Let's go back in time to before Zhou Yin and the others had set up the Seven Star Formation.

Because someone was ambushed again, everyone panicked and hurriedly opened the door to escape. However, as soon as the door opened, the fierce wind outside blew in, completely dispelling the warmth inside the inn and extinguishing all the candles in the main hall on the first floor.

Now everything was plunged into darkness, giving the demon beast an opportunity to attack. Screams rang out one after another, and in the blink of an eye, seven or eight people had been killed.

Seeing the situation was dire, Qingying had already set up a protective barrier around their table. The few people who had just begged Qingying to save them quickly huddled over, but the others didn't care. They already considered this inn a haunted place and wished they could sprout wings and fly away right now. So everyone surged forward and ran towards the door.

Many people went outside, only to find it was just as pitch black out there. Forget about the stars and moon, there wasn't even any light at all. The sound of the wind howled in their ears, even more eerie than inside. When they went to get their camels, they found that not only were the camels dead, but their flesh was also giving off a foul stench of decay.

Some people were timid and wanted to turn back, while others would rather go out and face the sandstorm than be killed by the terrifying demon beasts inside. However, regardless of whether they went back or not, these people were all destined to not survive.

The sound of the wind masked the scent of the demon beasts. Even cultivators using their spiritual sense could not detect the demon beasts' whereabouts, let alone the powerless merchants who stood no chance of surviving the demon beasts' sudden and ferocious attacks.

The wails and screams soon became buried in the roaring wind. Within just half a mile from the inn, corpses were strewn everywhere, their intestines spilled out.

Those inside the inn had no way of knowing all this, because they were also about to be plunged into a state of extreme terror.

In the northeast corner of the inn.

By now, less than half the people remained in the main hall. They were all scattered about, thinking wherever seemed safe was where they would hide.

Of course, Qingying and the others were still sitting at their table. The demon beasts seemed to know they were not to be trifled with, and had never once approached them from the beginning until now.

This made Qingying even more shocked in her heart: the demon beasts she had encountered before, while there were quite a few formidable and difficult to deal with, were not like the ones today that had awakened intelligence. They actually knew to seek fortune and avoid misfortune, picking on the easy targets while hiding in the shadows, watching everyone and waiting for opportunities to strike.

Soft sobs could be heard from the first floor, but no one dared to cry out loudly, seemingly afraid of attracting the demon beasts. The main hall gradually quieted down to an overly eerie silence. The innkeeper sat on the ground with a blank stare, two of the servants were dead, and the other three were huddled in a corner, shivering in fear.

Someone wanted to follow the merchant group out but hesitated and didn't end up leaving. He shrank by the window, clutching a stool in his hands, seemingly treating it as a weapon to defend himself.

Bang————!!

With the sound of splintering wood, a wet, sticky, vein-covered tongue suddenly shot out from the floorboards beneath where the man was standing, piercing towards his lower body at lightning speed!

He had no time to react at all, still dazedly looking around with everyone else, trying to find the source of the sound.

If that tongue penetrated his lower body, it would definitely stir his internal organs, neck, and brain matter into a pulp from the bottom up, just like those who had died before.

However, this time he was lucky.

At the critical moment, three rays of light shot towards that tongue from different directions.

The first was Qingying's white light, the second and third came from Yun Zong and Zhou Yin respectively.

However, their goals were slightly different. Qingying was only aiming to pierce through that tongue, while Yun Zong and Zhou Yin wanted to drag out the entire demon beast.

Qingying's cultivation was far more refined than the other two, so that white light was naturally much more swift and fierce. In the blink of an eye, it had already severed the demon beast's tongue in two.

Mucus and blood splattered all over the man, who still stood there stiffly in a daze, completely unaware that he had just escaped disaster.

In an instant, Zhou Yin leapt forward and grabbed the remaining half of the tongue still connected to the body, yanking the demon beast hiding under the floorboards out in one pull!

The Canghe Sword in his hand stabbed into the demon beast's flailing body. The demon beast struggled frantically, its left hand's five sharp claws swiping towards the top of Zhou Yin's head, but a red light intercepted it at the waist, cleaving it in two. It crashed to the ground with a thud.

The disciples of Shangxuan Sect shot out flying talismans from their fingertips, dozens of them flying out and hovering in the air, transforming into dozens of lamps.

Only Shangxuan Sect would have such an extravagant display.

Everyone clearly saw the thrilling scene just now and cried out.

"Yun-shishu!"

"Zhou-shishu!"

Under the lamplight, they finally got a clear look at this demon beast that had been hiding in the darkness all along, appearing and disappearing unpredictably.

At first glance, this thing looked like an oversized human, seven feet tall, sturdy and massive, with muscles knotted together all over its body, red and purple. Some parts were already rotting, with white maggots slowly crawling out from within.

Its hands could not be called hands. Other than also having five fingers, there was nothing human-like about them. Even those five fingers were as thick as tree branches, with sharp, dark claws that could pierce through human bodies at any time. Half of a tongue had been cut off from its face, with the other half still hanging out.

Its entire face was a whole size larger than an ordinary person's, hideous and horrifying, a bloody mess. Its eyeballs were all white, with no visible pupils.

However, before everyone could rejoice at eliminating the demon beast, a single sentence from Zhou Yin plunged them back into an icy abyss.

