I’ve Led the Villain Astray, How Do I Fix It?
Chapter 409
As the strongest nascent soul cultivator in Liuguang sect, there was no doubt that the task of guarding the sect would be led by Big Foot Luo.
Although he had great confidence in his master’s strength, accidents could happen on the battlefield. Besides, the devils were not to be underestimated. Even Master Big Foot might not necessarily gain any benefits!
Apart from Big Foot Luo, what worried him even more was the devil-slaying army. After all, a nascent soul cultivator like Big Foot Luo could escape if things got too dire, but the devil-slaying army mainly relied on battle formations. Their individual strength was not particularly high, and if they got surrounded, they might not be able to break free.
Moreover, now that the Xu family had moved as a whole from Moxin City to Yunxiao City, if Yunxiao City lost its defenses, it would be better if they retreated earlier, but if it was too late…
Xu Ziyan could hardly imagine what the Xu family would become after being ravaged by the devils.
“Immediately return to Yunxiao City!” After considering for a moment, Xu Ziyan made his decision. Relatively speaking, Big Foot Luo’s safety was more guaranteed. It was the Xu family that was in a more dangerous situation.
Xu Zirong nodded without objection. He did not have any emotional attachment to the Xu family. Perhaps it was because of the massacre of the Xu family in his past life that he had completely let go of any sentimental ties to the family.
In this lifetime, the Xu family’s attitude towards him was neither good, nor bad. His feelings towards the Xu family were just a bit more than that of a stranger. All of his emotions were given to his big brother, and the most he could spare for the Xu family was the concern he had for his big brother.
To take care of his big brother’s emotions, he never deliberately targeted the Xu family. Of course, in relative terms, he also did not give any special care to the Xu family.
The two of them used a teleportation array and, after several transfers, arrived at a city that still required three more transfers before reaching Yunxiao City.
“What? The teleportation arrays ahead have all been destroyed?” Xu Ziyan listened to the shocking news in disbelief, momentarily at a loss.
“Yes, Senior. The cities ahead have all fallen. Our city here is now the closest to the frontlines,” the young cultivator in charge of guarding the teleportation array said with great respect. Due to its proximity to the frontlines, there were often high-level cultivators coming and going there. Those entrusted with guarding were generally junior cultivators who were agile in mind and could read the situation.
He noticed Xu Ziyan’s solemn expression. Seeing that the shock on Xu Ziyan’s face did not seem feigned,he turned and said, “Senior, you don’t have to worry too much. Although our cultivators’ alliance were ambushed and we suffered heavy losses in the early stages, most of the cities in the later stages voluntarily surrendered, so the people in those cities had already evacuated long ago. May I know which city Senior wants to go to? Perhaps they’ve been assigned to stay here.”
Xu Ziyan quickly inquired, “Were the cultivators in Yunxiao City evacuated in advance? How about the devil-slaying army there?”
The young cultivator was slightly surprised, but there was still a trace of great respect in his expression, “Is Senior asking about the devil-slaying army that broke out?”
As soon as Xu Ziyan heard about the devil-slaying army, his heart skipped a beat, “Break out? Is Yunxiao City under a siege?”
The young cultivator nodded. Noticing Xu Ziyan’s complexion changing drastically, he quickly reassured him, “Rest assured, Senior. Although Yunxiao City is surrounded by the devils, the forces stationed there are the most elite devil-slaying army of humans. They have already led the cultivators to break out of the city, but they didn’t stay here. Instead, they went straight back to Liuguang sect.”
“All the people from the city are out?”
“Most of them. However, during the breakout, quite a few cultivators were unable to escape. Moreover, the devil-slaying army suffered heavy losses in this breakout. I heard that originally there were over a thousand members in the devil-slaying army, but only a little over three hundred managed to break out with the cultivators from the city.”
As soon as Xu Ziyan heard that, his heart ached. The cultivators in the devil-slaying army might not have high cultivations, but they were all painstakingly cultivated by Xu Ziyan. He invested a great deal of effort in the devil-slaying army, and he never expected that a single breakout would result in a two-thirds loss of the army. It was truly heart-wrenching.
Even though he knew that death was inevitable in a war, that feeling was still hard to accept.
Quietly sighing, he felt overwhelming heaviness in his heart.
Xu Zirong gently stroked his brother’s back, conveying his comfort from the bottom of his heart.
“I’m fine,” Xu Ziyan held onto Xu Zirong’s hand, gripping it tightly.
Xu Zirong did not say anything, he just gently rested his head against his brother’s chest.
Xu Ziyan barely squeezed out a smile, touching Xu Zirong’s long hair, “I know that death is inevitable, it’s just… a bit hard to bear.”
Xu Zirong raised his head and lightly kissed the corner of his brother’s lips, whispering, “Those who are alive are more important.”
Xu Ziyan nodded. He knew very well that those who survived were more important. It was just that he could not help feeling uneasy.
The young cultivator guarding the teleportation array blushed at the affectionate actions of the two. He lowered his head silently, not daring to look at them.
He had seen other dual-cultivating couples before, even those who stuck together all the time, seemingly wanting to blind everyone with their love. However, none of those couples gave him the same gentle and heartwarming feeling as those two.
