But as soon as Li Yan finished speaking, he jerked his head toward Yu Yuanjun and barked, "You, lead the way! Quickly!"
At the same time, Li Yan's voice transmission sounded in Yu Yuanjun's mind, "You don't need to do anything right now. Just lead us toward the town exit!"
Then, Li Yan took the lead and started walking toward the courtyard gate. Yu Yuanjun, after a moment of bewilderment, seemed to understand. He hurriedly walked forward, his head bowed, looking as if he didn't dare to say much.
His gaze, however, inadvertently swept over the room where the five Clear Spirit Sect cultivators were. Divine sense also emanated from there, filled with confusion and doubt, thinking that some misunderstanding had occurred between Li Yan and Jiao Hua.
But when Li Yan narrowed his eyes and glanced sideways at the room of the five Clear Spirit Sect cultivators, the five strands of divine sense immediately recoiled as if from a venomous snake, hastily retracting.
The few cultivators in the courtyard responsible for guard duty stared at each other, equally unsure of what had happened. But seeing that Jiao Hua hadn't made a sound, they were even more convinced that this demonic cultivator surnamed Li and Jiao Hua were in the process of confirming something. For the moment, they didn't dare to stop them.
Just as Li Yan and his group were walking toward the courtyard gate, three strands of divine sense landed directly on them. Li Yan, as if he hadn't felt a thing, continued to stride toward the gate.
These three strands of divine sense then swept toward Jiao Hua's room. Seeing no movement from Jiao Hua's side, they hesitated for a moment before finally retracting their divine sense.
In one of the rooms, the short, sturdy demonic cultivator opened his eyes and looked into the courtyard, his gaze full of doubt. He then turned to look at the other demonic cultivator sitting cross-legged on the side.
"What do you think? It seems like Jiao Hua and Fellow Daoist Li have had some sort of disagreement."
The other demonic cultivator frowned in thought for a moment. "Fellow Daoist Jiao didn't come out, but judging from Fellow Daoist Li's tone, it's as if Fellow Daoist Jiao said something that touched on a taboo of his. I really can't guess what it could be."
For a moment, the room fell into a short silence. But then, the short, sturdy demonic cultivator's voice rang out.
"Forget it. Since Fellow Daoist Jiao is willing to let him go and verify something, why should we worry about it? It seems both of them are angry right now. It won't be too late to ask tomorrow."
Then, the room returned to its initial tranquility.
Meanwhile, in another room, the demonic cultivator who had failed to team up with Li Yan earlier was sneering inwardly.
"Another squabble over an uneven distribution of benefits. Finding any excuse to cause a scene. I can see that this person surnamed Li is lacking in character." After the sneer, he closed his eyes again.
But no matter what they thought, none of them considered the possibility that Jiao Hua was already dead. Firstly, they had basically confirmed Li Yan's identity.
And most importantly, no one here believed that in such a short time, and in the same courtyard as them, Li Yan could have subdued Jiao Hua without any warning.
To achieve such a feat, perhaps only someone with the cultivation of a Demon Lord or higher could have done it so secretly.
With this cognitive premise, the scope of their suspicion was already limited. They simply let Li Yan go.
At this time, Li Yan's group of six was already walking on the street. Only now did Bai Rou and the other four finally relax. But they were even more curious as to what method Li Yan had used to take down Jiao Hua in such a short time.
"Poison. It must be poison to be so silent. Even formations couldn't do this. If Jiao Hua had been trapped in a formation set up by Li Yan, the sound of attacks would have already been echoing loudly."
But even with this thought, Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun were horrified.
They were both masters of poison. They believed that while they also had ways to poison a fellow cultivator of the same rank as Jiao Hua, it was absolutely impossible to do it so silently in such a short period of time.
"It must be some advanced poison pill given by Martial Uncle Wei!" This was their final conclusion.
But Bai Rou and Sun Guoshu had different thoughts. They felt that Li Yan should have a way to accomplish all this. At least, Sun Guoshu no longer believed that Li Yan was as mediocre as he appeared.
Yu Yuanjun, walking at the very front, would occasionally glance at Li Yan out of the corner of his eye. He was also wondering what means this demonic cultivator had used on Jiao Hua, not only to not stop them at all, but to even show tacit approval.
When he was leaving the courtyard just now, he had even been prepared to act according to the situation. If things became impossible, he was even prepared to say that he was forced by Li Yan's group in order to save his own life.
Although it was confirmed that the five of them were here to save him, he couldn't let himself fall into a dangerous situation for their sake. But in the end, they walked out of the courtyard gate without any danger, which truly made him break out in a cold sweat.
Although it was now the middle of the night, the town was still bustling with people, and the noise was incessant.
"When we get to the town gate later, I'll do the talking. But all of you must be ready to strike at any moment. We can't predict what the situation here is really like."
As the group walked, Li Yan's voice sounded in their minds. The most important step now was whether they could get out of Zhouyang Town.
Of course, Li Yan didn't know if it was possible. With the current changing situation, if they were only allowed to enter and not leave, it would be troublesome.
"This is the most critical step for our safe departure. We can only try our luck," Hu Xiaowang said helplessly via voice transmission.
