After having had to look for clues blindly for several weeks, the disciples had already gotten to a point where they knew they couldn’t base their decisions on the risk involved. At this point, if they weren’t willing to put their lives on the line, the righteous side would lose. Thus, even though there was a high chance that Zhi Guan would run into trouble when he went to the headquarters of the demonic side and even though letting him leave alone would limit his options further, nobody argued and just accepted his suggestion with a grim nod.

Seeing as the plan for the imminent future stood, Zhi Guan looked at the others. “Since this is decided, we should all get back to our tasks. These days, we have to be especially vigilant. They won’t stop their plans for us to catch up, after all, and who knows what they are currently working on?”

Liu Bao Ru nodded with a grim expression. “To be honest, I don’t think we will have a lot more time. Soon enough, there should be a bigger attack. They’ve already done it twice and our options have become more limited since then. I’d assume they will use the opportunity.”

Xi Ju Hai gave a hum. “We should prepare for that.”

“It’s good that Qu Yijun was taken out but the other side certainly had other strong disciples.” Yuan Lei furrowed his brows and leaned back. When they were exploring the border region, they hadn’t met any demonic practitioners save for two or three times. Clearly, this was a ploy by the other side. With this, it was difficult to estimate how strong they really were but then, this was the other side’s stronghold while they only had the disciples that had come over here for the mission. Just based on that, there was a difference in strength.

Song Mu also furrowed his brows. “Do you think there is any chance to team up with the other sects?” He looked at Taishu Min at that. So far, only her sect had seemed open to supporting them but even they had only sent a few disciples over to cooperate. It would hardly make a difference.

Taishu Min sighed. “The problem would be how to organize everything. We need to make sure that the whole border region is defended. Otherwise, who knows if they won’t attack elsewhere if we all gather at the same place? Right now, each sect is responsible for one region. We are spread thin but at least there are enough people to survey the whole area. So really, it’s hard to organize better unless our sects send a lot of reinforcements.”

“Might be about time though.” Yuan Lei looked at Zhi Guan. “Did Elder Baili say whether they were thinking about that?”

Zhi Guan shook his head. “No, he didn’t. I doubt they will though. Originally, this was only meant as a mission for gathering intelligence. Depending on the news we send back, there would then be more discussions. They have already sent us over to reinforce the younger disciples because things turned out to be more dangerous than expected.

“Now, I don’t think they will send too many more unless this really turns into an all-out war. And by the time such a decision is made, I’m afraid it won’t be up to just one sect to make that decision. Everyone will gather. Maybe not even just the four great sects but all the sects of the righteous side.”

Taishu Min nodded. Her Master hadn’t said anything about reinforcements either but this was her understanding of the situation as well. The problem was that things were really getting more dangerous each day and they had trouble getting that information back to their sects. If it continued like this … well, she’d rather not think about it.

She thought for a while and finally sighed. “We should soon hear back from the disciples of my Zhen Yan Sect anyway. Let’s wait until then before we make any decisions in this regard. If there are no instructions being delivered back, I will personally go and discuss this with the Elders.”

Zhi Guan nodded. “Good. If you need somebody to come along …”

Taishu Min shook her head. “No, you focus on the situation at hand. Depending on how this works out, we will need to make different arrangements.”

“Very well.” He glanced at the others and finally got up when nobody spoke. “I will go and see how my third junior martial brother is doing, tell the Elders about our plan, and then join the others on patrol.”

Yun Bei Fen also jumped to his feet when his first senior martial brother did. With Mei Chao Bing gone, he felt like it was best to stick to his side. Also, he wanted to know how his third senior martial brother was doing as well. And maybe he also wanted to talk this plan over with his first senior martial brother to make sure Mei Chao Bing wouldn’t get into trouble …

The others nodded and then left, going to help out with the other disciples.

Zhi Guan turned to look at his little junior. Seeing his expression, he could imagine what was going through his mind. He thought for a moment and then reached out to rub his head. “Don’t worry. Mei Chao Bing is strong and the other side needs him. If he really does this, nothing will happen to him.”

Yun Bei Fen nodded, feeling a bit better. He knew that Mei Chao Bing was strong. He had never doubted his ability, not even for a moment. But Mei Chao Bing had stressed several times to him that he wasn’t invincible so when he heard that he was supposed to infiltrate the other side’s headquarters and not just for a short moment like his first senior martial brother but for what might be a long time … he had to admit that he was a bit scared.