Watch out! Something's wrong with this guard.

Soon, Lu Yunshi and his companion found Lin Min and her group of four and joined them. When they saw the strange crow that had led the way, Lin Min and the others were quite surprised.

"Logically speaking, there shouldn't be crows in a place like this!"

Zhao Han nodded slightly, her face also full of doubt. "That's right, we just tested it. The aura of the strange spirits in this village is faint. Although it's not strong enough to affect us, if we live here for a long time, even those at the Nascent Soul Realm will be assimilated into strange spirits."

"I've heard that the soul power of demonic beasts is only two-thirds that of humans, so they should be even less resistant to the aura of otherworldly spirits."

"Besides, as a demon beast in the Nascent Soul Realm, it looks far too ordinary, doesn't it?"

The group took turns commenting on the crow, and it seemed that the crow heard them. Suddenly, the crow turned around in the air and flapped its wings at each of the three before they could react. Only Lin Min, Lu Yunshi, and Lu Yunxi, who had not said anything, were spared.

Seeing the crow cawing arrogantly in the sky, Li Hu and the others were naturally furious, but considering that the crow might take them away, they held back for the time being.

If I hadn't taken them out, I would have just had an extra meal tonight.

After a while, the crows in the sky suddenly cried out and flew quickly forward. When everyone looked ahead, they saw an open space with only a withered tree and a figure leaning against it.

"Someone?"

Upon seeing the figure, everyone immediately became alert, while the crow landed beside the figure, cawing loudly.

After a while, finding nothing strange about the figure, the group exchanged glances and decided to go and take a look.

The group walked very slowly, but even at their slowest pace, they were only about thirty meters apart from each other, and they reached the figure in just two or three minutes.

Strangely, they couldn't sense the presence of the person in front of them.

Suddenly, the figure turned to look at Lu Yunshi and the others.

His withered face, cloudy eyes, and the cawing of crows startled everyone. Lu Yunshi almost threw out the five talismans he had hidden in his sleeve.

The old man looked at Lu Yunshi and the others, as if he had seen something, and suddenly spoke. "Why? Why? We have treated you well, why do you have to destroy everything? Why do you have to create disaster with your own hands? Why? Why?"

As the old man spoke, tears suddenly streamed down his face, as if he were overwhelmed with countless sorrows and resentments.

Seeing this, the group showed no pity whatsoever. Instead, they all took out their weapons, fearing that the other party might suddenly attack and kill them. Lu Yunshi even directly stuck two Iron Body Talismans on Lu Yunxi's shoulders, which made the other party stomp on them hard.

After a couple of seconds, Lin Min hesitated for a moment, then took half a step forward and spoke with a hint of nervousness.

"Old man? What did you mean by that? And why are you here? There are many strange spirits here."

As if a keyword had been triggered, the old man froze upon hearing the words "otherworldly spirit," then began to tremble uncontrollably. He clutched his head and shook it violently, his face contorted in a terrifying way, his fingers gripping the object with unusual force, as if he wanted to tear his head in half.

"Otherworldly spirits? Yes, they are all otherworldly spirits! If they weren't otherworldly spirits, if they weren't otherworldly spirits, if they weren't otherworldly spirits... how could these things have happened? It shouldn't be like this! He was a good child... Sect Leader... we... we all had high hopes for him. If he weren't otherworldly spirits... he was a good child, a good child~"

Then, the old man spoke intermittently, his words coming out in a frenzied manner. Lu Yunshi and the others frowned, unable to understand what he meant. However, upon hearing the words "Sect Master," Lu Yunshi suddenly realized something.

"He said the sect leader. If I remember correctly, according to what the shopkeeper said before, the only sect around here is the Iron Mountain Sect, right?"

The old man burst into tears. "Gone! Everything is gone! Hundreds of years of life, destroyed in an instant! What sins have we committed? We haven't done anything wrong, never..."

"I...I deserve to die too, I deserve to die too, I should have died long ago, why me of all people?"

As the old man spoke, he suddenly raised his fist and slammed it down on his chest, but after only two blows, he collapsed against the tree as if all his strength had been drained.

"I can't, I can't die. It's all over. I can't die. I have to stay here, I have to stay here. I can't let them get out, absolutely... I have to stay here forever, forever, guarding the great formation. The great formation can't be closed, it has to be open... it has to stay open forever. I have to stay here..."

"But that won't do. The great formation can't stay open indefinitely; it needs repair. We have to fix it, otherwise they'll escape. We can't let them get out..."

The old man seemed to realize something and panicked.

"It's almost time, it's almost closing, it needs to be fixed, I can't get out, I have to stay here, what should I do? Help...please help me...please help me..."

The old man turned to look at Lu Yunshi and the others, looking quite pitiful. He stretched out his hand, as if trying to grab someone. Seeing this, the group couldn't help but step back more than ten meters away. The old man got up and staggered forward a couple of steps, when suddenly something in the air blocked his way, and he fell to the ground.

As if he had lost everything, the old man burst into tears again.

"What can I do? There's nothing I can do!"

Just then, the crow that had been watching over the old man cawed twice, and the old man's crying stopped abruptly. He looked at the crow, a hint of joy on his lips, tinged with pleading.

"Help me, only you can help me, only you can help me, go and bring... bring everything, white... white-tailed grass, iron element leaves... and... and... and..."

Everyone was shocked. The white-tailed grass and iron leaf mentioned by the other party were exactly what they needed to deliver for this mission.

"Caw caw!" The crow cawed twice, then took flight and landed on Lu Yunshi's shoulder, poking Lu Yunshi's head with its beak.

Lu Yunshi gazed thoughtfully at the crow, when suddenly a flash of inspiration struck him, and he revealed an expression of disbelief.

"You didn't... end up posting the mission at the academy, did you?"

"Huh?" x4

Lin Min and the other three were taken aback by Lu Yunshi's bold conjecture.

"Don't talk nonsense. It's just a crow, how could it... Okay, it's a special crow." Li Hu wanted to say that such a thing was impossible, but thinking about the special nature of this crow, and after thinking about it carefully, the academy didn't seem to prohibit non-human beings from issuing tasks.

"If that's the case, why didn't it explain the matter of the alien spirits clearly?" Tang Busan asked, puzzled.

“I don’t know, but it’s just a crow after all.” Lu Yunshi said, taking out one of the items from the mission and waving it in front of the crow.

Upon seeing the object, the crow immediately began to caw loudly, confirming Lu Yunshi's suspicions.