He wasn't leaving Feng Zaiyu behind just to assist Fang Guangjun.
On the other side, Feng Zaiyu took the voice transmission talisman with a look of tacit understanding and then seemingly casually selected fifteen people, who all stood behind Fang Guangjun. Fang Guangjun seemed to glance at these people casually, then turned his gaze back to the mountain wall in front of him, unconcerned.
At this time, the Feng family's ancestor once again brandished the gray skull in his hand. At this moment, everyone became unusually silent.
Li Yan, standing in the crowd behind Fang Guangjun, glanced at Feng Zaiyu. With his cautious nature, he saw something different.
'This Feng family ancestor probably can't fully trust that Fang Guangjun. The fifteen people Feng Zaiyu seemingly picked at random, including himself, actually include four family heads. Each family head's cultivation is around the tenth layer of Qi Condensation. He has gathered most of the Feng family's elite in one go. If any important treasure is discovered here later, Feng Zaiyu will probably send a secret voice transmission to the Feng family's ancestor at the first opportunity. It won't be easy for Fang Guangjun to take too much advantage of this opportunity.'
Li Yan thought to himself. The Feng family ancestor's words were beautifully spoken, covering all aspects and leaving no flaws, but his actions were guarded at every step. He had Feng Zaiyu stay behind, on one hand, to take care of Feng Tao, and on the other, to take the opportunity to keep an eye on Fang Guangjun. But his words were all for the sake of others. Even if Feng Zaiyu had chosen the stronger family cultivators to stay, it would only be seen as him following orders to take extra care of Tang Tian and the others.
Age brings cunning. Among cultivators, even if their cultivation is not high, as long as they can live long enough, every one of them is a crafty old fox.
"Whoosh!"
With a low whistle of wind, a gust of wind suddenly blew out from the mountain wall in front of the Feng family's ancestor. The wind carried a damp, cold Yin energy. Then, a semi-transparent, membrane-like barrier appeared on the mountain wall. Li Yan and the others could see the blurry scene outside through the barrier, but they couldn't see it clearly.
Before everyone could take a closer look, the Feng family's ancestor had already let out a low shout, "Go!"
Before his voice had even faded, he had already charged into the semi-transparent barrier. In an instant, his entire body was like a fish entering water, directly merging into the barrier and then disappearing. The twenty-odd Feng family cultivators behind him also charged into the barrier one after another.
Soon, in less than three breaths, all twenty-odd people had left.
Fang Guangjun turned around and said with a smile, "Let's go!"
When Li Yan stepped out of the barrier, he felt the light in front of him brighten slightly, and his feet were already on solid ground. After a quiet turn of his Divine Sense, Li Yan silently retracted it. He would never let his guard down at any time.
At this moment, they had already left the underground. As soon as they came out, they heard distant, intermittent cries. It was the sound of ghosts wailing mixed with the whistling of the wind, rising and falling one after another, making one's whole body tense up.
Li Yan found that this was a mass burial ground. Seven or eight people were already standing in front of him. The entire world was dark and gloomy. Gusts of black and yellow energy drifted through the air. From time to time, a yin wind would blow past, stirring the black and yellow energy into a rapid flow. Accompanied by the distant wails of ghosts, these black and yellow gases rustled the weeds on the ground.
Li Yan's feet were on a pitted and uneven ground. The endless earth was dark brown, with small clumps of unknown weeds growing on it, like a huge mangy scalp. Between the pits and hollows, some dark yellow or dark black strips of wood lay scattered, their splinters no longer sharp, appearing decayed and mottled.
Li Yan looked closely and saw that those strips of wood were clearly sections of coffins exposed from the ground. Looking into the distance, from near to far, among the undulating terrain, broken tombs were scattered, and tombstones were inserted into the ground, either straight or crooked, with some characters visible on their incomplete surfaces.
In an instant, Tang Tian and the others felt as if they had walked from the Yellow Springs Road to the Netherworld Realm.
A thick smell of decay filled the air, making Tang Tian and the others feel uncomfortable. The spiritual energy here had become almost nonexistent. For Tang Tian and the others, this immediately gave them a sense of insecurity.
"This place is conducive to cultivation?"
Tang Tian frowned, looked around again, and then looked at Wu Yizhen and Tian Denghu, whose faces had already started to turn pale. Finally, his gaze fell on Feng Tao in front of him. Because he saw that the Feng family disciples who had just come out had expressions of extreme enjoyment, and although Feng Tao's expression was not that exaggerated, she didn't seem to mind.
"Oh, Eldest Senior Brother, the cultivation method of my Feng family is special. Even when we breathe in spiritual energy, it is ultimately converted into Yin energy in our bodies. Although my constitution cannot fully inherit the family's cultivation method, I have cultivated it since I was young, so I'm used to it."
Feng Tao quickly explained in a low voice.
"Fellow Daoist Tang, when we fight with the ghost creatures later, you all may not be able to exert your full strength. You must pay attention to this point and not let it affect your judgment."
At this time, Feng Zaiyu's voice sounded in the ears of Tang Tian and the others. He was standing behind Fang Guangjun and had obviously heard Tang Tian's question, so he turned his head to remind them.
Tang Tian nodded. Then he turned his head and stared at Zhang Ming, who was behind and to the side. That Zhang Ming still had a blank expression, showing no signs of surprise or fear.
'I don't know if this person is putting on a brave face or if he is really not afraid of ghost creatures.'
