Front Line of the Beast Tide, Part 16

In this beast tide mission in Yinlan City, the Sword School had already lost one hundred and twenty-eight disciples.

Among them, thirty-two disciples were truly lost in battle, while ninety-six disciples vanished without a trace for no apparent reason.

After three years of absence, the strength of the surviving students had significantly improved.

However, having been away from the peaceful daily life of the sect, the originally naive features on everyone’s faces gradually disappeared in the daily blood and fire battles, replaced by more resolute marks.

It was on this day that a tired team stumbled into the Sword School’s camp.

This team was the small squad that had originally stayed behind in Yinlan City.

But after Su Qing was mysteriously sucked into a book, the squad was at a loss.

After several days of fruitless planning, Jiang Xiaocao was the first to leave the team, going off on his own to find a solution.

The remaining four, Jiang Shuyi, Bai Ying, Gu Zimou, and Hua Ling, decided to return to the Sword School camp first to ask the leading teachers to rescue Su Qing.

Who would have thought that the Sword School’s camp was deeply entrenched in the heart of the Myriad Beast Forest? The four individuals, without high-level cultivators leading them, stumbled and struggled all the way. The arduousness of the journey was comparable to going to the Western Heaven to retrieve scriptures.

Either Gu Zimou would be carried into a nest by a demon beast, and the other three would risk their lives to save him, or when the four crossed a river, they would be swallowed by a suddenly appearing old softshell turtle.

They barely survived through countless near-death experiences.

Coupled with losing their way several times in the overlapping forests, it took them a full three years to find the camp’s whereabouts.

Therefore, when the four arrived at the Sword School camp, they were all so exhausted they almost fainted with joy.

But they didn’t forget the main task. Without even having time to wipe their faces, they went to find the leading teachers.

It was then that a female cultivator in red swiftly walked from outside the camp.

She was as bright and dazzling as a flame, with an arrogant and spirited demeanor. It was the Sword School’s famous Young Lady Tang.

Three years was but a fleeting moment for cultivators, but Jiang Shuyi and the others still felt she had undergone a subtle change.

Perhaps she had become a bit rougher, losing that refined posture down to every strand of hair she had in the sect.

But that was normal. Living in the open day and night, they had all become wild people.

For the Young Lady, it was just her hair being a bit rough, and her shoe soles having a rare speck of dust. That was nothing.

Tang Yueling spotted the four of them at a glance. Such tramp-like attire was indeed rare, but she still recognized who they were.

She scanned them and then raised an eyebrow, “What? Su Qing stayed in Yinlan City? Didn’t come with you?”

This wasn’t normal. Tang Yueling knew her roommate was a cultivation-obsessed person.

Once the situation in Yinlan City was resolved, it was impossible for her not to come to the beast tide front lines for experience.

Although the conditions here were extremely harsh—she hadn’t lived such a poor life since her time in her mother’s womb, except for that period in the fish’s belly—the cultivation effects were undeniable.

In just three years, through daily battles, she had advanced two layers in cultivation, reaching Foundation Establishment Layer 6, not to mention gaining much practical combat experience.

Gu Zimou drooped his eyebrows, frustrated. “She originally came with us, but she was absorbed into a ledger on the way and has been untraceable ever since. We rushed back to ask the leading teachers for help finding her…”

“Absorbed into a ledger?!” Tang Yueling exclaimed loudly, but quickly, she realized something and said swiftly, “I understand what you mean. During this time, ninety-six disciples of the Sword School have successively disappeared, mostly suddenly. And these people are all related to the wood attribute, and Su Qing also has wood spiritual roots…”

She looked up and asked, “Is that ledger still there?”

“It is.” Bai Ying took out the ledger from his storage bag and handed it to Tang Yueling to browse. Unfortunately, it was indeed just an ordinary, unremarkable daily log, with nothing supernatural about it. Tang Yueling forcefully closed the ledger, a fierce glint flashing in her eyes. “No time to waste, follow me. I’ll take you to find the teachers.”

Lin Hebai, Xu Ruyi, and others had all been summoned by the Yan family’s old City Lord to discuss matters.

Zhan Zhao, the Beast School teacher, and Senior Sister Ling Yunxiao, who managed the Body School, were leading teams deep in the forest and couldn’t return for a while.

Currently, only Deng Mingjian of the Array School and Zhu Yushu of the Pill School remained in charge of camp affairs at the Sword School.

When Tang Yueling led Bai Ying and the others to explain their purpose, both their reactions were calm.

Even the answers they gave were perfunctory, “Understood.”

Bai Ying asked with a solemn expression, “Elder Deng, Fellow Daoist Tang informed me that the number of missing Sword School students is considerable. Are there any countermeasures at present?”

Deng Mingjian looked up and said faintly, “Currently, Elder Lin and Elder Xu have already gone to handle this matter. You all calm down. Once the situation is clear, there will certainly be a conclusion.”

Jiang Shuyi, as a Pill School disciple, was somewhat acquainted with Zhu Yushu.

She boldly took a step forward, “In subsequent rescue efforts, if there’s anything students can do, we will go through fire and water, sparing no effort.”

Tang Yueling took a step forward and said loudly, “But Elder Hebai and Elder Ruyi have been gone for half a year, and the matter still hasn’t been resolved. Although the number of missing Sword School members is decreasing today, those who disappeared haven’t returned, their lives unknown. Perhaps they are facing extreme hardship, with the possibility of losing their lives at any moment. How can we be at ease?”

Deng Mingjian said coldly, “The entire Sword School takes this matter very seriously.

