The death of his younger cousin had turned Yu Yuanjun's alarm into cold despair. But today, a group of cultivators had suddenly appeared, and someone had secretly sent him a voice transmission, asking if he knew of Luoshu Lake. At that moment, Yu Yuanjun thought he was hearing things.
The existence of Luoshu Lake was known to only a few high-level members of even the most intimate Clear Spirit Sect.
Even the elite disciples who had been to Luoshu Lake thought it was just a branch of the Clear Spirit Sect, not knowing that the two were once allies.
So, when Yu Yuanjun came to his senses, he thought the other party was a direct descendant of the Clear Spirit Sect's upper echelons, which was why they knew of Luoshu Lake's existence.
For a moment, he was terrified, not knowing what the other party wanted, even thinking they were trying to probe his identity to report him to the demonic cultivators.
In his suspicion, he just stared cautiously at the middle-aged woman, an astonished expression on his face, until the woman mentioned the content of the distress message they had sent out, as well as the appearance of the Luoshu Lake family token. Only then did he begin to believe that this person was probably not a test from the Clear Spirit Sect.
But before he saw the family token, Yu Yuanjun, who was now like a startled bird, was still suspicious. He was still unwilling to admit that he knew any Luoshu Lake family, and he was evasive with the other party, neither admitting nor denying.
Even when the woman asked about his younger cousin, he still answered faintly that the person had died in battle. He even pretended to ask the woman if she had old ties with the Clear Spirit Sect, otherwise how could she know them.
Yu Yuanjun had to be on guard. He was now living in constant fear. Unless a Golden Core demonic cultivator captured him for a soul search, he had to be careful about everything.
The reason he had such confidence was that the consequences for an informer, if the informing failed, were even more miserable than his own.
What made him unable to be certain was a sentence from that woman. She actually said that the family token was with their captain, who was a demonic cultivator.
A demonic cultivator was here to rescue him? How absurd! He could feel the aura he had become most familiar with recently from that demonic cultivator—the pure demonic qi that had always terrified him.
His knowledge on this point was the same as many human cultivators. In the long years, low-level cultivators had never seen a demonic cultivator. Even the Devil's Cliff Crevice had become a secret, let alone the secrets of the demonic cultivators.
Just as Yu Yuanjun's mind was racing, a voice suddenly sounded, causing all six people in the room to open their eyes. A moment later, the other five Clear Spirit Sect disciples all turned their gazes to Yu Yuanjun.
"Junior Brother Yu, what does that demonic cultivator want you for? It's the middle of the night. Didn't you explain things clearly just now?" a somewhat older-looking Clear Spirit Sect disciple asked cautiously.
He was the one with the highest cultivation here, the same realm as Yu Yuanjun, both at Late-stage Foundation Establishment. But Yu Yuanjun had consumed more essence blood, and his current realm had fallen sharply.
The two had been at the same realm before and had interacted quite a bit in the Clear Spirit Sect, so when he heard that Yu Yuanjun was being summoned to the other side, he immediately became cautious.
Yu Yuanjun, however, already had a guess. He was very conflicted at this moment. He wanted to go out immediately, but he was also afraid that it was some scheme by the demonic cultivators to confirm his identity.
Once he fell into the trap, he might be forced to lead a team to find the entrance to the Luoshu Lake family. In his hesitation, he gave an ambiguous answer to the Clear Spirit Sect disciple, "I think I explained it well enough."
He still left himself a way out, not speaking with finality.
Just then, Sun Guoshu's voice rang out again, but it had become somewhat cold. "Fellow Daoist Yu, this is Lord Jiao's order. Do you need Lord Jiao to issue the order personally before you will obey?"
Yu Yuanjun's heart jolted. He knew Jiao Hua's temper. Since Jiao Hua hadn't spoken up yet, it meant he really did have business with him. Jiao Hua was right next door. If he waited for Jiao Hua to speak, he would be skinned alive if not killed.
But at this thought, Yu Yuanjun suddenly felt dejected. Could he have really guessed right? Was the other party testing him? But no matter what, he couldn't escape.
So, Yu Yuanjun forced a smile at the few Clear Spirit Sect members. "We're in the same courtyard. With Lord Jiao here, what could happen? I'll be right back!"
With that, Yu Yuanjun stood up and walked out.
When Yu Yuanjun, with a heart full of unease, followed Sun Guoshu to Li Yan's room, Hu Xiaowang immediately activated the formation inside the room.
At this time, Li Yan didn't delay either. With a wave of his right hand, a small Iron Scroll Book appeared in his hand. He then tossed it to Yu Yuanjun and shouted in a deep voice, "Confirm it quickly. We must leave here immediately!"
Looking at the walnut-sized Iron Scroll Book floating in front of him, Yu Yuanjun's hands began to tremble. For a moment, he was at a loss. 'How is this different from what I thought? What on earth is going on? Lord Jiao, he...'
Seeing Yu Yuanjun in a daze, Li Yan urged him again impatiently, "Hurry up!"
Yu Yuanjun immediately came to his senses and subconsciously grabbed the Iron Scroll Book in front of him. It was indeed the familiar family token. On the front was carved the character "Yu," and on the back was a pattern of a lake.