Their mission was now almost halfway complete, but the return journey was still fraught with peril.
As soon as he said this, the atmosphere became somewhat oppressive. They walked very quickly, and after a few dozen breaths, they were already running rapidly through the crowd toward the town gate. At this time, streaks of light still flashed across the night sky outside the gate, and then several people or a single person would run toward the entrance.
Even at this hour, demonic cultivators were still gathering here.
When Li Yan's group of six arrived at the town gate, their direction, opposite to the numerous cultivators passing them by, seemed somewhat abrupt.
Li Yan thought to himself, "This is bad. It seems the worst-case scenario has occurred!" It was now clear that entry was permitted, but exit was not.
But having come this far, they had to try no matter what.
"Where do you think you're going?" Just as Li Yan's group was a short distance from the town gate, a cold voice suddenly rang out, and then four demonic cultivators surrounded them.
"We just received a distress signal. The missing members of our squad are not dead, just seriously injured. We need to go and provide support immediately," Li Yan said in a deep voice, stepping forward to face the four.
Behind him, apart from Yu Yuanjun, the other four had quietly spread out, their faces showing an anxious look as they constantly peered outside the town.
Seeing this scene, Yu Yuanjun, who was at the very back, couldn't help but feel his palms sweat. His throat was incredibly dry, and his heart was pounding with tension.
'Are we really going to have to fight our way out? There are Demon Lords in this town. I'm going to die here.'
For a moment, Yu Yuanjun hesitated. Looking at the crowd around them, he estimated that the moment they made a move, they would be drowned in a sea of attacks. But he didn't want to die here.
"Missing squad members? Where did they go missing? Have you already reported in since arriving?" the leader of the four demonic cultivators asked, looking Li Yan's group up and down.
"Oh, we were ambushed by human cultivators about six hundred miles from here. The distress signal we received now is from about two hundred miles away. If we go to support them now, we can still make it and will return quickly. As for reporting in? We already reported to the third area this afternoon," Li Yan replied, his face a mask of anxiety.
"Since you've already reported in, didn't the Demon Lord tell you anything?" The leading demonic cultivator exchanged a quiet glance with the other three, a sharp glint flashing in the depths of his eyes.
Li Yan's reaction was extremely fast. His anxious expression dimmed, and he could only mutter with disappointment, "I guess there's no room for negotiation. He'll just have to fend for himself. Hopefully, he'll run into another squad."
With that, Li Yan turned back toward the street with a look of unwillingness, and Hu Xiaowang and the others who had spread out also followed silently.
Seeing that the other party wasn't unaware of the order and was just trying their luck, and that they were now retreating sensibly, the four demonic cultivators didn't press them further.
After Li Yan's group had retreated some distance, Yu Yuanjun was somewhat dumbfounded. A thousand questions rose in his mind. "So... we're just... not going?"
But he immediately felt a sense of relief. It would have been impossible to fight their way out. The demonic cultivators guarding the gate had clearly become suspicious. At least for now, his life was saved.
"It seems we'll have to find another opportunity to leave. But if that Jiao Hua shows up at any moment, I'll be..." For a moment, a jumble of thoughts filled Yu Yuanjun's mind.
But just then, Li Yan's words sounded in his mind. "Is everyone ready?"
Yu Yuanjun looked up in confusion and saw the strange demonic cultivator looking at him and the others. Just as Yu Yuanjun thought he had misheard, he saw Hu Xiaowang on the side give a slight nod.
Then, a look of excitement and nervousness appeared in Yan Feijun's eyes. As for Bai Rou and Sun Guoshu, they took a deep breath. The heart that Yu Yuanjun had just managed to calm down was once again in his throat.
'They... they are... they're really going to force their way through! No, this is absolutely impossible! We'll probably be blasted into a pile of meat paste before we even get out of the gate. Are these people brainless? Right, that restriction token...'
At this moment, all Yu Yuanjun could think about was his own tragic end. He didn't want to follow this group of brainless people to their deaths. He had no idea how their ancestors had chosen them. He had to find a chance to get that restriction token.
'But... maybe, when these people charge toward the gate, I might be able to escape in the chaos. But, damn it, that restriction token...'
Although it was only a matter of breaths, countless possibilities and plans had flashed through Yu Yuanjun's mind, yet he couldn't think of a satisfactory one.
And just as he was in a daze, he suddenly saw the cultivator who had just nodded inadvertently raise his arm and point at him. At the same time, Hu Xiaowang's voice sounded in his mind.
"Swallow them now. You don't want to die here in a moment." The streets were crowded, and Hu Xiaowang's small gesture didn't attract anyone's attention.
Yu Yuanjun was stunned. A few things had been stuffed into his hand. He looked down and saw several soybean-sized green pills, five in total.
"This..." At this moment, Yu Yuanjun had no idea what Li Yan and the others were doing. Just then, he saw the middle-aged woman and another cultivator raise their hands and cover their mouths.
Yu Yuanjun realized that the two of them were swallowing pills.
At this moment, Li Yan impatiently patted Yu Yuanjun on the shoulder and then whispered in his ear, "If you don't want to die, hurry up and do as they do. Swallow the pills quickly."