Three days later, on the top of a mountain more than five hundred li south of Windy Cool Mountain, a mountain that soared into the clouds, Li Yan led a hundred cultivators to arrive. (TN: A li is a unit of distance, about 500 meters.)
This stretch of mountains and rivers was no longer the green and clear landscape it once was. Everywhere were large areas of fallen, broken trees and burnt, blackened vegetation.
Patches of wasteland covered in rubble looked as if a demon had passed through. Pits of all sizes were connected in one patch after another, and fragments of various magical treasures were scattered in many places.
Severed limbs and rotten intestines hung from blackened branches, and pools of purplish-black blood were visible everywhere. When a gust of wind blew past, it carried a thick, burnt, foul smell that was nauseating.
"Junior Brother Li, are you sure the order we received was to come here to take over the defense?"
The moment they arrived at the mountain top, the faces of Gong Yuantai and the old members of the Sixteenth Squad turned extremely ugly. Only after Gong Yuantai confirmed that Li Yan intended to stop here did he ask with a complex expression.
Hearing this, a sharp glint flashed in Li Yan's eyes. He had, of course, heard the vigilance, doubt, and even dissatisfaction in Gong Yuantai's words.
At the same time, he could also sense the abnormal fluctuations in the aura of many cultivators behind him. These abnormalities had appeared the moment he had stopped in the air above this mountain top, and they all came from the old members of the Sixteenth Squad.
Li Yan took out a jade slip. After immersing his Divine Sense into it and looking around, he raised his hand and handed the jade slip to Gong Yuantai.
"This is the jade slip from above. This is the right place. The location marked on it is very clear."
Gong Yuantai immediately took the jade slip. At the same time, Wang Ning, Wuye, and the other newly conscripted Pseudo-Core cultivators beside him also noticed the change in the expressions of the old members of the Sixteenth Squad.
Wang Ning was straightforward and immediately asked Gong Yuantai, "Is there a problem here?"
Gong Yuantai withdrew his Divine Sense from the jade slip, his expression growing even more solemn. Before he could answer, two figures had already flown up quickly from below, and someone shouted at the same time.
"Are you the Fellow Daoists from the Sixteenth Squad here to take over the defense?"
With so many of them flying over, they had naturally been discovered by those below long ago. It was just that they had come from the direction of Windy Cool Mountain, which was their rear.
The Windy Cool Mountain defense was spread out in a line, and the east and west sides were further supplemented by the two defensive points of Demon-Swallowing Ridge and Sword-Subduing Abyss. If so many enemies were to bypass them, they would definitely be discovered, and they would receive a voice transmission at the first opportunity.
In addition, they had received orders last night that someone would be taking over the defense today, so they had long been prepared.
Seeing two people flying up quickly from below, Gong Yuantai immediately swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue. The others also had to shift their gazes to the newcomers below.
The two figures flew up to Li Yan and the others at an extremely fast speed. When the rainbow light faded, a man and a woman appeared.
The man was about forty years old, tall and thin, with deep-set eyes. But his pupils were black and white, and at this time, they were covered in bloodshot veins. His aura was like a knife or a sword, giving people a sharp feeling.
The woman looked to be only about thirty. Her appearance was plain, but her figure was plump and fair. Her lotus-root-like arms were half-exposed, and she held a willow-leaf saber about a foot long, its blade slender and sharp.
She wore a lotus-green long dress. Looking at her figure alone, she had a somewhat charming appearance. But from her half-squinted, smiling-yet-not-smiling eyes, anyone could see that this woman was not to be trifled with.
The clothes on both of them were somewhat tattered, and there were many dark brown stains on them.
Although the female cultivator's lotus-green long dress was slightly cleaner than the male cultivator's clothes, she also exuded an air of having been through battle. Li Yan sensed a murderous aura from them, as well as a strong smell of blood!
The one who had just asked the question was the tall and thin male cultivator. When the two of them appeared, it was still the male cultivator who spoke.
"Please show me the defense takeover jade slip!"
His tone was grim and cold, without a trace of emotion. After speaking, his bloodshot eyes fixed firmly on Li Yan's face. He had already seen that Li Yan was the leader.
Li Yan looked at the tall and thin male cultivator. The man's eyes held a vigilance that trusted no one. The female cultivator next to him seemed harmless, but the light from her saber was flickering erratically.
The two of them showed no fear in the face of a hundred cultivators. Instead, it was Li Yan's side that seemed more like the lambs to the slaughter.
Li Yan smiled faintly. He raised his hand, and a light yellow jade slip appeared in his palm. With a gentle toss, the light yellow jade slip flew lightly towards the tall and thin male cultivator.
At the same time, Li Yan said calmly, "I am the captain of the Sixteenth Squad, Li Yan!"
Seeing the light yellow jade slip fly over, the tall and thin male cultivator did not reach out to catch it. Instead, he flicked his sleeve, and a burst of vigorous energy transformed into a giant palm, grabbing the light yellow jade slip in its hand.
His eyes remained fixed on Li Yan and his group. After seeing that they made no other unusual movements, he finally released a wisp of Divine Sense. He first sensed the outside of the jade slip, and after confirming that there was nothing unusual, the tall and thin male cultivator carefully probed the jade slip with his Divine Sense.
After a moment, the tall and thin male cultivator withdrew his Divine Sense from the jade slip, his expression having softened considerably. He first nodded to the plump female cultivator by his side, and only then did he cup his fist at Li Yan again.
