Just as Li Yan was about to release his Divine Sense to observe the surroundings, Hua Siwang finally entered the plaza. Li Yan turned his head to look and saw that the entire team of over one hundred and fifty people had all entered in this short period of time.
Then, Hua Siwang quickly came to the front of them and walked towards the inner plaza. Li Yan and the others quickly formed a line again and followed.
However, Li Yan had already found the time to quietly release his Divine Sense.
First, he confirmed that Hua Siwang was indeed leading their group towards the back of one of the queues.
Second, Li Yan's Divine Sense then quickly passed over the crowd and probed towards the foot of the mountain at the far end of the plaza.
Just a moment later, joy filled Li Yan's heart, but his face remained expressionless, not letting anyone see any fluctuation in his emotions.
It seemed he had bet right this time. The first time he saw the paths in the plaza extending towards four different mountain peaks, he had already guessed that this should be an assembly point for the Four Great Sects.
Now, Li Yan was certain. After all the cultivators arrived here, they would be directed to their respective jurisdictions based on the identity of their Conscription Emissary. At the foot of the mountain ahead, cultivators from the Four Great Sects were registering the information of the cultivators. Only then would they be allowed to proceed up the mountain, team by team. The four mountain peaks represented the four different jurisdictions of the Four Great Sects.
The reason Li Yan could be so sure was that in front of the four mountain paths at the foot of the mountain, there were ten registration cultivators for each path, a total of forty cultivators.
These forty cultivators were respectively dressed in the unique sect attire of the Four Great Sects. Among them were the dark green robes that Li Yan was most familiar with. At the foot of that mountain, the cuffs of all ten were embroidered with a pair of tightly embracing, slender Gu-insects. They were disciples of Never-Parting Peak.
The cultivation of these forty cultivators was not very high; they were all at the Foundation Establishment stage, with the highest being at the Pseudo-Core realm.
However, it was most appropriate for Foundation Establishment cultivators to handle such registration matters here. The lowest cultivation level of those who could fight against the Demon Clan this time was also at the Foundation Establishment stage.
Therefore, there was not a single Qi Condensation stage cultivator here. How could those Golden Core Martial Uncles and Martial Aunts do such menial tasks?
And among the ten disciples of Never-Parting Peak, Li Yan recognized two of them. One was Zhu Gaotai. At this time, Zhu Gaotai was already at the peak of the initial-stage Foundation Establishment. Li Yan looked closely and saw that Zhu Gaotai's aura was quite solid. He was only half a step away from breaking through to the mid-stage Foundation Establishment.
Of course, with Zhu Gaotai's Divine Sense, it was impossible for him to discover Li Yan's probing.
It had only been a little over two years, and not only had Zhu Gaotai successfully established his foundation, but he had also made rapid progress. It was clear that his cultivation aptitude was quite excellent.
The other person Li Yan was familiar with, he had only heard Li Changting call him "Junior Brother Xia." This person had also entered the secret realm together with them back then. It was just that at that time, he was already at the late-stage Foundation Establishment, and now he was impressively at the Pseudo-Core realm.
The reason Li Yan recognized him was that this person often followed behind Li Changting, taking his lead in everything. He seemed to be the third or fourth senior brother of Li Changting's generation on Never-Parting Peak. Li Yan had seen him a few times.
As for the other eight, Li Yan saw that one or two of them looked familiar, but he couldn't recall their names. He thought he might have met them before.
When Li Yan was in the sect, he rarely left Little Bamboo Peak. At most, he would go to Lord Lao Peak more often. He basically never set foot on the other three peaks, so the number of disciples he knew was limited.
Incidentally, Li Yan's Divine Sense also swept past the disciples of the other three sects at the foot of the mountain. As expected, there were indeed a few among them who had entered the secret realm before. For a moment, he had a strong impression of them.
However, the few people Li Yan was most familiar with, such as Wang Lang and Qiu Jiuzhen, were not among them. He didn't know if they were at the foot of their respective mountain peaks at this assembly point, or if they were elsewhere.
