"We're trapped!" a shrill voice echoed through the North Country Inn.
Yong Shanling nodded helplessly. "Yes, it's almost certain that the demons are behind this. And those missing people are also related to them."
"Th-then what about me, an ordinary person? I haven't climbed Mount Everest yet, nor have I been to the legendary Bermuda Bazaar. There are so many fun things waiting for me. I don't want to die!" Li Zhuo pleaded pitifully.
"Shut up! With me and Xiao Ling'er here, we won't let you die," Hou Hua said, repulsed by his behavior. She reached out and swatted his head away.
Hearing the reassuring words, Li Zhuo stopped pretending and scurried off to play with the new toys he had bought.
Hou Hua cursed at the quickly-changing Li Zhuo. "Damn it! What a scheming jerk!"
"Sister Hou Hua, do you want to accept the invitation from the aristocratic family?" Yong Shanling quickly interrupted her, holding a black invitation in her hand.
She couldn't help but examine the spiritual stone inside. Although it was called a spiritual stone, it didn't look like an ordinary one. Instead, it was rectangular and emitted a faint glow. It was said to be a communication stone. This thing was like a group chat, allowing people to send messages. But instead of electricity, it used spiritual energy, and there was never any signal loss.
She took a look and found that most of the cultivators above the Golden Core stage had already agreed to go, while only a few had declined directly.
"I'm not going. It's the same as long as you go. I'll stay here to protect these guys," Hou Hua said, crossing her arms. Thinking that she couldn't fight the demons properly made her feel frustrated. But she was no match for Xiao Ling'er.
Yong Shanling nodded with a smile. Thinking that she was about to fight the demons, she excitedly polished her flying darts, bells, wooden sword and other magical tools again and again.
Mu Yijie tapped his fingers on the table. His deep eyes stared at the communication stone, and a flash of worry crossed his face.
"Ling'er, you must think twice before you act after you go. Be vigilant against those people," he said. He wasn't worried about her ability, but her innocent personality.
She was too easy to trust others and lacked vigilance.
Although Yong Shanling thought highly of herself, she knew her own limitations. So she obediently nodded.
In the largest stadium in the town, the cultivators who had already arrived were whispering to each other.
When Yong Shanling arrived, she saw hundreds of people sitting on the prepared chairs. She lowered her head disappointedly.
"It seems I overestimated the number of people," she said.
"Little girl, the art of cultivation is in decline. It's already quite good to have a few hundred cultivators among tens of thousands of people," a charming and lazy-looking mature woman said.
Yong Shanling turned around and saw the woman looking at her. She glanced at the woman's charming figure and then at her own. She felt like crying. Flat chests were really a pain!
Maybe her expression was really funny, because Ye Lan burst out laughing. She teasingly said, "Your chest will grow after you have a man."
Yong Shanling's face turned as red as a monkey's bottom. She had learned a lot of messy things on the Internet. She vaguely understood what Ye Lan meant, which was enough to make this innocent girl blush.
"I... I think I'm fine like this. I'm a loli, and it's just right," Yong Shanling said proudly, raising her chin. But her words would have been more convincing if she hadn't secretly glanced at Ye Lan.
Ye Lan laughed and put her arm around Yong Shanling's shoulder. "My name is Ye Lan. Follow me from now on, and I'll protect you."
Yong Shanling rolled her eyes. Believing that more friends meant more paths, she sweetly agreed. She was a mature adult now. Uncle would surely praise her when he found out!
"Sister, my name is Yong Shanling. You can call me Xiao Ling'er," she said.
Then the two of them chatted and walked into the stadium.
"Cough, cough. Thank you all for coming here for the 30,000 people in Beishan. I believe you won't regret this action," Ye Xiu flew onto the high platform and said kindly.
The people who had been reluctant at first felt better after hearing his words.
"Reverend Ye, aren't we risking our lives to kill more demons? Maybe we'll even break through," a bold voice said. Everyone couldn't help but laugh.
Many others had the same thought. After all, no one would be so selfless without any benefits.
Ye Xiu looked at the hundreds of people in front of him and felt relieved. He smiled and said, "We naturally won't let you risk your lives for nothing." As he spoke, he waved his hand, and a small storage bag appeared on each person's table.
Yong Shanling's eyes widened in surprise. She opened it and couldn't help but gasp with the people around her.
There were ten top-grade spirit-replenishing pills, a hundred medium-grade spiritual stones, and three middle-rank talismans of each type. "Oh my god, are these aristocratic families going all out?" Yong Shanling exclaimed. She happily put the things from the storage bag into her own.
The atmosphere in the stadium immediately heated up. Everyone was more motivated for this action. After all, they could not only gain merit but also get paid.
"Reverend Ye, we will surely do our best," someone said.
"Yes, we will do a good job," another person said.
...
Reverend Ye exchanged satisfied glances with the other reverends. There was nothing that couldn't be achieved in the face of interests.
"Everyone, we're planning to assemble a team to go to Beishan to investigate. There will be a generous reward for those who return. I wonder which fellow cultivators are willing to go?" Reverend Ye pressed on. He saw the crowd stir, but no one stepped forward first.
"My Ye family will send five Golden Core stage cultivators and two Nascent Soul stage cultivators," someone said.
"My Wang family will do the same," another person said.
"My Ming family will do the same," yet another person said.
...
The major aristocratic families and sects took the lead, which immediately convinced the independent cultivators. One by one, they began to sign up enthusiastically.
Yong Shanling thought that she could fight the demons with so many fellow cultivators and get a generous reward. With her cultivation base, she could run away if she couldn't win. So she might as well go and have a look.
Thinking of this, she excitedly raised her hand to sign up. At this moment, she had already forgotten Mu Yijie's advice to think twice before acting.
Ye Lan saw that this little girl was so enthusiastic about signing up. She couldn't let herself be outshone by this little girl.
"Little girl, I'll go too. We can take care of each other. How about it?" Ye Lan said with a bright smile.
Yong Shanling's eyes lit up. "Great! I won't hold you back."
"Fifty people are enough. We'll set off tonight."