Jack had Shi Furui, Bi Tuohui, Shen Saishuo, and Bai Maolong change into the light green robes together with him. They all started to absorb as much spirit energy as they could while moving around the place and washing the camouflage paint from their skin. The corpses of the five-man squad got a few quick shallow graves in the bushes.
Only the teen with the sword in his gut received a heavy wound in the ambush. The other injuries mostly consisted out of scratches received from rock shrapnel while waiting in the tree canopy that the men didn't even use any bandages to treat.
A basic stretcher got constructed with a couple of long branches and blankets, and they placed the wounded teen on it on his side. Jack didn't dare take the sword out because of fear of massive internal bleeding, nor could he allow the teen to absorb spirit energy to help with the healing while they had to remain hidden. He could only give him a bit of rough leather to bite on and make the bandage around his stomach as tight as they could manage so the sword didn't move around too much.
Jack had old Long's assistants and Tan Boli and his sons take turns in carrying the stretcher so neither of them got too tired. He just had to mention to them that if they dropped his man they would lose the hand that failed them to keep their spirits up.
Once everyone got ready to move, Jack and his squad of new Blooming Life Mountain disciples took the lead. Behind them, Yin Ping and Ma Ruiman acted as intermediaries and guides between the rest of the group and their instructions.
Jack led his group a few minutes more towards the Blooming Life Mountain, until it loomed in front of him, and then turned to continue on their escape out of the forested valley.
A couple of times they sensed other grade four disciples, but once they got close to each other and saw that they belonged to the same side, they would say a few words of either warning or encouragement and go their separate ways. They got a few strange looks for their haircuts, but no one bothered them about it.
'All of the teams that we encountered consist out of almost exclusively fourth grade disciples, with only one higher grade disciple leading them. Where did the rest of the stronger disciples go?' Jack thought as he said goodbye to the third team that they encountered. A minute later Shi Furui gave the bird signal for all clear to the rest of their group, and they continued on their path.
As they continued walking, the fifth team they encountered only had half of their seven-man team in the fourth grade of cultivation; Jack couldn't read the rest of them.
"Disciple Brother, it would benefit you not to go further in that direction." The leader of the seven-man team advised Jack when they thought of going their own way.
Jack turned around towards him and asked "Why not, Disciple Brother?"
The young man gave him an embarrassed look as he said "The Undying Flame Mountain Young Master is leading his people in a desperate attempt to break away from the fighting at the end of the valley. Our core and inner disciples went there to stop him, together with the Slaughtering Sword School's disciples."
Jack's eyes widened as he exclaimed "Thank you, Disciple Brother! If you had not told us we would have walked straight into that."
The young man looked pleased with the gratitude as he waved his hand in dismissal and said goodbye to Jack and his men in a friendly mood.
As they walked away, Jack looked up through the cracks in the tree canopy and saw that a brown and a scarlet field of spirit energy joined the Peak Master fight above the other side of the Undying Flame Mountain.
'The Unbreakable Rock Mountain Peak Master must have come to the aid of the Undying Flame Mountain Peak Master, no wonder that the Undying Flame Mountain Young Master is trying to push through on this side of the mountain. The other side must look like Hell right about now.' Jack thought as he caught glimpses of the destructive two on four fight.
When Jack felt sure they exited the sensing range of the seven-man team, he stopped and signaled his men in the back to stop and wait. He turned to his friends and asked "What are your suggestions for our next move?"
Bi Tuohui had a look of disbelief in his eyes as he asked "Don't you know what to do?"
Jack shook his head as he answered "I know what we need to do, but I want to hear your suggestions first."
Bi Tuohui and Shen Saishuo looked at each other and shrugged as Shen Saishuo said "We just follow orders."
Bai Maolong had his brows furrowed ever since Jack asked his question, after a few seconds of thought he declared "I'm for fighting through them."
The other three men gave him a withering glare as Shi Furui asked "And let them kill us?"
Bai Maolong shrugged his shoulders as he responded with "A few of us might get through."
Shi Furui shook his head in disgust as he turned back to Jack and asked "Can't we sneak past their lines like we did so far?"
Jack nodded his head as he said "We can, past the Blooming Life Mountain people at least. I'm not so certain about the Slaughtering Sword School, though."
Shi Furui's brows furrowed as he asked "Can't we just go dark and sneak past them?"
