The disciples immediately went to get started on working in their new groups. At the same time, several li northeast of the camp, Ao Jing cracked his eyes open. His gaze darted around before he opened them completely, keeping his breath as faint as possible.

Several of the demonic practitioners had been following him and attacked him continuously. He had known that he wouldn’t be able to get away if he just continued rushing ahead. Thus, he finally found a spot outside the border region that was covered by scrawny bushes. It wasn’t a great cover but better than nothing. Then, he let himself be hit and tumbled down between the bushes, trying not to move or give any indication that he was still alive.

It had been a gamble. If they came to check, he would be completely at their mercy and the last chance of leaving alive would have been destroyed. Thankfully, his gamble paid off: The demonic practitioners randomly fired some attacks but stayed where they were.

Ao Jing didn’t know if they just didn’t care about him or if they had really thought that he was dead. Actually, maybe they were still out there, just waiting like a cat wanting to see if for mouse would move again if it just gave it some time. In any case, he had won himself some time like this.

He spread out his spiritual sense to make sure that nobody was close by and then heaved a sigh of relief. Right now, he was still alive. He didn’t know if he could make it back to the camp or the sect but at the very least, there was still a chance.

Ao Jing looked at his legs and winced. Unfortunately, this was where the demonic practitioners had hit him and they had hit him good. Standing up and walking would be a problem. Even getting onto his sword wouldn’t be easy, not to mention flying all the way to safety.

He turned to the side and then ruffled through his bag, trying to find some kind of pill to at least heal some of the damage they had done. By now, a lot of blood had gathered beneath his body and he felt dizzy but he couldn’t let this keep him back.

He sorted through his whole bag but he couldn’t find a single pill in there. He clenched his hands into fists and cursed under his breath. Great. Just great. Now, what was he supposed to do?

He took a deep breath and thought. Actually, this wasn’t surprising. Most resources had been given to the disciples leading the group so Yang Wu Huang had been the one carrying things for them. From the beginning, he had only had the things his own Master had given him back at the sect before they even came to the border region. And those resources had been depleted by now, in part thanks to that stupid plan of Yang Wu Huang’s.

Now, he couldn’t heal his injury. He had to get through this without. Closing his eyes, he went through his options. Right now, the only thing at his disposal was his own spiritual energy. He couldn’t do much with it but if he used it as a cover around his legs, he might be able to at least keep himself from losing more blood.

Nodding to himself, he went ahead. It wasn’t a great solution but better than nothing. At the very least, he indeed managed to keep himself from not losing more blood. Thankfully, there had only been that one big injury because he had dodged the attacks before that.

He gave himself a moment to adjust and then sat up, looking around again. He still couldn’t see anything of the demonic practitioners. In fact, he couldn’t even see any animals in the vicinity. Most likely, the fight from before had made all of them scatter.

Unfortunately, this also meant that if the demonic practitioners were close by, they would immediately know that it was him if he made any kind of sound. He would have to be extremely careful.

Ao Jing held onto the shrub next to him and then fought himself back onto his feet. Still, is there was no movement anywhere close by. He sighed, feeling that most likely, they had really left. Now, he had to get out of here fast.

He went to pick up his sword that had fallen down close by and picked it up. Then, he glanced south where the camp of the Teng Yong Sect was. It was much closer than the actual sect. In his current situation, going there would be better considering that he didn’t have that much strength left.

But on the other hand, if the demonic practitioners were still around, they would be between this place and the camp. So he would run directly into them if he went there. Thus, even if it took longer, it’d still be better to go to the sect. In any case, there were more disciples around there. And the Elders as well. He would be able to get more help there.

Still, he couldn’t help but think of the others. He had seen how Di Huan Bo had rushed into the other direction and also how he was hit pretty heavily. Most likely, he wouldn’t have made it. The same was true for senior martial brother Yu.

As for Shen Lei … he didn’t think that there was much of a chance he would’ve made it either. Even though he had still been fighting when they rushed out, he had been in the thick of it. How would he be able to get out of there if there were so many demonic practitioners around?

No, there wasn’t a chance that any of them were still alive. Well, that was apart from Yang Wu Huang. That guy might’ve gotten lucky enough. He was that kind of slippery person.

Ao Jing shook his head, not wanting to think about that. Right now, he couldn’t do anything to help either of them. He could only go to the sect and inform them.

Thinking of that, he used his spiritual energy to make his sword rise and stepped onto it, a little wobbly on his legs. He crouched down inelegantly and then slowly made his way out of the region. His gaze constantly shifted to the sky and he used his spiritual sense to monitor the path in front of him. The whole time, he couldn’t detect anyone.

When he had made it out of that place, he fought himself back to his feet and then gave it his all, rushing to the Teng Yong Sect. But even though he did, he was much slower than he would usually be with his injuries. And the longer he traveled, the slower he got.

When he finally saw the gates in the distance, it was already turning evening. He heaved a sigh of relief and actually teared up at the familiar sight in front of him. He gave himself another push and rushed over, collapsing right in front of the two disciples guarding the gates. They hurried to pull him back to his feet.

"I need to speak to Sect Master Zhang immediately!"

The two disciples gave each other a horrified look and then pulled him up, rushing with him to the Sect Master’s palace while yelling for somebody else to hurriedly take over at the gate. Then, they crashed right into the hall, not even waiting for the Sect Master to say anything.

Zhang Guan Yu stared at them, a bad premonition in his heart. The last thing he had heard from the border region had been two days ago when Shen Lei had come by to ask about Yang Wu Huang and his two followers. Now, one of those followers had returned looking pretty bloody, and — even worse — he was the only person in sight. Zhang Guan Yu didn’t even want to think about what that might mean for the others.