82. Yueyans Disciples
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After his 'fight' with Mo Zhen, Luoyin fought off an intense desire to head towards Xu Weiyan.
There were numerous masked cultivators facing the disciples, but with Yuan Jing, Luoyin was fairly certain they could handle the assailants, and then the seals would pull them towards the teleportation formation.
So Weiyan should be safe...
But there was no telling what dangers he had missed.
He was particularly worried about Mo Zhen's poison formation, because the poison base was a rare flower- one not found in the mortal realm.
So how had Mo Zhen gotten his hands on it?
Or who had created the formation?
Were there more traps like that hidden in the training grounds?
Luoyin simply wouldn't feel at ease till he set his eyes on Weiyan and ensured she was safe!
Still... Weiyan was the strongest amongst the rest, and Li San was still missing.
So gritting his teeth in annoyance, Luoyin brought out a tracking talisman and scribbled Li San's name on it.
"Yanyan, please be safe...!"
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Meanwhile, the disciples found themselves at different points of the hunting grounds, and almost at once, masked cultivators, all within the profound tier, arrived to attack.
Xu Weiyan found herself on a hilly plain, with a wide rushing river and a nearby bamboo forest.
It was truly beautiful, but...
'A-Yin!' Her only thought was of Luoyin and she instantly brought out a tracking talisman to track him.
Unfortunately, no tracking technique could work on Luoyin and Weiyan watched in dismay as the talisman instantly burst into flames, shrivelling into fine ash.
Mistaking it as a sure sign of peril, she spun around in panic, wondering what direction to head in, but soon found herself surrounded by a few masked men.
In no mood whatsoever, Weiyan's eyes narrowed and she was instantly surrounded by her white aura.
"Will you give way? Or must I move you?" She asked in a deceptively calm and even tone.
"Heh! A wild cat is expected to bite!" One said, swinging out an arm, and a spear appeared.
"Let's teach her a lesson!" Another said, wielding a sword, and they all rushed at her...
But in the next instant they were all sent flying at varying distances.
'Hmph.' Weiyan appeared in front of the closest one, ready to deal a devastating blow, but then she felt it - the mild pull of Luoyin's aura, and his seal from the second stage activated, spinning on the back of her hand.
'A-Yin!' She wasted no time and suddenly vanished, following the seal's guidance. 'Please be safe...!'
Xu Wen, Xu Lian, and Tao Yun had met with almost twenty masked cultivators, but surrounded by trees, Xu Wen had an endless source of wood, and with Xu Lian's shields and Tao Yun's arrows, the fight wasn't too difficult.
Soon, the masked attackers were locked within crystal clear barriers, decorating the landscape as the three headed for Luoyin's formation.
Xu Min found himself surrounded by six masked attackers, but they were all below his level, and he skillfully barreled through them, eventually following the pull of the seal.
Xu Lin and Xu Haoyuan were together, facing off their own attackers, which was lucky, as Xu Lin's seal activated soon after, and they could head for the formation together...
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A little later, anxious about Luoyin's safety, Xu Weiyan arrived at the formation first and began searching the area for Luoyin.
"Little Sister!" Xu Min called out after a while, and then hurried over to her, giving her a once-over.
"Elder Brother." Weiyan gave a small bow.
"Thank heavens you're okay!" Xu Min replied, gently patting her head. "Have you seen Zhang Yin?"
Weiyan simply shook her head, her eyes downcast...
"Er... Don't worry, don't worry!" He hastily assured her. "Knowing Zhang Yin, sh- shouldn't we be worried for the enemies?!"
But he didn't sound confident, as none of them were really clear about Luoyin's cultivation level...
They had seen what he could do against Zhang Cheng, but what if numerous powerful enemies attacked him at once?
This spurred them to search harder, widening the range and moving further and further away from the formation.
Soon, the others arrived in the area, each calling out a number of titles...
Weiyan, "A-Yin!"
Xu Min, "Zhang Yin!"
Xu Lian, "Yin Gege!"
Xu Wen, "Shixiong!"
Xu Lin, Tao Yun, and Xu Haoyuan, "2nd Disciple Zhang!"
Still, there was no sign of Luoyin, and their worry only increased after they found Mo Zhen's remains!
As disciples, most of them had seen more than a few grotesque sights on missions, especially those involving evil spirits, but none had seen anything like this, as by now, Mo Zhen seemed to be flattening into the ground.
Was this done by some ultra powerful evil spirit?!
Also, any tracking talisman with Luoyin's name on it simply burned into ashes, heightening their worry even more!
Where was Zhang Luoyin?!
But as they anxiously stared at Mo Zhen's worrying remains, the enemies arrived, and they were soon surrounded by hordes of the masked cultivators...
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At the same time, Luoyin still followed the tracking talisman towards Li San, unaware of what his 'tracking ban' was causing his friends.
Along the way, he ran into two waves of the masked cultivators, but with Weiyan and the other disciples on his mind, he didn't hesitate to swiftly knock them out, moving too fast for their eyes to follow.
Finally, he found Li San huddled somewhere near a stream.
"Yo!" Luoyin called out, which made Li San flinch, quickly ducking behind a tree.
"Ei?! Is this the same person who wanted to beat me at the Arena?!" Luoyin taunted, and recognizing his voice, Li San jumped out.
"Zhang Luoyin, you-!" Li San proudly folded his arms. "Heh! Where were you hiding till now?! You only showed up after the attackers left! Let me tell you, if they come back I'm not protecting you!"
"Aiya, the one hiding wants to protect me?" Luoyin shook his head and turned to leave. "Follow or stay here if you want. The others are waiting for us at a teleportation formation."
