Sensing the surging, tide-like aura from the demonic cultivator behind him, Li Yan couldn't help but feel nervous. Just from this aura alone, he knew that this demonic cultivator was not someone they could handle. Li Yan felt that even if he were to escape alone, he would have no confidence.
At this point, Li Yan no longer dared to hide his tracks. He stomped fiercely on the Cloud-Piercing Willow. A circle of emerald light rippled out from the artifact, instantly filled with vitality. After a brilliant flash of light, it shot forward at an extremely high speed in the next moment.
The sudden acceleration of the Cloud-Piercing Willow stunned the others who were talking in low voices. Bai Rou asked cautiously, "What's wrong?"
They had just been discussing their escape, still feeling a little excited. After all, they had brought back a mission target, and they were now on their way back, all celebrating the fact that no one had died on this mission.
Although they were still vigilant for a moment, they were only paying attention to the cultivators around them, ready to react if they found anything amiss. This, of course, did not include Yu Yuanjun. He was hiding in a corner, constantly sizing up the people who had rescued him, still unable to get over why a demonic cultivator was involved.
"Someone's chasing us from behind!" Li Yan's voice was almost devoid of any emotion. After saying this, he suddenly pushed off with his feet and changed direction.
They were no longer heading straight north, but northwest. In Li Yan's perception, there were very few demonic cultivator squads in that direction.
Hearing Li Yan's words, Bai Rou and the others were startled and quickly scanned behind them with their divine sense. At this time, they were already more than four hundred miles away from Zhouyang Town. Among them, only Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun could sense it.
However, even with the cultivation of Bai Rou and the others at the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment, although they didn't see anyone pursuing them, they could vaguely feel a powerful pressure invading their divine sense. Because of this, no one doubted that Li Yan's divine sense was stronger than theirs.
Yu Yuanjun, who had been sitting in a corner, felt the killing intent in the pressure. Unable to see the other party, he became even more afraid.
"What... what kind of cultivator is chasing us? Is it a demonic cultivator, or a foreign cultivator? Is it a Golden Core cultivator?" he asked nervously.
Seeing Yu Yuanjun in this state, Hu Xiaowang couldn't help but feel a sense of contempt. This person was a Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, but now he seemed to have completely lost the dignity of a cultivator, acting timid and fearful.
He didn't look at Yu Yuanjun, but sighed at Bai Rou, "It's a Golden Core demonic cultivator, a very strong one!"
...
While Li Yan and his group were fleeing for their lives, more than a thousand miles to their northeast, two squads from Windy Cool Mountain were lying in ambush. They had been ordered to provide support for Li Yan's group.
They were even supposed to take over the mission directly if something happened to Li Yan's group. However, they had set out later than Li Yan's five and had been constantly obstructed along the way. It was only yesterday that they had arrived here.
But this squad found that they could no longer advance. For some unknown reason, crisscrossing divine sense probes from the demon clan's direction had appeared here, and they showed no signs of leaving.
Although there were gaps in the divine sense probes, if they hadn't been careful and waited for the best opportunity to try to advance, they would have been discovered long ago.
Now, if they advanced, they would be detected by the other party. But if they chose to advance during the gaps in the other's divine sense probes, no one could know when the next probe would appear.
At that time, they would be directly exposed to the other's divine sense. The cultivation of the one who could scan this far was definitely not something they could resist. A single divine sense attack from the other party, and none of them would survive.
"Senior Brother Gao, how can we enter Zhouyang Town like this? We've come all this way, and now we can't even get within two thousand miles of Zhouyang Town."
A cultivator said to a Malevolent Spirit Sect cultivator in front of him.
"This kind of situation has never happened before. There shouldn't be such dense divine sense probes here. It's as if something big is about to happen. For the other side to expend their divine sense like this, they must be clearing this battlefield of our cultivators," the Malevolent Spirit Sect cultivator said thoughtfully.
"Then what should we do? Martial Uncle Wei requires us to get close to Zhouyang Town and then find Junior Sister Bai and the others from the Heavy Peak Battalion's Ninth Squad."
"This... we can only try to sneak in slowly during the gaps in the other's divine sense scans," the Malevolent Spirit Sect cultivator said after a moment's thought, gritting his teeth.
The same thing was happening to another squad.
"There really is a problem. This speed is their true speed. At this rate, it's possible for them to have escaped more than two hundred miles in a very short time."
Teng Wuji suddenly discovered in his divine sense that the demonic cultivator squad he had locked onto had suddenly accelerated and changed direction.
At this point, he was certain that even if this squad wasn't the one causing trouble in Zhouyang Town, they were definitely up to something secretive.
At a distance of several hundred miles, the other party should have already sensed his pressure, which was why they had shown their true colors and fled for their lives.
Similarly, Teng Wuji was also certain that the demonic cultivator was a fake. With his cultivation, he of course knew that there were many ways to transform into a demonic cultivator that were difficult to detect and identify.
"What mission are you carrying out? Stop for this old man!" Teng Wuji's voice was like rolling thunder, rumbling out.
...
"A Golden Core demonic cultivator?" Bai Rou and the other two were shocked to hear Hu Xiaowang's words. Yu Yuanjun's face instantly became bloodless.
Yu Yuanjun muttered to himself, "I can't be captured again, I can't. I don't want to go back to the demonic cultivator squad, I can't go back..." Although Bai Rou and Sun Guoshu's faces had also changed, no one paid any attention to Yu Yuanjun. They were just nervously staring at Li Yan's back. They knew that the speed of the Cloud-Piercing Willow was their only hope of escape now.