"So it is Fellow Daoist Li Yan. Please follow me. We will discuss the matter of handing over the defense in the cave below."
As he said this, a deep sense of fatigue appeared on his face for the first time.
After giving Li Yan a word of instruction, the tall and thin male cultivator said no more. A flash of light appeared in his hand, and a palm-sized bronze compass appeared. He held the compass and waved it towards the space below.
The originally empty void below emitted a "weng, weng, weng" sound, and then a faint, obscure light flashed quickly in everyone's eyes.
Seeing this, many people exclaimed in surprise, "This is... an Offensive-Defensive Grand Formation!" Only then did many people understand why these two showed no fear in the face of their hundred people. It turned out they had long been within the attack range of the other party's grand formation.
It was just that this kind of "Offensive-Defensive Integrated Formation" that could cover the entire mountain was already very difficult to refine. It was said that only a Nascent Soul level formation master could refine it, and it could generally be compared to the sect-protecting grand formation of a second-rate sect.
Of course, the spiritual stones consumed by such a grand formation were astonishing. If it were a third-rate cultivation sect, they would probably have to disband and abandon their sect in less than half a month.
Li Yan was also amazed. When he had first flown to this mountain, he had felt a sense of deadly threat and had guessed that there might be a formation restriction here. But he had the jade slip with him, so he was calm in his heart.
He just hadn't expected it to be such a grand formation. If the other party had recklessly activated the formation restriction upon meeting them, without any preparation, it was possible that a small half of their hundred people would have perished on the spot.
The tall and thin male cultivator put away the compass in his hand and plunged downwards. The plump female cultivator also showed a relaxed expression at this time. After waving at Li Yan and the others, she also plunged down.
Li Yan and his group naturally had no objection to the other party's proposal. The group followed the man and woman down to the mountain top.
During the descent, the two cultivators in front did not say another word. And the original members of Gong Yuantai's Sixteenth Squad had even gloomier expressions, as if each of them was weighed down by heavy thoughts.
This made the rest of the cultivators, including Li Yan, feel that something was amiss.
During the flight, Li Yan felt as if he had hit an invisible, transparent wall. But after a slight pause, he passed through it.
The scene that appeared before his eyes now was completely different from the mountain scenery he had seen from the outside. This mountain was about fifty li in radius.
At this time, although there were also large patches of fallen forests on the continuous mountain range, there was at least thirty percent of green dotted around, which was much more vibrant than the outside.
Here, there were teams of cultivators flying in the air on patrol. When these cultivators saw Li Yan and his group being led by the tall and thin male cultivator and the woman, they only took a glance before flying away directly, without saying a half a word.
Soon, they landed on a small platform on the mountain top. This platform was very simple and should have been casually created by someone with magic power. The color of some of the rocks on the ground was completely different from the weathered mountain body, so it shouldn't have been long.
The platform was not large. On the side close to the mountain, there were eight or nine cave entrances of various sizes.
At this time, there were seven or eight cultivators on the platform, either standing or sitting. Some of them were closing their eyes to rest, some were staring blankly in one direction, and some were even holding a branch and drawing or pointing on the ground, who knows what they were writing or drawing.
Each of them seemed to be injured. The clothes of some were cut open, and the area was still bright red, as if it had just been treated.
Just the appearance of the two female cultivators made the dozen or so female cultivators in Li Yan's team, including Wang Ning, show astonished expressions.
Although some female cultivators didn't care about their appearance, most of them still paid great attention to their external image. The clothes of the two female cultivators on the platform below were tattered and dirty, but their faces were very clean. Both of them were good-looking, but they seemed to not care about their exposed skin at all.
When these people on the platform saw the tall and thin male cultivator, some of them just nodded and seemed to turn a blind eye to Li Yan and the others.
The tall and thin male cultivator and the plump female cultivator also just nodded slightly and remained silent, leading Li Yan and his group towards a cave entrance in the northeast corner of the platform.
It was as if in this world, the arrival of Li Yan and his group was just a gust of mountain wind blowing past.
Since they had entered, Li Yan and his group had felt a deathly silence. Even though it was broad daylight, it felt lifeless.
This was a very large cave, at least completely different from how it looked from the outside just now. It should be able to accommodate one or two hundred people without any problem.
In the cave, there were still twelve cultivators. They were also in ragged clothes, covered in bloodstains and unknown liquids, and all looked as if they were seriously injured.
The twelve people were scattered in various corners of the cave, either sitting cross-legged in meditation or lying on the ground fast asleep, without a trace of the appearance of an immortal.
Some people, upon seeing Li Yan and his group approaching, only lifted their eyelids and no one paid any attention or cast any inquiring gazes, just as indifferent as the cultivators they had met outside just now.
After entering the cave, the tall and thin cultivator swept his gaze over these people and let out a soft sigh. Although the sound was small, Li Yan, who was following behind him, heard it clearly.
At the same time, Li Yan also saw from the side the plump female cultivator's tightly bitten lower lip and the knuckles of her hand gripping the willow-leaf saber turning white. The fatigue on the tall and thin male cultivator's face grew even stronger.
The tall and thin cultivator led Li Yan's hundred people through these indifferent cultivators and soon arrived at the back of the cave.
Seeing that Li Yan and his group had all followed him in, the tall and thin cultivator did not hesitate and showed a smile to Li Yan for the first time.
"Fellow Daoist Li, next, I will explain the defense purpose and defense range of 'Mutual Destruction Ridge' to you."