Chapter 337: Dilemma

Having regained her senses, a question came to mind: could someone like Shi Chun suddenly flee in such an emergency, or was it an overreaction?

As luck would have it, their fears materialized; a sudden, unavoidable conflict had erupted.

The commotion from Summer Dao Mountain calling its scouts to gather was naturally detected by the encircling forces of Extreme Fire Sect.

When only a single scout was recalled, Extreme Fire Sect could still bide its time, trying to avoid detection and tipping off their prey. However, when news of multiple assembly points started coming in, Yin Tianlu and the others immediately realized their target was trying to escape; otherwise, it would be impossible to withdraw reconnaissance posts in such an environment. They naturally could not stand by and watch.

"Moo-woo..." A deep, long roar echoed in the night sky. It was the cry of a beast, and the Extreme Fire Sect members were all demon cultivators. This was also the signal to attack.

As the Summer Dao Mountain group gathered, Gu Lianni had just issued the command to depart, and her fellow disciples had just taken out their wind scales, when the dull roar startled them, causing them to turn back in unison.

Gu Lianni and the others, their eyes full of surprise and doubt, immediately had a bad feeling.

Figures were already flashing from all directions, some gliding low to the ground, others floating on wind scales. Pushing forward with coordinated upper and lower movements, capable of blocking from below and above, they quickly surrounded the Summer Dao Mountain group, who were guarding themselves back-to-back.

After recognizing that the encircling group was from Extreme Fire Sect, Gu Lianni and the others were both shocked and furious.

To them, this scene was incredibly familiar, and it had happened not long ago.

Just recently, at the Sinkhole, Shi Chun had said Extreme Fire Sect would attack them and urged them to run, but it was Gu Lianni who called a halt. The result proved that Extreme Fire Sect, a mere fourth-ranked sect, truly dared to challenge Summer Dao Mountain, which was ranked second.

Now, again, Shi Chun had urged them to run, and again Gu Lianni had opposed it, and again, Extreme Fire Sect was surrounding them.

Whether Extreme Fire Sect was utterly reckless was no longer Gu Lianni's concern. The key point was that the current situation seemed to repeatedly prove one thing: she was wrong, and Shi Chun was right. Moreover, she was wrong every time, while Shi Chun was right every time.

And precisely accurate, indeed. In Gu Lianni's eyes, Shi Chun's judgment had become so accurate that it could be described as 'precise'. Given the current formation, if the Bright Mountain Sect group had run even a little later, they certainly would not have escaped.

Now she finally understood why Shi Chun was in such a hurry to flee, and why Shi Chun had opposed her making any extra moves, saying there was no time. What he said was truly spot on.

This was quite a blow. Did it, from another perspective, suggest she was foolish?

The problem was, she didn't even know where she was being foolish. How was this possible? Why could Shi Chun, at the slightest hint of movement, determine the situation and know that someone was about to attack them? What was his reasoning?

She simply couldn't figure it out. Even if she couldn't see it, couldn't Yuan Yao and the others see it either? Was there really no one in Summer Dao Mountain who could have seen it and warned her?

Could the difference between people really be so vast?

Of course, she still didn't believe her decision was wrong, because she couldn't just abandon her fellow disciples and flee. Shi Chun could disregard the lives of Summer Dao Mountain disciples, but she couldn't, because she was not only a Summer Dao Mountain disciple but also the daughter of its sect master.

Resentment and anger made her direct her emotions towards Extreme Fire Sect. Coupled with observing that the opponent's forces did not have a significant advantage, she immediately pointed at Yin Tianlu and furiously shouted, "Yin Tianlu, what do you want?"

Yin Tianlu did not respond immediately. His reaction, like that of Wu Shanshan and the others, was to gaze at the Summer Dao Mountain group with surprise and doubt. "Where's Shi Chun? Where are the Bright Mountain Sect people? Why are none of them here?"

Ignoring Gu Lianni's shouting for now, Yin Tianlu looked at Black Tiger. He wouldn't fully trust Wu Shanshan's words or actions; he had confirmed with Black Tiger earlier. Black Tiger had nodded, indicating that Shi Chun's group was indeed there, and only then had he cooperated with Wu Shanshan to initiate the encirclement.