At this moment, how could Li Yan's mind be on those people? Their group, led by Hua Siwang, had now reached the center of the plaza and was following the queue in front, slowly moving towards the mountain foot where the Jingtu Sect was registering.
Li Yan withdrew his Divine Sense. After a moment of contemplation, he did not immediately fly over to the Malevolent Spirit Sect's side.
Li Yan had always kept a low profile and disliked showing off. If he were to immediately walk to the other side now, not only would the people around him immediately notice him, but even Hua Siwang's rebuke would likely come immediately.
In that case, Li Yan would become the center of attention. This was not what he wanted to see. Having stayed in the Malevolent Spirit Sect for a long time, he liked the feeling of being hidden in the dark. So he had to find a way to get to the Male nanot Spirit Sect's side with as few people noticing as possible.
So for the time being, Li Yan continued to walk forward with the crowd. The direction where Zhu Gaotai and the others were was at the far right of the plaza, while the Jingtu Sect queue Li Yan was in was in the middle, the third massive queue from the right.
This meant that the cultivators of the Supreme Mystery Teachings were still between him and the Malevolent Spirit Sect's side. It was just that in this plaza, the Supreme Mystery Teachings' queue was the smallest, with only about sixty or seventy people.
But thinking about the current situation of the Supreme Mystery Teachings, with their own headquarters captured, it was estimated that a considerable part of their jurisdiction had also fallen into the hands of the Demon Clan. So the number of cultivators they could conscript was pitifully small.
If Li Yan was not mistaken, the Four Great Sects should have more than just this one assembly point. This should only be one of them. So under these circumstances, the number of Supreme Mystery Teachings cultivators seemed even smaller.
From Li Yan's position at the back of the queue, there was no one blocking his view of the Malevolent Spirit Sect's side. But to get close to Zhu Gaotai and the others, he still had to bypass the people from the Supreme Mystery Teachings.
At the four registration points at the foot of the mountain, the ten disciples from each of the Four Great Sects were quickly registering. With the means of cultivators, it was naturally incomparable to mortals.
Although there were many people in the plaza, they were moving forward at an extremely fast speed. Soon, Li Yan saw that his group had reached the front part of the plaza.
And at this time, the people from the Supreme Mystery Teachings, who were between the Malevolent Spirit Sect and the Jingtu Sect, had already finished registering, completely clearing out a space. Li Yan could now see Zhu Gaotai and the others without any obstruction.
Li Yan was already standing in the middle to back of the queue, and on the left side, not standing out at all. He seemed to inadvertently take a small step diagonally out of the queue.
In this kind of waiting, there were quite a few people who seemed to be daydreaming. Soon, the space Li Yan left was filled by the person behind him, and Li Yan had imperceptibly fallen a step behind.
Although his action did not attract the attention of others, it was still seen by the few people he had recently befriended. They couldn't help but cast questioning glances at him. This was unavoidable.
Li Yan smiled slightly and sent a voice transmission to them, "Fellow Daoists, I have met an old friend here. I will now inform Senior Hua. We will meet again."
After speaking, Li Yan still followed the queue, but his figure had moved a little further away from it. Then, his lips moved slightly, and he sent another voice transmission.
The square-faced cultivator surnamed Liang, as well as Deng Lingtian and a few others, were all stunned by Li Yan's nonsensical words.
Then, the slightly overweight cultivator surnamed Zhou exclaimed in a low voice, "Even if he has an acquaintance, he should wait until he understands the situation here before saying anything. He might anger Senior Hua by doing this."
As he spoke, his fat body couldn't help but take a few quick steps forward, obviously afraid of getting involved. There were a few others who did the same; they were all the cultivators who had been chatting happily with Li Yan a few days ago.
Only Deng Lingtian, after hearing Li Yan's words, had a brilliant light flowing in his eyes. After glancing at Li Yan, he did not rush forward, nor did he ask any more questions. He just lowered his head as if in thought.
