Gongsun Chen and Yuan Lei raised their heads from the patch of ground that they had just been examining, furrowing their brows. There was no difference between the flutes that the disciples had but this one had sounded rather close by as if the one who had played it was somebody in their own area.
That only left two explanations: Either another disciple had fled here after getting into danger and was now trying to alert them so that they would come to help or the one who blew the flute was one of the disciples of their own group. Neither of it was good but if it was indeed one of their own people and the reason they had blown the flute was a demonic practitioner, then they might not be out of danger yet. In that case, they had to hurry to make sure they had a chance to win this fight.
The two of them exchanged a glance, leaped to their feet and then rushed in the direction of the sound. When they saw Kui Min with the flute in hand and Mei Chao Bing and Yun Bei Fen standing next to her but no demonic practitioners close by, they slowed down slightly. "What happened?"
Kui Min lowered the flute and then motioned at Mei Chao Bing. "Senior martial brother Mei said he sensed something behind us."
The two men turned to Mei Chao Bing and he gave a curt nod. "There was some change in the spiritual energy. My guess is that we might have ... overlooked an array. Somebody must have manipulated it which resulted in the change." He couldn't help but feel awkward when he said so. He knew very well that there was an array there but he hadn't said anything about it before so explaining it now was a little difficult. Well, at the very least, this explanation should make sense enough for them to trust in his words.
Gongsun Chen and Yuan Lei exchanged another look. The two of them were still in the foundation establishment stage with Yuan Lei being in the late stage and Gongsun Chen having reached the peak stage that was only one step away from being able to form his core. Their spiritual sense was already well-developed but they still weren't able to cover an area too far away from them. Because of that, they had concentrated on what was in front of them and hadn't noticed any changes behind them.
But thinking about it, it wasn't too surprising that Mei Chao Bing was able to sense this since he was already in the core formation stage and had been for several years. The area he could cover with his spiritual sense was almost double the range of what they could check. He had probably kept an eye on things all the time.
Still, there were some questions they couldn't help but wonder about. "How could that kind of thing happen? Wouldn't that mean that there are demonic practitioners behind us? How would they have gotten there?"
Mei Chao Bing shook his head. "I don't know. But we can't take this lightly. Regardless of whether they are already here and were the reason for this change or if it was something different that made the energy change, the demonic practitioners will definitely rush over and check. Then, all the disciples they encounter on the way will be in danger."
Gongsun Chen nodded and then motioned to the two sides. "Then we should go and meet up with the others. We don't know what to expect and might be attacked from two different directions, it would be best to form bigger groups. That way, we'll be less vulnerable. We should also inform the other groups."
The others nodded but couldn't help but look around. Which way should they go? There were groups on both sides. But they could only convene with one of them.
Gongsun Chen also realized that problem and furrowed his brows. They didn't have much time to consider so he could only make an instant decision. "The group in the south should be the one that is led by Yang Wu Huang. He's also in the core formation stage so they should be able to cope. Let's go meet up with the others instead."
Yuan Lei nodded. "I think so as well. How about we send a voice transmission over to Yang Wu Huang's group instead?"
"Yes, good idea. But let's do that while we're moving. We can't lose any time."
The others nodded again and the five of them got onto their flying swords and then rushed in the direction of the next group while Gongsun Chen sent a message to Yang Wu Huang and his group, asking them to spread it further. Then, he also notified the other group ahead of time so that they could make preparations and also continue to send the message in that direction. After all, they needed to inform all the disciples that were currently investigating the border region. If one group was left out, the consequences could be horrible.
Soon enough, they managed to meet up with the four disciples of the other group. Gongsun Chen nodded at them and then couldn't help but make sure that they had done as he told them. "The other group has already been notified?"
The martial sister in charge of the group gave a nod. "We did so immediately after we got your message. This is the first time there's been any actions from the demonic practitioners. It seems that it won't be long anymore until the first fights break out. Could it be that we somehow touched upon something they are afraid of being discovered?"
Gongsun Chen shook his head. "I don't know. I don't think it is on us to figure that out either. We should return and report to the Elders. We don't know what exactly they are doing here and how many people there are. Without further investigation, it would be foolish to engage in a fight. We first have to make plans or this might end in bloodshed."
The martial sister nodded and then looked at the other four people behind Gongsun Chen. She couldn't help but pause when she saw Mei Chao Bing. So he was actually part of this group. That was truly a strange coincidence. Well, Gongsun Chen was right though. Now was not the time to think about anything like that. They first had to go back and report the incident before they could investigate the ins and outs of what had happened.
Thus, the nine people made their way back to the town in silence, not slowing down even once. Mei Chao Bing couldn't help but take another look at the martial sister that was flying next to Gongsun Chen in the front. He could imagine what she had thought just now. Well, this kind of thing was to be expected. Something had happened just two days after he returned. It really was too suspicious.
Unfortunately, the suspicions the other disciples would have were different suspicions than the ones he harbored. Well, he was quite curious to see what would happen when this was indeed investigated. He doubted that there would be any definite results though. Most likely, the Elders wouldn't be able to ascertain the circumstances and would just need to let the matter rest from now on. It truly was a pity but somebody's luck was just too good.