Jack nodded his head slowly as he answered "We could… but I'm not too sure that we'd go far if they keep some of the people in the higher grades of the Spirit Accumulation realm on guard in the surroundings. The fighting could stop before we leave the area, and without the cover of the battle clamor they will pick up the noise our people make at a hundred meters even without sensing our spirit energy. I hoped that the Undying Flame Mountain disciples would draw their attention to the other side of the mountain, but that went up in smoke."
Shi Furui's face darkened as he asked "Then what do we do when all of our options lead to death?"
Jack looked down at his calloused hands and started talking "These people, no matter how vicious they look to us, still think of themselves as fair and noble in their circles, especially the younger ones. At least while no one's watching." He looked up at the confused eyes of his men with a sardonic smirk playing on his lips and continued "Right now, everyone has their eyes on them."
He placed a hand on Bai Maolong's shoulder and said "Maolong's right, we fight through."
Everyone looked at him like he lost his mind, even Bai Maolong, but they still leaned in closer to hear his plan.
Twenty minutes later, Jack returned from informing the rest of the group on their part.
He walked up to his four friends and said "Let's go." as he started jogging towards the end of the valley, in the direction of the Undying Flame Mountain.
The more they neared the Undying Flame Mountain, the fewer patrol squads of the Blooming Life Mountain they encountered, until they finally found themselves nearing the center of the valley once again.
As the trees started growing sparse, and flashes of spells started appearing in the distance, the five-man squad ran out into a clearing that led to a huge field of upturned dirt that once must have been a meadow. Shi Furui gave a bird signal to wait to their group in the rear as they studied the fight going on in front of them.
Both sides stood in the ruins of guard buildings for entering and leaving the Endless Cycle Sect on their respective sides. The walls of the guard buildings still stood strong as Jack saw defensive sigils carved into their walls light up with every attack that slammed into them. The Undying Flame Mountain looked to only stand and defend from behind their walls, while the Blooming Life Mountain and Slaughtering Sword School side kept on pushing the attack.
Jack studied the situation with a frown for a minute, before giving one sharp nod and turning back towards their group.
Once they reunited with the unit, everyone from the Gravediggers switched their uniforms back to their worn out white ones, while Jack changed in his disciple robes, and the rest of the grade four people changed into ceremonial uniforms. Everyone had to go through a thorough scrubbing to wash away the camouflage paint from their skin.
They all absorbed as much spirit energy as they could while they took a ten-minute break for food and water.
Jack swallowed his last gulp of water, pushed himself away from the tree on which he leaned on, and shouted "Get up! Put your panicked faces on, and let's move out."
A few minutes later they stopped moving at the edge of the clearing on the Undying Flame Mountain side of the valley. After giving a confident smile to his nervous friends, Jack utilized the Moon Step technique and started sprinting towards the ruins.
He could feel a few gazes from the other side of the valley scanning over his body and then dismissing his existence with contempt as they continued to bombard the Undying Flame Mountain encampment. 'Like I'm not worth the spirit energy it would take to kill me.' Jack thought as he felt a bit offended at the presumption.
As he neared the rear end of the encampment, a shrill voice yelled from behind the tall walls "Stop right there! Another step forward and we will execute you."
"Disciple Brothers, I am a fellow disciple from the Eternal Rest Mountain. Please give me some face and let me in." Jack shouted back towards the walls as he halted his advancement.
A few seconds later the same voice as before yelled "We are under orders not to let anyone inside the guard building. I am sorry but we cannot let you enter."
Jack didn't feel surprised as he spread his hands to show that he held nothing in them and shouted "Disciple Brothers, please send this message over to Senior Brother Mai Younu and he will know what to do." He cleared his throat and continued "Ask him if he still has that treasure that he got from Feng Furui."
After a dozen seconds of deliberating, the voice from behind the wall yelled "Very well, we will give him the message. Until we get a reply, if you move from that spot you will be killed."
Jack just lowered his hands and waited.
Five minutes later the voice from the wall shouted out in surprise "The Young Master allows you entrance, come in over the wall."
Jack used Moon Step once more as he charged a few steps and jumped up to the top of the wall. The momentum almost threw him over it, but he managed to stop himself before he fell off the other side.
He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment as he turned towards the dozen staring disciples that stood on the wall and smiled at them. He located the one that looked in charge and said "Lead the way, Disciple Brother."