Gu Ningyun felt a flash of relief. Fortunately, she could treat it; otherwise, this entire group might have been wiped out.
As for waiting for rescue from Perfected Person Ye and the martial uncles overseeing the competition from outside the secret realm, Gu Ningyun never even considered it.
Regardless of whether these riots were part of the team competition's trials, the martial uncles were too far away to help with an immediate crisis.
They could only rely on themselves.
With that in mind, Gu Ningyun asked Fu Mingzhi, "Is it a beast riot? How many are there?"
Feeling the evil qi in his body being rapidly purified and his spirit energy flowing once more, Fu Mingzhi felt a weight lift from his heart. Only then did he have the chance to answer her questions.
His tone was calm and his logic clear. "It should be a riot caused by evil qi infection."
"There are thirty-seven beasts chasing us, and their cultivation levels are all infinitely close to rank two."
"During the fight, whether you're bitten, scratched, or even hit by their spirit energy, you'll be infected with evil qi."
Gu Ningyun quickly caught the key point. "Behind us?"
"Yes. Besides the ones behind us, there are at least four other groups of rioting beasts in other parts of the secret realm."
Fu Mingzhi quickly relayed what Zhu Zijin's teammates had told him.
Gu Ningyun looked back at her teammates from Ruiyu Pavilion. Receiving their firm and trusting gazes, her heart settled.
"I'll heal you all first. Once you're recovered, we'll work together to kill the beasts behind us."
Thinking of Gu Ningyun's title as the strongest support and the strength of the other four from Ruiyu Pavilion, Fu Mingzhi nodded in agreement.
Once they were healed, Fu Mingzhi informed the other disciples about the evil qi. All the disciples looked at Gu Ningyun with faces full of gratitude and relief.
After discussing the plan to surround the beasts, Fu Mingzhi turned to Gu Ningyun and said, "Ningyun, you don't know any attack melodies, so just provide support from the back later. We'll protect..."
Seeing that they had finished their discussion, Gu Ningyun pulled out her peach wood sword and prepared to charge toward the beast pack.
By then, the beasts were already right in front of them, the thunderous vibrations of their footsteps never-ending.
She didn't hear clearly what Fu Mingzhi was saying. Holding her peach wood sword with a puzzled expression, she raised her voice over the sound of the beasts' approach. "What did you just say?"
Fu Mingzhi looked at the peach wood sword in her hand, his words cutting off as he froze on the spot.
His expression was as if he had seen the perpetually unlucky Zhu Zijin suddenly picking up spirit stones every day and stumbling upon divine beasts every time he went out.
Seeing Fu Mingzhi suddenly look dazed, Gu Ningyun didn't have time to waste on nonsense. "Don't just stand there! The beasts are right on our heels!"
After saying that, she flew to the front to join Jun Luo and the others.
At this point, the healed disciples had already split into groups of three to five, spreading out to surround the beasts' path of advancement.
They were primarily responsible for pinning the beasts down, while those at Qi Refining level four, like Gu Ningyun, would make the kills.
Fu Mingzhi also quickly snapped out of it, no longer dwelling on the fact that Gu Ningyun was a sword cultivator.
Gu Ningyun was the first to face a beast.
Seeing a red-eyed brute bull with a cultivation level infinitely close to rank two, Gu Ningyun didn't dare to be careless and struck at its weakness with her sword.
The green sword qi was silent and invisible, severing the brute bull's four limbs at the joints in an instant.
The brute bull was still in the middle of a charging motion when its limbs were suddenly detached. Unable to stop its momentum, it face-planted and slid forward for quite a distance.
Before it could gather spirit energy in its horns to attack, Gu Ningyun followed up with another strike, directly severing its neck.
The surrounding disciples who were providing cover were deeply grateful to Gu Ningyun for purging the evil qi from them.
While keeping the beasts pinned down, they attacked while also keeping a close eye on Gu Ningyun's situation, fearing that she, a support, might encounter danger and not receive timely help.
They never expected that while they were worrying about the support's safety, they would see that very support wielding a sword and killing a frenzied beast in just two strikes. Everyone was so shocked they even forgot to cast their spirit energy attacks.
It was only when Jiang Yao saw this and called out a reminder: "Focus!"
The disciples finally snapped out of it.
Seeing the beasts about to injure their fellow disciples due to the momentary lapse in containment, they quickly unleashed their attacks to pin the beasts down once more.
By now, Gu Ningyun had already stabbed a red-eyed antelope.
With the five members of Ruiyu Pavilion joining the fray, unlike before when they were struggling to survive and fleeing in a panic, the disciples present discovered for the first time that killing beasts could be this easy.
With three sword cultivators like Gu Ningyun, Jun Luo, and Fu Mingzhi present, no matter how strong these frenzied beasts were, as long as they hadn't broken through to rank two, they were no match for them.
Meanwhile, Mu Chenze, Wen Xuan, Jiang Yao, and the other Qi Refining level four cultivators were no slouches either.
Under the cover provided by the many level three disciples, two level four cultivators would gang up on one beast and quickly take its head.
In just fifteen minutes, half of the thirty-seven beasts had been slaughtered.
With eighteen beasts left, those with enough strength took them on one-on-one, while those with less strength teamed up. They quickly separated the beasts and killed them all off one by one.
After the slaughter, all the disciples present let out a collective sigh of relief.
Smelling the thick scent of blood in the air, Wen Xuan said, "Our spirit energy consumption is too high. Let's clean up the battlefield first to avoid attracting more beasts."
The others had no objections and collected the beast carcasses based on who made the kills.
The disciples with fire and earth spirit energy began to deal with the traces on the ground, while the others took the time to recover their spirit energy.
A few injured disciples came to find Gu Ningyun for another round of healing.
This time, Gu Ningyun only charged each person six points. Naturally, these were sect points and not competition points.
The price drop was because they had all fought together just now, putting in their full effort without holding back or slacking off.
She didn't provide free treatment because playing Zongjiao also consumed spirit energy and mental strength. Furthermore, she knew that providing too much for free could easily lead to resentment if she ever stopped.
Those disciples felt bad about it and gave her some pills and talismans.
"Senior Sister Gu, we know how troublesome evil qi is. If it weren't for you, we would have been corrupted by it long ago and ended up like those beasts."
"That's right, you've taken care of us, so we can't be ungrateful. These are just some little things we refined ourselves. If you see someone you don't like, just throw them out. They're quite interesting."
Gu Ningyun looked through them as they introduced the items. Some of the pills could make someone itch all over for three days, while others could make someone's hair fall out and turn them bald.
The talismans were all yellow-rank mid-grade and high-grade, including earth-tunneling talismans, water arrow talismans, and so on.
She blinked. "Then I won't be polite!"
A disciple chuckled. "We're just glad you like them, Senior Sister Gu."
Those who weren't injured were the first to recover their spirit energy and stood guard to let the disciples who had finished cleaning the battlefield meditate.
Gu Ningyun had just opened her eyes and hadn't even stood up yet when she heard Fu Mingzhi say that he had received a message from Si Puyu—
A large number of frenzied beasts have been encountered at the junction of the North and West! Many disciples have been infected by evil qi, and the situation is critical! Please come to our aid immediately!
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