The Pastoral Life of a Cultivation Master

Chapter 3087 Dividing into Groups and Teams to Cross the Bridge
“Elder, everyone is ready and waiting for your command,” Qian Wantong said to Qian Ying as he stepped forward.

Qian Ying looked at Zhou Zixing and asked, "Elder Zhou, is there anything else you haven't prepared?"

Zhou Zixing waved his hand, signaling Qian Wantong to step back first: "Let everyone wait a moment."

"Yes, Elder Zhou." Upon hearing this, Qian Wantong naturally withdrew respectfully. There was no other way; although he wasn't one of their own elders, he was still a second-level Innate Realm expert, and the proper respect had to be shown.

"how?"

"Elder Qian, you must have also sensed a faint sense of danger beneath this lake, right?" Zhou Zixing asked hesitantly, pointing at the lake. Although he had felt this way long ago, it was very faint. If he didn't consciously perceive it, the feeling would become extremely weak, even negligible.

However, over the past two days, as the lake level has gradually dropped, this vague feeling seems to have become increasingly clear. Initially, he thought his perception was flawed, believing that the sense of danger came from the unicorn and the hornless beast.

But even after subduing the two strange beasts, the lake still felt dangerous, which was not right.

Therefore, I hesitated a bit when it came to using the iron chain bridge to cross the lake.

Originally, both he and Qian Ying were aware of this matter, but they hadn't spoken of it. This was also why he didn't object when Qian Ying suggested speeding up the crossing of the lake. They both tacitly agreed, since innate masters generally possessed far superior spiritual perception compared to acquired martial artists.

"Yes, when we first arrived here, the sense of danger was very small, almost non-existent. But as we spent more time by the lake, the feeling became more and more obvious, especially yesterday and now, as the lake level has dropped, the sense of danger has become even clearer."

"I really don't know what's hidden beneath this lake, or why I feel a sense of danger."

"If you don't understand something, don't think about it. Let's get everyone across the lake as soon as possible and leave it as it is. That way, even if there's danger later, we'll be gone and it won't affect us, right?" That was what Qian Ying was thinking, and that's what she was doing. She had to cross the lake today no matter what, and couldn't linger here.

Otherwise, once the lake water level drops to a certain height, the danger will naturally surface.

“I understand what you mean, but I’m a little worried. What if something dangerous happens in the lake when we’re crossing it and we’re halfway across? What if we’re the target? The whole team will be on the suspension bridge, so wouldn’t the whole team be in danger?” Zhou Zixing said.

Qian Ying thought about it and realized it was true. If the whole team were on the suspension bridge, and some strange beast rushed out of the lake and attacked them, would they proceed, retreat, or deal with the crisis on the spot?
There's hardly any room for fighting on the iron chain bridge; even standing on it is dangerous, let alone fighting.

"So, what are your thoughts?" Qian Ying asked. "You know, if we don't cross the lake today, the longer we delay, the more dangerous it will become."

“Yes, that’s my feeling too. So when we need to cross the lake, we can cross it in groups to cross quickly. After one group crosses, another group will cross, with no more than five people in each group. That way, even if something happens, the losses won’t be too great.” Zhou Zixing shared his idea.

"Huh? Why are there five people?" Qian Ying asked.

“Because Ouyang Nan’s team of five people crossed the lake yesterday without any problems, I thought that five people should be fine and probably wouldn’t attract any danger from the lake,” Zhou Zixing said.

Qian Ying thought it made sense; Ouyang Nan's team had indeed crossed the lake safely yesterday. Therefore, Zhou Zixing's method should be feasible.

Furthermore, if a real danger occurs, even if five people are lost, the impact will not be significant.

“Okay, that works! Let’s do it the way you suggested.” Qian Ying nodded and agreed to Zhou Zixing’s plan.

"Yes, there's one more thing,"

"whats the matter?"

"It's about this one corner of the iron chain bridge. If we all cross the lake, will there be any trouble if no one stays here?" Zhou Zixing said.

When night falls, the iron chain bridge will be restored and retracted. If the unicorn wants to retrieve its horn, it won't be able to climb up, so how can it retrieve its horn?

What if the unicorn can't get its horn back? Will that cause any trouble?
Zhou Zixing voiced his concerns, leaving Qian Ying momentarily at a loss. However, after some thought, she said, "This iron chain bridge will only be retracted at night. That's when the unicorn will be delivered. Even if the unicorn beast doesn't get the unicorn, we'll be far from the lake, so there shouldn't be any major problems."

