Chapter 1141: Chapter 1141: Lives May Be Lost, but the Name Must Endure
The moon was bright and the stars sparse, with the occasional chirp of cicadas echoing in their ears.
The two chief deacons didn’t take the Snake Demon’s warning to heart at all and followed right after it.
Yang Yan had been left slightly behind; watching the two chief deacons charge into Yuwen Country together with the Snake Demon, a sudden sense of foreboding welled up in his heart.
"Stop! Stop, now!"
Yang Yan couldn’t stop the two chief deacons ahead, but he could call to a halt the large group of Ancient Abyss Sect disciples behind him.
"Grandmaster Yang!"
The one rushing at the very front was naturally not the heavily injured Lin Zimu and Liu Yizheng, but a disciple Yang Yan didn’t know.
His cultivation had also stepped into the eighth layer of Qi Cultivation—he must be quite a figure in the Inner Courtyard.
After that disciple stopped behind Yang Yan, he looked at him with a face full of confusion.
He couldn’t understand—why, when the Snake Demon was right up ahead, did Yang Yan suddenly call them to a stop?
Was it because they’d reached Yuwen Country and didn’t dare go in?
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."
Dozens of Inner Sect Disciples behind them also rushed over one after another at this moment.
They all looked as if their swords were already drawn, itching to charge into the open plain and slay the Snake Demon on the spot.
But since Yang Yan had already called a halt, the many disciples had no choice but to swallow their anger and force their flying swords to stop.
"Yang, what’s wrong?"
Liu Yizheng was still unconscious; he was grievously wounded and likely wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon.
Lin Zimu’s condition was slightly better than his; he was on another disciple’s flying sword, letting someone else carry him.
Before Yang Yan could reply, they saw the Snake Demon suddenly stop in mid-air above the open plain ahead.
The two chief deacons also halted in tandem, gave it a cautious glance, then suddenly their faces changed drastically as they looked in all directions.
"Swish!"
"Swish!"
Two flying swords shot out from the darkness, aiming straight for the two chief deacons.
The fierce radiance on them was clearly the power of Foundation Establishment and above!
"An ambush!"
The unease and doubts in Yang Yan’s heart were dispelled, but he also inwardly cursed that things had gone terribly wrong!
"This place is ill-suited for a prolonged stay. You all return to the sect at once! If you can, go call for reinforcements!"
Yang Yan turned back and barked the order without any hesitation.
In truth, he hardly needed to say it—those disciples behind could see clearly; following the first two sword-lights, three more soared up, completely hemming in the two chief deacons.
Five people in Night Clothes and masks slowly stepped out of the darkness.
Though none of them spoke, the aura on their bodies made everyone’s hearts tremble.
"Foundation Establishment cultivators, five Foundation Establishment! Who are they?!"
A disciple pointed at the five black-clothed men and cried out in shock.
"This is bad, the two chief deacons are in danger! This is actually an ambush! That Snake Demon has helpers!"
Another disciple bluntly stated how grave the situation was.
Five Foundation Establishment cultivators, plus the Snake Demon itself—a Foundation Establishment great demon—that made six Foundation Establishment in total!
And on the Ancient Abyss Sect’s side, even if they counted Yang Yan, they would be at most three Foundation Establishment!
Their numbers were half of the enemy’s—how were they supposed to fight this?
"Liu Cai, you lead the disciples below the eighth layer of Qi Cultivation back to the sect to request reinforcements. Take the Wandering Dragon Boat and return at full speed!"
At this critical moment, Lin Zimu’s expression was actually very calm. After naming a disciple he was familiar with, he waved his hand, and a Dragon Boat was flung out of his sleeve.
It grew from small to large, finally turning into a colossal vessel, suspended in mid-air.
"Senior Brother!"
The disciple named Liu Cai was the same one who had previously carried Lin Zimu on his flying sword.
Now he stared at Lin Zimu with tears in his eyes, clearly unwilling to leave.
Lin Zimu’s face was utterly bloodless; he gave a couple of wry laughs, then spoke with remarkable composure:
"Dawn cannot stop the coming of the night, just as we cannot stop the coming of the great calamity. But we can meet it head-on, even if it costs us every drop of hot blood."