Although the duo did not display overly passionate or blatant actions, he could not help but feel that the affection between them was much stronger than those model couples in the cultivation world.
Since they could not go to Yunxiao City, Xu Ziyan naturally turned around and headed back to Liuguang sect.
Currently, the frontlines of the human and devils were extending outwards from Tianyu sect and Liuguang sect. The most intense battles naturally took place in the territories of the two sects, followed by the small cities and sects that could be defended between those two sects.
Due to the early ambush by the blood-sucking worms, the cultivators’ alliance had suffered significant losses in territory. That brought both positive and negative impact to the alliance. The downside was the loss of territory, which resulted in the decrease of resource output, causing the cultivators’ alliance unable to make ends meet.
For now, they could still hold on with their accumulated resources from the past. However, if the situation continued, it would undoubtedly place a huge burden on their logistics.
On the positive side, due to the rapid expansion of the devils’ forces, the sea clans of the Eastern sea were also beginning to feel the threat of the devils.
If the previous cooperation between the sea clans and human clans amounted to using only about thirty percent of their strength, those sea clans were currently already exerting about seventy percent after sensing the crisis.
Apart from the amphibious sea clans capable of landing for battle, resources from the Eastern sea were also sent continuously to Liuguang sect.
It was clear to anyone that when the nest was overturned, no egg remained unbroken.
The sea clans were not naive enough to believe that the devils only needed to take over the land. After all, the ocean could not be considered an impassable barrier. Since they could not prevent cultivators from exploring the Eastern sea in the past, how could they possibly stop the even more powerful devils?
Although there were no aquatic devils living in the vanguard teams now, who could guarantee that after the devils took control of the mainland in Xuanyu Realm, they would not send even more aquatic devils to conquer the ocean?
Anyone with a brain understood that the resources in the ocean were even more abundant than on the mainland. Moreover, the sea clans also required spiritual energy for their cultivation. If the devils seized control of the ocean and converted all the spiritual energy into devilish energy, they would truly have nowhere to cry.
The scaled dragon clan had the wisdom of the thorn dragon clan to help them think, while the sea snake clan, as well as other sea clans, also had intelligent individuals among them.
After some consideration, everyone agreed that at that moment, they absolutely could not turn against human cultivators. Not only should they avoid conflict, but they should also increase their assistance to them. Otherwise, the end result would leave everyone with no benefits!
Of course, a significant reason for that was due to Xu Ziyan. Initially, he had made a deal with the lord of Tengyun City, selling a large batch of devil materials that he considered to be of little use. Who could have imagined that the seemingly ordinary batch of materials would cause such a huge reaction within the scaled dragon clan?
By absorbing and refining those devil materials, the scaled dragon clan could undergo a second skin-shedding. Although the seemingly minor skin-shedding appeared insignificant, it was a significant advancement for the scaled dragon clan.
For those battle-crazy members of the scaled dragon clan, their pursuit of strength was no less than the cultivators’ pursuit of ascending to immortality. Therefore, once they discovered an opportunity to elevate their strength, those people…no, those dragons did not need the persuasion of the wise members of the thorn dragon clan. They eagerly signed a mutual agreement with human cultivators long ago.
Of course, the contents of the agreement included the humans providing a large quantity of devil materials to the scaled dragon clan, ranging from low-grade to high-grade, while the scaled dragon clan also provided a certain level of martial support to the humans.
With the comprehensive cooperation of the scaled dragon clan, several other sea clans in the Eastern sea also stood on the humans’ side. Even the sea snake clan, which had a long-standing feud with the scaled dragon clan, did not cause trouble at that critical moment. After all, when the devils arrived, everyone would suffer. Deliberately causing trouble at this time was not mischief, but seeking death. They would become the common enemy of all sea clans.
The upper-class members of the sea snake clan were not fools. They certainly would not make themselves uncomfortable at that moment. Therefore, when they discovered Xu Ziyan’s trail, those members of the sea snake clan did not relentlessly pursue them. Otherwise, with the other party’s knowledge of the Eastern sea, Xu Ziyan and the others would never have been able to leave the Eastern sea so easily.
After several transfers, Xu Ziyan finally returned safely to Liuguang sect. However, he was surprised to find that the teleportation array, which was originally located within the sect’s premises, had somehow been moved to a valley outside the protective array.
Moreover, as soon as he emerged from the teleportation array, he was caught by a fierce and dominating breath of a sword. He stood rigid in the teleportation array, not daring to move for a long time, because he sensed the breath of the sword was filled with dense killing intent. He believed that any slight movement on his part would result in him being cleaved in half.
“Hmm? It’s the two of you?” The breath of sword suddenly retracted, and a dry and hoarse voice echoed from the surroundings.
Xu Ziyan quietly let out a breath of relief, released his divine consciousness, and respectfully saluted in the direction of the voice, “Greetings, Grandmaster Qingping.”
Xu Zirong also bent his body in response. He was indeed quite respectful towards powerful figures.
“It’s good that you’re back. Your Master has been very worried about you two,” Patriarch Qingping said in a deep voice, but he could not help coughing a couple of times after speaking.
