33. Lurked
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At the same time, at Xu Weiyan's camp, a disciple suddenly shrieked and stood up, his limbs moving stiffly. His sword appeared in his hand and he suddenly lunged at another disciple.
Fortunately, the disciple blocked the attack. "Oy! What are you doing?!" The disciple snapped at him.
"I- can't- control- my body!" He said, eyes wide in fear.
There was another shriek, and then another.
Before long, the disciples were suddenly fighting off several of their comrades.
As one disciple approached her, she instantly recognized the signs. "They've been possessed!"
She had seen this on Caoyang, in the Shadow Abyss- the level on the mountain before the Lava Sea.
In the shadow abyss, evil spirits and tricky ghosts abounded, all with the sole aim of killing everything around them, and Weiyan had narrowly avoided one who possessed the other cultivators, making them kill each other.
A disciple shot an attack at her, snapping her back to the present.
"Try not to hurt them!" She ordered and moved quickly between them, hitting a few acu-points and rendering the possessed disciples immobile.
There were eight in all and she crouched to examine one, taking his pulse. A dark aura flowed through him.
"This is the work of a Level Nine evil spirit!" She declared, drawing her hand away quickly, as the dark aura nearly attacked.
"Level Nine!" The disciples began muttering.
"Impossible!"
Weiyan straightened and instantly shot a bright red flare into the sky, then she cast a few hand seals and directed her aura at the possessed disciples.
"We're ending this mission here! Who has weightless talismans?" She asked, and a few disciples brought out theirs.
The talismans were activated on the possessed disciples, making them light enough for a person to carry two at once.
"I've sealed the aura within them, and reinforced the technique, so they won't be able to move for two day. One disciple carries two possessed. Zhou Yun." She turned to an older disciple. You'll lead the way back, and someone else watches the rear."
Zhou Yun nodded, and she continued.
"The rest of us will stay and look for Zhang Cheng..."
Zhang Cheng might be an idiot, but he was still one of them!
"Go now!" Weiyan ordered.
The disciples nodded and began to move...
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Meanwhile, back at Haoyuan's camp, the disciples had seen their scouts' signal, but before they could react, a few beasts were already upon them.
"That's a level five earth boar!" Someone pointed at a large green boar with gleaming tusks.
"Weren't we on a level three mission?!"
But the boar was the least of their problems.
Behind the boar was an even bigger sabre toothed tiger, it's blue fur shining and rippling in the firelight, and as they watched, three more sabre tooths stalked into the clearing.
All level five!
Even running away was impossible at this point, and Xu Haoyuan ran a quick mental calculation. There were six in their group who could fight a level five. Two were the scouts who hadn't returned, but that still left four.
There were exactly four Sabre tooths, and just one level four boar... It wouldn't be difficult.
"Formation Three!" Xu Haoyuan barked, and the disciples snapped out of their shock.
Blades and weapons appeared from soft to roaring hums, as disciples jumped into a circular formation in the middle, backing each other.
"Xu Min! Xu Lien! Tao Yun! We're facing the Sabre tooths!" Xu Haoyuan shouted, raising his sword, "The rest, assist and face the boar!"
And as the level four grass boar let out a deafening snort and barreled forward, Haoyuan pointed his sword at it.
"Attack!"
A disciple leapt into the boar's path, his blade flashing.
"Earth Splitting Slash!"
His sword struck downward, sending a jagged shockwave through the dirt. The ground cracked, and the force slammed into the boar's legs, slowing its charge.
Another disciple followed up.
"Blazing Fang!"
A fiery arc sliced through the air, striking the boar's flank. It squealed, but its thick hide withstood the worst of the flames. Snarling, it kicked up clumps of dirt and lunged again...
The other disciples had jumped into action as well.
Xu Lien, a pretty Xu Clan disciple, was Xu Wen's twin, and she was battling one of the sabre tooths. She spun in magnificent swirls, directing her fans at it, and evading its attacks, while two lower level disciples were using their own techniques to slow it down and confuse it.
At other places, Xu Haoyuan, Xu min, and Tao Yun were fighting off the other three sabre tooths, accompanied by a few other disciples, and with the rest facing the boar, it wasn't long before they managed to defeat the beasts...
Most of the disciples howled in victory and relief. The rewards from these beasts were of a higher level, and Xu Haoyuan held onto the cores, deciding they'd be shared when they had defeated more beasts, so there would be no fighting.
But Xu Min remained by the body of his defeated Sabre tooth, and he stared into the darkness...
Who was to say there weren't more of them?
It might be easy enough to defeat maybe ten level five beasts, but what if twenty showed up?!
And what if more powerful ones appeared?!
He turned his back, but froze when he felt a chilling presence.
In the darkness, the giant Level Six serpent had found the camp, and it silently lunged at Xu Min with blinding speed...
