That's right, he wants to use this river to escape from the clutches of the major sects.

Du Yuze and Tan Jingwen naturally chose to follow closely behind. They actually noticed the river as well, so Lin Yifan's idea was exactly what they had in mind. Since they were on the same page, why oppose it?

As they explored further, they quickly heard the sound of flowing water.

While they paused at the riverbank to observe, there came movements and blinding beams of light from the forest not far behind them.

Lin Yifan knew the pursuers from various sects had arrived, so he acted without hesitation and immediately jumped into the river with An Qi and Xiao Fang.

At the same time, Du Yuze and Tan Jingwen also jumped in.

The sound of them entering the water was very faint, almost inaudible, so the pursuers from the sects were likely unaware that they had jumped into the river.

Several seconds later, the pursuers arrived at the spot where Lin Yifan and the others had entered the river.

Here, the pursuers found footprints and confirmed that Lin Yifan and his group had been there.

But here's the problem, did Lin Yifan and his team jump into the river or did they leap over the river to escape into the forest on the other side?

No matter the case, they decided to act separately. One group would search the forest opposite, and another would jump into the river, pursuing upstream and downstream.

Lin Yifan chose to swim downstream because it would lead to the Dark Forest.

The Dark Forest had been made terrifying by the Huashan Sect disciples, and if they reached there, the sect disciples probably wouldn't dare follow.

The five of them quickly swam in the water, but the seemingly calm river wasn't actually tranquil.

The river was populated with many fish-type Spirit Beasts. Even if you don't provoke them, they would take the initiative to trouble you; so soon after, they were attacked.

This was an unavoidable outcome, so Lin Yifan and his group had to draw their swords and fight back, making their way through.

However, by doing this, they would inevitably expose their position. Once the pursuers from the sects noticed the river filled with blood, they would certainly come after them.

With no other choice now, they could only advance step by step; plus, they were about to leave the forest, so even if their whereabouts were exposed, they would have time to react.

They weren't the only ones attacked; the sect pursuers, because of their large numbers and disturbance, immediately attracted a swarm of fish-type Spirit Beasts.

This hindrance bought them a lot of time to escape.

The pursuers from the various sects fought back vigorously, but in the end, they couldn't defeat the Spirit Beasts in the river and had no choice but to rush to the surface and return to the shore.

They really had limited numbers, having already deployed many to surround the entire forest and splitting into three groups to pursue Lin Yifan and his group, further weakening their strength. Not being able to defeat the Spirit Beasts in the river was normal.

Since they couldn't stay in the river, they continued to search along the riverbank. If Lin Yifan and his group were also in the water, they would certainly be attacked by the Spirit Beasts; if so, there would definitely be movement, and even without it, the river water would change, turning red.

No time to lose, they immediately divided into two groups, searching upstream and downstream.

As they were about to leave the forest, they discovered the river water was blood red, and they were a hundred percent sure that this blood wasn't caused by them earlier.

Because the river flow wasn't rapid, the river water stained by the Spirit Beasts they killed hadn't flowed this far yet.

This phenomenon was very unusual, indicating that a fierce fight had just occurred in the river.

They didn't think it was caused by Spirit Beasts fighting each other or dragging land-based Spirit Beasts to devour. Instead, they thought Lin Yifan and his group were attacked by the Spirit Beasts, leading to the blood-red river water.

Continuing downstream, they found a stretch of river dyed red with blood. This must have been done by Lin Yifan and his group, and the direction was heading downstream.

Having reached a conclusion, they immediately signaled, calling in partners to intercept them.

Upon receiving the signal, various sect cultivators surrounding the forest, searching it, and looking upstream for Lin Yifan, all employed Qinggong to swiftly reach the location.

After several seconds, people arrived one after another. At this moment, the unaware cultivators asked curiously, "Where is that kid?"

"Should be in the river, still swimming downstream."

"Then what are we waiting for? Jump in and chase!"

"Definitely not, there are very strong Spirit Beasts in the river, we can't overcome them; besides, if everyone chases in one direction, they could easily trick us."

"Then what do we do? Just watch that group escape?"

"Of course not, we can surround them from front to back, blocking their path."

"What do you mean?"

"They shouldn't have gone far, probably not more than a kilometer. We can send a group a kilometer ahead to jump into the river to intercept, and another group hops in here and then close the net step by step until we catch them."

"That's a good idea."

Everyone agreed the plan was feasible and had no objections or doubts.

Since more people were still arriving, those who were first split into a large portion to intercept a kilometer ahead, while a small group stayed to form an alliance with the arriving cultivators to cut off Lin Yifan and his group's retreat.

A large net was being cast on Lin Yifan and his group fleeing in the river, and next, whether to counterattack or continue fleeing was entirely up to their choice.

Reaching a kilometer away, the pursuers from various sects formed a group, immediately jumped into the water to block Lin Yifan and his group's path.

Due to unknown creatures in the water, they didn't move, instead stood still, awaiting allies from behind.

Lin Yifan and his group were clearing the path for them, so their area shouldn't pose too much danger, making it ideal to close the net from their side.

Just as they assumed, the allied forces blocking Lin Yifan and his group's retreat hadn't suffered many river Spirit Beast attacks, so they were very safe.

On the other side, after dealing with a troublesome group of river Spirit Beasts, Lin Yifan and his team had a clear path ahead, no more assaults.

Thus, after traversing several hundred meters, they suddenly sensed the presence of cultivators ahead, their brows furrowing involuntarily.

"Have our whereabouts been discovered?"

To verify the suspicion, Lin Yifan took out a Hidden Weapon, forcefully throwing it forward. If they detected Martial Arts aura, they were indeed cultivators.

Sensing imminent danger rapidly approaching, the sect cultivators braced themselves, ready for response.

Upon realizing a Hidden Weapon was coming at them, they could confirm that Lin Yifan and his group were just ahead in the river.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.