Although Bai Rou, as a disciple of Four Symbols Peak, also understood the way of formations, the formations she had learned were mostly related to puppets. In a high-speed mission like this, which required setting up a formation covertly in the shortest possible time, she was not up to the task.
Next, the group had a detailed discussion based on this plan. In the end, they decided that Hu Xiaowang would set up a small formation on the inner side, filled with various poison pills and poisonous mists.
Moreover, this formation would only be used to activate the poison and would not be designed to trap enemies, allowing them to retreat from the town gate as quickly as possible and clear a path.
The position closer to the town gate would be handled by Yan Feijun, who would set up an illusion formation to create the illusion of a large number of demonic beasts attacking. This way, they would have a reason to charge out of Zhouyang Town to "kill the demonic beasts." However, the illusion formation had to have a life gate and a death gate. Those who entered the death gate would be trapped inside to delay the enemy.
In order to cause as much chaos and unease at the town gate as possible, Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun used all the poison they carried and put it all in. This time, they held nothing back.
Whether it was poison that made people lose their spirit power, invaded their internal organs, corroded their flesh and blood, or disturbed their minds, they threw it all in. This was also to strive for the greatest hope for their own lives.
At this moment, the advantages of the Four Symbols Peak disciples were fully demonstrated. Li Yan even thought that if he had been cooperating with disciples from the other four peaks on this mission, would it have been so easy to accomplish this?
Because formations could be activated remotely, just as Li Yan himself had once activated the Pine-Inkstone magical treasure in the battle with Ancestor Redfire in the desert.
As for things like poison pills and poison talismans, even if they could be thrown into a crowd, the probability of them being discovered was more than fifty percent. In that case, while causing chaos, the six of them would also become a target for all, and what was supposed to be a covert operation would turn into a frontal assault.
In the end, the result of carrying out the plan according to this plan made the group overjoyed. They had really walked out of Zhouyang Town smoothly.
"The physical bodies of those demonic cultivators are really formidable. Although they were hit by several types of poison, not a single one died instantly. Even those who were most deeply poisoned in the center only collapsed after escaping the formation."
Although they had escaped smoothly, Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun's expressions were exceptionally grave. This time, they had had the element of surprise, but in the end, the number of demonic cultivators they had managed to kill would probably not exceed ten.
And they had used up all the poison they could concoct. This gave them a deeper understanding of the demonic cultivators.
At this time, Li Yan was still in his demonic cultivator state, but the demonic qi on his body had begun to weaken. This was the result of him recklessly activating U Yuan's Demonic Core. More than seventy percent of the demonic qi inside had been lost.
The purer Demonic Origin Power at its core was also slowly being revealed, but Li Yan hadn't noticed it at this moment.
Li Yan smiled and said, "If we could kill seven or eight demonic cultivators at a time, the demonic cultivators on the Desolate Moon Continent wouldn't be able to withstand such a loss."
When he broke through the town gate just now, he had also swallowed the pills given to him by Hu Xiaowang and the others. Although Li Yan was very confident in his Fragmented Poison Body and believed that the poison pills concocted by Foundation Establishment cultivators would be ineffective against him, he was always cautious in his actions and would not really walk through a cloud of poison. That would be meaningless for him.
However, after receiving the pills, Li Yan still secretly scanned them one by one with his divine sense and carefully confirmed them with his experience in the way of poison before swallowing them.
Except for his closest relatives, he would always maintain a sense of vigilance towards everyone.
The reason Li Yan was still maintaining his demonic cultivator state was that he had discovered that by transforming into a demonic cultivator squad like this, he could really avoid a lot of trouble for a period of time.
However, their flying speed had already slowed down, matching that of a normal Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator, and they had blended back into their surroundings. In the dead of night, they didn't seem so unique.
When they encountered other patrolling demonic cultivator squads or demonic cultivators rushing to gather at Zhouyang Town, the other party would often just give them a surprised glance after a sweep of their divine sense and then not ask any more questions. They thought Li Yan's group was on some mission.
If it weren't for the fact that there were fewer demonic cultivator squads flying north now, making Li Yan's group still somewhat special, those demonic cultivator squads probably wouldn't even have been surprised.
Li Yan now wanted to take advantage of the fact that the other party had not yet reacted to get as far away from the demon clan army and Zhouyang Town as possible.
...
Just as Li Yan and his group had left Zhouyang Town, in less than two breaths, two powerful pressures suddenly descended on the town gate, followed by a cold shout.
"It's just two small formations. A mere illusion formation can scare you all like this."
As the cold shout fell, an irresistible, fierce astral wind swept over. First, the formation set up by Hu Xiaowang exploded into a sky full of crystal light with a boom, and the various colored mists were swept up into the sky.
Then, the illusion formation set up by Yan Feijun on the outer side only let out a "whimper" before collapsing without a trace. The eerie eyes of the demonic beasts in the dead of night also turned into a clear sky.
Only seven demonic cultivators were left standing foolishly in the illusion formation. Unlike Li Yan and his group, who had been guided by Yan Feijun to pass through the life gate and out of the formation, they had stepped right into the death gate. Just now they had been desperately fighting against a large number of demonic beasts, but now everything in front of them was empty, and the earth-shattering roars in their ears had also vanished without a trace.
The seven demonic cultivators couldn't help but look embarrassed. Just now they had been fighting for their lives, but it turned out they had been attacking empty space. At this moment, two heavy thuds were heard, and two tall demonic cultivators landed on the ground with a whoosh. One of them was slowly retracting his fist.
It was he who had just shattered the two formations with a single punch. In front of him, the two formations were like broken branches and rotten tiles.
