In the latter half of the night, it was the turn of Chi Changye, the night watchman, to sit by the campfire with his eyes closed, and suddenly opened his eyes, shooting a cold light from his black pupils, and stood up.
Tian Feiyang, who was also on night duty, heard the noise and opened his eyes as well: "Brother Chi, is something wrong?"
"I'll go check it out and be right back." After Chi Changye finished speaking, he disappeared into the protective formation in a flash. His movements were so fast that Tian Feiyang, who was right in front of him, could hardly catch the shadow. Tian Feiyang didn't dare to be careless and quickly alerted the others and prepared for any unexpected situation.
Among the group, only Gu Yao was not assigned to night duty because everyone knew that he not only hunted sea animals but also used his resting time to refine pills. In fact, Gu Yao not only refined five furnaces of pills every day, but his companions also benefited from them.
Although some of the pills were refined by Gu Yao using the inner cores of sea animals, the effects of taking them were not much worse than other pills. Some people thought of those cultivators in town who said that Gu Yao was overestimating his abilities by coming out to kill animals. They thought he would only slow down his teammates and might even get them killed. Now, thinking back to those words, they found them ridiculous.
Tian Feiyang and the disciples from Tianhai Sect who came with him were originally worried when they heard those words, but they were ordered to protect Gu Yao. If something happened to Gu Yao outside, they would not have a good end, so they had no choice but to follow along with a brave face. Now they knew that following Gu Yao was extremely beneficial, and those cultivators who spoke ill of him were just jealous.
Gu Yao walked out of the tent and rubbed his face: "What happened? Huh? Where is Brother Night?"
Tian Feiyang walked over to explain: "Brother Chi felt something unusual outside and went to check. He'll be back soon."
Gu Yao's face turned grim. Chi Changye wouldn't act without reason, so he must have sensed something real. Thinking it over, the only variable was those cultivators who looked at him with malicious intent. Did they do something?
Suddenly, the sky above the dark night emitted a black and red signal. As soon as they saw this signal, Jiang Yan immediately said, "Pack up all the tents and be ready to evacuate at any time!"
Due to the onslaught of animals, Tianhai Sect had prepared a unified signal. Different colors represented different meanings. If there was a call for help and there were cultivators nearby, they would go to the rescue out of moral obligation. If there was an intrusion by sea animals, or if the situation became uncontrollable, they would use black and red to indicate that there was a highly dangerous situation. Seeing this signal meant that a very dangerous situation had occurred, and the nearby cultivators were all ready to retreat.
So as Jiang Yan gave the order, everyone started packing their belongings and quickly storing them in their storage bags. At the same time, Chi Changye's figure appeared again in the formation: "Several cultivators with ulterior motives have thrown drugs into the group of sea animals, causing them to become aggressively violent. Since we can't see the situation clearly at night, we'd better retreat temporarily."
"Which bastard caused trouble? So many cultivators are here hunting sea animals and trying to drive them back to the sea, and yet there are people using sea animals to cause trouble? Brother Chi, what happened to those people? I say we should dismember them and throw them into the group of frenzied sea animals." Lou Qiusheng angrily cursed. It was not the time to work against each other and play tricks; if it hadn't been discovered in time, the consequences would have been severe.
Chi Changye sneered, "I broke their limbs and threw them into the frenzied group of sea animals."
Lou Qiusheng was already cursing vigorously, but when he heard that Chi Changye actually didn't hesitate to throw the people into the frenzied group of sea animals, he couldn't help but tremble. It turned out that Chi Changye was the one who should never be provoked.
The protective formation was removed, and the formation plate was put away. The night wind outside, mixed with the unpleasant smell of salt and fish, blew over. The group immediately felt that something was wrong. Even in this wind, there was an unstable and irritable atmosphere. At this time, the cultivators who had also seen the signal and rushed out didn't rush to evacuate; instead, they arrived here as soon as possible, stepping on their flying tools and descending from the sky. They asked one after another what had happened.
Jiang Yan didn't conceal anything and explained about Chi Changye's discovery that someone had thrown drugs into the group of sea animals in order to make them go berserk. It was impossible to judge how far the frenzy of these sea animals would go, so it was better to retreat for now.
"Originally, it was Chi Daoyou who discovered it. Fortunately, Chi Daoyou was alert. What are we waiting for? Let's withdraw quickly."
"No wonder I felt a sense of unease after leaving the formation."
"Why wait? Haven't you noticed the restless spiritual energy in the surroundings? Let's withdraw quickly."
So Jiang Yan released another signal, this time signaling retreat. He reminded those cultivators who were still hesitant to leave this place. Then Jiang Yan took out a large flying artifact and invited everyone to board it together, so they could cooperate in case of any emergencies.
As the large flying artifact rose into the sky and hadn't flown far, roars could be heard from behind. Looking down from a higher vantage point, it was even clearer. Even though the view below was indistinct due to the dense mass of creatures, it was still possible to see those clusters of black cloud-like beast groups wriggling and advancing, with a scent of blood drifting in the air.
