Li Yan and his group were not actually certain if this Golden Core cultivator from Windy Cool Mountain was the one their master had sent to protect them. Golden Core cultivators from both sides frequently appeared on the battlefield, either to hunt down lower-level enemy cultivators or to protect their own.
Although the number of Golden Core cultivators was far less than that of Foundation Establishment cultivators, it was possible that they had just run into one today.
What Li Yan could be certain of was that whether it was the Demon Clan's Golden Core cultivator or Windy Cool Mountain's, both were at least at the mid-stage of Golden Core or higher. Otherwise, with his own divine sense that had already surpassed that of an initial-stage Golden Core cultivator, he would definitely have sensed them much earlier. Just now, he had only just sensed them when their divine senses had already enveloped the area.
Of course, if it had just been Li Yan here by himself, these two would still have been unable to do anything to him.
With a single flash, Li Yan appeared beside Bai Rou and the others, the Cloud-Piercing Willow already under his feet. Naturally, they had to get away from the battle between the two Golden Core cultivators.
At this moment, the stinging pain in the Seas of Consciousness of Bai Rou and the other two had subsided somewhat. Seeing Li Yan arrive on his flying magical treasure, they leaped onto the Cloud-Piercing Willow in a single bound.
With another flicker, Li Yan appeared beside Sun Guoshu several li away. Sun Guoshu's face was also pale. Under the Golden Core cultivator's divine sense attack just now, although a friendly expert had intervened in time, his Sea of Consciousness had also been affected. For a short while, he was unable to move freely, and with the spirit power churning in his body, he was trembling slightly.
Sun Guoshu didn't have any good flying magical treasures. If he had to rely on himself to catch up, he would probably be left behind by Li Yan and the others very quickly. Although the result might not necessarily be death, to be all alone on the front lines of this battlefield between two armies, his fate would be more grim than good.
He hadn't expected that with disaster looming, Li Yan would still be willing to waste precious escape time to bring him along. This moved Sun Guoshu's heart.
At a life-and-death moment, for a relationship like theirs, cultivators spoke little of sentiment. That was a Golden Core cultivator. Although a friendly expert was intercepting, no one knew the disparity between the two. Perhaps in the next moment, the demon cultivator would be able to free his hands and take all five of their lives.
Just as Li Yan's group of five had flown a short distance, a cold snort came from the sky far away. "Appearing here so furtively, do you think you can come and go as you please? Men, kill this bunch of rats for me."
The voice was like a rolling, muffled thunder, belonging to that very demon cultivator. His main body was rushing in this direction, but the Golden Core cultivator from Windy Cool Mountain was also rapidly closing in on him. For a moment, this Golden Core demon cultivator was unable to personally pursue Li Yan's group of five.
The angry shout of the Golden Core demon cultivator also startled the Golden Core cultivator from Windy Cool Mountain. Although he didn't know what kind of mission Li Yan's group of five was on, Wei Zhongran had demanded that he do his utmost to protect them in secret. And to avoid alerting the Demon Clan, Windy Cool Mountain had only secretly sent him alone. Immediately, he swept his divine sense out and breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Because of the route Li Yan had chosen, they had been detouring to the southwest, already far from the center of the battlefield. There weren't many cultivators here, and Li Yan's flying magical treasure was extremely fast; even he himself might not be able to catch up.
Within a thousand-li radius of the Windy Cool Mountain Golden Core cultivator's divine sense, only four small squads appeared. Apart from Li Yan's five-person squad, there was another friendly squad one thousand seven hundred li away. On the Demon Clan's side, there were also two small squads, and they were relatively close to Li Yan. In particular, one eight-person squad was only a little over two hundred li from Li Yan.
What relieved the Windy Cool Mountain Golden Core cultivator slightly was that the other demon squad of twelve was at least a thousand li away from Li Yan.
