Chapter 154: To Stay or to Leave When Enemies Are Present
Ji Mingran quickly mounted the white tiger. "What happened? Where are Ya Dongbai and the others?"
The Liuhuan Valley disciple said anxiously, "That Hehuan Sect cultivator was seriously injured while trying to buy us time. Senior Brother Ya and the others are on their way here while keeping him alive. He asked me to come find you quickly and tell you. Also, where are the pills we gave you?"
His eyes searched Ji Mingran's robes anxiously, trying to find traces of pills on her: "We were ambushed by demonic cultivators and have run out of pills. Give us back the pills we gave you earlier quickly, we need to use them to continue keeping that Hehuan Sect cultivator alive."
“It’s not on me, we need to find them,” Ji Mingran said.
The disciples of Liuhuan Valley then realized that only Ji Mingran was nearby, and exclaimed in panic, "Where are they? Where am I supposed to look for them?"
“I don’t know,” Ji Mingran said calmly. “Everyone went off to dismantle the formation. I was supposed to wait for them here, and they would come back when they finished. But they’ve gone further and further away, and I don’t know where they are.”
"We don't know?! Wait for them to come back? How can we possibly catch up!" The Liuhuan Valley disciple was anxious, his voice rising with resentment: "The Eastern Chu coast is vast, and you scattered without leaving any way to pinpoint their locations! How are we supposed to find them in such a short time?"
"Quiet down." Ji Mingran rode his white tiger to the side of the Liuhuan Valley disciples.
A soft light emanated from beneath the feet of the two white tigers, spreading rapidly and gracefully upwards.
This was a sign that the formation was about to be activated, and the disciples of Liuhuan Valley immediately fell silent upon seeing this.
As the noise subsided, Ji Mingran closed his eyes and focused his mind.
The array cultivators are scattered in various places. Although they did not leave behind any means of communication, it does not mean that Ji Mingran cannot find them.
When a formation cultivator deconstructs a formation, it inevitably causes changes in the formation's power. Wherever there are changes in formation power, that's where the formation cultivator is.
People can be located by sensing changes in the array's energy.
This area is vast and the formations are complex. She must concentrate highly to distinguish the direction of the spiritual energy scattered across this land.
At that moment, a gentle night breeze swept across the meadow, causing the grass blades to rustle and bow their heads. The two white tigers, their auras low, anxiously pawed at the ground, sensing impending danger. The Liuhuan Valley disciple standing nearby tried to minimize his presence, but his overwhelming panic made his heart pound like thunder, the thumping sound assaulting his eardrums.
All kinds of sounds are disturbances.
Eliminate distractions. Ji Mingran repeatedly told himself this and mobilized his spiritual awareness. Gradually, the surging blue waves in his sea of consciousness rose and fell rhythmically, and his spiritual awareness also gently drifted along with them.
The noisy sounds faded into the distance, and in an instant, her primordial spirit seemed to be immersed in a world that belonged only to her.
A tiny fluctuation of array power, mixed with spiritual energy, touched the spiritual consciousness.
Ji Mingran opened his eyes.
Found it.
The radiance blooming at our feet was instantly completely enveloped.
The next second, the leading cultivator stared at them in disbelief: "This, this... teleportation array? Fellow Daoist Ji, your teleportation array is really impressive. Would it be convenient to exchange sparring later? Oh, Fellow Daoist Ji, speaking of which, how did you know I was here?"
“I was searching for someone by following the changes in the array’s power, and I didn’t expect it to be you. That’s perfect, now that I’ve found you, I don’t need to look for anyone else. Call them over.” Ji Mingran rode out on his white tiger.
"Fellow Daoist Ji, you're not joking with me, are you?" the leading array cultivator stammered. "There are hundreds, even thousands, of arrays here, and the array power of each one is constantly changing. How can you distinguish them?"
Ji Mingran shared his experience: "Observe carefully."
"Observe carefully, observe carefully... How is this possible?" The lead cultivator muttered to himself as he quickly took two steps closer to the remaining formation. His eyes lit up immediately: "But this formation, this formation..."
"What time is it! Still studying some kind of formation!" A disciple of Liuhuan Valley rode a white tiger over his head, loudly interrupting him before he could finish speaking.
The leading cultivator paused for a moment, seemingly realizing he had forgotten something. After thinking for a moment, he said absentmindedly, "Isn't this a fellow Daoist from Liuhuan Valley? Why did you two come together?"
Ji Mingran pointed at the disciples of Liuhuan Valley and said directly, "Liuhuan Valley encountered demonic cultivators. The Hehuan cultivators were injured, and they said they need to retrieve the pills to treat the wounded."
"What? What exactly happened?" The leading array cultivator snapped out of his array-enhancing mode and, without a word, took out a mustard seed bag and tossed it to the Liuhuan Valley disciples. "There are still plenty of pills left inside. See if this is enough, and quickly take it to them."
He asked again, "What exactly is going on? How could demonic cultivators appear here? Why would they come here?"
While the leading cultivator was shocked and pressing for answers, he didn't forget to take out his communication jade tablet and send a message: "Hurry over here, something terrible has happened!"
While the leading cultivator was transmitting his message, Ji Mingran turned to the disciples of Liuhuan Valley and asked them about another matter: "Logically speaking, you shouldn't lack pills. Why are they suddenly so scarce?" The disciples of Liuhuan Valley are all skilled in medicine making, and with Ya Dongbai here, they can easily refine pills at any time. Why go to the trouble of specifically asking them for more?
“Senior Brother Dongbai was attacked just now, which damaged his spiritual consciousness, making it impossible for him to refine high-level pills immediately.” The Liuhuan Valley disciple frowned and kept looking back: “All the offensive and hallucinogenic pills have been thrown out, and the buff pills have also been taken. They should arrive soon. Be prepared, and evacuate immediately if you see them.”