Indeed, the sea creature group was in chaos!
The distant wriggling was accelerating. Despite the decent speed of the flying artifact, one could still see those clusters of dark clouds forming black waves, advancing layer by layer. If they hadn't seen the signal to retreat in time, they would probably be engulfed by these black waves soon. How many people could escape during the night?
There were also flocks of seabirds flying over in the air, but several groups hadn't yet approached the flying artifact. When they collided with the artifact's shield, they were quickly dealt with by Jiang Yan, Chi Changye, and the others, who were prepared in advance. Eventually, those seabirds could no longer catch up.
The cultivators who were watching had pale faces. When Jiang Yan and the others returned inside the protective shield, someone couldn't wait and asked about the appearances of those few cultivators who were administering the drugs. Although they were dead, didn't they have companions? They wanted to find out and understand why they would commit such heinous acts.
Chi Changye would not kindly conceal the truth for those guys. Moreover, he and Gu Yao had already targeted those four individuals among them, although they only managed to sketch out their appearances. Nonetheless, it was a trivial matter, so Chi Changye quickly restored their images using spiritual energy and said, "When I was patrolling at night, I discovered these four people acting suspiciously, sneaking towards the sea creature group. I found it suspicious, so I secretly followed them and didn't expect to discover this kind of situation."
When he suddenly appeared at that time, those four people were stunned, and their spiritual energy almost faltered. Even though they managed to stabilize themselves on the flying artifact, Chi Changye was still going to send them off. Regardless of their pleas and their willingness to reveal the instigator behind them, Chi Changye never hesitated to throw them off. Would the person behind the scenes really be unclear to him?
But he doesn't need these few people to come out and testify because facing the imposing City Lord's Mansion, especially with the support of the Chang Immortal Sect, such testimony would not have much effect. It could be easily overturned by the various means of the other party, and it would only make oneself and Gu Yao become the targets of attack by the City Lord's Mansion and the forces under its control.
"It's actually them? No wonder I didn't see them when we retreated. We hunted sea beasts together a few days ago. It's really hard to know someone's true intentions. They actually harbor such malicious intentions!"
"Ah, I've heard of them. The leader of this cultivator group is called Ba Yuankui. He isn't particularly active in hunting sea beasts, but often takes on private tasks given by employers."
When these words came out, many people frowned. How could those who often mingle outside not know the meaning behind these so-called private tasks? Most of them were shady.
"So, this time they want to create chaos, with the purpose of targeting some of us." The words that followed couldn't be said out loud. Who would they seize the opportunity to strike against? Some people who had gotten to know Ba Yuankui and the others and had conversations with them now carefully recollected and easily noticed something suspicious. These four individuals seemed to be particularly interested in Jiang Yan and Gu Yao, or more accurately, in Gu Yao.
So, there were people who wanted to secretly attack Gu Yao on this battlefield and prevent him from going back? This speculation made the hearts of those few individuals skip a beat. Their methods were too ruthless. How could they not understand the usual character of Elder Gu? After several days of interaction, wasn't it clear?
Those few cultivators who guessed this possibility didn't dare to linger too long on Gu Yao, afraid of exposing themselves. Who would be so merciless and malicious as to want Gu Yao's life? Thinking about the people Gu Yao had offended recently, those few cultivators once again drew in a cold breath. Even their teeth hurt.
Jiang Yan also had a rough idea in his mind. He didn't participate in the discussion of the others but manipulated his magical tool. Along the way, if he encountered fleeing cultivators, he would stop and give them a ride. When they returned to the Tian Shui Market at dawn, the number of cultivators descending from the flying magical tools had doubled.
At the entrance of the market, everyone expressed their gratitude to Jiang Yan and his group, and some even left their contact information, saying that they could ask Jiang Yan for help in the future.
Some people hurriedly rushed out of the market, and the signal soared high in the sky. Even TianShui Market received it. Seeing the first batch of cultivators returning, they quickly came out to inquire about the situation. Because of the signal in the night, the entire market had entered a state of emergency preparation.
The elders of Tianhai Gate also led the disciples out to greet them for the first time. They were originally about to set off, but they stayed after receiving Tian Feiyang's message. They knew that Guyao was safe, but seeing him return intact, their anxious hearts finally returned to their original positions.
Tian Feiyang handed over the information of the four men led by Ba Yuankui to the elders of Tianhai Gate. The elders did not expect this to be another incident caused by human interference, and they were furious. They immediately ordered the disciples to quickly arrest and interrogate Ba Yuankui's accomplices. This matter must not be taken lightly.
"Valley Master, Valley Master, everyone has returned, and Master Guyao has also returned. They discovered that someone had tampered with it in advance, so there were no casualties." A disciple of Cuoyan Valley hurriedly rushed back to report to the Valley Master.
"Good, good, as long as everyone is safe," the Valley Master Hu said with joy.
"Everyone has returned?!" In a certain place in the market, a sharp voice couldn't help but scream, and then the cups and utensils on the table fell to the ground with a crash. "Useless! All useless!"