. Where were you? As someone in charge of this village’s security, how could you let this happen?"
"I’m sorry, ma’am. I was rather sick yesterday," Yang Jun made an excuse.
"Really? The people I sent to find you went to your house, and they didn’t find you there," Yon Niang said.
"I was at Leng Ku’s place when I felt unwell, so I stayed there," Yang Jun explained.
"That is true, ma’am," Leng Ku came and reinforced Yang Jun’s statement. "I have to take care of him the entire day."
"Hmph," Yon Niang harrumphed. "Make sure the outsiders leave by the end of this week. Rough them up, if you must. Just make it happen."
"As you wish, ma’am," Yang Jun bowed. He then said, "By the way, would you like to have some tea?"
Yang Jun pointed at a garden table in one corner of the park. On the table were cups, a teapot, and a plate with a cake.
"A little early to be enjoying yourself, aren’t you?" Yon Niang said. Her tone sounded condescending. "There are still so many problems that need attending to. I’m starting to think the security of this village is not your priority."
"Forgive me, ma’am. I’m just under too much stress lately," Yang Jun explained.
"I don’t care about your stress. You pledged your life to me and my daughter, remember? You no longer have the right to enjoy anything. You are mine. You do what I said. Everything you do is for the benefit of me and my daughter. If you can’t accept that, if you are not happy with your current life, I can help you forfeit that life. Is that what you want?"
"No, ma’am. Forgive me. Your wish is my command. I’ll go deal with the outsiders right away. Leng Ku, Yang Su, let’s go!"