Several white tigers rushed over one by one, and the cultivators from the array formation and the Zhu and Chen families had all gathered.
"What happened?" they asked.
The leader of the group repeated what Ji Mingran had told him: "The demonic cultivators are coming from this side. We need to think of a way quickly."
Liu Huan Gu was so anxious he wanted to drag the white tiger along and run: "What kind of plan is this! Do you know how many demonic cultivators we've encountered? As far as the eye can see, there's no end to them! We should run as fast as we can until Senior Brother Dong Bai catches up!"
The leader of the formation grabbed him and said seriously, "How can we desert in the face of battle? The protective formation has not been reinforced yet. If we leave like this, once the protective formation is breached, the rest of us will be in a very passive position."
The disciples of Liuhuan Valley shouted, "What kind of encirclement and suppression operation is this? This is clearly a demonic cultivator's encirclement and suppression of us! We must hurry back and tell the elders so that they can take precautions!"
"If you want to leave, then leave. We just need a little more time to succeed," the array cultivator who had been complaining earlier said. "The more demonic cultivators there are, the more protective arrays we need. You're only regretting it now? Why didn't you send more array cultivators to the Desolate Continent in the first place! I will never do something like leaving after only half of the deconstruction!"
The leader of the formation echoed, "Even if we can't reinforce the formation in time, we should set up two more maze formations to hold them off for as long as possible."
"So just because you two say you're staying, everyone else has to stay with you? Why don't you ask the others? Do you think everyone has to listen to you?!" The Liuhuan Valley disciple was furious and looked at the others present, trying to pull people to join him.
One by one, the silent array cultivators came to the leader's side and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.
The attitude is expressed silently.
"You, you guys! You're a bunch of stubborn mules!" The Liuhuan Valley disciple turned to the Chen and Zhu family disciples who were following the array cultivators and asked nervously, "What about you? Are you going to die with them?" It didn't matter if the array cultivators didn't leave, but the magic cultivators had to escort them back!
The disciples from the Shen and Zhu families hesitated: "Our mission this time is to reinforce the formation. If we desert during the battle..."
A disciple from Liuhuan Valley interrupted, "What kind of desertion is this? How could a few of us possibly stop the demonic army! We should send the message back and rejoin the demon-slaying team to contribute our remaining strength. It's better than dying here in vain!"
What Liu Huan Gu said made sense, and the disciples of the Shen and Zhu families were moved: "Yes, what you said makes sense."
The cultivator complained, "Hey! Don't forget, our mission this time is to protect us, not Liuhuan Valley!"
The disciples of the Shen and Zhu families looked at each other in bewilderment.
Amid the noise, the group reached a stalemate.
Unable to reach a stalemate, the disciples of Liuhuan Valley angrily said, "The leader said to retreat, but you won't. I've already conveyed my message and tried to persuade you. If you want to die, don't blame Liuhuan Valley!"
The disciples of the Shen and Zhu families seemed to be persuaded and urged the leading array cultivator: "Our team leader is, after all, Dongbai of Liuhuan Valley. Since he has spoken, we should retreat. The array here is still operational and can hold on. Why don't you go back and set up the array for the county city? We can defend as many cities as we can."
The group chatted amongst themselves, but the formation master remained silent, creating a tense atmosphere.
Ji Mingran sat reclining on the white tiger, looking around like an outsider. Gradually, his wandering gaze fell on the edge of the plain, as if he were lost in thought.
The disciple from Liuhuan Valley turned his head angrily and said irritably, "What are you staring at?"
Ji Mingran gazed into the distance without turning around, and said, "I'm thinking."
The leading cultivator realized that he had been so caught up in the moment that he had forgotten about this fellow Daoist, and hurriedly asked her, "Fellow Daoist Ji, what is your opinion?"
Ji Mingran asked, "Did you see that?"
"Huh?" The others were taken aback.
"Over there." Ji Mingran gestured, and everyone looked in that direction.
The boundary between the plain and the horizon extends to both sides with the terrain, forming a long, thin line with uneven terrain.
Before the horizon, a small group of light-colored figures rushed towards them.
It was the disciples of Liuhuan Valley who were riding a white tiger and galloping wildly towards them.
"They're here," someone shouted, their voice trembling.
In the field of vision, the skyline behind the disciples of Liuhuan Valley surged and undulated like waves, becoming thicker and thicker.
Upon closer inspection, what appears to form long, thin lines is not the horizon, but rather a series of dark figures rapidly approaching. The sheer number and density of these figures, when viewed from afar, resemble a surging cloud of ink.
"Demons, demonic cultivators!" The leader of the cultivators gasped, "How can there be so many... Are they all eyeing this place?"
The disciples of Liuhuan Valley said, "I told you, but you still didn't believe me!"
Even the disciples of the Chen and Zhu families panicked: "They are accelerating. If they keep up with us, the White Tiger won't be able to hold us back. Even if we run now, we will be caught up sooner or later."
The leading cultivator said, "The formation here can hold them off for a while longer. The situation is urgent, so we must solidify the formation. Once the cultivators from Liuhuan Valley enter the formation ahead, I will set up another protective formation to hold them off for a bit longer. We should take this opportunity to dismantle the formation as soon as possible and solidify it quickly."
The other array cultivators replied, "Understood, we'll go now."
The disciples of Liuhuan Valley shouted, "Are you all out of your minds?! I'm leaving now!"
The leading array cultivator turned his head and asked again, "Fellow Daoist Ji, what about you? We're both array cultivators, do you want to stay or go?"
Ji Mingran stared silently, his brows slowly furrowing.
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