Zhao Yunxiao made sure that the spirit stones provided by Fei Weng were in place before tapping on a talisman placed in front of him.
Upon his touch, the numerous runes drawn on the talisman started emitting a cool bluish glow as they drew upon the world origin energy within the spirit stones.
Connection with the jade tablets – established!
Nearby, Sect Protector Pei continued to argue with the other deacons and protectors over what should be done, none of them paying any attention to Zhao Yunxiao as the latter began to speak calmly into the talisman.
***
Shit!
San Wanfan cursed in his heart as he saw the two pillars of fire charge towards him like vicious vipers trying to rip out his heart.
He hurriedly retreated before slashing the ground with his long glaive, drawing a clear line in front of him.
[Ice Wall]
A thick wall of ice shot up from the ground, just in time to stand in the way of the two flaming vipers.
Crack-!
The frosted surface prevented San Wanfan from seeing behind the ice wall, but the cracks that immediately started appearing said enough.
San Wanfan’s expression turned ashen, understanding that the ice wall would not last for long.
Still, this was enough to bring him a brief respite, during which he could take a good look around him to find out just how his party members were faring at the moment.
Including him, there were seven members in his party. Against Quan Hui’s party of six, they actually had a numbers advantage initially.
Who knew that the moment the fight started, Quan Hui herself would rush at the weakest member of his party, Yuan Shang?
While he had tried to rush over and help, attacks coming from an opponent at the Intermediate Origin Core realm immediately forced him to step back instead.
This was the same for his other party members, who were all forced back by the other opponents.
Being only at the Advanced Essence Physique realm, Yuan Shang did not stand a chance against Quan Hui, and had been taken out of the fight even before the rest could break out of their initial blockades.
This brought their numbers down to six – the same as their opponents.
Some might think that it was only fair, but they were facing a core disciple’s party here!
With a quick scan, San Wanfan could tell that each of his party members was struggling against their respective opponents.
At this rate, they probably would not be able to last another thirty minutes!
There was no other choice. They had to fight together instead.
San Wanfan was unsure if joining up to fight a team battle would change anything. However, what he knew for sure was that if they continued to fight individual battles like this, it would lead to certain defeat!
“Battle formations!” San Wanfan shouted.
Boom-!
The ice wall finally shattered under the onslaught of the flaming vipers, but San Wanfan was already out of there and on the way to join up with his party members.
Unfortunately, they were dealing with human opponents, not wild monsters.
Realising that he and his party members were trying to join up, their opponents instantly adjusted their attack patterns to prevent them from converging at one point.
This resulted in the battles being forced further and further apart – a result that was completely opposite from what San Wanfan had wanted.
It was clear that their opponents had realised their superiority in terms of individual combat prowess, and were not intending to allow any uncertainties to be introduced.
“Shit!” San Wanfan cursed out loud this time.
He had no idea what to do next, but he also did not have the luxury of stopping to think things through properly, especially with the two flaming vipers still chasing him from behind!
It was at this point that he suddenly heard a voice in his head.
[Escape in the northeast direction.]
Hmm?
San Wanfan was surprised for a moment before realising what just happened.
It was a message from the sect administrators!
He stole a glance at the rest of his party members, and all of them had the same startled look on their faces.
Seems like all of them got the message.
Good!
“Now!” San Wanfan shouted and shot towards the northeast direction.
The other five members heard his cue and rushed away at the exact same moment, catching their opponents by surprise as they suddenly broke away.
“Chase them!” Quan Hui ordered.
She was not about to let them get away just like that!
San Wanfan naturally realised that Quan Hui’s party was giving chase, and could not help but feel anxious about what was to come.
He was very clear about the challenges that the sect administrators faced in this event due to the limited amount of information that they had access to, so their instructions might not always be the best.
In fact, there had been cases in the past where the instructions from the sect administrators actually ended up doing more harm than good!
But at the same time, he also knew that they would only end up eliminated if they continued with what they were doing, so it was not like he had any better option than to trust in the sect administrators for now.
The messages did not stop there, either.
[You will soon spot either a lake or a cliff. If you arrive at a lake, give yourself two bursts of speed before continuing into the lake. If you arrive at a cliff, turn and head north instead.]
Either a lake or a cliff?
And what’s with the two bursts of speed?
San Wanfan felt the corner of his lips twitch.
As expected, the sect administrators were not certain about their directions. What a pain!
Yet despite his complaints, he could only follow the instructions given.
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What other choice did he have at this point?
Even if he wanted to stop following, he had to communicate this to his party members as well so that they did not end up splitting up.
But that was easier said than done, considering how all of them were currently busy running while fending off attacks from the back, courtesy of the relentless pursuit from their respective opponents!
After what felt like an eternity of running through the woods, it finally appeared.
A lake!
San Wanfan immediately halted in his tracks, shot forward, halted again, and then finally shot forward again.
This strange instruction to perform two short bursts of speed inevitably slowed him down a little. Fortunately, he had to match his pace to his party members anyway, so this did not cause him too much trouble.
As the strongest member of the party, if he did not pace himself, it was very likely that he would end up escaping alone and leaving his party members to be surrounded by Quan Hui’s party. That was definitely not what he wanted!
His responsibilities as the leader aside, being alone in the Four Symbols Mystic Realm was also a recipe for disaster.
Not to mention the sheer difficulty of acquiring treasures alone, he might even end up falling to the dangers of the mystic realm in the worst-case scenario!
***
Zhao Yunxiao watched closely as San Wanfan’s jade tablet dimmed and lit up twice in quick succession.
Two short bursts of speed... so, it’s the lake.
The imaginary map in his mind transformed yet again, the layers rearranging themselves to assimilate this new piece of concrete information.
