545: Chapter 545 What should we do this time? Retreat or defend?

Twilight crept up from behind the mountain, as if someone had poured a basin of ink on the horizon, slowly seeping outward.

Yun Hezi stood on a large rock outside the Hehuan Sect mountain gate, gazing at the dark, dense forest in the distance, motionless.

He had been standing there for more than half an hour.

Sect Leader Qing Fengzi crouched beside the rock, arms hugging his knees, occasionally looking up at Yun Hezi, then lowering his head again.

Mingyuezi leaned against a pine tree, arms crossed, eyes half-closed, but his brows were knitted together; clearly, he was not asleep.

The more than one hundred Disciples behind them were scattered in twos and threes on the open ground in front of the mountain gate; some were sitting, some lying down, some pacing back and forth, but no one spoke.

The air was filled with something indescribable—not fear, not anxiety, but more like a suffocating heaviness pressing on the chest.

Xu Ruyu had taken people inside for two full days.

During these two days, no news had come from within the mountain gate.

There were no instructions, no greetings, not even a single person coming out to take a look.

Only occasionally did flashes of silvery-white light appear in the direction of the Hehuan Sect ancestral grounds, as if something had lit up over there and then extinguished.

Yun Hezi knew that was the light of Xu Ruyu setting up an array, but he did not know what it meant.

Was it a success? Or a failure? He did not know.

Mingyuezi finally could not hold it in anymore; he opened his eyes, straightened up from the tree root, and walked to Yun Hezi's side.

His footsteps were heavy, making a crunching sound as he stepped on the gravel.

"Brother Yun He, how much longer must we wait here?" His voice was somewhat dry, as if he hadn't had water for a long time. "Xu Ruyu dumped us here without even sending anyone to offer a cup of hot water. What exactly does he mean? Is he really letting us wait here to die?"

Sect Leader Qing Fengzi looked up and chimed in, "That's right, Brother Yun He. We don't know when the Righteous Path Alliance will arrive. How can we possibly hold them off with just this many people? Xu Ruyu is just taking revenge on us, using us as cannon fodder. We cannot fall for his trick."

Yun Hezi did not move, nor did he speak.

His eyes were fixed on a point in the distance, as if something there was attracting him, yet it also seemed like there was nothing at all.

Sect Leader Qing Fengzi and Mingyuezi exchanged a glance, then turned their gaze back to Yun Hezi.

"Brother Yun He, say something!" Mingyuezi was getting anxious, his voice rising a few notches. "What exactly should we do? Should we leave or stay? Make a decision. We can't just sit here waiting to die."

Yun Hezi finally moved.

He jumped down from the large rock, brushed the dust off his robes, and turned to look at them.

His complexion was not good, looking somewhat pale, and the bags under his eyes were deep, as if he hadn't slept well for two days.

But his eyes were still bright—not the kind of brightness that radiated energy, but rather the embers left after something had been burned away.

"Leave?" He repeated Mingyuezi's words, his voice not loud but enunciated heavily. "Where to? Where can we go?"

Sect Leader Qing Fengzi opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Mingyuezi also fell silent. Yun Hezi was right; they truly had nowhere to go.

After betraying the Hehuan Sect last time, they had drifted outside with their Disciples for more than half a year.

Hiding from one place to another, moving from one mountain to another.

Their Spirit Stones were spent, their Medicinal Pills were consumed, and many of their Magical Artifacts had been sold.

Those Disciples who had originally defected to them began to complain; some slipped away secretly, some openly defied them, and some gossiped behind their backs.

Their lives became worse with each passing day, like a pack of stray dogs.

They thought the Hehuan Sect was finished, and that Xu Ruyu and Xiao Nianyin would be killed by the Tianshu Sword Sect.

They thought their choice had been the right one.

But the Tianshu Sword Sect was destroyed, the Tianyan Sect was destroyed, and the news of Xiao Nianyin achieving a Breakthrough to the True Immortal Realm spread throughout the entire Cultivation World.

When they heard this news, they were drinking in a small tavern.

The wine cup in Sect Leader Qing Fengzi's hand fell to the ground and shattered, Mingyuezi choked on his wine and coughed incessantly, and Yun Hezi was stunned for a long time before putting down a few Spirit Stones and leading them back overnight.

They thought that as long as they came back to admit their mistake, Xu Ruyu and Xiao Nianyin would forgive them.

After all, they were veterans of the Hehuan Sect, they still had over a hundred Disciples, and after all, Xiao Nianyin valued old ties.

They thought they still had value, and that the Hehuan Sect still needed them.

But Xu Ruyu had neither forgiven them nor killed them.

He simply told them to stay here and wait for the people from the Righteous Path Alliance to arrive.

"Brother Yun He," Sect Leader Qing Fengzi stood up and walked over to Yun Hezi, his voice lowered, "Do you think Xu Ruyu will save us? Or is he really just treating us as discarded pawns?"

Yun Hezi glanced at him but did not answer.

His gaze passed over Sect Leader Qing Fengzi's shoulder and landed on the group of Disciples scattered on the open ground.

These Disciples had followed him for over half a year, enduring much hardship and suffering.

They could have been Cultivating peacefully in the Hehuan Sect; it was he who had led them down a path of no return.

Now, he was going to lead them to face the army of the Righteous Path Alliance.

"Brother Yun He, say something," Sect Leader Qing Fengzi urged.

Yun Hezi withdrew his gaze, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.

"I don't know," he said. "I don't know if Xu Ruyu will save us. But I know that if we leave now, we can forget about ever returning to the Hehuan Sect in this lifetime."

Sect Leader Qing Fengzi's face turned a shade paler.

Mingyuezi's brows knitted even tighter.

"But..." Sect Leader Qing Fengzi wanted to say something more, but was interrupted by Yun Hezi raising his hand.

"Think about it," Yun Hezi's voice was not loud, but he spoke quickly, as if afraid he would lose the courage to continue if he stopped. "Xu Ruyu took those three hundred people, was driven out of the Taihu Clan, hunted by the Tianshu Sword Sect, besieged by the Tianyan Sect, and wandered in exile the whole way. How many people died? How many were injured?"

"Yet he didn't abandon a single one, didn't give up on any of them."

"Leng Ningshuang is still here, Zhao Yan is still here, Ning Caihe is still here, Qingyan is still here, the Grand Elder is still here, Hua Xunhuan is still here, Granny Liu is still here."

"They are all still here. What does that tell you?"

Sect Leader Qing Fengzi was stunned. Mingyuezi was also stunned.