Nightfall arrived swiftly, and despite everyone being in their tents because of the incidents involving Heavenly Artifact Sect and Great Sword Sect, basically no one slept; there was an air of trepidation.
After all, the incidents with Heavenly Artifact Sect and Great Sword Sect were a bit too horrifying.
Han Weicheng, accompanied by an elder disciple from Heavenly Artifact Sect who was still alive, stood guard on the left.
"Steward Han, hello."
Ding Huan approached Han Weicheng and took the initiative to greet him.
"Hello, Mr. Ding," Han Weicheng quickly responded.
He was, in fact, very curious. Unless someone was foolish, nobody would want to volunteer for guard duty at this time.
He came out because he had to stand guard.
Why this chef surnamed Ding would want to come out for guard duty was truly beyond him.
Ding Huan smiled and said,
"Steward Han must be wondering why I volunteered for guard duty, right?"
Han Weicheng smiled, indeed perplexed by Ding Huan’s choice, though he didn’t wish to know.
Ding Huan took the initiative to explain:
"I am not from Yanyue Sect. I am just a chef employed by Yanyue Sect in the Mortal World. Once this journey is over, I will leave Yanyue Sect."
Han Weicheng could only listen, but he thought to himself, what does this have to do with him?
"I greatly admire Heavenly Artifact Sect, and I’d like to inquire, Steward Han, what requirements are there to join Heavenly Artifact Sect?"
Upon hearing these words from Ding Huan, Han Weicheng finally understood.
It turns out this chef wished to join a Daoist Sect. Perhaps he thought joining Heavenly Artifact Sect would be easier than joining Yanyue Sect. Clearly, that was unlikely. He could only shake his head:
"Sorry, Heavenly Artifact Sect has high standards for disciple qualification. I cannot make decisions on such matters."
Of course, Ding Huan was not naively thinking he could join Heavenly Artifact Sect; he simply sought a pretext to approach the outskirts of Heavenly Artifact Sect.
"Steward Han, I hold Heavenly Artifact Sect in high esteem. I am confident in my culinary skills. If I cannot join Heavenly Artifact Sect, is there a way to stay near it?"
Ding Huan asked earnestly.
Regardless of whether Qi Xinyue could leave the Godly realm to find him at Heavenly Artifact Sect, he intended to wait outside the sect for a while, just in case.
Even if he were to leave, he would leave a mark.
Han Weicheng did not reply to Ding Huan again; they were not acquainted.
What’s more, a chef was not worth making connections with. So, what if this chef seemed to be able to converse with Elder Gu? What of it?
If he, himself, were a chef, making delicious food along the way, he too could exchange a few words with an elder.
"You Heer, check over there, is that..."
Han Weicheng didn’t take Ding Huan to heart, but he felt something was off while calling out to a Heavenly Artifact Sect disciple nearby.
"You Heer..."
Han Weicheng inexplicably felt a chilling fear; You Heer, who had been following him, was nowhere to be seen.
"Mr. Ding, have you seen You Heer?" Han Weicheng anxiously stared at Ding Huan.
He knew well that You Heer, even if he had something to attend to, would certainly have informed him before leaving.
Moreover, You Heer’s disappearance was too sudden; it must mean something was wrong.
Ding Huan gestured with his hand for Han Weicheng to be quiet, then stepped out of the safety perimeter.
He was different from Han Weicheng. Although he was talking to Han Weicheng just now, his Divine Will had been enveloping the surroundings; You Heer was within his range of awareness.
He witnessed with his own eyes You Heer stepping out of the safe area, seemingly lured by something.
"Mr. Ding, what are you doing?" Seeing Ding Huan walking out, Han Weicheng, frightened, hurriedly called out to him.
Ding Huan rushed out. Just as he was about to reach You Heer, a piercing cold sensation seeped in.
It was Neurotoxin. Although Ding Huan did not care about such toxins, he dared not linger; he knocked out the completely disoriented You Heer with a slap and pulled him back.
Han Weicheng, who had intended to notify Elder Gu, saw Ding Huan returning with You Heer and breathed a sigh of relief.
When Ding Huan grabbed You Heer, he knew the man had been poisoned.
He did not intend to administer the antidote to You Heer; instead, he said:
"Steward Han, he’s been poisoned. Do you have an antidote?"
Hearing Ding Huan’s words, Han Weicheng quickly pulled out a Medicine Pill and placed it in You Heer’s mouth.
Ding Huan continued to watch You Heer, feeling that Han Weicheng’s Detoxification Pill might not be effective. Yet, after You Heer returned, the poison seemed to dissipate on its own.
This was indeed a strange toxin.
A few minutes later, You Heer opened his eyes, and upon seeing Han Weicheng, he quickly called out, "Steward Han."
"You Heer, what happened? Why did you walk out alone just now?"
Han Weicheng urgently asked.
"I don’t know, I seemed to have seen Elder Zhen Feng, and he asked me to come over, so I did."
You Heer still seemed a bit woozy.
"Steward Han, is everything okay on your side?"
The anxious voice of Elder Gu came through, followed by his arrival.
"We’re fine; it’s just that You Heer was about to walk out," Han Weicheng quickly replied.
Elder Gu’s face took on a solemn expression:
"Just now, two guard team disciples disappeared from our side. Be cautious, there’s something sinister here; do not leave the protective line."
