Although Hu Xiaowang was dissatisfied with Li Yan, who could he blame but the fact that the young man had a good master? Li Yan's cultivation might be a bit low, but he had plenty of good magical treasures. He himself wasn't even sure he could win against this junior brother.
Moreover, after he and Yan Feijun returned to report on the mission, they would still have to rely on the promises made by Peak Master Wei. Therefore, even if he had objections, he didn't dare to voice them openly.
Li Yan nodded and gave a wry smile. "Actually, aside from what I said at the beginning, I really don't have much more information.
"First of all, just as Senior Brother Hu said, we will genuinely have to search the town, courtyard by courtyard. And even after going through them all once, it's not certain we'll find them on the first try."
Hearing this, the hearts of Hu Xiaowang and the other two sank. This time, Yan Feijun didn't speak, but turned his head to look down at Zhouyang Town again.
Sun Guoshu remained silent. He had always been clear about his position: it was best not to speak unless necessary.
Hu Xiaowang's eyebrows twitched, and he fell into deep thought. "This mission is too unreliable! As inside agents who need to pass on information, how can they not have a specific contact method? No one would believe that."
At this point, they still considered the two from Luoshu Lake to be inside agents. Li Yan and Bai Rou heard this but didn't correct them. Revealing the truth now would only make the three more dissatisfied. Li Yan continued.
"It's not that they didn't provide a specific time, but that their current circumstances make a specific rendezvous impossible.
"The squad they're in is led by two demonic cultivators. They never know when they'll be sent out on a mission, and they only return here for a temporary rest after a mission is completed.
"Under these conditions, how could they possibly set a fixed meeting time? Fortunately, we know that they go out about once every three days, and a mission lasts between five to ten days. So, we do have a trail to follow."
Speaking to this point, before Hu Xiaowang and the others could think it over, Li Yan's tone shifted.
"But we only have ten days left. Factoring in the return journey, we can stay here for seven days at most. That's the absolute limit.
"Similarly, even if the squad of these two 'inside agents' just left on a mission today, there's more than a fifty percent chance they'll be back within seven days," Li Yan calculated the time and said slowly.
After hearing Li Yan's words, Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun exchanged a look and both nodded. Left with no choice, they could only think positively. What mission ever has a hundred percent certainty? Li Yan's calculation of the probability was indeed quite high.
"But just by observing with our eyes, we can't see everyone inside the courtyards, and we can't use our divine sense to scan. How can we be sure?" Yan Feijun said helplessly.
"How about we be careful and first probe them one by one with our divine sense? There are plenty of scanning divine senses here anyway. Even if the people in the courtyards notice a divine sense sweeping past, it would be easy for us to blend in."
Hu Xiaowang thought for a moment and came up with a method.
"Senior Brothers, I think this method may... may not be appropriate. If the divine sense we send out is discovered by a powerful expert who is also monitoring this place, our current hiding spot will be exposed instantly.
"I think the five of us should divide the area into sections and each observe our own assigned zone. There are less than a hundred houses here in total, so that's only a dozen or so per person. We just need to watch the main gates of the courtyards and pay attention to the cultivators coming and going.
"The squads that come here are only for temporary rest. They will leave in three days at most, maybe even half a day. They won't stay in the town for long. At this rate, we can get a clear picture of who is in each courtyard within three days."
Bai Rou, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke in a low voice.
Bai Rou's method was indeed feasible, and it also maximized their chances of remaining hidden.
For a mortal, it would be impossible to watch a dozen houses at the same time. But for cultivators, their vision was so sharp that they could clearly distinguish the fletching on each of a thousand different arrows in a volley fired at them.
Compared to that, observing pedestrians entering a courtyard was nothing, just a bit tiring.
Hu Xiaowang initially felt that using divine sense would be more convenient, but when he considered the consequences of being discovered by a powerful expert, he immediately discarded the idea of taking a chance.
Li Yan had actually been considering this matter on the way here. He already had a plan in mind, but he hadn't told anyone else.
He wanted to observe for a while first. If by some chance they could spot the two disciples from Luoshu Lake, why would they need to take such a risk?
Next, the five of them each marked out a zone and began to observe carefully.
By the afternoon of the next day, they started to realize that the situation was becoming increasingly strange.
"Why have more and more demon clan squads been gathering here since noon? It's becoming overwhelming to watch a dozen courtyards at once with the naked eye," Hu Xiaowang was the first to break the silence, speaking in a low voice.
From last night until this morning, everything had been relatively normal. It would be a long time before a few cultivators occasionally entered or left a courtyard.
They only needed to glance over, but they still hadn't found the two people from the jade slip, which made them a little anxious.
Although they were cultivators, when faced with an unknown wait, every breath felt like the moment the target would appear in their line of sight, but it was often met with repeated disappointment.
Under such circumstances, even though it was just a few glances down below, they didn't dare to take a break, and they were still very tired.
But by noon, everything changed. The number of cultivators gathering in Zhouyang Town suddenly increased, and now, it seemed more and more were arriving from all directions.