"Liu, quickly lead the junior brothers back!"
On this last sentence, Lin Zimu suddenly gritted his teeth and hardened his tone.
Staying meant life or death unknown. Lin Zimu was a prodigy of the Ancient Abyss Sect, and also its future hope.
But even more than that, he was the Inner Sect’s senior brother of the Ancient Abyss Sect!
What he had received was, more often than not, directly proportional to the responsibilities he had to shoulder!
"There’s no time. Move, all of you!"
Yang Yan suddenly frowned, his expression turning fiercer than ever as he shouted back.
Up ahead, the two chief deacons had already been caught in the encirclement of five men and one demon; if not for relying on their speed to evade again and again, they would likely already be in a dead end!
"Yes! Disciples below the eighth layer of Qi Cultivation, return to the sect with me and call for reinforcements!"
Hearing this, Liu Cai roared through his tears and was the first to board the Wandering Dragon Boat.
The rest of the disciples below the eighth layer of Qi Cultivation all leaped up after him.
In just a moment, including Yang Yan and Lin Zimu, only eleven people remained at the original spot.
Among them, five were at the eighth layer of Qi Cultivation, and four were at the late stage of the eighth layer.
Faintly creasing his brows, Yang Yan turned to Lin Zimu and said:
"I think you all shouldn’t stay either. Go back. You won’t be much help staying, and you’re more likely to lose your lives."
That "you all" included the heavily injured Lin Zimu.
Yang Yan’s actions weren’t proof of some grand chivalrous spirit; his feelings for the Ancient Abyss Sect hadn’t reached the point of life-and-death devotion.
He was merely doing what was within his power.
The two chief deacons weren’t going to make it out—he was just making a desperate attempt.
If push came to shove, he still had ways to retreat!
This was nothing like that last battle of his in the Hidden World.
In that battle he had fought to the ends of the earth, fought until he nearly became a puppet of a minor Heavenly Dao of an entire realm.
He had no way out; behind him was everything he cared about, everything he was willing to stake his life and soul on—there was simply nowhere to retreat.
"Yang, I think it’s better if you’re the one to go back. You are, after all, the only Saint Son my Ancient Abyss Sect has accepted in the hundreds and thousands of years since its founding."
Lin Zimu grinned at his words.
The proper gentleman he usually was—his scholarly grace and poise—were already gone.
With his deathly pale face and the blood at the corner of his mouth, when he bared his teeth in a grin, Yang Yan only felt like he was looking at the dumbest fool in the world.
"Get lost! Don’t you dare start thinking like that!"
Yang Yan snarled at Lin Zimu as if viciously cursing him, then ignored the others.
A small streak of radiance flashed, and Yang Yan had already shifted to the outskirts of the battle, landing right behind a black-clothed man, his sword thrusting straight at the man’s back, accurate and unerring!
The Wandering Dragon Boat bearing dozens of disciples departed.
They had yet to truly grow—and they too were the hope of the Ancient Abyss Sect.
"We senior brothers, who are called ’senior brother’ by others day in and day out, can’t keep taking advantage of that. Today, let us be the ones to cover their retreat."
Lin Zimu spoke as if talking to himself, yet also as if speaking to the nine Qi Cultivation eighth-layer disciples behind him.
"We obey Senior Brother’s command! For the Ancient Abyss Sect, lives may scatter, but its name must never!"
The sect precept of the Ancient Abyss Sect: the powers and sects of the world rise and fall, all things advance and recede in cycles—may the fate of the Ancient Abyss Sect be scattered, yet the righteous name of the Ancient Abyss Sect must never be scattered!
If there is no Dao in your heart, what Dao is there left to cultivate?!
"All the better, then. Junior brothers, form the Ten Directions Demon Destruction Array with me!"
The pallor on Lin Zimu’s face vanished; with a sudden thunderous shout, the Chixiao Spirit Sword shot forth like a bolt.
"Yes!"
The nine disciples behind him took the order and immediately formed a Sword Array with Lin Zimu.