Two of the six leading elders have already gone to resolve this. Do you mean for us to abandon the remaining seventeen hundred students and specifically search for the missing ones?”

What he said was indeed reasonable, but it was particularly irritating.

Tang Yueling gritted her teeth, “The student did not mean that.”

Zhu Yushu ended the topic, “Since that’s the case, you all go back and wait.

This training opportunity is rare. Only by concentrating on cultivation is the right path. You must not be distracted.”

“But!”

Tang Yueling still wanted to speak, but she was interrupted by him.

There was a hint of certainty in his tone, “Besides, how do you know their disappearance isn’t an opportunity?”

At this, everyone knew that there was no point in discussing further.

Different positions led to different decisions; there was nothing more to say.

The five of them got the cold shoulder from the leading teachers and were all a bit disheartened, especially Hua Ling and the others who had come expecting reinforcements. Gu Zimou said awkwardly, “What should we do? We can’t do anything. Can we only wait for Elder Lin and the others to handle it?”

“This matter cannot be let go.”

Tang Yueling was seething. If disappearing really counted as an opportunity, then when she was swallowed into the fish’s belly, Su Qing and Tian Ning wouldn’t have risked their lives to save her.

They could have simply made an excuse like that, but they didn’t.

Tang Yueling, whose name meant “moon,” had grown up being cherished by all.

She had many subordinates and followers, but before coming to the Sword School, she had no friends.

Her expression grew cold, her gaze fixed intently on the elders’ tent.

She suddenly let out a soft chuckle, as if she had thought of a very interesting possibility. “No hurry. I’ll figure this out.”

Inside the tent, Deng Mingjian slowly explained, “Elder Lin Hebai sent a message. The missing students were all sucked into the innate abode of the Myriad Beast Forest. The abode is filled with demonic energy, so the students who were drawn in probably have only a one in ten chance of survival. Moreover, how to cultivate after being contaminated by demonic energy is another problem. The chances of falling to the demonic path are not small.”

Zhu Yushu sighed, “The Myriad Beast Forest has long had a spirit, with cultivation at least at the Spirit Transformation stage or above.

How can you and I deal with it? The Sect Leader must have known this already.

I just don’t know why he still wants us involved in this mess.”

Deng Mingjian said, “Fortunately, the casualty rate among students is still within control, and none of the students from prominent families are currently in danger.”

Deng Mingjian and Zhu Yushu were closer because they were not only elders of the Sword School but also had intricate connections with aristocratic families behind the scenes.

This was also normal in the Sword School. These people, like the youth mentors in modern society, regarded cultivation as managing a project.

Relying solely on resources from the school was too slow, and besides, the Sword School itself was very poor, with the entire sect living off the Carefree Immortal’s old capital, unable to provide much support.

Therefore, these “youth mentors” had to go out, build relationships, find sponsorships, and enrich themselves.

Many of them even held multiple guest elder positions in various large and small aristocratic families, working for them while juggling several jobs.

The Sword School Sect Leader Wang Quan knew this, but he always wore a smiling face, showing no emotions.

To him, as long as he maintained a steady number of staunch Sword School members and achieved a balance with these fence-sitting factions, this matter was nothing to worry about.

He could even siphon resources from the aristocratic families to strengthen the Sword School.

Such a good thing could actually happen in this world.

Wang Quan would eagerly welcome more of it.

But for Deng Mingjian and others, no matter how they aligned themselves, taking resources and benefits from others meant they had to pay something in return.

For example, in this mission, they had to involuntarily look after those students from aristocratic families, so as not to stir up trouble.

And Tang Yueling was going to exploit this very point.

She said to Tian Ning, “In this mission, although no Qi family members came, the two Song sisters, Song Huiyi and Song Huisi, are both here. Coincidentally, their names both contain botanical meanings, and they both have wood spiritual roots. They haven’t gone missing yet, so they must have some life-saving artifact protecting them.”

Tian Ning felt she understood her meaning. “We tie them up?”

Tie them up, create the illusion of disappearance, force Deng Mingjian and the others to intervene, or directly summon the powerful figures of the Song family.

She didn’t believe that with so many people involved, they still couldn’t find the missing Su Qing and the ninety-six Sword School disciples.

No matter how deep the cultivation of this forest, there were always ways for aristocratic families to deal with it. It was just that they wouldn’t act unless their own people were dragged into it.

Tang Yueling did mean that, but she glared at Tian Ning, “What ‘tie them up’? Can you phrase it more nicely? We’re protecting them!”

Since her accident in the Dragon Boat Secret Realm, her father had specifically sent someone with a high-tier magical artifact called the Mustard Seed.

Once activated, it could protect her inside, and external enemies would never find them. This artifact was perfect for creating the illusion of disappearance.

“When do we act?” Although Tian Ning felt there was no difference, due to Tang Yueling’s displeased gaze, she still rephrased, “I mean, protect them.”

The fifth purification was not going smoothly.

For some unknown reason, the demonic energy this time was exceptionally violent, as if it had encountered an enemy it had to fight to the death. Its attacks were filled with intense malice, desperately trying to devour her completely.

Su Qing’s consciousness bobbed up and down in the icy, biting seawater, constantly being shattered by the waves. Even when it recombined, it was quickly broken into fragments again.

Her consciousness drifted towards the depths of the sea, and soon was swept further and further, deeper and deeper by dangerous whirlpools, becoming almost bloated.

So cold, so cold.

So cold that she seemed to forget who she was.

But because of this, in this desolate coldness, she for the first time, by accident, stumbled into the deep consciousness of the Myriad Beast Forest.