The Endless Promise

39. Doubt

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By the time Sect Leader Xu and the Sect Elders found the disciples, it was fully dawn, and the ordeal was practically over.

Three elders met most of Weiyan's original group midway, and the possessed disciples were cured.

Two of the elders used the dark aura within them to trace the evil spirit responsible, but it led back to a pile of ash... One of the eye-eater's wraiths, and they found similar piles of ash in the nearby settlement, solving the mystery of multiple evil spirits.

It had all been the eye-eater's wraiths.

Xu Lin's group had followed Luoyin's advice and thus had not encountered a single beast along their way. Another set of three elders found them and guided them back to Yue City. By then, Xu Min and Xu Haoyuan had already awakened, thanks to Luoyin's Pills.

The two scouts from Xu Haoyuan's original group had also been found, hiding somewhere in the forest, but unfortunately, one had already died...

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, two elders and Lord Xu himself found Weiyan, Luoyin, and the others.

"Yanyan!" Xu Fengyan ran over to Weiyan, a tracking talisman in his hand. "Yanyan! Are you okay?!" She had risen to greet him, but he stopped her, gripping her shoulders in concern. "Are you hurt anywhere?!"

She shook her head. "I'm fine."

"We're saved!" Xu Lian exclaimed, stretching, and Xu Wen and Tao Yun shook their heads.

The three had stirred after Luoyin collapsed, but only fully awakened just as Immortal Yin Xing was vanishing, and they now cupped their hands and bowed, greeting Sect Leader Xu and the elders.

"Forego the formalities!" Sect Leader Xu ordered, his aura suddenly flaring. "The sect owes you all an answer, and I won't rest until we uncover the mysteries behind this mission!"

"Ehehe, Sect Leader, your aura, your aura!" One of the elders reminded him, and he smiled apologetically.

"Ah, sorry, sorry!" He looked around. "Where is Xiaoyin?"

An uncertain look crossed Weiyan's face, but Xu Lian pouted,

"He was taken away by an immortal!" Immortal Yin had vanished with Luoyin just as they woke up.

Lord Xu and all the elders turned to Xu Lian...

"WHAT?!!"

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In Yue City, Luoyin was already back at the Yan House, lying in bed, while Yinying touched a wet cloth to his head.

"I knew it! I knew I shouldn't have let him go on that mission!"

"How long will you blame yourself?!" Yin Xing asked in annoyance. "'Let him'?, you say? We both know he won't listen, once he sets his mind to something!" He checked Luoyin's pulse yet again.

"Besides, it's his own technique that landed him here..."

Formless demons were tricky to deal with. They had no core of their own, so there was nothing to destroy, and they clung to the essences of their numerous victims.

As a former immortal, Luoyin realized this, and the only way to truly defeat a Formless demon, was the 'Purge' technique which he had used.

But the technique required power beyond mortal levels, and his mortal body and core could not handle such power. So he used the same trick he had used to empty 'Luoyin's' core back then, and had spiritually connected his spirit veins and meridians to the Starlight furnace, while absorbing as many of his pills and herbs as possible.