Under this comparison, even if he sent a voice transmission to the friendly squad that had appeared to come and stop the enemy, it would be too late. They were the farthest away. For now, only the eight-person enemy squad posed some threat to Li Yan's group of five.
Seeing Li Yan pushing the Cloud-Piercing Willow to its full power, already disappearing rapidly to the west, the Windy Cool Mountain Golden Core cultivator turned his face. Facing the Golden Core demon cultivator who was rapidly approaching, he let out a cold laugh. "You should worry about yourself first!"
After seeing the speed of Li Yan's flight, he knew that as long as Li Yan's squad got more than five hundred li away, since neither squad had a Golden Core cultivator, they would be beyond the maximum divine sense range of the Foundation Establishment stage. Li Yan and his group would then be able to break away from the enemy. All he had to do was intercept this Golden Core demon cultivator.
With a sharp whistle from the Windy Cool Mountain Golden Core cultivator, the two sides closed in in an instant. A rumbling collision sound immediately echoed under the sky, along with the angry roar of the Golden Core demon cultivator.
The Golden Core demon cultivator swung his axe, deflecting the greatsword of the Windy Cool Mountain cultivator. In his divine sense, Li Yan's group of five was speeding west, followed closely by the eight-person demon squad. Although the demon squad's flight speed was not as fast as Li Yan's Cloud-Piercing Willow, the leading demon cultivator, after receiving the order, actually activated a secret art without hesitation, pushing his flying magical treasure to an astonishing speed. For a short time, Li Yan was unable to pull away from them by much.
A flash of anger crossed the Golden Core demon's eyes. He then leveled the great axe in his hand and, transforming into a ball of demonic light, chopped towards the Windy Cool Mountain Golden Core cultivator.
What this Golden Core demon didn't know was that Li Yan was full of schemes. Even while fleeing, he hadn't forgotten certain details, which ultimately made this Golden Core demon overlook him. The Golden Core demon thought the other party was just an ordinary scout and thus relaxed his guard. Otherwise, if he had known that a moment of his own negligence could lead to several more Nascent Soul experts joining forces against his rear, he would probably have regretted it until his intestines turned green. This Golden Core demon would surely have used his own essence blood without hesitation, forcing back the Windy Cool Mountain Golden Core cultivator before slaughtering Li Yan's group of five.
The moment he started to flee, Li Yan already had a plan. If they chose to flee north, it would be the safest route. After fleeing for a while, they would likely encounter friendly cultivators. After all, that was their main battlefield. But in that case, the two days of hard work they had put into sneaking here would have been for nothing.
And if they forcefully headed south, this abnormal action would also arouse the suspicion of the Golden Core demon. Five people rushing towards his army like that was undoubtedly a bizarre move.
Therefore, Li Yan only had the east and west directions. So Li Yan chose due west, and he didn't even make a move to deviate slightly to the southwest.
Right now, the Demon Clan's army was short on manpower and still had to leave some demon experts to suppress the South Sea. So, apart from the due south direction, there were not many forces scattered around Windy Cool Mountain. Not to mention worrying about the more distant east and west. Fleeing west like Li Yan naturally meant getting away from the main battlefield.
So from a psychological perspective, fleeing west was actually safe, because there would definitely be human cultivators to the west, but almost no demon cultivators. Even if there were, they would be scattered individuals sent to gather information, like a drop of water in the ocean.
The consequence of Li Yan's deceptive plan was that their time was once again occupied during their subsequent actions, and the time to carry out the mission was compressed and reduced again. But this was undoubtedly the most correct course of action at the moment.
In this chase, Li Yan and his group soon traveled about a thousand li to the west, and by this time, they had finally pulled away from the enemy by nearly four hundred li.
Li Yan stood at the front of the Cloud-Piercing Willow with a blank expression. This was also the first time he had encountered someone of the same rank whose flying magical treasure was so sharp. Although the other party was using a secret art to enhance it, it was not much worse than the Cloud-Piercing Willow.
