As Li Yan was sending the voice transmission to Yu Yuanjun, he himself also raised a large hand and lightly wiped it across his mouth, as if he too had swallowed a pill.
Then, he let out a soft chuckle and nodded again at Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun. Immediately after, a fierce glint flashed in the eyes of Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun, and their lowered sleeves suddenly stirred.
Suddenly, at the town gate not far from Li Yan and the others, clouds of smoke rose up, followed by a series of explosions. In an instant, the originally orderly town gate was filled with thick smoke and shouts.
This happened so suddenly that in a flash, in the darkness in front of Zhouyang Town's exit, pairs of eyes, some eerie green, some blood-red, some pale white, appeared, and all sorts of strange "wuwu..." cries filled the air.
In the next moment, the smoke in the sky above the town gate grew thicker, and cries of alarm, anger, and pain came from all around.
"Demonic beast attack..."
"Quick, demonic beasts are attacking..."
"Hiss... this mist is poisonous..."
"Be careful of the smoke spewed by the demonic beasts, it's highly poisonous... cough... cough..."
For a moment, the town gate descended into chaos. Many cultivators were already running frantically into the town, but after running a short distance, they collapsed on the ground in pain, their bodies contorted, blood streaming from their ears and noses.
Many other cultivators, however, ran in the opposite direction, toward the town gate, shouting, "Demonic beast attack, kill them!" As they spoke, demonic qi surged from their bodies. Of course, the vast majority of these cultivators were demonic cultivators.
At the same time, among the cultivators running out of the town gate, Li Yan's group of six was in the mix. They were already very close to the gate and had been prepared. With just a few leaps, they had reached the exit.
Yu Yuanjun was currently being carried by Li Yan. Just now, Yu Yuanjun had no idea what was happening. He was holding the pills in his hand in a daze, and even after being shouted at by Li Yan, he was still at a loss.
But it was no wonder. He had been of two minds, thinking about how to save his own life, and he was wary of Li Yan and the others, keeping his distance.
Furthermore, Li Yan and the others had not told him a single detail of their plan beforehand. This was also because Li Yan and the others were not confident in Yu Yuanjun and had kept the escape plan from him.
Seeing that even his shout hadn't snapped the dazed Yu Yuanjun out of it, and that this was the best opportunity, Li Yan frowned. He reached out and pinched Yu Yuanjun's cheeks. With a little force, Yu Yuanjun let out a low cry, his mouth opening involuntarily.
Only then did Yu Yuanjun's mind completely clear. He instinctively tried to push away Li Yan's hand, not knowing what the other wanted to do.
But to his horror, Li Yan's hand seemed to belong to an ancient giant god. His push didn't move it at all; instead, it sent a painful jolt through his own fingers.
Startled, he quickly raised both hands, intending to pry open Li Yan's hand again. Li Yan paid no mind to his resistance.
He squeezed Yu Yuanjun's hand with a little force, lifted him up, and then gave him a gentle shake. This shake was no small matter. Yu Yuanjun could no longer control the spirit power in his body. His raised hands swayed with his body, as if he were having a seizure.
At the same time, Li Yan had already charged forward. With his other hand, he had caught the pills that had scattered from Yu Yuanjun's hand and were falling, and in the next moment, he had stuffed them into Yu Yuanjun's mouth.
Li Yan's series of actions were as smooth as flowing water. Yu Yuanjun, a Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, seemed to have no resistance in his hands, as if he had completely lost the ability to fight back.
This made the eyelids of Bai Rou and the others twitch. But they didn't know Yu Yuanjun's true strength, so they thought he was one of those cultivators whose realm was higher than his actual cultivation, and who had lost much of his combat power due to a great loss of vigor and blood.
Only Yu Yuanjun himself was horrified beyond words. He had survived until now not by luck, but by his own strength. Yet in the other's hands, he had no ability to resist at all.
"This is not a Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator, but a Golden Core demonic cultivator!" For a moment, Yu Yuanjun even forgot to struggle, letting Li Yan carry him as he charged toward the town gate.
Li Yan and his group were almost the first to reach the direction of the town gate. At this time, the gate was in chaos, with two streams of people flowing in opposite directions.
One direction was the demonic cultivators who had charged out of the thick fog at the gate, stumbling back into the town. The other was the demonic cultivators from inside the town who had reacted, opening the protective shields around their bodies and charging forward.
Li Yan and his group were, of course, in the latter group, shouting loudly, "Enemy attack! Enemy attack..."
Upon reaching the town gate, unlike the other demonic cultivators, they didn't stop for a moment and plunged headfirst into the thick fog ahead.
At this time, Yu Yuanjun had already inhaled a lot of smoke. He felt dizzy and nauseous, on the verge of fainting. A good part of the reason was being swung around by Li Yan. To make matters worse, his spirit power had just been dispersed by Li Yan, and for a moment, he couldn't muster any to resist.
Just as he was opening his mouth to retch, a cool sensation suddenly rose from his lower abdomen, instantly dispelling the nausea and clearing his entire mind.
And it was because his mind was clear that the next scene made Yu Yuanjun's soul almost fly out in terror. He saw that in the thick fog ahead, all sorts of roars shook the heavens. Vaguely, pairs of eerie, ferocious eyes were densely packed everywhere, and they were getting closer and closer.