Black Tiger was also puzzled. He had previously sniffed the area and indeed detected diverse divine fire auras in this vicinity, belonging to Shi Chun's group.

So he activated his innate divine ability again, his nostrils flaring as he sniffed. The diverse divine fire auras were still there, but he quickly paused, noticing something unusual: some divine fire auras were missing; it wasn't as varied. What he could now smell should be the divine fire absorbed by Summer Dao Mountain disciples.

"What's going on?" Black Tiger was a bit bewildered. He had just smelled them there; how could they disappear in the blink of an eye? How long had he not paid attention?

He also looked at Yin Tianlu and shook his head slightly with a grim expression, indicating they were indeed gone.

So Yin Tianlu looked at Wu Shanshan again and questioned in a low voice, "Where are they?"

Without him needing to ask, Wu Shanshan wasn't blind; she was also puzzled. Her Demonic Eye had previously seen the aura of Shi Chun's group gathered here. She slightly tilted her head and replied in a low voice, "Let me look."

With that, she flashed away to a nearby hillside. After getting out of sight of the others, her eyes turned dark red again, and she activated her Demonic Eye to observe.

For others, sensing auras was merely a feeling, but her Demonic Eye could see them. The density of auras varied between people, and the auras of ordinary people differed from cultivators. Cultivators, due to their cultivation methods, would have their auras slightly tinged with a certain color.

She had never used her Demonic Eye in front of Shi Chun, so she didn't know exactly which aura belonged to him. However, when exiting the Fire Bat tunnel, she had locked onto the group including Shi Chun. Now, she could see some faint, distant auras, like ribbons, thin mist, or wisps of distant twilight, so faint that her Demonic Eye could barely perceive them.

Auras (qiji) are different from breath (qixi). Although both are forms of human energy emanation, auras are not dispersed by wind; they only fade slowly into the world over time.

Through her observation, she quickly darted in the direction Shi Chun's group had fled to observe and confirm.

Faced with Gu Lianni's repeated, unsparing reprimands, Yin Tianlu, due to Shi Chun's disappearance and not yet understanding the situation, did not immediately turn hostile. After all, Summer Dao Mountain's strength was undeniable, and who knew how much confidence they had brought into the Divine Fire Domain this time, especially since their sect master's daughter had personally entered.

He made an excuse, saying, "Gu Lianni, we have no other intentions. We are here to settle scores with Bright Mountain Sect."

Gu Lianni sneered, "But I've never heard of your Extreme Fire Sect having any dealings with Bright Mountain Sect. What scores are there to settle?"

Yin Tianlu replied, "If we've come to find them, naturally there are scores to settle; outsiders just don't know about it. Why do you think Shi Chun ran when he saw us? It's simply because they killed my Extreme Fire Sect disciples!"

Anyway, quite a few Extreme Fire Sect disciples had died in the strange bat tunnel while pursuing Shi Chun, so it wouldn't hurt to cast some blame.

Summer Dao Mountain wasn't foolish either; they all knew what everyone was here for. It was merely a case of finding an excuse to incriminate.

Seeing Gu Lianni still wanting to argue — could this really be argued clearly? — Yuan Yao immediately interrupted, questioning, "If you're settling scores with Bright Mountain Sect, why are you surrounding us?" Yin Tianlu calmly replied, "We heard you're all together!"

Yuan Yao said, "Whether we're together or not, we won't explain. Now you've seen, we've broken up. You've come to the wrong people; you'd better disperse honestly, otherwise, my Summer Dao Mountain will consider it a provocation!"

Yin Tianlu wanted to buy time, hoping to wait for reinforcements from other sects to arrive. Neither showing off nor being inferior, he pretended to be hesitant and thoughtful, delaying for as long as possible.

Just then, several fellow disciples successively brought two people over.

One was Xu Ancháng, the other You Mu. Four Cauldron Sect had sent twenty people; some had killed each other, and after being culled, only these two remained.

To cooperate with Shi Chun's actions, they had long since changed out of their Four Cauldron Sect uniforms.

The reason the two were "brought over" rather than "escorted" was that they had adopted a stance of resistance and had all revealed their weapons.

Xu Ancháng held a black banner; from the look of it, it was clearly a magic treasure.

