Chi Muyao glanced over briefly before hiding again. He even toned down his breathing as much as possible so that no one noticed him.

Since people's lives were at stake, he took every precaution.

Gripping Dingding in his hands, he considered his options. 

There were indeed disciples of the Nuan Yan Pavilion captured, including Mu Ren, Yu Yanshu and the others. They all seemed injured to various degrees, and their bodies restrained with rope.

In the absence of spiritual energy, even the most common hemp rope could bind them. 

In theory, even if Yu Yanshu did not have his cultivation, his sword techniques were very good. How did he end up caught? And so badly injured? 

He thought for a moment and figured it out.

Yu Yanshu fought with one of the Golden Core stage Xiang Huang Pavilion disciples being controlled before. He was always kind, so he probably held back in his blows. 

However, the opponent was befuddled and regarded him as a Demonic Faction invader. Naturally, they would lash out harshly. If several Golden Core stage disciples surrounded him, Yu Yanshu's situation would become very dire.

Already in a dilemma, the Luo Sha Sect's corpse puppets sealed the deal. Yu Yanshu might've gone to save the Xiang Huang Pavilion people.

With both the Luo Sha Sect's corpse puppets and the Xiang Huang Pavilion cultivators attacking him, it was natural for him to be injured. 

The second male leads were always the kindest. They had a tendency to get severely injured, but they were also the best at caring for others.

They were good in every way, but the female lead would never see that.

At present, it seemed like Yu Yanshu's character settings were still good.

But why would they appear here?

The Luo Sha Sect's people shouldn't be afraid of the miasma, so why did they bring everyone to the pure land? 

Could it be that rendering everyone befuddled made them harder to control?

There was no time to think about these details. It was more important to save people.

He saw that there were four disciples of the Luo Sha Sect guarding the hostages, and the disciples of the Nuan Yan Pavilion were all tied up.

Luckily, the corpse puppets weren't anywhere to be seen, probably because they couldn't enter the pure land. Otherwise, they would be tough to deal with. 

Chi Muyao couldn't transmit his voice to Yi Qianxi, so he held up four fingers. Yi Qianxi immediately nodded.

Chi Muyao then pointed to several locations. Yi Qianxi nodded again.

They often cooperated during hunts, after all. There was a tacit agreement and understanding between them.

Xi Zihe wasn't dumb either. He thought for a moment and understood. Xi Zihe set down Han Qingyuan as gently as possible, then drew his sword. The moment Chi Muyao moved, he and Yi Qianxi rushed over as well.

According to the locations provided by Chi Muyao, they quickly found someone. 

The first thing Chi Muyao did after rushing out was to throw Dingding at one person. Yi Qianxi caught that person after they were pierced and cut their throat.

Xi Zihe also dealt with another person at that time.

By the time the others realised what was happening, two guards were already dead in an instant.

Everything happened too suddenly. The remaining two Luo Sha Sect were shocked, but they responded quickly.

"Move again and I'll kill him!" A man in a black robe placed his sword on Yu Yanshu's neck and shouted. 

Perhaps these people also felt Yu Yanshu looked the most valuable out of the hostages. They chose to use him, betting he was of higher status.

Chi Muyao pulled out Dingding from the corpse and shook off the blood on it. He replied casually, "Kill him if you want. We'll still be able to save one, two, three...five people." 

The black-robed man was a bit shocked he wasn't playing along. "You don't want to save your fellow Sect members?" 

"We're not from the same Sect. I'm from the Yu Chong School and I'm not familiar with him." Chi Muyao said, glancing past Yu Yanshu.

He thought Yu Yanshu would be hurt for a moment due to his caustic words, but Yu Yanshu actually smiled.

Yu Yanshu smiled very restrainedly, just a slight curve of his eyes. He seemed to be comforting Chi Muyao. 

Only those who knew Yu Yanshu could tell he was smiling. After all, he has always been elegant and aloof. Such a faint smile was already rare. 

This meant that Yu Yanshu trusted him.

Although he didn't speak much, Chi Muyao knew this person was gentle to the bone.

But when Yu Yanshu's lips moved like he wanted to remind Chi Muyao of something, the black-robed man lifted his chin.

Chi Muyao became more wary of his surroundings. He looked at everything in a new light. There were probably others lying in ambush around.

As they were in a stalemate, a person suddenly leapt out and pierced the chest of the black-robed man holding Yu Yanshu with their sword.

The last man in black saw the situation worsening and wanted to run, but he fell down as Dingding found its mark. 

Without the help of the corpse puppets, the Luo Sha Sect disciples crumpled like wet paper.

Han Qingyuan's body shuddered after she put down her sword. She nearly fainted.

Xi Zihe hurried over to help her. 

Luckily Han Qingyuan woke up in time to resolve the stalemate.

Chi Muyao was still thinking about Yu Yanshu's reminder. When he looked in his direction, Yu Yanshu mouthed, “Run!”

Chi Muyao was stunned. He instinctively backflipped. When he looked again, there was an arrow at the spot where he had been.

Before he could find the archer, he heard a bell ringing, and his heart tightened immediately.

He understood! 