Upon hearing this, Han Weicheng instinctively shivered. If it weren’t for Ding Huan, You Heer next to him would also have disappeared.
Elder Gu seemed to remember something after finishing his words and then turned to ask:
"Steward Han, what did you mean when you said You Heer almost wandered off just now?"
Han Weicheng quickly replied:
"I noticed You Heer was missing; it was Mr. Ding who went out and pulled You Heer back."
"Ding Huan? How did you know where You Heer was?" Elder Gu asked with a puzzled look at Ding Huan.
Ding Huan explained:
"I was following behind Steward Han the whole time and happened to see You Heer walking out in a daze. I didn’t think much of it at the time and just rushed over to pull You Heer back."
Elder Gu nodded, feeling increasingly that Ding Huan was a talent.
The night ended amid such fear and trepidation.
Early the next morning, while everyone was packing up the camp, they discovered that two people were missing.
Deacon Qiong’s face looked somewhat grim, as the two disciples from Yanyue Sect who had disappeared were under his supervision.
"Elder Gu, the place where the incident occurred is not far from here. If we continue on our way..." Han Weicheng was still shaken.
"Let’s set out at noon," Elder Gu decided.
Everyone assumed Elder Gu chose to set out at noon because the yang energy was strong, and malevolent spirits would have difficulty harming people.
Only Gu Youchang himself understood that he was waiting for other Sects to join them.
Despite being a group of over thirty-strong, their power was still too weak.
Only by joining forces with other Sects, could they strengthen their numbers and pass through this rather sinister stretch of terrain.
Before noon had even arrived, the group saw a crowd approaching from the distance.
"It’s Dual Soul Sect and Purple Mist Valley…" Deacon Qiong exclaimed with surprise.
Both the Dual Soul Sect and Purple Mist Valley were formidable Sects, and the groups they sent were led by elders.
"Elder Gu, why have you stopped here?"
A middle-aged beautiful woman came over first and greeted Gu Youchang from afar.
Following behind the beautiful woman was a young man.
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Gu Youchang also cupped his fist:
"I greet Elder Liu of Purple Mist Valley and Elder Qu of Dual Soul Sect."
Ding Huan watched from a distance, thinking to himself that the Elder Qu from Dual Soul Sect really was young. Heh, a Sect known for seizing bodies.
"Yes, Mr. Gu, why has the Yanyue Sect not moved on?"
The young Elder Qu from Dual Soul Sect also asked with confusion.
Gu Youchang called Han Weicheng over:
"Steward Han, tell them what happened yesterday."
Stepping forward to greet them, Han Weicheng recounted the near-total loss suffered by both the Heavenly Artifact Sect and Great Sword Sect the previous day.
"Is there such a strange occurrence?"
Elder Liu from Purple Mist Valley frowned slightly.
The Great Chasm Canyon was indeed filled with danger, but most of the dangers were sudden attacks by Demon Beasts, getting lost and killed by demonic plants, or falling into quicksand.
Such strange incidents occurring while on the move had never happened before.
Gu Youchang said:
"Now that we have more people, why don’t we go together?"
Both Dual Soul Sect and Heavenly Artifact Sect agreed with Gu Youchang’s suggestion that there was safety in numbers.
What had been a group of over thirty people now had an additional fifty or so members.
Nearly a hundred people moved forward, and with several elders and stewards watching from front and back, it appeared much safer.
However, with over a hundred people moving together, the speed was much slower.
There were too many powerful individuals here, so Ding Huan dared not let his Divine Will extend outward carelessly, but he could let it penetrate downward.
An hour later, Ding Huan felt something was off; the soil beneath his Divine Will seemed disordered.
There were even traces of blood buried under the soil and fragments of clothing interspersed within it.
Ding Huan’s Divine Will carefully spread out, and he was immediately certain that this was the spot where the Heavenly Artifact Sect and Great Sword Sect had run into trouble.
If this was the location of the incident, why were there no visible traces on the surface, and why were all the signs neatly buried underground?
Furthermore, Han Weicheng also seemed not to have noticed anything unusual.
Ding Huan had a bad feeling about this and could no longer worry about being detected by the powerful; he let his Divine Will expand outward.
What caused Ding Huan’s back to chill was the discovery that they were not on the path, but instead, they were moving through the jungle.
Whether it was Elder Gu, Elder Liu of Purple Mist Valley, or Elder Qu of Dual Soul Sect, they were all highly vigilant and continued deeper into the jungle.
Ding Huan retracted his Divine Will. Wherever his gaze landed, he saw a well-trodden path that had been made by frequent travel.
This made him gasp. It was clear everyone saw the same as he was seeing right now.
Could it be because his Divine Will had been tempered in the universe and was nearly a tangible existence?
That was why he could perceive that their actual location was not on the main path.
Ding Huan rubbed his eyes and to his astonishment, this time, his eyes could also see that they were not on the main path but in the jungle.
What was going on?
Why could only he see clearly while others could not?
Wait, what he saw also appeared to be on the main path. It was only after his Divine Will had observed them off the main path that his eyesight had returned to normal.
Ding Huan sighed. He really couldn’t trust these Sect elders. If he continued to follow them, they would be led straight to the Ghost Gate.