Rogue cultivators like Zhuo Lingfeng and Duan Weiran had extremely high life-preserving skills. Otherwise, how could they, without any support and all alone, have reached the Pseudo-Core realm? In this dog-eat-dog cultivation world, just being able to live for so long required certain skills. This couldn't be explained away by so-called luck.
Arranging for Sun Guoshu to scout ahead alone served two purposes. First, Li Yan wanted to test his own theory and confirm Sun Guoshu's true abilities to avoid misjudgments later in the mission. Second, Li Yan had participated in several missions with the Ninth Squad and greatly admired Yan Feijun's concealment techniques. But it was clear that as a scout, Yan Feijun was unqualified. When Yan Feijun cooperated with the other two scouts, he was too focused on his own concealment, lacking in speed and judgment. It often happened that the other two directions had already advanced a long distance while Yan Feijun was still observing from his original position. Of course, the primary condition for a scout is to hide oneself, which is correct, but he had taken it too far.
As for whether arranging for Sun Guoshu to be the scout today would expose the entire squad prematurely, Li Yan was not very worried. He possessed a powerful divine sense that no one else here could compare to. It was a divine sense comparable to that of a Golden Core cultivator. When he released his divine sense, the other four were completely unaware. He would be the first to discover any situation.
After receiving his orders, Sun Guoshu didn't delay. He flew forward and disappeared into the night in an instant.
This move, apart from Li Yan who was mentally prepared, only made the other three realize that Sun Guoshu was about to act, so they paid a little attention. But just as they sensed an extremely weak fluctuation of aura, Sun Guoshu's figure was gone from the front. This surprised all three of them, especially Yan Feijun. He had been a scout for a long time and knew what it meant to be able to disappear so quickly.
Then, the others also hurriedly followed. Each had a different form. Li Yan seemed not to be hiding at all, just gliding forward on the tips of the grass. Bai Rou was like a wisp of black smoke, almost blending into the surrounding night. Hu Xiaowang's body also flickered and became illusory. Yan Feijun was as elusive as a ghost in the night, making it impossible to see where he would appear next.
At the same time, all four released their divine senses. They deliberately focused on the front. Under the scan of their divine senses, although they still found Sun Guoshu's furtive figure about four li ahead, their expressions were varied.
Sun Guoshu's posture was actually very ugly, like a rat that couldn't see the light of day, hiding here and there. And his movement skill was not very brilliant. But there was a characteristic: every place he landed was the least likely to be discovered in the vicinity, and the fluctuation of his aura was constantly changing with each landing. Sometimes, he would even deliberately leak his aura, but then some small wild beasts with similar auras would poke their heads out. The auras were almost indistinguishable from these small wild beasts, as if they regarded Sun Guoshu as one of their own.
Seeing this with his divine sense, Li Yan couldn't help but smile inwardly. This Sun Guoshu indeed had some extraordinary life-preserving skills.
Among the other three, although Yan Feijun was disdainful, feeling that Sun Guoshu had no brilliant movement skills and was just using some small tricks, he still had to admit from the bottom of his heart that Sun Guoshu had some skills. This person was not as useless as he appeared on the surface.
Just like that, during the night's journey, Li Yan had twice detected anomalies with his divine sense, but they had managed to avoid them. Once, when Li Yan detected what should have been a squad from Windy Cool Mountain, Sun Guoshu indeed sensed the abnormality in just three or four breaths, and then quickly sent a warning to the rear, almost not much slower than Li Yan's divine sense. After carefully removing the traces he left behind, Sun Guoshu changed direction. From this, one could see that the vigilance of rogue cultivators was not something that disciples of large sects could compare to. For them to be able to do this without advanced cultivation methods and immortal arts, it must have been honed through countless life-and-death situations. It was an instinct carved into their bones, integrated into every drop of their blood.
By the time Li Yan's group of five had traveled for over a thousand li through the mountain forest until dawn, this was something that no mortal army, no matter how formidable their scouts and soldiers, could achieve. Just cutting through the thorns along the way would take an unknown amount of time. The reason cultivators were so powerful was that apart from maintaining vigilance, the beasts, vines, and thorns in the mountain forest posed no obstacle to them at all. As long as they determined their direction, even if there was a ten-thousand-zhang deep abyss ahead, they could easily fly across it.
After daybreak, although they lost the cover of night, in this forest that blotted out the sun, unless someone was willing to expend a large amount of divine sense to carefully search this vast forest, it was still not easy to discover them with just eyes and senses.
As they continued to advance, even Yan Feijun had to admit from the bottom of his heart that this Sun Guoshu really had some skills. Why hadn't he noticed it before? A few times, including encountering several scans of divine sense, he hadn't noticed them at all before. But this rogue cultivator, like a startled rabbit, would always hide himself a little ahead of time and at the same time send out a warning. In this way, they avoided several divine sense probes, some of which were from the enemy and some from their own side.
Not only Yan Feijun and the other two thought that this Sun Guoshu must have cultivated some kind of divine ability, but even Li Yan almost thought that Sun Guoshu had cultivated a secret art. It was just that he had been locking onto Sun Guoshu the whole time and hadn't seen him cast any spells.
