Before, even Mulan Jin himself believed that it was an inescapable situation, so he had his daughter avoid it in advance. But Shi Chun managed to escape disaster, which was beyond Mulan Jin's expectations. Therefore, even though he always viewed Shi Chun with a different perspective, he couldn't help but feel genuine admiration at this moment.

The current situation had also made Mulan Jin hesitant. Should he let Han Bao bring his daughter to meet Shi Chun, or what else should he do?

After thinking it over, he decided to wait and see the situation. Even he couldn't understand that guy's plans, leaving him a bit uneasy.

As for Manxi's angry outburst, saying that Shi Chun's intentions deserved condemnation, Mulan Jin appropriately responded, "Maybe he indeed exploited a loophole in your words out of personal interest, but regardless of his motives, he has indeed followed orders to the letter, without any disobedience."

Some things are best left unsaid.

Manxi glanced at him, naturally understanding what he meant - he was speaking on behalf of Shi Chun. Speaking for him was essentially protecting Shi Chun.

Moreover, since Shi Chun did not openly disobey orders, and Mulan Jin entered this battle as an overseer, Manxi couldn't say much more, otherwise, he would want to kill Shi Chun to vent his anger.

Many ambiguous situations are often like this: having someone speak on your behalf makes a world of difference from having no one at all.

At this moment, seeing that all the pursuers were chasing after Lu Yin, the floating Mingshan Sect group, unless they were foolish, realized the token was thrown to shift blame onto others.

The problem was that most people didn't understand the underlying reasons. Feng Chi worriedly said, "Isn't this against the rules?"

She felt that even with Mulan Jin as a supporter, they couldn't blatantly act this way.

At least she knew Mulan Jin was a backer. But what about Chai Wenwu? Don't even mention Mulan Jin; he didn't even know the true identities of his group, becoming more anxious and suspected he had run into a foolish captain, hurriedly agreeing, "Master, abandoning the token like this is considered collusion according to the rules, and it's punishable by death."

Seeing everyone's concern, Wu Jinliang chuckled but then felt a bit worried, "Master, although we followed orders, Manxi is not a fool. Such exploitation of loopholes might provoke personal revenge."

Shi Chun sneered, "If we're daring enough to do it, we're not afraid of his revenge. Even if he wants revenge, he first has to find us, and he has to go through the hands of the Commander to contact us. He can see if he can treat the Commander like a fool and try. If things don't work out, he can even snatch the token back from us."

Oh, he didn't even care about Manxi. Although Feng Chi was confused by what she heard, she smiled widely, appreciating the Master's boldness.

Wu Jinliang also chuckled, "That's right, Master is wise."

Shi Chun then glanced at the somewhat puzzled group, reassuring them, "Don't worry, losing one token is fine. As long as we find more tokens, I guarantee the Commander won't be that petty."

The reasoning was suddenly very clear, and the Mingshan Sect group thought so too.

Old Chai, however, listened with a heart pounding, knowing that finding more tokens wasn't that easy, and felt compelled to remind them, "Master, we're not supposed to discard our battle armor without reason, unless it's damaged in a big battle. Is what we're doing appropriate?"

This time, not just Shi Chun, but even the Mingshan Sect group dismissed it.

Chen Wuji waved his hand, saying, "The rule might as well not exist. The standard armor is the same for everyone; surely many will exploit this loophole. Our armor was destroyed by someone; which eye of theirs saw it wasn't?"

Just as he finished speaking, a distant rumbling sound echoed, drawing everyone in the sky to turn their heads.

Chen Wuji turned back to Shi Chun and smiled wryly, "Master, looks like someone really is digging up the armor we left underground."

There was indeed someone digging. Wei Mo was still obsessed with Shi Chun. He located the position where Shi Chun and his group disappeared, where the armor's light stopped moving, and assigned people to dig and investigate.

When the empty armor was unearthed and appeared in the mirror image, Wei Mo's face was clouded. Even such a thing dared to be done, and he knew it would be hard to find Shi Chun's group again.

Meanwhile, Shi Chun, who had landed with his team, had already pulled out a Mother-child Talisman. Demon Path had sent another message, saying that the reinforcements they dispatched had lost contact, likely having failed and been killed, and asked about Shi Chun's situation.

Shi Chun said he was fine, and that he had thrown the tokens to others, after which the pursuers switched targets.

He spoke openly and straightforwardly, to the extent that Wu Jinliang, who sneaked a peek at the side, was left uninhibitedly chuckling.

Demon Path was stunned by Shi Chun's straightforwardness, momentarily unable to react. Later, Feng Chi's Mother-child Talisman had a response. After checking it, she found Demon Path was confirming with her if Shi Chun had indeed thrown the tokens away.

Feng Chi immediately showed the communication content to Shi Chun, then followed Shi Chun's instructions in reply, saying they had no choice, that not only Lu Yin was chasing them, but large squads from various sides were also closing in, making it impossible to protect the tokens, forcing them to redirect trouble elsewhere.

Later, Demon Path sent another message to Shi Chun, re-emphasizing the mission, which was to try and grab as many tokens as possible first.

Shi Chun agreed readily, though internally puzzled about what Demon Path's side really intended to do, wondering if one of the five Commanders belonged to Demon Path and was aiding them to contend for a Domain Master position.

Luan also received a message afterward, asking her to urge Shi Chun to grab more tokens. She showed the message to Shi Chun, asking, "What to do now?"

Her implication was whether to do as the other side instructed.

