A group of outer disciples were furious and retorted on the spot.
"Who told you to follow? Are you reasonable?"
"If we hadn't killed so many mutated toxic corpses and demonic sect disciples, you would have died even more. Now you blame us?"
Unexpectedly, the group was even more displeased. A tall, thin woman said in a shrill voice, "You of the Qingxu Heaven are a righteous sect. Now that something has happened, not only do you not tell us the reason, but you also want to watch us die? Believe it or not, if we escape, we will expose your true colors!"
It was truly an eye-opener.
They had known that human nature was dark, but they never expected it to be this dark.
Su Luo curved her lips and said coldly, "That's if you can get out alive. For now, you should fend for yourselves. Senior Brother, let's go. Don't waste time."
Li Tianjue cast a stern glance at the group before continuing to lead the way.
Everyone looked at each other. Seeing that the people from Qingxu Heaven were about to leave, someone couldn't help but complain, "That's enough, it's all your fault, Song Wen, for talking too much! Now that the Qingxu Heaven people are gone, what if we encounter those monsters again?"
"That's right, at a time like this, you don't know how to say a few nice words and you've implicated us all. It's all your fault."
"Now you're blaming me? Why didn't you speak up earlier?" The woman named Song Wen said with a displeased expression, still not believing she was wrong.
"Never mind, stop talking and hurry up and catch up, otherwise the Qingxu Heaven people will get too far ahead."
The group dared not delay any longer. Seeing the black mist seeping in again, they were scared and quickly chased after them.
The burly strong man ran the fastest. Before he even got close to the Qingxu Heaven group, Shang Xie Shao Qing, who was walking at the end, turned around and warned, "Keep your distance. If you come any closer, you'll be treated as an attacker."
"..."
Everyone looked at each other, regretting that they had offended the people of Qingxu Heaven earlier.
Now they were in trouble.
Li Tianjue cleared the way ahead, constantly releasing flames to dispel the black mist. Shang Xie Shao Qing was at the rear of the team, also using flames to prevent the black mist from spreading from behind. The rest of them held torches to clear the remaining black mist on the sides of the team, cooperating well.
Seeing this, the group realized that flames could dispel the black mist and put away their glowstones, imitating them.
However, as soon as someone lit a torch, roars immediately sounded from the darkness. Several mutated toxic corpses rushed over, startling everyone into retreating, their faces pale.
"The monsters are here, help!"
"Damn it, it must have been attracted by the flames. The Qingxu Heaven people are deliberately trying to harm us, how hateful!"
The crowd fought with the mutated toxic corpses, hating Li Tianjue and the others for not helping them, and regretting their own curiosity. More and more mutated toxic corpses appeared around them, but the black mist was too thick, and they could no longer see where the Qingxu Heaven people had gone.
They fought desperately but were no match for the mutated toxic corpses. In a short while, seven or eight of them had fallen.
Screams erupted, blood flowed everywhere, and the sounds gradually weakened...
It was too late for them to regret.
Ahead, Su Luo and her group were also ambushed by mutated toxic corpses.
However, with Li Tianjue in the team, and Shang Xie Shao Qing and Zhan Li not far behind, dealing with the toxic corpses was incredibly easy. For every one that appeared, they killed it. Even without Su Luo having to act, the toxic corpses were no match for them and were quickly torn apart.
Finally, a house came into view.
"Great, it's a house, we've finally reached Hongshi Town!" Everyone cheered.
It used to take only a quarter of an hour to get from the back mountain to Hongshi Town, but now it took nearly an hour. This showed how much their speed had slowed down due to the black mist and hidden dangers.
Li Tianjue stood at the entrance of the town and signaled Su Luo and the others to enter the first building on the right.
It was a three-story building, nicely decorated, with the words "Yun Lai Inn" written on it. Zhan Li released a demon pet, which drilled into the inn to confirm its safety. Seeing that there were no mutated toxic corpses or demonic sect disciples, he nodded at Su Luo, "It's safe."
Su Luo immediately said, "Everyone go in."
The outer disciples filed in. The inn was pitch black and filled with black mist, which was unsettling.