You Mu's magic treasure was very conspicuous: six crescent-shaped sharp golden wheels circled his body as a protective barrier, their sharp edges fully exposed.

It was clear that neither of them wanted to turn hostile nor surrender without a fight; otherwise, a fight would have broken out long ago. The fact that they moved over indicated that they clearly still wanted to resolve things peacefully if reason could prevail.

This also made their stance clear: they harbored no malice.

Seeing that Shi Chun's group was not among the surrounded people, the two were speechless. If they had known Shi Chun's group wasn't with Summer Dao Mountain, why would they have followed like eager dogs all this way, wasting their efforts for nothing and gaining no favor?

They certainly didn't care about the fate of Summer Dao Mountain.

Seeing these two, Gu Lianni's group was also secretly surprised. They had met them before and naturally knew these two were with Shi Chun; they didn't expect them to follow.

The Extreme Fire Sect group didn't know these two were with Shi Chun, but their discernment for magic treasures was not bad. Seeing the defensive items in their hands, they knew they were not of ordinary quality.

Only two people, and both had extraordinary magic treasures. Yin Tianlu was somewhat surprised.

Just as he was about to ask, Wu Shanshan flashed back. She paused slightly upon seeing Xu Ancháng and You Mu and asked Yin Tianlu, "These are...?"

Yin Tianlu replied, "The two you mentioned who were following."

Wu Shanshan uttered an "oh." After a brief look, she felt Xu Ancháng looked somewhat familiar but couldn't recall where she had seen him.

In fact, when Shi Chun had devised a way to subtly leak information about finding the divine fire to the two demonic factions, Xu Ancháng had merely acted as someone who happened to pass by and leak the news. So, she had seen him, but never face-to-face.

She didn't know these two were with Shi Chun's group. She glanced at the magic treasures in their hands; though she took note of them, finding Shi Chun was more urgent. She motioned to Yin Tianlu, "You handle this here, and have a group of people follow me."

Yin Tianlu realized she had made a discovery and immediately tilted his head, signaling to Black Tiger.

Black Tiger understood. Without a second word, he waved and led a team to follow Wu Shanshan.

With Wu Shanshan gone, Yin Tianlu had to take over her task of questioning. "Friends, from which sect are you?" he asked.

Xu Ancháng didn't want to tell the truth. "Does it matter?" he countered.

Hearing this, the other Extreme Fire Sect disciples were displeased. While they couldn't put on airs as a major sect in front of Summer Dao Mountain, they had no problem doing so in front of ordinary artifact-refining sects. Someone shouted, "How dare you!"

Yin Tianlu raised a hand to stop them. One might not respect the other party's background, but one must respect their strength. Those who managed to pass the strange bat's challenge and follow were certainly not simple; furthermore, the true power of the magic treasures in their hands was unknown, and Summer Dao Mountain's people were still seething and glaring menacingly.

He immediately changed his tone, saying, "Then let's talk about something important. Why are you tracking the people from Unfeeling Valley?"

Xu Ancháng calmly replied, "Why are you tracking the people from Summer Dao Mountain is why we're tracking the people from Unfeeling Valley. Aren't everyone's goals the same?"

Yin Tianlu didn't doubt this. Indeed, weren't they all here for the secret divine fire cultivation method?

In that case, they were all in this together, and could even be considered helpful against Summer Dao Mountain. He tilted his head and looked at Gu Lianni, revealing a slight smile that implied "you understand."

Gu Lianni's lips curled into a sneer. Although she didn't know the situation with Four Cauldron Sect or why they would obey Shi Chun, she had seen with her own eyes that these two, wielding magic treasures, also deferred to Shi Chun's lead and were absolutely obedient to him.

She really wanted to taunt Yin Tianlu with a remark: "You fool, these are Shi Chun's people."

Just then, suddenly another group of people rushed over with a clamor, and their numbers were considerable. Gu Lianni's expression instantly changed as she saw a large contingent from Refining Heaven Sect arriving.

Xu Ancháng and You Mu, looking back, also changed their expressions. Gong Shixi's Thousand Crags Sect forces had also arrived. The crucial point was that Gong Shixi knew they were with Shi Chun; when they had besieged Thousand Crags Sect's forces earlier, his Four Cauldron Sect had also participated in the standoff.