"Junior Brother Fei, how can you say that about Lin Yun?"
Seeing Fei Yuming's blatant hostility, Zhou Damao resolutely stepped forward to explain on Lin Yun's behalf. "The only reason we were lucky enough to take Hidden Peak Valley this time was that Junior Brother Lin was out there drawing all the aggro for us! Now that we are being targeted by so many sect disciples, this is the time when we must be united!"
Zhou Damao spoke with great sincerity, quickly winning the approval of many.
"That's right! The more dangerous the situation, the more we need to stick together!"
"But I think what Senior Brother Fei said also makes sense. How can an Origin Sea Realm cultivator possibly defeat someone in the Spirit Cauldron Realm?"
The disciples were all whispering amongst themselves, but the majority of them did not believe in Lin Yun.
"I would rather hope my judgment is wrong," Fei Yuming said. "That way, when the time comes, we can naturally leave!"
Lin Yun gave a cynical laugh. If he had a choice, he wouldn't want to stay in the Spirit Realm either. There were plenty of treasures here, but if you didn't have the life to take them, it was all just a waste of time. Those mysterious figures were too strong; the current Lin Yun had no intention of fighting them.
"Senior Brother Zhou, even if Junior Brother Fei doesn't believe it, we must still make extra preparations!" Lin Yun said with a serious expression. "Even when we are about to leave, we must first send people to scout the situation! I am worried that those fellows of unknown origin are likely targeting us!"
Zhou Damao thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement. "Don't worry, Junior Brother Lin. This is information you risked your life to get. I will definitely make the arrangements as you've said!"
And so, Zhou Damao began to arrange their plans for the coming days. To leave the Spirit Realm, they needed to head to a fixed location. Lin Yun had originally wanted to mobilize all the cultivators in the entire Spirit Realm, but after careful consideration, he gave up the idea. He didn't want to become a public enemy just yet. If he had to choose, he could only trust Zhou Damao.
However, although Zhou Damao agreed with Lin Yun's advice to be cautious, the team was not of one mind. There were still some who were more than willing to believe Fei Yuming.
In the blink of an eye, the final day of the Grand Tournament arrived.
The area around Nether Cave Mountain was in complete chaos. First, nearly a hundred disciples from the various sects had been slaughtered to the last. Then, Xiao Pingtian had been gravely injured, his fate still unknown. And now, the Spirit Realm itself could not be opened.
For a time, the entire cultivation world was shaken. It was said that the Sect Masters of every major sect had personally come here. The Flowing Cloud Sect had even sent a profoundly powerful elder.
Gu Xiande was shocked when he learned of Xiao Pingtian's injuries. He personally went to the hall where the Life Lamps were stored. At this moment, the lamps of nearly seventy percent of the Flowing Cloud Sect's disciples had been extinguished. And the most critical one, Xiao Pingtian's, was now just a tiny flame, flickering on the verge of going out at any moment.
Gu Xiande's eyes were wide with disbelief. Impossible! He had told Xiao Pingtian about every possible danger he could think of. He had even paved the road for him. All Xiao Pingtian had to do was follow his arrangements, and he should have been able to have a breakthrough in the Spirit Realm. As long as he didn't actively court death, no one in the entire Spirit Realm should have been able to kill him.
"This is impossible! I raised Xiao Pingtian with my own hands! In the Spirit Realm, he…"
Before Gu Xiande could finish, a young man beside him snorted coldly. "Is this the surprise you have brought us, Sect Master Gu? It's truly unimaginable that the Flowing Cloud Sect has fallen to such a state under your leadership! If this continues, how will we maintain our position as the head of the Four Great Sects?"
Hearing the young man's mocking words, Gu Xiande's face stiffened. "There must be another reason for this. The fact that the Spirit Realm did not open this time is a good explanation in itself, is it not?"
The time had come, but the Spirit Realm had not opened. For now, Gu Xiande could only assume that something had gone terribly wrong with the realm itself. He refused to believe that Xiao Pingtian could have died at the hands of those young cultivators!
The young man glanced at Gu Xiande and sneered. "You had better pray that is the case. If you cannot even prove your own competence, then we will have to use other methods."
After speaking, the young man swaggered away. Gu Xiande stared at his back, his face sinister. He clenched his fists tightly. "Just you wait. This matter is absolutely not over!"
Zhou Damao and Lin Yun had made foolproof plans for their return. To avoid falling into an enemy trap, Zhou Damao had specifically chosen not to go to the nearest exit point, instead opting for a location much farther away.
Everything had been agreed upon. But when Zhou Damao woke up the next morning, he was dumbfounded. Of the disciples they had worked so hard to protect, only seven remained with him and Lin Yun.
All the rest had been led away by Fei Yuming.
"What happened?" Zhou Damao frowned.
A few disciples answered in low voices, "Senior Brother Zhou, it was Senior Brother Fei. He took all the other brothers and sisters with him. He said that you were a coward, but he wasn't! He said there was no problem with the Grand Tournament at all!"
Zhou Damao was stunned for a moment, then he slapped his thigh in frustration. "Fools! Such utter fools!" he roared in anger. The Beast Taming Sect had finally achieved such a result, and now they were going to throw it all away themselves?
Hearing this, Lin Yun almost wanted to laugh out loud. What a pig teammate. You can't prop up a wall with rotten mud. He had personally come to tell them what was going to happen, yet this disaster still occurred. As the saying goes, you can't save a damn fool from himself.
But he couldn't just stand by and watch it happen. Although he didn't know what these enemies were planning, since their targets were the righteous sects of the cultivation world, if they succeeded, even more people would die.
Lin Yun didn't think of himself as noble. He just understood that for an enemy to go to such great lengths, and in a place like the Spirit Realm, they had to be after something big.
"Senior Brother Zhou, we should still follow them and see!" Lin Yun said seriously. "It would be bad if something really happened!"
The reason he had this idea was, of course, that he had just glanced at his panel. And it was just as he had guessed. The enemy knew them well and had already prepared a trap, just waiting to invite them into the jar.
Zhou Damao thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.