"There's more than one here."

Everyone cried out in alarm and knelt down before Zhou Yin and the others in unison.

"Immortals, please save us!"

"Yes, save us! I'm willing to offer up all my wealth!"

"Me too, immortals! My young daughter just turned sixteen this year, I can offer her to the immortals..."

These common folk had never witnessed cultivators displaying their divine powers. Now, seeing Zhou Yin and the others' formidable skills, the common folk felt as if they saw all hope.

At the juncture between life and death, in order to survive, many things that originally seemed important were no longer important in the face of the threat to their lives.

Seeing this scene, the disciples of Shangxuan Sect couldn't help frowning slightly, their faces carrying a hint of lofty pity. In this moment, they suddenly so vividly realized the difference between themselves and these peddlers.

Zhou Yin did not speak, and had no time to speak. He was carefully listening for any movement from the Seven Star Formation.

Yun Zong stabbed his Wuchang Blade into the ground and said coldly: "Shut up, all of you."

There was still demon beast blood on that blade.

Those people immediately fell silent.

Qingying didn't rush to ask about the situation. Seeing the state of the two, she already knew they must have set up a formation outside. She said to the disciples, "In a moment, take care of yourselves. With the demon beasts ahead, I may not be able to spare attention."

The disciples of Shangxuan Sect all responded in agreement. In fact, there was no need for her to say it. Everyone had already been on high alert, vigilantly watching their surroundings.

Outside, the wind that had originally begun to die down suddenly picked up again, slamming the windows with a clatter. A few of the windows that were not sturdy were blown open by the wind.

But at this moment, who dared to go and close the windows? They could only let the biting wind blow in. In the seventh month, it actually made people feel chills. Fortunately, the lamps were lit with the spiritual power of talismans and were not in danger of being blown out.

Those who ran outside did not come back, and no one had the mind to care about them. In this extremely tense moment, many people couldn't help but let their thoughts wander, regretting more than a hundred times why they had to run here.

With a clang, their fear was pulled back from the Nine Heavens.

The sound came from the kitchen.

The disciples of Shangxuan Sect looked at each other. Yun Zong looked at Zhou Yin, who shook his head slightly.

He couldn't feel the fluctuations of demon beasts.

At this moment!

A hand stretched out from the floorboards and grabbed the ankle of Liu Yuan, a disciple of Shangxuan Sect, dragging her down!

Liu Yuan's silk ribbon flew towards the pillar beside her, tightly wrapping around it. Her face was as white as paper.

The formation actually didn't work!

The crowd of Shangxuan Sect was shocked and frightened. They hurriedly held her upper body to prevent her from sinking further. Qingying shouted lightly, and a white light from her hand struck the floorboards. Instantly, dozens of wooden boards of various sizes were lifted up. Everyone saw that her lower body had already sunk in.

Several disciples exerted force together, trying to pull her out.

"Stop!" Qingying, Yun Zong, and Zhou Yin spoke at the same time.

But it was too late. Liu Yuan's face showed an extremely painful and distorted expression. As those disciples pulled hard, they pulled Liu Yuan out, but only a bloody half remained.

Zhou Yin suddenly made a move. He leaped to the side, his body stepping on the pillar, then using the reaction force, he landed not far from Liu Yuan. With both hands gripping the Canghe Sword, he stabbed down heavily!

The floorboards here had just been pried off. A stream of blood gushed up from below, gradually soaking a small patch of sand.

With a boom, a hole was broken in the roof, and a demon beast leaped down from above, pouncing towards Zhou Yin.

Yun Zong's pupils contracted. The Wuchang Blade in his hand chopped towards the demon beast.

Qingying also made a move at the same time.

The demon beast was killed on the spot, maintaining its posture of pouncing towards Zhou Yin and falling heavily to the ground beside him.

Five or six more demon beasts sprang out from different directions.

The abilities of these demon beasts could at least match a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. They were also immensely strong.

The enemy was hidden while they were exposed. Even with Qingying and the others present, casualties were unavoidable. More than a dozen innocent civilians lost their lives to the tongues and claws of the demon beasts. There were also a few rogue cultivators who were similarly stretched thin and unable to support themselves alone.

Therefore, the Shangxuan Sect crowd had an especially hard time dealing with them, especially since the number of demon beasts was large and they knew to attack separately. They were very cunning and really difficult to deal with.

This battle lasted for an entire half night, and it only stopped when the Mao hour had just arrived and the sun had just risen.

However, their victory came at the cost of the lives of more than half of the civilians present, a rogue cultivator, and a disciple of Shangxuan Sect.

Everything quieted down.

In the main hall, it seemed like even the sound of a needle could be heard. The crowd didn't even dare to breathe heavily. Qingying looked at Zhou Yin.

Zhou Yin said, "They're gone."

Everyone immediately breathed a sigh of relief, but their hearts couldn't stop the lingering fear. Some people even couldn't help but cry out loud.

Although the Shangxuan Sect crowd didn't cry, their faces all showed a look of fatigue and pain.

After all, Liu Yuan had just died at the hands of the demon beasts, and her death was so miserable.

Among those present, the only ones who could barely maintain their composure were Qingying, Yun Zong, and Zhou Yin.

Zhou Yin said lightly, "The road ahead may not be smooth."

The crowd was startled.