But when he looked up with excitement, and saw Li Yan's face full of patterns, he was somewhat bewildered. It was possible for a cultivator to transform into a demonic cultivator, but the demonic cultivator before him was clearly surging with demonic qi.
'Could it be that the family ancestor is already so powerful that he can bribe demonic cultivators? And by what means did this demonic cultivator deceive Jiao Hua?' Yu Yuanjun thought inexplicably.
But he blurted out nervously, "We've all been placed under a restriction by the demonic cultivators. The restriction token that controls our lives is still..." Before he could finish, a crimson light flashed in the hand of the demonic cultivator opposite him, and another object was floating in the air. It was a crimson iron block. Li Yan had only taken out the token that held Yu Yuanjun's essence soul.
The next moment, Yu Yuanjun's whole body began to tremble. Then, he excitedly raised an arm and reached for the crimson iron block floating in the air.
Although no technique was being cast at this moment, and the crimson iron block was like a dead object, Yu Yuanjun could already feel the most familiar aura from it—the sensation emitted by his own essence soul.
Looking at the crimson iron block, Yu Yuanjun's palm was covered in sweat, and his eyes had turned red. If only his younger cousin could have held on until now.
Just then, he suddenly felt his hand lighten. The crimson iron block had been snatched back by Li Yan. Then Li Yan quickly cast a technique at the crimson iron block. "See clearly? A wisp of your soul is right here."
As Li Yan spoke, he pointed at the two faces that had materialized. The moment Yu Yuanjun's face appeared, Li Yan withdrew his technique and put the crimson iron block away.
Having the restriction token taken from his hand again, Yu Yuanjun almost jumped up subconsciously, as if he had lost the most precious thing in the world.
But when he saw Li Yan's ferocious face, he thought of Jiao Hua, and his momentum faltered.
"You... you... what are you doing?"
Li Yan said coldly, "Nothing. I just took it out for you to confirm that the restriction token is correct. When we get back, this item is to be given to your family's ancestor. Are you confident you can release the essence soul within it now?"
Yu Yuanjun, who had been feeling dejected, was speechless. The restriction token was right in front of him, but he really had no way to return his wisp of essence soul to his body without harm.
But he still said unwillingly, "But, this is my essence soul that is detained here..."
"If I give it to you now, can you guarantee that the essence soul's aura on the restriction token won't leak out? That it won't be discovered by others, who will then wonder why a restriction that controls the life and death of a human cultivator is in the hands of another human cultivator?"
"I..." Yu Yuanjun was at a loss for words. He hadn't thought that far ahead. It was hard to say if the demonic cultivators had placed some kind of tracking mark on this restriction token.
It was normal for this demonic cultivator to have it now, but if he were found holding it, it would be impossible to explain.
Seeing Li Yan put the crimson iron block away, although he was extremely reluctant, he could only accept it. But then, Yu Yuanjun suddenly asked, "There are five other martial brothers from the Clear Spirit Sect here. If I escape, their fate will be extremely tragic. Can we take them along..."
"No. From now on, everything depends on their own fortune. If they can sense something is wrong after we leave and take the opportunity to escape, that is their fortune.
"And if their immortal fortune is great, perhaps they can even retrieve that wisp of essence soul from this restriction token. We will not do anything else. Unless you want to expose your own whereabouts, in which case we will immediately abandon the plan to rescue you."
Li Yan directly interrupted Yu Yuanjun, sneering inwardly. 'We're rescuing you because you have value. Otherwise, I would have killed you right now. Who knows how many of our cultivators you've killed with your own hands, and you still want to bring those few back with you.'
If Li Yan wasn't afraid of alerting the other demonic cultivators here, and if Jiao Hua's was the only squad present, he would have been tempted to destroy the essence souls of the other five in the restriction token, in addition to dealing with Yu Yuanjun.
Li Yan himself hadn't realized that as his cultivation grew, his disposition, like that of other cultivators, was slowly becoming more callous.
It was just that the deep attachment to family in his subconscious still remained in his heart, so he had always thought that he hadn't changed, that only the environment had.
This was the tragedy of a cultivator. The further one progressed in any cultivation method, the more some aspects of humanity would be slowly worn away and disappear.
Until the very end, perhaps only one's closest relatives could evoke a long-lost trace of warmth deep within a cultivator's heart.
But this was not to say that Li Yan was heartless, but that his standards for sentiment were becoming higher and stricter.
Yu Yuanjun opened his mouth to ask again, but at this moment, Li Yan had already stood up and said, "From now on, you will keep your mouth shut. We will handle everything. Otherwise, if you expose our tracks, you can forget about going back."
He then gave Hu Xiaowang a look. Hu Xiaowang took a deep breath, and with a wave of his sleeve, the door opened again. Then, the group filed out. They didn't want to stay here for another breath.
Without needing to be told, Yu Yuanjun obediently closed his mouth and followed nervously behind the group. As soon as Li Yan was in the courtyard, he shot a sidelong glance at Jiao Hua's room and said faintly, "Fellow Daoist Jiao, I'll go and verify it now. You'd better be telling the truth!" He spoke these words out of nowhere, leaving outsiders confused as to what had happened between the two demonic cultivators.