The Eternal Way

"Looks like they've run into trouble?" Li Qi glanced at ADu, seeking his opinion.

"We should take a detour. Whatever it is, we shouldn't get involved!" ADu immediately replied. With his experience, he knew that rashly joining in any situation wasn't wise.

Li Qi nodded. If the other party was capable of handling the situation, then taking a detour would be best. It was better to avoid unnecessary complications.

The two decided on their course and decisively turned away from the path, heading straight into the woods.

After walking a bit in the forest, they planned to circle back to the road, bypassing the area where the merchants were. This way, any danger would be drawn towards the merchant group, and they could pick up the slack afterward.

However, just as they were about to enter the forest, they heard one of the merchants shout: "You two over there! Don't go into the mountains!"

Li Qi found the voice familiar and looked up to see a face he recognized—it was the burly man who had wanted to teach him a lesson earlier that day.

After shouting, the man focused on swinging his machete, striking it against another, continuously calling out.

Li Qi clearly saw that after making this gesture, the progress bar of the barrier significantly sped up, meaning its duration was greatly reduced.

In this situation... it was clear the man was risking himself to warn them!

"ADu! Stop! Don't go into the forest!" Li Qi stopped immediately and shouted to ADu.

But ADu already had half a foot in the forest.

Li Qi's pupils contracted as he saw a progress bar labeled "Attack" appear in the darkness. Seeing the bar almost full, he quickly accelerated, grabbed ADu's basket, and pulled him back!

Just as ADu escaped danger, a foul-smelling mouth emerged from the dark forest, without even a head, seemingly as if the darkness itself had opened its mouth!

There was no time for singing now, but with a thought, Li Qi's body swelled up, muscles writhed, and he threw a punch.

With a bang, the ground shook. Li Qi felt numbness in his fist as if he had hit a rock.

However, the giant mouth was directly shattered by the punch, turning into black mist and dissipating into the air.

Following this punch, the surrounding forest suddenly surged!

"Roar!" Beast roars echoed through the forest. The originally silent darkness flowed like water, swirling and pitch-black, with rolling black gas moving through the trees, giving Li Qi a vivid understanding of what "demonic aura" meant.

ADu turned pale with fear and started singing loudly, "Glorious Seven Stars, shining above."

This actually worked to some extent; Li Qi could see the enhancement progress bar on him, while the surrounding black mist was pushed back somewhat.

As ADu sang, his body began to emit a warm glow, dispelling the cold air and forcing the black mist to retreat.

For a moment, the black mist was repelled, but ADu also started running towards where there were more people.

Seeing this, Li Qi also ran.

Joking aside, not running would be foolish. There's strength in numbers, and those machetes sounded powerful enough to be effective!

Li Qi quickly caught up to the merchant group.

Instead of blocking him, the merchants actively moved closer, continuously striking their weapons together.

ADu stumbled over, his faint glow emitting yang energy, combined with the sound of metal clashing, creating quite a scene. The surrounding black mist and demonic aura were forced back, unable to advance.

Seeing this, Li Qi also began to sing loudly, chanting in a peculiar rhythm: "Glorious Seven Stars, shining above, brave warriors, how mighty!"

With the Bull Strength Technique, his blood and qi were abundant, and the chant further stimulated him, causing steamy heat to emanate from his body like an air conditioner. His skin, already reddened by the Bull Strength Technique, now appeared coppery, not just red but with a metallic sheen.

The yang energy emitted by Li Qi was even more formidable than ADu's, who had a complementary technique!

With support from Li Qi and ADu, the faces of the merchants lit up with hope. Perhaps tonight could pass safely?

Both sides tacitly understood each other despite being unable to communicate due to continuous singing and shouting. They knew their main goal was to last until dawn when sunlight would surely disperse the black mist completely.

So, everyone formed a circle, ignoring exhaustion, continuously striking their machetes, shouting chants, not daring to stop for even a sip of water.

At first, Li Qi could rely on the Bull Strength Technique to emit large amounts of yang energy, but once ten minutes passed and the technique wore off, he became the least useful, only able to rely on his physical strength and endurance to hold up when others were exhausted.

Thus, the group endured for a whole two-hour period in the darkness.

Looking at the moon phase, it was still midnight, far from dawn.

The clash of weapons and boiling yang energy kept the black mist at bay.

However, the black mist seemed determined to stay, circling and howling around them, waiting for them to collapse from exhaustion.

After an hour of singing, Li Qi frowned and stopped. Being the least useful, his stopping wouldn't affect the overall situation too much.

He didn't rest but stood beside ADu, saying to everyone, "This isn't working. We won't make it till tomorrow. Once we're all exhausted, it'll be our end."

While speaking, he surveyed the group. After just an hour, ADu was already sweating, his voice weak though not yet hoarse.

Striking machetes was physically demanding, and some weaker members of the merchant group were drenched in sweat, panting heavily. Holding out for another two hours might be possible, but continuing would surely lead to collapse.

Hearing Li Qi's words, everyone looked at him, their hands still busy. Clearly, they understood the situation but didn't know how to change it.

Stopping meant risking their lives.

"Everyone, listen to me. I have an idea," Li Qi said to them.