Chapter 89 Ye Li, with her heroic bearing, leads her fellow disciples out of the encirclement

Just as Lu Ziting was about to grasp that fleeting memory, a faint sob was heard.

"Senior Brother! Help!"

In the distance, Su Ying'er was clinging tightly to a tree, her face pale with fright.

She was always frail, and despite her best efforts, she only managed to climb halfway up the tree. Even so, she continued to fall.

Seeing that he was about to fall into the sandworms, Lu Ziting immediately lost his mind and screamed his heart out.

"Ying'er!"

Despite his excited shouts, his legs remained rooted to the spot, completely still.

Clearly, the danger ahead made him hesitate.

The tree where Su Ying'er was standing was where the insect swarm was most concentrated. If Lu Ziting went there, it was uncertain whether he could come back.

Even if he loved Su Ying'er very much, he couldn't bring himself to risk his life and rush over to his death.

At this moment, time is life, and there is no room for pretense.

Ye Li directly exposed him, "If you want to save her, go now. If you're afraid of death, don't waste any more time, quickly take your disciples and escape."

The other disciples couldn't help but chime in, "Yeah, since Senior Brother Lu isn't going, let's run! Otherwise, when they come over, nobody will be able to escape."

"Yes, we'd better run."

"..."

Hearing their speculations about him, Lu Ziting's brows furrowed with anger. "Nonsense! How could I be afraid of death! To stand by and watch someone die is not the act of a gentleman!"

Ye Li had been waiting for him to say that, and she immediately replied, "Alright, Senior Brother Lu is such a gentleman, he surely wouldn't want us to die with you. Then let's split into two groups, Senior Brother Lu will go to rescue people, and we'll go to a safe place to wait for you."

"I……"

Ye Li's words choked Lu Ziting, and his words of inviting them to come along stuck in his throat, unable to come out or be swallowed.

"We are all from the same sect, how can you abandon our senior brother? Are you really that cruel?"

The speaker was Mo Hannian.

For some reason, his gaze towards Ye Li was not as deep as it had been during the day; instead, it was filled with undisguised hatred.

Ye Li had a vague feeling that something had happened that she didn't know about, but now was not the time to talk about it.

Having been silent enough, she retorted, "It's precisely because we're all from the same sect that I say this. Do you know that every second wasted diminishes everyone's chance of survival? Is it only your Lotus Sect's lives that matter, while ours don't?"

"You... cough cough cough..."

Mo Hannian coughed so hard he couldn't speak.

Ye Li gave them no time to react. She drew her sword. "The situation is urgent, we must break through immediately! We'll form a circle. Tu Xiu will build an earthen wall as a shield in the innermost circle, and Mu Xiu will repair the breaches made by the sand worms. If any sand worms get in, throw them back out. The rest of you will take turns on the outer earthen wall, using your sword energy to repel them. Remember, our only goal is to break through; there's no need for prolonged battles!"

Ye Li's voice was like a calming agent amidst the noise, instantly giving the panicked disciples a sense of direction and quieting them down.

"Alright! We'll listen to Junior Sister Jiang Li!"

"Let's fight our way out with Junior Sister Jiang Li!"

"..."

The disciples worked closely together and quickly formed a circle as Ye Li had instructed.

However, many of them were undergoing the trial for the first time, and they were inevitably afraid. They pushed and shoved each other, crowding together.

Ye Li knew that with life and death at stake, everyone was filled with fear, and what was needed most at this moment was to calm people down.

So she was the first to stand on the earthen wall, which was also the most dangerous position.

"Sand worms are not the real enemy; weakness is. We will surely leave safely today!"

After saying that, she raised her sword and forced back the sandworms that were trying to climb over the earthen wall. Her sword energy was like a rainbow, sweeping open a clearing.

Wen Yao watched Ye Li's retreating figure, his eyes welling up with tears.

The spirited Ah Li has finally returned.

He also arrived at the outermost edge, shouting, "Come on! Let's rush out together with Junior Sister Jiang Li!"

Infected by Ye Li's reckless spirit, the disciples' blood boiled, and they all displayed their unique skills, their shouts of battle echoing through the night sky.

However, there were simply too many sandworms, and as they moved forward, the encirclement became smaller and smaller.

Several hours passed, and the sky gradually brightened.

The disciples on the outermost edge swung their swords more and more slowly.

One of Ye Li's disciples nearly fell into the swarm of insects due to exhaustion. She used the back of her sword to support him and threw him into the encirclement.

As time passed, the sandworms grew denser and more numerous, stretching as far as the eye could see. Those squeezed in the middle were like small boats adrift on the tide, destined to be capsized sooner or later.

If this continues, even if they aren't trampled to death, they will die from exhaustion.

In fact, if they hadn't been able to see Ye Li's tall and straight back every time they looked up, they would have given up long ago.

Ye Li looked around and suddenly spotted a sand dune. It was high up and sparsely populated with sandworms.

She pointed her sword in that direction, "The sandworms are the fewest there, let's go there!"

At this moment, everyone had reached a tacit understanding and immediately changed direction, managing to break through the airtight encirclement.

The group scrambled and crawled over the sand dunes.

There were still a few sandworms rushing towards us, but thankfully we were out of danger.

At this moment, they were covered in filth, and their feet were covered in the slime of sandworm corpses. The inner and outer disciples sat together, panting heavily from exhaustion.

Ye Li was the last to come up. She looked down and silently breathed a sigh of relief, confirming that there was no immediate danger.

Wen Yao was equally exhausted, but he forced a smile and asked her, "You haven't been getting a turn, are you injured?"

A cold, chilling voice rang out, "She's been stealing the spotlight, how could anything have happened to her?"

Mo Hannian stared at Ye Li, his tone mocking, "Your senior brother and junior sister are in grave danger, and you're resting so comfortably? Now that you've had your moment in the spotlight, it's time to keep your promise and go rescue them."

His tone was matter-of-fact, even tinged with condemnation, as if she had committed a heinous crime by abandoning Lu Ziting and Su Ying'er.

Ye Li frowned, and before she could speak, Sang Sang beside her became angry.

"What do you mean by resting with a clear conscience! Xiaoli was at the forefront the whole time. We've all taken turns rotating her, but Xiaoli hasn't been rotated. She just caught her breath, and you're telling her to go back again? If you want to go back so badly, why don't you go back yourself!"

They were all survivors, their hearts still pounding with the shock of what had just happened. Unlike when they were inside the gate, they were all very polite and chimed in to help.

"Exactly! We all went through so much trouble to escape, going back now would be suicide."

"Yeah, I almost fell into the swarm of insects. If it weren't for Junior Sister Jiang Li, I would have been crushed to death by now. Oh right, Senior Brother Mo was right in the middle of the crowd, so he had no idea how dangerous it was outside."

"Yes, Senior Brother Mo has always been right in the middle."

"If you don't know, fine, but isn't it going too far to force Junior Sister Jiang Li?"

Mo Hannian hates it most when people say he's useless. At this moment, his face is ashen and his eyes are icy cold.

Despite his frail body, he forced himself to get up and went to Ye Li, who was sitting and resting.

Just as Ye Li thought he was about to get angry, he leaned down and spoke in a chilling tone.

"I see."