The three of them only walked for a short distance, always vigilantly keeping an eye on their surroundings. There was a certain chance that someone from Song Yu Zheng’s group may appear on either side of them, coincidentally using the array they had just used to travel here or the one they were going toward. If that happened, they’d have to act fast to get rid of the person and then flee as fast as they could. After all, if that disciple didn’t return, Song Yu Zheng and the others would naturally know again where they were.

Thankfully, all caution was just a safety measure but finally wasn’t needed. They reached an array that was hidden between a few boulders and returned to the underground palace as soon as they imbued spiritual energy. The three of them immediately looked around to make sure they hadn’t been spotted but nobody was close by. In fact, they weren’t in the same corridor as before so that was probably to be expected.

Mu Qing heaved a sigh of relief and turned to Zhi Guan. “Now what?”

Zhi Guan hummed and took out the flower map, imbuing his energy to check their surroundings. The flower map could cover a large area when fully unfolded but, in fact, it wasn’t enough for the whole underground palace either. Still, it could show them quite a bit of it and if there were any people around, they’d know for sure.

Looking at the map, there were three dots in the middle but then nothing when just looking at the middle map. Zhi Guan wordlessly unfolded the petals of the map and finally spotted something at the very edge.

Turning the flower map around, he motioned in the direction where the other people we located. “It doesn’t show too much. We should go closer and check it out. Let’s take a route that takes us closer to either one of the exits or an array that can get us to somewhere other than the cave system. That way, we can react to any changes quickly.”

Mu Qing nodded, glanced at the map to determine the direction, and then led the way. The underground palace stretched in one direction and there actually weren’t all that many exits. Apart from the main entrance and the hole the group from their Teng Yong Sect had created above the big hall, there were not even a handful. Thus, the arrays were their best bet for escaping if things went south.

They made their way closer to whoever was being shown on the edge of the map and slowly, more could be seen. As it turned out, they were in luck: A few disciples who had been in the corridor must have started to wonder what was going on as their group members didn’t return. Now, they were moving toward the main hall where Mu Qing had fought with Song Yu Zheng’s group.

At this distance, it was tough to say how many disciples exactly there were as the dots were displayed too close together. Still, it certainly shouldn’t be all of them and even if that was the case, as long as they didn’t know about Mu Qing’s return to the righteous side or didn’t see him, they could just walk past them and those disciples would be none the wiser. It was an almost perfect situation considering their circumstances.

Seeing as much of the result of their current plan depended on Mu Qing, Zhi Guan soon took over the lead. This also had the nice effect that carrying someone in the robes of a righteous sect disciple would draw attention away even from Liu Bao Ru and give her the perfect opportunity to sneak attack while everyone focused on him.

Soon, they closed in on the group of demonic practitioners and finally saw their actual number. On the bright side, there weren’t too many of them but, unfortunately, they were also too few for this fight to have much of an effect: As it turned out, only two disciples had been sent out to check for news from the main hall. The rest of them were still holed up in the corridor where everyone lived.

Liu Bao Ru sighed when this became obvious but then calmed down again. Anyway, two disciples less were just that. Even if it wasn’t much, it still meant two people less to worry about in the future. Considering the overall numbers the other side had in the underground palace, it was still better than nothing. Not to mention that they didn’t know what else would happen later.

They quietly continued to walk toward the disciples and Liu Bao Ru pulled out her sword ahead of time. With just two people, diverting their attention and similar weren’t as important. As long as one person was dealt with quickly, the other wouldn’t be an issue. And even rushing the first victory was simply because they’d like to prevent issues from happening. You could never know what exactly would happen, after all. Maybe their fight would draw others over and then they’d be at a disadvantage again. It certainly was possible.

Their group finally rounded a corner and ran straight into the duo. Liu Bao Ru jumped over, striking out and separating the two, Mu Qing following directly behind. In just a minute, the fight that had just started was over already.

Liu Bao Ru looked at the two disciples and then at Zhi Guan. “Should we deal with the bodies?”

Zhi Guan looked at the flower map instead, checking if any of the other disciples had moved. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. He also couldn’t see anyone from Song Yu Zheng’s group returning so far so that should mean that they were still safe. How long that would last though … he didn’t dare to gamble on.

Making up his mind, he shook his head. “No, let’s leave them here and go back to the town. If we stay any longer, it’ll be too dangerous. Also, my little junior should be taken back.” Of course, that wasn’t just because he wanted to. Yun Bei Fen was very important in all of this, after all. Although … he couldn’t deny that wanting to take him back to safety was still the more important reason.