At the very front, Hua Siwang looked at the queue in front, which had less than forty people left, and was considering.
'This mission was completed quite well. Not only did I complete the conscription mission for the fourteen sects assigned in the Jade Slip, but I also caught many rogue cultivators. This is considered exceeding the mission objective. The Jingtu Sect elders should give me a handsome reward for this.'
Looking at the other teams that had just arrived, the largest had no more than a hundred people, much smaller than his. He couldn't help but feel pleased with himself.
Just as he was thinking about how to claim credit after going up the mountain, a young voice suddenly came into his mind.
"Senior Hua, this junior is a disciple of the Malevolent Spirit Sect. I was on a mission from my master to the far north of the Jingtu Sect. Since my sect is here, this junior will not trouble you any longer. Thank you, Senior Hua, for your care along the way. This junior will definitely report Senior's kindness in bringing me here to my master."
The voice came abruptly, startling Hua Siwang, who was leisurely thinking about pleasant things. He didn't react for a moment, and even his expression became momentarily dazed.
He quickly looked in the direction of the voice, and what fell into his eyes was a youth in a green robe. At this time, he was walking at the edge of the queue, as if ready to leave at any time.
Hua Siwang was also a seasoned veteran. In a flash of lightning, his dazed expression returned to normal, and he did not immediately go to Li Yan. As his thoughts raced, he had already sorted out some things in a moment.
'This youth is a disciple of the Malevolent Spirit Sect. How did he get mixed up in my team? Now he sends a voice transmission, but does not leave immediately. It's obvious he doesn't want to attract the attention of others and wants to handle this matter in a low-key manner.'
As his mind raced, he quickly understood the meaning of Li Yan's actions. And only then did he suddenly remember the origin of this green-robed youth. For a moment, anger rose in his heart.
But thinking of the other party's identity now, it was an existence he absolutely could not afford to provoke. He figured the other party wouldn't dare to lie about this matter. Otherwise, without him having to do anything, the Malevolent Spirit Sect would punish this kid for the crime of impersonation.
The Four Great Sects had always dealt with the matter of people impersonating their disciples with extreme punishment, to serve as a warning to others.
Hua Siwang was angry now because he thought of that grey-robed elder. He was furious, 'Could that Li Hanqing have been talking nonsense? Didn't he say this person was his martial nephew?'
Hua Siwang quickly remembered the words that the cultivator surnamed Li had said to him near Dazzling Yellow Valley.
However, Hua Siwang quickly came to his senses. The Malevolent Spirit Sect was right next to them, and the other party still dared to say this so brazenly. So he would rather treat this matter as true.
His face was indifferent, and his voice was somewhat cold as he immediately sent a voice transmission back, "Little friend, you should know the consequences of telling such a lie. Let alone the Malevolent Spirit Sect not letting you go.
"If I find out you are joking with a Golden Core cultivator, I, Jiang, will definitely not spare you, even if I have to chase you to the heavens and the earth. (TN: Hua Siwang refers to himself as Jiang, an error from the source text. It should be Hua.)
"And what about 'Wuyouzi'? Don't tell me Li Hanqing didn't even know which sect your master belongs to?"
Seeing that the other party had responded almost without a pause, Li Yan secretly admired the reaction and composure of these old guys. He had been paying close attention to Hua Siwang while sending the voice transmission.
If the other party were a brute who would attack him without thinking in a fit of anger, he would naturally have to be prepared to flee far away.
Now that he was so close to the cultivators of the Malevolent Spirit Sect, Li Yan believed that with just one move, many people here would notice him, including Zhu Gaotai and the others. So, even if the other party used a great divine art to restrain him in an instant, his purpose would be achieved. However, the commotion would be great, which Li Yan did not want to see.
But fortunately, Hua Siwang was extremely shrewd. He had recovered his composure in an instant and could still maintain his calm and ask questions in return. This made Li Yan's heart instantly relax.