The one who had thrown the punch was an old demonic cultivator. The middle-aged demonic cultivator standing next to him quickly walked toward the crowd.
Looking at the fourteen cultivators lying dead on the ground, and the many cultivators still healing in pain in the distance, the old demonic cultivator's face showed anger, and he said in a low voice, "Didn't we increase the clearing of the vicinity these two days? How could the enemy still sneak in, and a poison cultivator who can cause such large-scale casualties at that? We must find the three in charge of the outer perimeter security this time. Is this the result of their cross-checking divine sense scans?"
"We also need to take down the cultivators guarding the town gate one by one and see if they have colluded with the enemy," the middle-aged demonic cultivator who was surveying the surrounding situation also said coldly. His words were clearly referring to the South Sea cultivators who were assisting the demonic cultivators in guarding the entrance.
He saw that among the fourteen dead cultivators, six were demonic cultivators. He didn't care about the lives of the other human cultivators. Even if there were foreign cultivators among them, at most he would be reprimanded by his superiors. But the total number of demonic cultivators who had come to the Desolate Moon Continent was not enough. Every single demonic cultivator was precious.
As soon as the middle-aged demonic cultivator said this, the faces of many of the surrounding human cultivators instantly turned pale. They knew the consequences of being taken down. It wouldn't just be an interrogation, but the most inhumane thing of all—a soul search.
At this time, the middle-aged demonic cultivator also walked back. He didn't even look at the cultivators whose faces had changed. He had gone over not only to count the dead, but also to seal the poison in the bodies of the injured demonic cultivators.
"Brother Teng is right. The three of them must be held responsible for this, for causing the meaningless deaths of six of our clansmen.
"I've taken a look. The poison used by the other party is too vicious, and there are many types. Under the chaotic attack of several highly toxic substances, those six had no hope of survival.
"There are still five of our clansmen and three foreign cultivators whose internal organs were injured, but I have already sealed and suppressed the poison gas. They should be able to force it out after taking some pills later."
A sharp killing intent appeared in the middle-aged demonic cultivator's eyes. He and the old demonic cultivator were two of the Golden Core demonic cultivators in charge of registration at Zhouyang Town. When the incident happened, they were the ones who had come to investigate.
These two demonic cultivators had both reached the Mid-stage Golden Core, but the old demonic cultivator's cultivation method was more profound. Although they had reacted quickly, they still hadn't discovered that Li Yan and his group had escaped from here in the first instance.
This was also because Li Yan and his group's escape plan was well-thought-out and their actions were swift. The whole process was almost seamless, and they had blended into the many demonic cultivator squads outside the town gate as soon as they left.
Hearing the middle-aged demonic cultivator's words, the old demonic cultivator surnamed Teng, who was frowning and investigating, finally withdrew his divine sense and pointed to the north. "Junior Brother Wu, you take care of the aftermath here. There's a very suspicious squad. I'll be right back."
With that, the old demonic cultivator surnamed Teng's figure didn't stop for a moment. He had already soared into the air and plunged into the night.
Wu was a major surname among the demonic cultivators. This middle-aged demonic cultivator was of the same clan as U Yuan. It was most appropriate for him to handle this kind of aftermath. When questioned, he could also withstand the pressure.
Demonic cultivators had always been decisive in their actions. Looking in the direction where the old demonic cultivator surnamed Teng had disappeared, the middle-aged demonic cultivator frowned. He had also just probed in the direction the old demonic cultivator surnamed Teng had indicated. Two hundred miles away, there was indeed a demonic cultivator squad heading north at a relatively fast speed.
"If there were no other missions temporarily dispatched by the clan elders, it's very likely that this squad was the enemy who had just set up the formation here. But according to their flying speed, they shouldn't have appeared so far away so quickly," the middle-aged demonic cultivator said, puzzled.
...
Five hundred miles south of Zhouyang Town, in a mountain cave, four Demon Lords were opening their eyes. They were the Golden Core cultivators responsible for the security of Zhouyang Town's outer perimeter.
This kind of continuous use of divine sense for detection was what all demonic cultivators were most unwilling to do. Not only was it exhausting, but it also took a long time to recover their divine sense. Therefore, the higher-ups had sent four Demon Lords in shifts to carry out this task.
But even so, the four demonic cultivators couldn't bear the prolonged consumption of their divine sense over the twelve hours of a day. In the end, they only used their divine sense for scans for half the time. The rest of the time, they meditated and rested.
At this time, a demonic cultivator spoke slowly, "There should have been an attack at Zhouyang Town not long ago, causing quite a few casualties. Teng Wuji has already gone in pursuit. The target is a demonic cultivator squad."
"Senior Brother Tu, we've also seen it. It was just a harassing attack by some Foundation Establishment cultivators. Since Teng Wuji has gone to investigate, we naturally don't need to send anyone else out.
"That old scoundrel Teng Wuji is not only cunning, but his cultivation is also very profound. Even if we four sent someone out, the result might not be as good as his."
...
Li Yan, who was flying, suddenly's expression changed. However, he had been standing at the very front of the Cloud-Piercing Willow, so no one behind him noticed for a moment.
Since he had started fleeing, Li Yan had kept his divine sense constantly released, especially paying attention to the direction of Zhouyang Town. When Teng Wuji shattered the two formations with one punch, he had already noticed him.
He just didn't expect that this old demonic cultivator didn't stop at all. After a simple word with another demonic cultivator, he flew straight out of Zhouyang Town, and the direction he was flying was straight toward them. Right now, only he himself had discovered this.