He understood everything now! 

Why Yu Yanshu and the others were all captured...Why the Luo Sha Sect placed the prisoners here in the pure land instead of their usual hideouts...

Why so many Luo Sha Sect members were able to escape Xi Huai...

Su You!

 It was him again!

The Luo Sha Sect disciples came into the pure land to accommodate Su You, who would also be affected by the miasma in the forest.

So what was Su You up to? 

Chi Muyao almost subconsciously rushed towards the yet unaware Yi Qianxi, and just in time too.

Yet because he did so, his arm was pierced by an arrow, whose force sent him flying a ways away.

Yi Qianxi's eyes reddened when she saw Chi Muyao injured. She leapt with a dagger in hand onto the roof and attacked Su You.

Su You was a master of fighting techniques, so his physique was naturally top notch. Even without spiritual energy, Yi Qianxi was not his match.

On the rooftop, Su You easily caught Yi Qianxi after exchanging a few blows. He picked her up by the neck. Yi Qianxi kicked and struggled. Then she was casually thrown to the ground.

Falling from the rooftop without any protection, Yi Qianxi slammed into the hard ground, bounced once, and then lay motionless. Her brows were furrowed. She couldn't even whimper.

Su You held the crossbow, looking down from the rooftop. He aimed at Xi Zihe and Han Qingyuan next.

Han Qingyuan was not in top shape at the moment. She knew she would drag Xi Zihe down when fleeing, so she pushed him away and tried to delay.

She used a whip to encircle Su You's wrist, using all her might to prevent him from firing again, at least not accurately.

Su You looked disdainfully down at the whip around his wrist and snorted.

Su You was actually still in the mood to chat with Han Qingyuan, "The person you're trying to save is probably an idiot. You told him to leave, but he refused. En—Could he tell I'm not interested in his life?"

Saying that, he pulled Han Qingyuan towards him before tossing her away. "You two should run away together." 

It was clear that he was not interested in those two and did not even take them seriously.

Su You jumped down from the rooftop and walked over to Chi Muyao. He stepped on his body with one foot and aimed the crossbow at him with a splendid smile. "Long time no see, little cultivator friend." 

Chi Muyao secretly restored his arm with the Colourless Yunni Deer's ability as he haggardly looked up at Su You.

Su You was also looking at him with a smile. 

At this moment, Su You took the form of a twenty-something year old. He was tall and handsome, an exotic look in his features. Perhaps because his eyes were deep and his nose was high, he looked like a foreigner.

His gloomy eyes and malicious smile was terrifying.

The first thing you'd notice about him was probably how his jellyfish hair had turned into normal hair. However, it was now silver in colour, just like his eyelashes and eyebrows. 

A young face paired strangely with silver white hair.

Xi Zihe raised his sword and attacked again. Su You immediately lifted the crossbow and fired. "Not cherishing your life, I hate idiots like you the most!"

Chi Muyao didn't have the privilege of seeing how Xi Zihe was doing. He took advantage of Su You's distraction to grab his ankle. 

He just needed one moment to divide Su You's attention.

Su You noticed something wrong and quickly kicked him away.

Even so, he discovered the ruse.

This was the Colourless Yunni Deer's ability. Chi Muyao used it in the beginning to make Xi Huai sleepy before sending him away.

As long as he could touch Su You for a moment...Su You acted quickly but still lost concentration for a while. Yu Yanshu immediately took the opportunity to attack. 

Before, when Han Qingyuan used her whip to encircle Su You's hand, Chi Muyao lay on the ground without getting up.

It wasn't because he was too injured. He used the time to throw a stone.

At the time, Yu Yanshu cooperatively leaned to the side so this stone could slice through some ropes. Since then, he's been working hard, twisting his wrists until the rope completely broke. Only then could he launch this surprise attack.

Luckily, the pure land lowered Su You's sensing ability. That was the only reason they succeeded.

Su You rarely encountered any enemies after reaching the peak of Nascent Soul stage. He never thought his cultivation would be taken away one day and he would have to rely on physical ability alone to bully a bunch of juniors.

And now he had been plotted against by said juniors.

Su You gritted his teeth after being cut by the sword. Then he suddenly disappeared. 

Everyone was shocked. This was a pure land that reduced everyone's cultivation to nothing. How was Su You able to disappear in an instant? 

Very quickly, they arrived at an answer. The one who appeared here wasn't Su You himself, but a puppet doppelgänger.

Yu Yanshu leaned down and slashed the scarecrow on the ground in half with his sword before he relaxed.

This puppet doppelgänger technique required the caster to impart a portion of their divine sense and soul into a scarecrow in order to have it take on their appearance. 

Su You's cultivation was extremely high. Even just one of his doppelgängers still had considerable strength, almost equal to the original. Enough to not be purified upon entering the pure land.

Chi Muyao rightfully suspected the Su You he encountered at the Thousand Sect Conference was also a doppelgänger, which was why he didn't fight them head on. 

A doppelgänger was enough to deal with juniors, but against Nascent Soul stage Heavenly Venerables there was a high chance of injuring one's soul. It simply wasn't worth the risk.