"This magical treasure was given to Junior Brother Li by Martial Uncle Wei to save his life. It must still have power that hasn't been unleashed." This was the thought of the three, excluding Bai Rou.
Bai Rou also had a glimmer of hope for the Cloud-Piercing Willow, but she had more confidence in her Grandmaster Shuang Qingqing.
Hu Xiaowang and the others exchanged a look. They also knew that the power of a magical treasure had to be supported by one's cultivation.
"Junior Brother Li, can the Cloud-Piercing Willow be controlled by others? This way, we can provide support from the side!" Hu Xiaowang asked. They believed that relying solely on Li Yan's Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation was probably not enough to fully unleash the power of the Cloud-Piercing Willow.
When Hu Xiaowang said this, the eyes of the others were also full of eagerness. After all, Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun had the deepest cultivation here. If they were to control the Cloud-Piercing Willow, could the speed be even faster?
But Li Yan's answer in the next moment left them extremely disappointed. "The control manual for this magical treasure is unique. I can temporarily release control of the Cloud-Piercing Willow, and you can try to input all the control manuals for flying magical treasures you know."
What Li Yan meant was that the manual for the Cloud-Piercing Willow was unique, and others couldn't control it. No cultivator could just casually pass on their manuals, and even if he wanted to, there was no time now.
Since Li Yan could say this, Hu Xiaowang knew there was no need to try. What Li Yan said was true.
In this way, even with all their magic power, they couldn't provide any assistance from the side.
Just then, a majestic voice suddenly sounded in their ears. Even though a protective shield had risen from the Cloud-Piercing Willow, the voice still penetrated directly into the hearts of the six people without any hindrance.
The moment the voice sounded, except for Li Yan, the other five felt a thought of not daring to disobey rise from the bottom of their hearts.
It was as if this was a sound of heavenly might. If they had any rebellious thoughts, it would be a great disrespect, and in the next moment, heavenly punishment would befall them. Bai Rou and the other five's eyes immediately flashed with panic. After a pause, they actually started walking toward Li Yan.
This was an immortal art of Teng Wuji. Although it had no attack power, it had a great interference effect on a person's mind. Often, he only needed to use this art, and cultivators like those at the Foundation Establishment stage would immediately fall into a state of panic.
In their confusion, they would be unable to stop themselves and would really stop.
And the facts were indeed so. In an instant, Bai Rou and the other five all thought of stopping. However, seeing the Cloud-Piercing Willow continue to move forward, the few of them were about to try to control Li Yan in a moment and make him stop.
"Halt!" With a grave expression, Li Yan shouted loudly. The five people who were surrounding him suddenly stopped. In the next moment, clarity returned to their eyes, and sweat poured down their foreheads.
The spirit power in Li Yan's body still poured into the Cloud-Piercing Willow like a dark tide, and it continued to fly forward without any decrease in speed.
It was just that the iron-black face of the transformed demonic cultivator had turned pale, and his mind was buzzing. If not for his powerful divine sense and his magic power that was incomparable to a Pseudo-Core Realm cultivator, he might have also fallen for the trick.
But under the demonic cultivator's shout, Li Yan's face changed. His appearance instantly switched back and forth between Li Yan and the "Griefspirit Manor Lord." The illusion was on the verge of breaking.
Relying on the power of the True Scripture of Gui Water and his divine sense that far surpassed his peers, Li Yan had managed to resist Teng Wuji's immortal art. But this was also because Teng Wuji was a Body Cultivator, and spell cultivation was only his auxiliary practice.
At the same time, Li Yan also secretly rejoiced at his own foresight. The route he was now taking, relying on his own powerful divine sense, had long since avoided several demonic cultivator squads.
Otherwise, if this Demon Lord behind him had just ordered a demonic cultivator squad to intercept them, they would have been tied down, and escape would have been out of the question.
Li Yan took a deep breath. He glanced back at the five who were still in a daze. His body suddenly shrank rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, he had returned to his original form.
Then he opened his mouth and spat out a gray Demonic Core, which he caught in his hand and then put into his storage pouch.
"Eh?" After Teng Wuji cast his spell, the result was greatly beyond his expectations. Not only did the other party's speed not decrease, but it even seemed to have increased a little.
His immortal art had actually failed. This made Teng Wuji let out a soft "eh."
He had been flying out of Zhouyang Town for nearly ten breaths, but he hadn't been able to close the distance much. The high grade of the other party's flying magical treasure was beyond his expectations.
Moreover, his immortal art had failed, which was even more unexpected. Even if that person was deaf, his voice should have been able to penetrate into his mind.
Suddenly, the demonic cultivator in his divine sense rapidly shrank and returned to the form of a human cultivator. And what made Teng Wuji even more furious was that the person was holding a Demonic Core in his hand.
"Despicable human! To think you know how to use the power of a Demonic Core to transform! For every one of my clansmen you killed, I will make you suffer a thousand times the pain. All of you deserve to die!"
Teng Wuji's thunderous voice once again penetrated the armor of the Cloud-Piercing Willow and rang in Li Yan's and the others' ears. The expressions of Bai Rou and the others, which had just recovered a little, were once again filled with pain.
Li Yan, with his back to them, still seemed not to have heard. Only the green robe on his body was flapping without any wind, and large beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead. His heart was pounding violently, as if it were about to burst out of his chest at any moment.