Watch out! Something's wrong with this guard.

Everyone followed Lu Yunshi, doing their best to slow down the pursuit of the strange spirits behind them under Lu Yunshi's command. They arrived at the back mountain of the Iron Mountain Sect, where they saw Lu Yunshi running alone, seemingly unhurried and calm, constantly observing the surrounding scenery. He also stuck a few talismans on the trees.

"Junior Brother Lu, we can only run for another ten minutes at most." After blocking the alien spirit's attack from a distance, Li Hu turned around and shouted.

"I know, I know..." Lu Yunshi spoke very quickly, but his tone was very calm. He didn't seem to care about the matter. His eyes were still constantly looking around, as if he was looking for something.

Just then, Lu Yunxi stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

Of all those present, she was the strongest and withstood the most intense attacks. However, the symptoms of being eroded by the alien energy were more severe. Even though the pills were still effective in suppressing it, the decline in her strength was undeniable.

Upon seeing this, Lu Yunshi immediately stepped forward to help Lu Yunxi up.

Just then, as if he heard something, he paused for a moment and then casually stuck another talisman on a tree.

"Everyone... whether you live or not depends on luck. Senior Sister Lin, remember to do as I say in a moment." Looking at Lu Yunxi, who was almost completely exhausted, Lu Yunshi sighed and a smile appeared on his pale face.

"What?" Lin Min and the others stopped and looked back at Lu Yun, still not understanding what he meant.

Lu Yunshi did not answer. He just stared at the approaching higher-level alien spirits, waiting for them to reach a certain place before shouting to Lin Min.

"Senior Sister Lin! Attack that tree with all your might!"

Lin Min, who was already on edge, almost subconsciously looked at the tree that Lu Yunshi pointed to, gathered her remaining spiritual energy, raised her hand and swung it out, quickly striking the tree trunk.

collapse!

The moment the spiritual energy struck the tree, the ground beneath everyone's feet began to tremble. Even the higher-level spirits stopped and looked at Lu Yunshi and the others with some confusion.

Suddenly, the talisman that Lu Yunshi had previously affixed to the tree exploded, and the tree that had the talisman affixed suddenly emitted a dazzling light. Runes appeared around the tree, and a strong aura of killing intent descended upon the valley.

A high-level alien spirit was about to continue the pursuit when suddenly several flying swords flew through the air and pierced through its body.

"This...this is..." Zhao Han stared blankly at what was in front of him. He didn't quite understand, but things seemed to be moving in a positive direction.

"It should be part of the Iron Mountain Sect's protective formation, but why would it suddenly activate?" Li Hu squinted at his surroundings, his face full of confusion.

Lin Min, on the other hand, had clear eyes and seemed to have thought of something.

"It shouldn't have been activated. On one hand, the Iron Mountain Sect probably doesn't have any extra energy to directly activate this formation right now; on the other hand, we don't know how to activate the formation."

However, Junior Brother Lin's talisman struck one of the attack-detecting runes within the formation. If it were just one, it wouldn't be a problem, but if all the attack-detecting runes were attacked, it would trigger the mountain-protecting formation's self-defense mechanism, thus forcibly activating it.

“This isn’t a conventional method. It’s like finding a vulnerability, but it might not even work.” Lin Min looked at Lu Yunshi. More than Lu Yunshi thinking of using this method, she wanted to know how he found all the hidden runes that detected the attack among so many trees.

"Ha!" Lu Yunshi seemed to suddenly lose all strength, his eyes glazed over as he leaned against the tree, cold sweat streaming down his face. "That should... be it."

"Ga! Ga! Ga!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the familiar cawing of crows rang out above everyone's heads. Li Hu looked up and almost laughed out loud, as if he were about to cry.

"Brother Crow... Brother Crow! You've come to save us?"

"Caw! Caw!" The crow flapped its wings, a few feathers fell and landed in front of the crowd, then cawed twice more.

"It told us to take the feather and follow it. This formation is just forcibly consuming the energy to maintain its existence, and it won't last long." Lu Yunshi said to everyone, struggling to pick up the feather from the ground.

"Caw caw!" A crow landed on Lu Yunshi's shoulder, bobbing its head up and down, seemingly agreeing with Lu Yunshi's words.

"this......"

Although it was strange that Lu Yunshi had gotten involved with the crow, now was clearly not the time to ask that question. The group picked up the feathers and, led by the crow, quickly ran deeper into the area. Under the protection of the feathers, the activated formation did not react to their escape.

Those higher-level alien spirits naturally gave chase, but as soon as they moved, dozens of beams of light fell from the sky, quickly piercing through their bodies.

Soon, they seemed to understand something, and all stopped in place, quietly waiting for time to pass.

In a narrow path in the valley, seeing that the strange spirits had stopped chasing after them, Lin Min and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief. They took out their pills and swallowed them, waiting for the effects to take hold while also asking the questions that had been on their minds.

"Junior Brother Lu, what's going on between you and... Brother Crow? And what about those strange spirits from earlier?"

"It's nothing, it's just that I saw Brother Crow when we first started fighting the alien spirits..."

Lu Yunshi smiled. At first, he thought he had seen it wrong, but when the fight started, he also saw the crow. The crow seemed to be afraid to go forward, and only dared to make some movements in the air above the valley, as if it was conveying something. The distance was neither too far nor too close, but only he noticed it.

The crow and the old man from Lijia Village are in cahoots. The old man is mentally unstable, but he is not a bad person. I believe that the crow, Lu Yunshi, is not either.

Its presence here must have its significance.

So Lu Yunshi brought Li Hu and the others to the area below where he had first seen the crow, and found a feather stuck to a tree.

However, Lu Yunshi only glanced at it before the feather shattered right before his eyes.

Lu Yunshi didn't know what this meant at first, but the trees he found afterward were all like this, and he also gained more information.

A character for "hit" clearly written with claws, but difficult to decipher.

With this, Lu Yunshi finally got a clue and began to stick talismans on the tree.

However, the information provided by the crows was too limited. Lu Yunshi didn't even know the exact number of trees. This was the question that caused his final hesitation. If he hadn't heard the crows' cries, he probably would have had to continue fleeing with his men.

Lu Yunshi himself was initially unaware of this matter, so naturally he couldn't tell Lin Min and the others.

Not telling them can maintain a sense of mystery, making them feel that they really have a way and that they have a clear survival strategy in mind.

If they feel disappointed and lose their fighting spirit, they probably won't be able to hold on for long.

The most important thing for survival is that will to hold on.

Afterwards, once Lu Yunshi guessed what had happened, he naturally didn't have time to say anything more, as he was too busy looking for the tree.

"So that's how it is..." Li Hu couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Tang Busan blinked, then suddenly thought of a question. "Well, speaking of this matter, it's mostly Junior Brother Lu's guess, right? If Junior Brother Lu is wrong, then... or is Junior Brother Lu certain of his answer?"

Lu Yunshi smiled faintly, looking calm.

"Of course...no, I have absolutely no confidence, not even a sliver. My guesses are all subjective thoughts, and every single one of them could be wrong. They're all just my hopes that it will happen this way. As for the consequences of being wrong..."

Lu Yunshi spread his hands, smiling helplessly. "That's why it's called a trick, if we lose, we'll both be the devil."

"It won't be worse than death. This is a very profitable business. You'll have plenty to brag about when you get back." Li Hu smiled, raised his hand and gently patted Tang Busan's chest. Tang Busan cried out in pain, then laughed.

"Yes, yes."

As soon as the words were spoken, everyone stopped in their tracks, and a set of steps appeared before them.