The demonic cultivator carrying him seemed to have no fear at all, leading the charge like a shooting star. Yu Yuanjun felt a chill run down his spine, and meaningless "ho ho ho..." sounds escaped his lips. Spirit power surged from his body, and in his struggle, he tried to break free from Li Yan's grasp. The next moment, a cold snort from Li Yan echoed in his mind. "Behave yourself, or I'll kill you right now!" With that, Yu Yuanjun felt a great force strike the back of his neck, directly entering his body and instantly dissipating the spirit power he had just mustered.
Just as despair rose in Yu Yuanjun's heart, his vision suddenly blurred, and they appeared in the somewhat familiar scene of the town gate under the starlight. At this time, there were no terrifying demonic beasts in front of him; it was a clear view of heaven and earth.
Without any scruples, while the other demonic cultivators were still affected by the poisonous fog and cautiously advancing, Li Yan and his group had been the first to charge out.
Li Yan, who was running forward at a great pace, suddenly had the Cloud-Piercing Willow flash beneath his feet. It rapidly enlarged, and he placed Yu Yuanjun on it. Bai Rou and the other four behind him also stepped onto the Cloud-Piercing Willow at this moment.
Everything was as smooth as flowing water, as if it had been foreseen. To the astonishment of some of the squads that had just arrived from afar outside the town gate, the six of them had already whistled into the distance, disappearing into the thick night in an instant.
All of this happened in just a few breaths. And these squads that had just arrived from outside the town had no idea what had happened behind the thick fog and were still in a daze.
They just saw a demonic cultivator with a menacing aura lead his people and fly away, not even bothering to glance at them. This made these squads think that something had happened in the town, and that this squad was in pursuit of something.
But they hadn't seen anything unusual on their way here. They couldn't help but look at each other in bewilderment. However, seeing the pure, rolling demonic qi on Li Yan, no one for a moment thought they were fakes, and no one came forward to stop them.
Just like that, Li Yan and his group flew north for about a hundred miles in one go, with no one pursuing them from behind. Along the way, Li Yan didn't say a word, channeling all his spirit power like a raging tide, continuously and forcefully pouring it into the Cloud-Piercing Willow. This made the Cloud-Piercing Willow race northward at an almost insane speed.
Bai Rou and the others couldn't help but marvel. Only now did they realize that the speed of the Cloud-Piercing Willow could reach such a level, about twenty percent faster than when they were being chased by that eight-man demonic cultivator squad.
But they didn't think too much about it. Back then, they still needed to conceal their movements, and they also knew that Junior Brother Li probably couldn't maintain such a speed for long.
At this time, Hu Xiaowang finally let out a sigh of relief. "Junior Brother Li, your plan really succeeded. We've finally left that demon's den."
At the same time, the others also let out a heavy breath. When they were in Zhouyang Town, everyone had been on edge, filled with fear. If their identities had been discovered, not to mention their corpses, even their souls would have been obliterated.
Only now did the group finally let out a long sigh of relief. Of course, this didn't include the utterly confused Yu Yuanjun. He was looking around with a blank expression, his mind still thinking, "Escaped... we escaped... we actually escaped?"
Long before calling Yu Yuanjun over, Li Yan and the others had begun planning their withdrawal in the room. But after several plans, they all felt that the town gate was the key to their failure, with the highest probability of an accident.
This was a gathering place for a large army. How could they let people leave so easily? Not only would that make it difficult to keep track of personnel, but it would also be very likely that the cultivators of the Desolate Moon Continent would get wind of it and see through the facade.
This could be inferred from the powerful divine senses they had sensed earlier, which were gradually extending outward to control the area. So, Li Yan felt that to leave this place, they needed an appropriate method at the town gate.
After thinking of several plans, they all felt they were not feasible. In the end, it seemed that in more than half of the scenarios, they couldn't avoid having to fight their way out. But everyone knew what the outcome of that would be.
For a time, the group's brows were tightly furrowed, and they were anxious. They couldn't stay in the courtyard for long. Time was extremely pressing.
Finally, Li Yan gently tapped his finger on the table and looked at Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun. "I feel that this matter can only be resolved if the two of you, Senior Brothers, take action!"
Hearing that Li Yan had a plan, the group's spirits were lifted.
"This plan is to rely on the two Senior Brothers' advanced formation skills. First, we need to be able to reach the town gate. This is not a problem.
"At that time, I will attract the attention of the demonic cultivators guarding there, while Senior Sister Bai and Fellow Daoist Sun will cover for the two of you, Senior Brothers. At that point, it will depend on whether the two of you can secretly set up a formation at the town gate.
"Use all the poison you can in these formations. The goal is to cause chaos at the town gate. We might be able to take the opportunity to escape then."
After hearing Li Yan's plan, the group's eyes lit up. They felt that this plan had some feasibility and was much more stable than their other plans. If implemented well, they could really leave this place without any danger.
"The town is now crowded. With our attainments in formations, as long as no one is paying special attention, or there isn't a formation expert or a powerful demonic cultivator nearby, we can set up a small formation of about fifty feet in radius within three to eight breaths, while suppressing the spirit power fluctuations to a minimum."
Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun exchanged a look before speaking.
Because Yan Feijun now had a severed wrist, Hu Xiaowang had extended the time for setting up the formation. Before, they were confident they could complete such a small formation in two to four breaths.
"Three to eight breaths? We definitely have that much time. As for the three unexpected situations, Senior Sister Bai and the others will provide cover for the first one. The chances of encountering the other two are very small. Besides, even if we do, we have no other choice but to take the risk."
Li Yan nodded, and Bai Rou and Sun Guoshu also nodded in agreement. With a success rate of over fifty percent, it was certainly worth a shot.