But before it could reach him, a sudden ray of blue light shot right through its head, and it collapsed, disintegrating before it hit the ground. Its large red core vanished into the trees.
Xu Min, who had frozen, suddenly swivelled, but saw nothing.
'What was that presence?!' He wondered. 'Did I imagine it?!'
Imagine or not, he couldn't shake the feeling that danger lurked in the darkness, and his hairs stood when he heard a rustle!
But a familiar figure approached, and he sagged with relief.
"Zhang Yin, You're back! I was worried when I didn't see you!"
"Ah, I went looking for a few herbs for the Divine Light Tiger!" Luoyin explained.
It didn't ring true, as someone with no spirit power would not go off on their own at night, but Xu Min assumed Luoyin had gotten scared and ran to hide!
So he merely nodded at the excuse, as Luoyin moved past him, heading straight for the rest.
Meanwhile, the other disciples had been excitedly discussing how many more level five's they could kill, and what formations might be best...
But a sudden red flare shot into the sky, dispersing into tiny particles.
They turned to see Luoyin with the flare.
"2nd Disciple Zhang, what is the meaning of this?!" Xu Haoyuan demanded.
Luoyin raised an eyebrow. "I'll commend you for keeping a level head and leading everyone to defeat these creatures, but we have bigger problems... The approaching wave of beasts are too powerful." He finished.
His words hung in silence for a few seconds before the disciples descended on him.
"Look who its is! Zhang Luoyin, why didn't we see you during the fight?"
"Hmph! Ran from danger and is now here spewing rubbish!"
"Your *face is thicker than the trees here!"
(*To be thick-skinned= Shameless)
"No one will think you're mute, if you keep silent!"
"Aren't you just jealous that we're getting high level cores?!"
Luoyin smirked. "Ho? Be careful, lest you become hunted, while hunting... Don't be the stupid *Mantis."
(*螳螂捕蝉，黄雀在后 - The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind- Meaning while someone is focused on their prey or goal, they may not notice a greater threat behind them.)
"You -!"
"Enough!" Xu Min wasn't exactly sure about Luoyin's words, but he remembered the aura he just felt, and he stepped forward.
"Zhang Yin's words hold logic... All this while, we've only encountered low-level beasts, but we suddenly met Level Fives... Who is to say stronger ones aren't lurking?"
The disciples began to mutter.
"Also, did you all forget the Divine Light Tiger so soon?! Zhang Yin clearly knows more about beasts than we do, and that is most likely why Sect Leader Xu sent him with us.
"Won't it be smart to listen to him?!"
Xu Haoyuan raised a brow at Luoyin. "2nd Disciple Zhang, are you sure about this?"
Luoyin thought of how to put it, as he didn't know the Mortal Beast ranks. If these dead beasts were considered level five, then...
He turned to give Xu Haoyuan a square look. "There are more than thirty beasts heading here." He quickly calculated. "Only five are beneath Level Six."
There was silence again, as they slowly digested the weight of his words...
If he was right, they couldn't possibly win!
"It's not possible! It's simply impossible!" Xu Haoyuan protested. "Father would not have sent us!"
Luoyin sighed. "You're wasting time. I have no love for the disciples of this sect, so I was tempted to quietly drag only Xu Min away." He stated with a shrug. "However, I'm allergic to watching children die, and the one who will suffer the most is Sect Leader Xu."
He turned towards the east. "Fifteen minutes is all you have, before those monsters enter the detection range... After that, it will be a hunt, not an escape, and you will be the prey.
"I can find safe routes back to Yue City. Xu Min. Will you come with me?"
"Umh." Xu Min stood behind him. "If I were you all, I would follow as well." He turned to Xu Haoyuan. "You're the Head Disciple! Will you leave them in danger?!"
Xu Haoyuan was locked in an internal battle.
On one hand was the glory which would accompany a completed mission, especially with all the beast cores they could get. There was also the shame which would follow, if he listened to Luoyin and cut the mission short for nothing!
But on the other hand...
Xu Min's words rang in his head. If Luoyin was right, wouldn't he be foolish for leading the disciples into danger?!
Luoyin could read Xu Haoyuan's internal conflict, but just when Xu Haoyuan was beginning to waver, Luoyin sensed an arc of violent energy headed straight for him!
This was a problem... He could certainly block it, but that might reveal his abilities.
'What do I do?! Will I reveal myself here?!!'
But as the attack drew closer, he pretended to drop the flare, and he took a step forward, just as the attack hit, it's force nearly sending everyone flying.
"Who's there?!" The disciples jumped into action, while Luoyin flung himself into a tree, pretending the force did it!
'This disgusting aura belongs to Zhang Cheng!' He concluded as he peeled himself off the tree and hurried to huddle behind Xu Min.
Zhang Cheng suddenly appeared, standing atop a high branch.
He grinned down coldly at Luoyin.
'Little Brother, you can't escape today!'
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