At the same time, a faint smile of relief appeared on his face.
For it to be the lake instead of the cliff, that made things a lot simpler.
“San Wanfan, create an ice wall behind the entire group. Lou Guanlai, activate the Hydrocurtain Talisman right after the ice wall appears. Everyone, cross the lake once the talisman activates, but no one is to enter the lake before that.”
***
[Ice Wall]
San Wanfan drove his dantian to the limit, channelling a large portion of his essence energy as he slashed out with his long glaive.
A long wall of ice rose from the shore, drawing a line behind the entirety of his party to create a physical separation between them and their pursuers.
He had already decided to gamble on the instructions from the sect administrators, which was what allowed him to follow the instructions in the message without any hesitation. After doing so, he immediately glanced over at Lou Guanlai, who was another member of his party.
As for Lou Guanlai, he could not help but feel surprised when he heard the message come through.
A Hydrocurtain Talisman was a one-time-use talisman that helped to hide one’s presence in the water. This effect could also be extended to encompass a small party as long as it was willed by the user upon activation.
However, due to its limitation of only hiding their presences and not their actual figures, as well as how it could only be used in water, few cultivators actually bothered acquiring something like this.
If not for his father, Lou Quping, an administrative deacon at the Beastiary, who had given it to him for free, Lou Guanlai would not have had one with him either.
Still, the fact remained that he indeed possessed one right now, though this was something that not even his party members were aware of.
It was not like he was hiding this fact from his party, just that he simply did not see the need to say so.
In that case, how did the sect administrators know? Was his father there?
No, that was not possible.
Just like the past years, his father had been assigned with sect defence responsibilities during the opening of the Four Symbols Mystic Realm. Therefore, he could not possibly be the one giving instructions on the other end.
Who was it, then?
And even if it was someone who had realised that he possessed the Hydrocurtain Talisman, Lou Guanlai still hesitated to follow the given instructions.
That was especially the case when he looked at the calm-looking lake lying in the distance.
It definitely did not look dangerous by any measure.
Weren’t the sect administrators being a little too paranoid?
Despite the limitations of the Hydrocurtain Talisman, it was not cheap by any measure.
Wasn’t it too much of a waste to use it like this? As a random precaution?
Not just that, but activating the talisman would also require him to expend quite a bit of energy. That would put him in a disadvantageous position for dealing with Quan Hui’s party once they caught up!
Forget it! Now was not exactly the time to be thinking about all that. His party members were still waiting for him to take the lead.
He understood that the ice wall created by San Wanfan would not last for long. And for each additional moment of hesitation, he would effectively be increasing the odds of his party being caught up to by Quan Hui’s party!
With a flick of his wrist, the Hydrocurtain Talisman appeared in his hand.
Lou Guanlai steeled his resolve and, against his better judgement, channelled his essence energy into the talisman.
The one-time-use talisman immediately burned up in response, turning into six streaks of blue light that shot towards each member of the Mo Group, including Lou Guanlai himself.
This blue light disappeared the moment it made contact with its targets, almost as though it had never existed in the first place. However, all of them understood that the effect had already been activated.
“Meaningless struggle!”
Oblivious to their use of the Hydrocurtain Talisman, Quan Hui’s party fired numerous flaming projectiles after the Mo Group, instantly crushing the ice wall.
“Into the lake!” San Wanfan shouted.
On his cue, all six members of the Mo Group dived straight into the calm lake, albeit from different points along the shore.
“You are not getting away!” Quan Hui’s party immediately gave chase.
They might be more comfortable with techniques of the fire element, but that did not mean they were afraid of battling in a lake. Fighting underwater might reduce the firepower of their techniques, but it was only by a small degree.
That was hardly enough to turn the tides of battle.
With a loud splash, the six members of Quan Hui’s group entered the water, following right behind the Mo Group.
[Lou Guanlai, activate the Bloodmist Pocket.]
Lou Guanlai felt his heart ache as he brought out yet another expensive one-time-use talisman, though he still activated it without verbalising his complaints.
With its activation, the Bloodmist Pocket immediately created a mist of blood that lingered in the water, hiding their figures from their pursuers by reducing visibility to near zero.
Quan Hui’s party instinctively furrowed their brows as they came face to face with the sea of red.
All of a sudden, not only did they lose sight of their targets, but they also realised that they could no longer sense their targets’ presences.
However, that was not nearly enough to deter them from continuing with their pursuit.
The lake was only this big, and there were only so many places their targets could go.
Give chase!
Quan Hui led the charge by diving straight into the cloud of blood, her eyes flashing with a predatory intent akin to that of a bird of prey searching for its target.
Core disciples might be the envy of all other disciples, but they had their fair share of concerns as well.
Among these concerns, perhaps the most significant one was having to constantly live up to everyone’s expectations.
But since the humiliating encounter with Wei Yuandi about a month ago, Quan Hui could not help but feel a slight change in the way that her peers viewed her.
It felt as though each gaze that fell upon her was filled with mockery and disdain, judging her for not being able to stand up to her opponent despite having the numbers advantage.
As proud as she was, there was no way that she would allow this to continue.
In order to wash her humiliation from that day, Quan Hui had vowed to show everyone an explosive performance during the opening of the Four Symbols Mystic Realm.
She believed that only by doing so could she get her critics to shut up once and for all.
And considering how this was her very first encounter in the mystic realm, as well as how the other party belonged to Wei Yuandi’s Black Tortoise Sect, there was absolutely no way that she was going to let them get away unscathed!
On the other hand, San Wanfan and the rest of the Mo Group were not feeling nearly as passionate.
In fact, what they were feeling right now could be considered quite the opposite, especially after hearing a message that sent a chill down their spines.
[Get out of there as fast as you can. You are not alone in the lake.]