However, under the clearing of the torches, the black mist in the inn quickly disappeared. With the obstruction of the walls, the black mist from outside could no longer spread in. Then, all the windows and doors were closed, lamps were lit everywhere, dispelling the remaining black mist, and they were finally safe.
Everyone slumped onto the floor or sat on stools, their tense nerves slowly relaxing.
On the street outside, Li Tianjue stood tall and elegant, waving his sleeve.
A fire dragon soared into the sky.
In the black mist, the fire dragon, blazing with flames, flew into the sky with its teeth bared and claws outstretched. Wherever it passed, the black mist immediately disappeared. Even in the pitch-black environment, it illuminated the surroundings and penetrated the mist.
When the fire dragon reached high altitude, it suddenly exploded with a bang, turning into bursts of fireworks.
The sky above the entire Hongshi Town was illuminated as if it were daytime.
Everyone was stunned, staring at the falling flames from above, as brilliant as fireworks.
The black mist within a radius of one li was dispelled by the flames, as if daylight had returned. All the houses and trees in the entire Hongshi Town appeared, clearly visible.
"It's Senior Brother! Great, and Junior Sister!"
Behind a house in the distance, Chu Tianshu and Wen Dai'er led a group of disciples out.
They had entered Hongshi Town long ago and encountered other teams, but were suddenly trapped in the town by the black mist.
After killing many attacking mutated toxic corpses, Wen Dai'er discovered that flames could dispel the black mist. The group was lighting torches and preparing to find others when they saw the fire dragon released by Li Tianjue.
It was too conspicuous. The group, who had been fumbling in the dark town, finally converged.
"Second Senior Brother, so you were here, that's great."
Su Luo quickly went to greet them. Seeing that everyone was safe, she felt a bit relieved.
Although everyone was a little disheveled and injured, clearly having encountered danger, now that they had reunited, as long as they continued to work together, they would overcome this difficulty.
"Junior Sister, are you alright? We came to save you, but we ended up getting caught in the demonic sect's formation ourselves." Chu Tianshu felt a little embarrassed. Fortunately, with Senior Brother's fire dragon as a signal, everyone was able to regroup.
"I'm not injured, thank you Second Senior Brother and Sister Wen for coming to save me." Su Luo smiled.
"Tianshu has been worried about you all the way. I teased him, saying that Sister Su would definitely be fine, and that if he wasn't careful, he might even need you to save him." Wen Dai'er playfully teased Chu Tianshu a few times, and their relationship seemed to have grown closer.
"Hey, hey, hey, Wen Dai'er, don't talk nonsense, don't belittle me in front of my Junior Sister!"
"Okay, I won't say anymore." Wen Dai'er smiled gently.
Chu Tianshu was relieved and explained the situation on their side. It seemed that the demonic sect disciples had all escaped, and they were only attacked by mutated toxic corpses. They had encountered three Qingxu Heaven teams along the way, led by Qin Yuanshu and Lin Yao. Another team's leader had sacrificed himself, leaving only seventeen disciples.
"Brahma!"
Su Luo clenched her fists. This demonic sect young lord was responsible for the heavy losses of the Qingxu Heaven.
She would not let him go!
After everyone entered the house, Li Tianjue released another fire dragon into the sky.
Everyone in the house knew that Senior Brother was using the fire dragon as a signal to notify other Qingxu Heaven disciples scattered nearby to converge at the location of the fire dragon.
In the darkness, this method was extremely effective.
An hour later, Qingxu Heaven disciples who had crashed nearby, as well as surviving forces and individuals, also arrived in town. They had fallen in the dense forest nearby, and the farthest one was. If they hadn't seen this conspicuous fire dragon, they might have gotten lost in the forest and never found their way.
Now, almost all Qingxu Heaven disciples had converged. Excluding those who died from mutated toxic corpse ambushes and those killed by demonic sect disciples, there were still eight hundred and ninety-five people, with over two hundred sacrifices.
Hongshi Town became lively again. Everyone lit torches and hid in their houses, waiting for the black mist to dissipate.
But what worried Su Luo and the others was that there was still no news of Lu Jixing.