Tang Tian thought to himself. He didn't like this new junior brother named Zhang Ming very much. This person was very mercenary, wanting to get his hands on any spirit stones and benefits. A disciple with no backing in the sect, and also with no perceptiveness. It was one thing not to know humility, but to be so ignorant of worldly affairs.
'I hope you don't come begging me for help later!'
This Zhang Ming, apart from their own group, was even less familiar with the Feng family disciples. It seemed that Martial Uncle Fang was going to take control of the overall situation here, so he might not be able to pay attention to this side at all times. At that time, in this group, he would have the highest cultivation, and the others would also look to him for leadership.
Soon, Fang Guangjun's team of cultivators had all come out from the semi-transparent barrier behind them. At this time, the Feng family's ancestor and his group were already nowhere to be seen.
"How will we proceed with the cleanup later?"
In front, Fang Guangjun looked at the crowd behind him, his voice not loud, but it reached everyone's ears.
"This is the outer perimeter. We will push forward from here later. We just need to go through the area like a comb, capture and seal the cultivation of all the ghost creatures one by one, or kill them directly. Then we will take the things from their tombs and leave a mark here before leaving. Others will know that this place has been cleaned up when they sense it. The rest of the matters will be handed over to the Feng family. When we have advanced fifty to sixty li, there will be a very difficult to enter large tomb. We can stop there. That is the main tomb. At that time, we will have to trouble Senior Fang to open the passage to the main tomb. I believe the ancestor has also told you about this."
Feng Zaiyu replied respectfully.
Fang Guangjun nodded and scanned his surroundings.
"We start pushing from here?"
"Yes, the two Foundation Establishment ghost creatures that died this time were located in very coincidental places. One of them happened to be at the edge of the area covered by the Feng family's grand formation. We just need to spread out horizontally and push forward now."
Fang Guangjun was aware of some important information. The Feng family's ancestor had already explained it to him on the way here. He then turned his head and said to the crowd.
"Then let's begin now. Everyone, spread out horizontally and clean up. I will be in the rear. If any problems arise, or if I sense the appearance of a powerful ghost creature, I will be there as soon as possible. This area is only a hundred li. As long as you give a warning and hold on for a bit, I will arrive. Take these things with you. After you have cleaned up a tomb, place this item in the tomb."
As he spoke, Fang Guangjun flicked his sleeve, and streaks of green light shot towards the crowd behind him, which were caught one by one by the disciples. It was a small branch with about thirty green leaves. Li Yan sensed it and found that there was a faint spiritual energy on the branch, while the green leaves emitted a trace of Yang energy.
At this time, Feng Zaiyu's words also sounded in a timely manner.
"After cleaning up a tomb, just place a green leaf inside. Thirty-odd green leaves per person is definitely enough."
"Alright, one person will stay here. The rest of you, come up. I will take you over." As soon as Feng Zaiyu's voice fell, a black shield had already materialized under Fang Guangjun's feet.
They had already delayed here for seven or eight breaths. Now he had to quickly spread these cultivators out over a hundred li. If he let them get into position one by one, it would take too much time. If he alerted some of the powerful ghost creatures nearby, especially a ghost creature like a Jiangshi King, it would be troublesome. However, according to the Feng family's ancestor, the more powerful the ghost creature, the longer they slept. Absorbing Yin energy in their sleep was their main way of cultivating. The reason the Feng family could slowly expand their territory was that these ghost creatures had limited spiritual intelligence and didn't know what encroachment was. Otherwise, they would have long since joined forces to wipe out the Feng family.
Even this time, with the sudden appearance of three powerful ghost creatures, the Feng family still didn't know why they had joined forces. The matter had caught the Feng family completely off guard. So, the Feng family wanted to quickly cover these places with a grand formation, also with the intention of properly investigating the reason. This was another reason why the Feng family's ancestor had not killed the escaped ghost creature in the end. If he had wanted to, he could have done it with all his strength.
Seeing cultivators being thrown off the shield by Fang Guangjun one by one, Tang Tian hadn't expected the tomb to be cleaned up this way. In that case, even if Zhang Ming needed help, it wouldn't necessarily be him.
'I hope you're not a mangled corpse when I see you!'
Tang Tian glanced at the expressionless Zhang Ming and thought with some disappointment.
Li Yan was soon thrown off the shield as well. With Fang Guangjun's speed, a hundred-li range was nothing. Dropping people was like dropping dumplings. He would drop a cultivator about every five or six li. If it weren't for the fact that there were too many and too dense tombs here, with Fang Guangjun's speed, he himself could have quickly swept through this outer area.
Li Yan stood on the ground and looked around. The scene here was basically the same as what he had seen before, just that there was no one else around. Li Yan didn't hesitate and walked straight ahead. At this moment, a dozen zhang away from him, a fierce ghost with a scarlet tongue and colorful clothes was staring at him.
Li Yan didn't think he was unlucky. Why was it that when they were standing at the barrier just now, not a single ghost creature had appeared? That should have been taken care of by the Feng family's ancestor and the others who came out first.
This ghost with a pale face, upon seeing Li Yan, who had been somewhat dazed and was just walking around, suddenly moved like the wind, turning into a blur and pouncing towards Li Yan. And Li Yan, while walking forward nonchalantly, was scanning his surroundings with his Divine Sense, as if he hadn't seen the pouncing ghost creature.
Just as the ghost creature was upon him like the wind, its long tongue shot out like lightning.