"In that case, alright then." Although Zhou Zixing still had some doubts, Qian Ying had already made his decision, so he would act according to his orders. After all, Qian Ying was stronger than him, so even if there was real danger, he would be the one to contribute more.

"Alright, let's start crossing the lake in groups now." After Qian Ying finished speaking, she beckoned to Qian Wantong and called him over. She then instructed everyone to form groups of five, with Qian Zhenghao in the first group, to begin crossing the lake. Of course, because of the fog on the lake, the bridge structures on the other side could not be seen, so after each group crossed, a signal flare was fired, and then the second group would continue, so that each group could safely cross the lake one by one.

After receiving the order, Qian Wantong went to arrange the entire martial arts team into groups.

Of course, since they were grouped into teams of five, some people couldn't team up with warriors from their own families, which made them somewhat unwilling. However, this order came from Elder Qian Ying, so some warriors had no choice but to reluctantly join warriors from other families.

The grouping was quick; before the others had even finished forming their groups, the first group, led by Qian Zhenghao, had already set off.

Although Qian Zhenghao was unwilling, he knew he couldn't resist. So he could only set off with four Qian family warriors. He didn't know why Qian Ying and the others had divided the warriors into groups of five to cross the iron chain bridge.

It felt like an unnecessary step, but unfortunately he wasn't one of the two innate elders, Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing, so he could only obey orders.

With four other people, making a total of five, they quickly crossed the suspension bridge. But when they reached the middle of the bridge, for some reason, they stopped.

Thinking about crossing the bridge in groups of five, we wondered if there was any danger in the lake. Looking into the lake, we couldn't see much due to the thick fog; all we could see was a white mist.

The area around him was also shrouded in white mist, as if the iron suspension bridge passed through a white mist. He was enveloped in white mist all around him and could not see anything at all.

"Ah Hao, why aren't we moving? Elder Qian told us to hurry up and cross the iron chain bridge. There are other people waiting to cross. Let's hurry up and move on." The Qian family members behind him urged Qian Zhenghao when they saw him standing still.

"Okay, okay." Qian Zhenghao didn't find anything, so he was able to continue. Well, since that's the case, it's best to get across the lake as soon as possible.

Although 500 meters seemed a long distance, it didn't take long with the martial artists' speed boost. The first group of team members, led by Qian Zhenghao, reached the other side and joined Ouyang Nan and the others.

"Huh? Qian Zhenghao, why are there only five of you? Where are the others?" Ouyang Nan was waiting for people to arrive at the bridgehead building, but when she found that only five people had come, she asked.

Qian Zhenghao then divided Qian Ying into groups and briefly explained the plan to each group. Before he finished speaking, a team member behind him took out a signal gun and fired a green signal flare into the air.

Although Ouyang Nan found it somewhat strange, she respected the arrangement despite her lack of understanding. After all, there might be some deeper meaning behind Qian Ying and the others' arrangement.

However, Chen Mo, standing to the side, understood the meaning behind this arrangement. It seemed the two innate elders had also sensed the hidden danger in the lake, and thus decided to ferry people across in batches. Even if danger occurred, the losses wouldn't be significant.

As for the five people, Chen Mo could guess that they had crossed the lake in groups of five yesterday using the iron chain bridge. So now they should also cross in groups of five, trying their best to follow the previous pattern, which could be considered as following precedent.

Haha, those two old guys really put their hearts into it.

Although Chen Mo guessed it, he didn't say it out loud in front of everyone.

However, he really wanted to know what dangers lay by the lake. He wondered if he could do something underhanded while everyone was crossing the bridge. But since there were five people in a group, and the second group would only join after they crossed, the target might not be very conspicuous, and perhaps the danger wouldn't arise.

Forget it, let's just pretend we don't know.

In the thick fog, as the green signal flare slowly rose, Qian Ying and the others could still vaguely see it.

"Second group, move out!" Qian Wantong shouted to the second group behind him. The five martial artists in the second group immediately stepped forward and crossed the lake along the iron chain bridge.

Then came the third group, the fourth group...

Finally, Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing, along with four other people, formed the last team. After receiving the signal flare, they quickly crossed the suspension bridge to the other side.

With the previous groups having safely crossed the suspension bridge, there shouldn't be any problem since there was one more person than the previous group of six. Therefore, they didn't follow the rule of forming groups of five, but instead formed a group of six.

Just as the six people reached halfway across the suspension bridge, the surrounding thick fog suddenly trembled violently, followed by a loud rumble that came from the lake below the bridge.

In an instant, all six of them tensed up, gripping the suspension cables of the iron chain bridge tightly with both hands, and observing the movements around them.