He frowned and said to the four in a low voice, "This won't do. Although we can eventually shake off the pursuers, we will also get farther and farther away from the mission target. The speed of the pursuers behind us has started to weaken, but if we want to pull away to a distance of five hundred li beyond their divine sense range, we will still need to travel nearly another thousand li."
Yan Feijun was feeling frustrated. Just now, they could only flee in disarray when they encountered a Golden Core cultivator. Now they were being chased by cultivators of the same rank. He gritted his teeth and said, "Let's kill the pursuers behind us. There are eight of them. Apart from the two Demonic Soldier-level demon cultivators, the other six look like those foreign human cultivators. If we set up a formation, we still have a chance to annihilate them."
When he said this, he was actually hesitant. He hoped that the six cultivators were from the South Sea, so that the six wouldn't use their full combat strength.
Hu Xiaowang, however, shook his head. "Junior Brother Yan, we may not be able to do it. Those two demon cultivators have both reached the Pseudo-Core Realm, which is already equivalent to you and me. If the other six were the South Sea cultivators with restrictions on them that we encountered before, it would be easier. But these six should be a group of foreign cultivators. The key is that there is also a Pseudo-Core cultivator among the six of them, and we only have a short distance of four hundred li to set up an ambush, which will pass in an instant..." At the end of his words, he shook his head repeatedly.
He still had something left unsaid. He and Yan Feijun were not confident they could each handle a Demonic Soldier. They would already have their hands full. Bai Rou should be able to take on that Pseudo-Core cultivator, but what about the remaining five? At the same time, Hu Xiaowang complained inwardly about Wei Zhongran and Elder Chigong. Why didn't they send five Pseudo-Core cultivators for this mission? In this situation, as long as three of them could tie down the three enemy Pseudo-Core cultivators, the remaining two Pseudo-Core cultivators could kill the five enemies at top speed and then return to help. Although their side would win with difficulty, the odds of victory would be several tenths higher.
Now, apart from himself, Hu Xiaowang, and Bai Rou who could barely hold off the three opponents, this Li Yan and Sun Guoshu would probably be wiped out by the five opponents in a single exchange. They had fought against the formidable foreign cultivators several times and of course knew what they were capable of. Even if Li Yan had those strange cold demonic beasts, facing five enemies with two people, he wouldn't have the slightest chance of winning.
After hearing the words of Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun, Bai Rou did not speak. She looked at Li Yan in front of her, while Sun Guoshu was looking down, as if he hadn't heard what the others were saying. In fact, Sun Guoshu was already considering how to escape. Although staying with the other four gave him a better chance of survival, if these four were to recklessly turn around and fight the pursuers, he would not go to his death. Sun Guoshu thought to himself, "Even if the Malevolent Spirit Sect hunts me down later, they'll have to find me first."
At this moment, on a magical treasure that resembled a cabinet, stood two demons and six humans. The two demons stood at the front edge of the gray cabinet's top. These two demon cultivators, just as Li Yan and the others had sensed, had both reached the human equivalent of the Pseudo-Core realm, the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage.
Right now, they were both performing a strange action. The two demon cultivators had their feet on the edge of the cabinet, and each held something like an iron ring in their hands. A long iron chain was attached to each of the two iron rings, with the other end connected to the bottom of the cabinet. Every so often, one of the demon cultivators would violently tug the iron ring.
A thick black liquid would surge from the iron ring. This thick black liquid would immediately flow down the iron chain. The iron chain would emit a series of piercing "zha-zha" sounds, as if there was a bottomless mouth at the bottom of the cabinet, greedily sucking everything in. The thick black liquid flowed towards the bottom of the cabinet with a faint glow, and then quickly disappeared without a trace.
Whenever this happened, the gray cabinet flying in the void, which had been slowing down, would suddenly increase its speed again, shooting forward like a gray meteorite piercing the sky.