It wasn't until later, when the group rested and gathered, that Yan Feijun, unable to suppress his curiosity, asked. He was just trying his luck; this kind of personal life-preserving skill was something the other party was unlikely to reveal, as it was tantamount to handing one's life over to others.
But after hearing him, Sun Guoshu didn't get angry. Instead, he gave a wry smile. "What advanced cultivation methods or immortal arts do I have? It's just a sense of when my life is in danger. Whenever danger is approaching, this warning will arise in my heart. It's just an instinct formed from escaping death time and time again. And these minor tricks are somewhat useful against enemies of the same rank. If I encounter a high-level cultivator, like a Golden Core cultivator, by the time the alarm bells ring, it would be too late to react, or I might not even sense it at all and be directly killed by the other party."
Sun Guoshu's words didn't sound extraordinary, but they revealed more bitterness and helplessness. Anyone could hear that only someone who had long walked on the edge of death, who struggled every day to live for tomorrow, would form this almost beast-like instinct.
Yan Feijun hadn't expected Sun Guoshu to answer this question. But when Sun Guoshu really did answer, he and the others exchanged a glance and actually felt a kind of sympathy. This kind of early warning function was not something they could learn, unless they left the sect and traveled widely, perhaps only then could they possess an instinct like Sun Guoshu's through long-term life-and-death tempering. But that would be like dancing on the tip of a knife. Of course, there were many such diligent cultivators in the Malevolent Spirit Sect as well.
Just like that, for the next day, Li Yan and the others also got used to this way of traveling. And they had long avoided the main battlefield between Windy Cool Mountain and the Demon Clan's army, deliberately detouring two thousand li to the west. Although this would make them travel much more, facts proved that it allowed them to travel more safely. After avoiding the main battlefield, the number of cultivators here was reduced by more than half.
But even so, when the second night arrived, an accident still happened.
While advancing, Li Yan's divine sense suddenly sensed two powerful divine senses sweeping towards their direction. Perhaps the past two days had been too smooth. Although Li Yan was on guard, the simultaneous appearance of two powerful divine senses still caught him off guard. By the time he sensed the other party, he only had time to transmit a single phrase, "Not good..." Then, subconsciously, he had already disappeared from his original spot.
But Bai Rou and the others, as well as Sun Guoshu a few li ahead, were just stunned. By the time they reacted, two powerful divine senses had already fallen upon them.
Then came a sinister, cackling laugh. "To think there are cultivators here, trying to take a detour for a sneak attack. You rats, die for me!"
Then, an incomparably sharp divine sense transformed into countless sharp swords and slashed fiercely towards the Seas of Consciousness of Bai Rou's group of four. This person was actually a Golden Core expert. If Bai Rou and the other four were hit by a Golden Core's divine sense attack, even if they didn't become idiots, their Seas of Consciousness would be severely damaged, and it would take more than ten years to recover.
Just as Bai Rou and the other four felt a stabbing pain in their Seas of Consciousness, another sharp shout suddenly rang out. "Demon Clan brat, do you think I don't exist?"
Then, Bai Rou and the others felt a loosening in their Seas of Consciousness. Similarly, an extremely sharp divine sense met the opponent's divine sense swords, followed by a series of booming shockwaves. It turned out that the other person among the two divine senses was a Golden Core cultivator from Windy Cool Mountain. With a loud shout, he had already intercepted the opponent's divine sense attack.
And it wasn't until this moment that Li Yan flashed out from behind a large tree. The moment he sensed the two divine senses, his first instinct was to cast the "Stealthy Night Art" and hide himself. From this point of view, Li Yan was not a qualified leader. He was used to being a lone rider, and subconsciously, he didn't consider others at all.
"Eh? There's another Foundation Establishment cultivator who actually escaped my divine sense. It seems you have some secrets on you. Then you can stay here!!"
The demon cultivator who had let out the sinister laugh earlier discovered another cultivator appearing under his divine sense. This greatly surprised him, and he couldn't help but feel annoyed. If word of this got back, where would his face be? He immediately had the thought of taking Li Yan's life. But he was still a thousand li away from here, and his main body couldn't arrive immediately. Just as his divine sense condensed into a long spike again, about to pierce through Li Yan's Sea of Consciousness.
That Golden Core cultivator from Windy Cool Mountain also let out a strange laugh. "Yo ho, you're an interesting kid!"
In fact, he was the Golden Core cultivator sent by Wei Zhongran to protect Li Yan's group of five all along. He would only sense if there were any enemy Golden Core cultivators and would not disturb Li Yan and the others at all. It was just that this demon cultivator's divine sense had appeared so abruptly just now. By the time he discovered it, the other party had already swept towards Li Yan's group of five, and he could only hurriedly meet the attack. But just now, Wei Zhongran's disciple had strangely disappeared from his divine sense as well. This also surprised this Windy Cool Mountain Golden Core cultivator. But surprise was surprise; he would not let that demon cultivator harm Li Yan's group of five. At the same time, this Windy Cool Mountain Golden Core cultivator also felt that Sun Guoshu's performance along the way was not bad. Originally, the weakest in the five-man squad were Sun Guoshu and Li Yan. Now it seemed that both of them had hidden their skills.