"T- Teleportation formation?" Li San raised a sceptical brow.
Teleportation talismans were expensive, but the Li family were quite prominent, and he was the only son, so naturally they had given him one for his safety.
However, the talisman didn't work at all! He had tried and tried, but it simply fell limp each time!
But Li San was quick to remind himself... Zhang Luoyin had said 'formation', not 'talisman', and more than that, it was most likely made by Zhang Luoyin himself!
Zhang Luoyin might be weak in cultivation, but even the Sect Leader and Elders had acknowledged his skill in creating seals, talismans, and formations!
"Wait!" Li San ran and grabbed Luoyin's sleeve. "Younger Brother! Why don't you lead the way to the formation, um?! I'll protect you on the way!"
'Ei?! What a swift about-face!' Luoyin snatched his sleeve away.
"Ehehe, Disciple Li," Luoyin pointedly addressed, "...isn't this too fast?! How can I afford such a title?!"
Li San waved him away. "It's nothing, it's nothing! Don't feel down about your cultivation! Every man has his strengths and weaknesses! Even those strong attackers were weak before me! I'll admit I was hiding from them, but they suddenly ran away once they spotted me!"
Luoyin resisted an urge to laugh. "Let's go!" He simply said, swivelling to leave, but then he suddenly froze. "Wait! What did you say about those attackers?"
"What...? Oh, they were looking for me and finally spotted me from a distance, but they left me alone and suddenly ran aw-!"
'Not good!' Luoyin had grabbed his wrist and Li San was suddenly pulled into the fastest 'Quick Step' technique he had ever seen!
Luoyin wasn't paying him any attention...
The cultivators Luoyin met, and even the ones fighting the other disciples, were decently strong.
They wouldn't be afraid of Li San, so if they suddenly left, they had likely received emergency orders calling them away.
Apprehension settled in Luoyin's stomach.
The arena trap was originally meant for him, and the enemies had specifically sent him to that region... Around the same spot where he had created the Formation, and he was just realizing that the two waves of cultivators he fought had been headed in that direction.
What if the enemies somehow sensed he was still alive, and were now sending hordes of attackers to that same region?!
'The others are in danger!' He concluded, pulling Li San over stream, forest and plain, rushing back to the formation site!
But when he activated his far-seeing technique, a surprising sight met his eyes, and an even more surprising sight awaited he and Li San when they finally arrived...
'E- Ei?' Luoyin landed with Li San, glancing around in surprise.
Li San instantly bent over, throwing up his delightful breakfast from that morning, while Luoyin marveled at the sheer number of dead, unconscious, or groaning cultivators littering the ground around!
"2nd Disciple Zhang is here!" Xu Lin called, yanking out his sword from one of the cultivators, and a bunch of relieved faces swivelled in Luoyin's direction.
"Zhang Yin!"
"Yin Gege!"
"Shixiong!"
They quickly dealt with the cultivators on their hands and ran over to a somewhat shocked Luoyin.
"Where have you been?!" Xu Min demanded, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Nimen-! You're okay!" Luoyin exclaimed in relief.
"Yin Gege! How could you vanish like that?!" Xu Lian complained
"Shixiong, we were fortunate!" Xu Wen informed, more excited than Luoyin had ever seen him. "I had one of the flag formations with me! It was incomplete, but it helped us take out more than half of them!"
It was one of the targeted formations Luoyin had been teaching Xu Wen to make, and Luoyin looked at them all with pride, including Xu Haoyuan who gave him a silent nod.
Luoyin had hoped they would be able to hold on till he arrived- maybe shield themselves when they got overwhelmed.
Instead, they had decimated the assailants completely!
But he couldn't help noting an absent face, and he glanced around to find Weiyan who had frozen a short distance away, her eyes a bit wet with relief.
"Yanyan!" He misunderstood her expression and instantly appeared before her. "What's wrong?! Are you hurt anywhere?!"
"I'm F-." Weiyan stopped herself from saying 'Fine', as Tong's words rang in her head:
"My Lady, perhaps you're also too strong... Men want to be heroes and rescue the distressed maiden!"
Weiyan quickly made her sword disappear. "A-Yin. You're finally here? I was so helpless and afraid." She said in a deadpan voice, making Luoyin lift an eyebrow.
'Ei? 'helpless', you said?!' He glanced around.
Littered on the floor around Weiyan were far too many groaning men and dead bodies, all still showing signs of her white flames!
He turned to Weiyan to see if she was joking, but her expression was dead serious!
Luoyin choked out a sharp laugh, but quickly straightened his features.
'How is she this cute?!' Was this still the straight-faced and serious Xu Weiyan?!
"Ahem! Yanyan... The person who taught you to say something like this, didn't teach you to hide the evidence?!"
There were light snickers around and Weiyan turned a mild shade of red, but she stepped forward and held Luoyin's sleeve, saying in the same deadpan voice,
"It- It was frightening. I was really too afraid."
All the other disciples had their mouths opened...
Was this still Yueyan Sect's 'White Swallow', also known as 'Swift feet', also known as 'Erudite Swordsman'?!
...and they all had one singular thought: 'Such Shameless Lies!!!'
But though Luoyin thought something similar, he dipped and lifted Weiyan into his arms, shocking her.
She suddenly found his face extremely close, and her ears reddened as her hands automatically went around his neck.
"Hao, hao, let's go!" Luoyin cheerfully said, his own ears reddening. "Let's leave this scary place!" And he leapt with her into the formation.
The disciples could only shake their heads.
'Afraid indeed!'
Weren't this pair the scariest things here...?!
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