Shi Chun replied, "All mysterious things, we'll ignore them for now, take a break first. Let all sides fight and snatch the tokens, and then decide once they've gathered."

Mainly, he still hadn't decided whether to officially join the battle, whether to fight or hide in the Netherworld. He was still uncertain, ultimately needing to see which side fit his realistic needs better. Otherwise, he wouldn't be constantly fleeing and not retaliating while being pursued.

The teacher's dream was nice, but he was no longer young and couldn't easily fight for it.

He called out to everyone, took out a map, and led his team to find a suitable hiding place, to see the scenery of Demon Realm incidentally. He could also contact Mulan Jin to inquire about the general battle situation from various sides…

West Ox Team Central, the mirror image occasionally switches to Li Hongjiu's footage.

This scene, gradually transmitted to Nanshan Team Central Commander's ears, made Ming Chaofeng feel that the behavior over at West Niu was somewhat unusual.

He could understand focusing on the experts on his side, as he would do the same, but isn't it excessively frequent? Even when Li Hongjiu isn't fighting, knowing that Li Hongjiu is flying, they would often switch the footage over, after all, mirror image resources are limited.

Niu Qian's focus, Ming Chaofeng's suspicion, were all embodied in the standing man within a mountain peak cave.

The man's name was Du Wulang, Leader of the seventy-seventh team of West Ox Team, a demon cultivator with shoulder-length sandalwood-colored hair, finely structured features, a pale complexion, large expressive eyes, his gaunt figure making his clothes appear loose.

He wasn't wearing battle armor, nor did he hold a token, the wind outside the cave rustling his robe and hair.

His hand with claws hanging down was gripping a woman's head; the woman was clearly badly injured, covered in blood, breathing heavily with a vacant stare.

Du Wulang checked the Mother-child Talisman with his free hand and murmured, "Finally here."

He closed his eyes forcefully for a moment, then opened them, his gaze seemed terrifying, his large bright eyes turning into a ghastly white.

The woman's vacant eyes began to gather brightness, Du Wulang released his grip, and the heavily injured woman staggered to her feet, then cast a spell to fly out of the cave, wobbling through the air.

Soon she came face to face with the large group flying towards her.

The leader of this group was none other than Li Hongjiu, leisurely holding a wine jug, unrestrained yet lazy.

Also not wearing armor, finding it cumbersome, he never liked constraints.

Seeing the severely injured and shaky flying woman, the group halted suddenly in mid-air, wary.

Not far from the mountain cave, the white-eyed Du Wulang spoke, "Save me, Token..."

The woman flying towards the group also issued the same call for help, "Save me, Token, save me, I have a hidden token..."

After speaking, her form shook and she fell powerlessly towards the ground.

Hearing about the token, someone immediately chased after her, casting a spell to catch her mid-air, confirming her injuries from a distance before reaching out to hold her.

Then the group landed together.

"The injuries are too severe, hopeless," someone concluded after checking her over, then searched her and cursed, "A damn token, she has nothing on her."

Another said, "She seemed to say the token is hidden, could it really be hidden somewhere?"

Someone nearby laughed, "Maybe it was a trick to get people to save her."

The group was abuzz with chatter, while Li Hongjiu observed coldly, occasionally taking a swig from his wine jug.

Some joked that there were no good people here anyway, so saving her was secondary, the key was asking about the token.

After everyone had reached the conclusion of no hope upon checking, Li Hongjiu finally couldn't resist, approached, and knelt beside the heavily injured woman, checking for himself.

Confirmed the woman was gravely injured, realizing he was indeed powerless to save her, at his most defenseless moment, she suddenly opened her eyes wide, casually pointed, and jabbed Li Hongjiu's chest.

The sudden rapid attack, while quick, actually held little force, only lightly tapping Li Hongjiu's chest, the slight force being blocked by Li Hongjiu's reflexive defense.

Yet the woman's fingertip expelled a dewdrop, a crystal-clear dewdrop with a hidden dazzling and dreamy quality, easily breached Li Hongjiu's defense, seeming to merge with his defense, not wetting his clothes, quickly entering Li Hongjiu's body.

Li Hongjiu recoiled, sensing a warmth gradually spreading from his chest.

The group was shocked, all saw the woman was a trap, someone quickly restrained her, but she seemed to have expended all her life in that finger strike, she collapsed lifelessly right after.

With a crash, Li Hongjiu's wine jug hit the ground and shattered, suddenly he struck his chest, seemingly resisting something, his skin reddening at a visible pace.

West Ox Team Central, watching the mirror image, Niu Qian saw that dazzling dewdrop strike Li Hongjiu's chest, the corner of his mouth curled with a bittersweet smile, and had the image switched away.

No need to watch anymore, as he knew what that dewdrop was, an 'Demon Dew' refined from myriad Demon Spirits, extremely rare. To demons it's a treasure enhancing demon element, but to humans it's a lethal poison, if it doesn't kill, it transforms them into a demon.

He truly didn't understand what happened to Li Hongjiu, worthy enough for Lord Daozhen to exhaust such precious resources for dealing with him.

Nevermind, the matters above were complex, not his to question, just let it be, at least it's finished.

The scene in the mirror image was immediately communicated urgently to Nanshan Team Central by Nanshan's monitoring personnel, knowing Li Hongjiu was Ming Chaofeng's junior.

Upon hearing the report, Ming Chaofeng was shocked, immediately ordered the mirror image focused on Li Hongjiu.

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