"Could it be that the situation here has always been like this?" Yan Feijun asked without turning his head, carefully observing the foot of the mountain. "The information we received before didn't say that so many scouts gather here in Zhouyang Town every day." Bai Rou withdrew her gaze and also turned to Li Yan with a puzzled look.
Her action made the others feel that something was wrong. They all withdrew their gazes from the mountain and looked at the two of them. It turned out that even Junior Sister Bai's previous information wasn't like this.
"Could it be that something major is about to happen here? Or has our mission to retrieve the two inside agents been exposed, and they're starting to gather people to capture us?"
Yan Feijun felt increasingly uneasy. Thinking further, he wondered if this was all aimed at them.
Li Yan, of course, also felt that the sudden gathering of so many cultivators in Zhouyang Town was not right and had been pondering the reason.
At this moment, Sun Guoshu on the side shook his head and whispered, "I think the cultivators here may have received orders to retreat to this place, or you could say, to gather.
"Look at the directions they're coming from—mostly from the east, west, and north. It's most likely that they are temporarily on standby here. It should have nothing to do with our mission.
"Otherwise, they could have just used the two inside agents to set a trap, and we would have walked right into it. Why go through all this trouble to alert people?"
Sun Guoshu's words were consistent with Li Yan's observations, which Li Yan had only discovered through careful attention.
Sun Guoshu, however, had only glanced into the distance for a short while without much thought. This was the result of rich combat experience; his judgments were usually very quick.
"On standby? What are they waiting for?" Yan Feijun asked Sun Guoshu.
"This... I can't guess," Sun Guoshu said with a wry smile.
But he actually had a few guesses in his mind. He just didn't want to cause a false alarm with a slip of the tongue if the outcome turned out differently. That would be his fault.
Li Yan pondered for a moment. "Let's continue to observe for a while and see if we can find out more?"
The others deeply agreed with Li Yan's words. They all felt that something was wrong, but they preferred to ascertain the problem before deciding on their course of action.
Just like that, they waited until after dark. The group finally confirmed that Zhouyang Town was indeed showing signs of a troop transfer, not an operation targeting them.
And, to everyone's surprise, Bai Rou discovered a trace of one of the so-called "inside agents," which made all five of them happy. They had finally seen their target.
It was a seven-person squad. Except for the leading demonic clan cultivator, the other six were all dressed in the uniform of the Clear Spirit Sect, and each of them bore bloodstains or injuries, looking as if they had just been in a fierce battle.
However, when this squad appeared, the cultivators in Zhouyang Town began to seem crowded, and at the same time, the divine senses crisscrossing above the town became more numerous, giving the impression of an approaching enemy.
How could Bai Rou and the others dare to track that seven-person squad with their divine sense? So, very quickly, the squad blended into the vast crowd and was lost from sight.
Bai Rou and the others were very anxious, but at this particular moment, they didn't dare to make any major moves.
"Why did only one inside agent appear? Did something happen to the other one? Or was he assigned a different task, and the two were separated?" Li Yan stroked his chin and whispered.
"If these two inside agents are separated, do we have more time to find the other one? If we only bring back one, is the mission considered a failure or a success?" Yan Feijun asked worriedly.
"The target has now appeared, and the situation here has exceeded our estimates. We must infiltrate the town and make contact with them.
"As long as we can find that 'inside agent' from before, we can ask him what exactly happened and then make subsequent decisions.
"Otherwise, looking at this situation, the cultivators here might be transferred away soon. I wonder what happened? Could it be that the demon clan is about to launch an attack?" Hu Xiaowang's face began to show anxiety. He had been thinking about this all afternoon.
It was just that when he said this, no one noticed Sun Guoshu's face twitch. The thing he least wanted to happen, others were also starting to think in that direction. His judgment alone might be wrong, but if others thought the same way, the possibility invisibly increased.
"Senior Brother Hu's words are reasonable. Our priority now is to make contact with this person and then make our next move. Moreover, Zhouyang Town really does look like a gathering point before a major army attack.
"And it's clear that since noon, even the outer perimeter sentry squads have appeared. Our location has also been repeatedly scanned by divine sense several times. If not for this illusion formation being somewhat useful, we might have been discovered long ago," Yan Feijun also said with worry.
In the afternoon, several small squads had appeared on the mountain where they were staying, searching the area in sections. One squad had even come to the outside of their illusion formation, but had failed to see through it.
This had put Li Yan and the others on alert, ready to strike at any moment. Fortunately, the presence of these small squads, whose cultivation levels ranged from Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment, made several powerful divine senses just give the area a cursory glance before continuing their search further away.
Li Yan also nodded, feeling that what they said made sense. He was just meticulous, not a true immortal. Faced with this kind of situation, he could only observe and adapt.
But now, they could no longer remain hidden. They had to risk going down the mountain and entering Zhouyang Town. But there were at least two thousand cultivators there now. If the five of them went down, they would be a target for all.