After Zhang Ling and the others left, they dispersed. Back in his cave, he considered his next plans.
Now that the beast tide was coming, he naturally wanted to return to Wanxiang City as soon as possible, as it was safer than this medium-sized island. However, he hadn't obtained the secret technique for refining the Devouring Cloud Stone, so he was a little unwilling to give up just like that.
At the same time, with the beast tide approaching, he might have a chance to sneak into the Flying Cloud Sect's library. With danger and opportunity before him, Zhang Ling didn't make a decision immediately, planning to wait and see.
Three days later, Zhang Ling received a patrol mission. He led a team of ten Foundation Establishment cultivators to patrol Flying Cloud Island.
This was a task assigned by the sect. Now that the entire Flying Cloud Island knew the beast tide was coming, not only the Flying Cloud Sect was taking action, but even the mortals and rogue cultivators on the island had clear arrangements and followed the Flying Cloud Sect's orders.
This kind of patrol mission was relatively easy, only requiring them to be responsible for the situation in the surrounding thousand-mile area.
The Golden Core cultivators of the Flying Cloud Sect, except for the twelve elders selected to set up the Flowing Cloud Grand Formation, were mostly responsible for this kind of patrol mission. The area of Flying Cloud Island was not small, and they only had to be responsible for the half of the area near the wilderness.
In addition, several cultivators whose strength had reached the late stage of Golden Core were sent out to constantly investigate the situation in the wilderness.
On this day, Zhang Ling was patrolling a rocky area on the western outskirts. The Foundation Establishment cultivators he led were all arranged in the surrounding thousand-mile area.
The outskirts of Flying Cloud Island were originally surrounded by a cloud of mist that never dissipated throughout the year, but it had all disappeared in a few days. This was naturally the Flying Cloud Sect's doing.
Looking back, one could see the summit of Mount Qiyun, tens of thousands of feet high, surrounded by clouds, forming thick layers of clouds.
However, compared to the past, the clouds in the summit area were constantly changing colors, like a seven-colored auspicious cloud, and were still expanding and contracting, like some kind of celestial phenomenon.
This was actually just the twelve elders with the Flying Cloud Flags practicing the grand formation.
The twelve Flying Cloud Flags combined could set up the Flowing Cloud Grand Formation, which was a set of attack and defense formation. From what he knew, the Flowing Cloud Grand Formation had played an important role in resisting several beast tides.
In a few breaths, Zhang Ling checked the area within ten miles and flew to another place. Suddenly, he turned to look northwest. His divine sense sensed two cultivators rushing from thirty miles away.
The two were very fast, heading towards Mount Qiyun all the way.
Zhang Ling only glanced at them and stopped paying attention. They were two elders of the Flying Cloud Sect who had been sent to the wilderness to inquire about the specific information of the beast tide.
Every two days, a pair of cultivators would return, bringing back the latest news.
Zhang Ling continued to patrol nearby, and soon it was evening. Today's patrol mission was considered over. A flash of light appeared in his hand, and a square token appeared. After casting a few spells on the token, he flew to a valley not far away.
There was a flat area in the valley, with many stone houses and other buildings built. These were all temporary settlements built by cultivators using magic to condense earth and rocks.
He went directly into one of the stone houses to rest. Soon after, all the Foundation Establishment cultivators he led also returned.
Their team of cultivators rested in the valley.
But only two hours later, Zhang Ling, who was meditating in the stone house, suddenly took out a black token. At this moment, the token trembled slightly, and a white light flashed, revealing a line of words.
Zhang Ling glanced at it, then put away the token, walked out of the house, then gave an order to a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and flew towards Mount Qiyun.
After returning to Mount Qiyun, Zhang Ling immediately went to the sect hall. Many elders had already gathered inside to discuss the beast tide. He joined the discussion after he arrived.
It turned out that Headmaster Sun had summoned them again because the beast tide had already spread towards Flying Cloud Island and would probably arrive here in a few days.
The location of Flying Cloud Island was tens of thousands of miles away from the edge of the wilderness and belonged to the second line of defense.
The first line of defense had now begun to collapse.
The area controlled by the human race in the Flowing Cloud Sea was located in the due east area, although most of the controlled areas were scattered aerial islands.
However, the wilderness basically maintained the original basic form of the continent. Centered on the Tianyuan, it was divided into four regions. The outbreak of turbid air and the spread of the beast tide had the greatest impact on the southeast regions of the human and demon races.
The first line of defense was built on those small and medium-sized islands closest to the wilderness. In the past, these islands were quite prosperous, and many cultivators transmitted to that side through the teleportation array to enter the wilderness to hunt wild beasts.
But now that the beast tide had broken out, that side was extremely dangerous. Wanxiang City and the Ten Great Sects and other forces had already organized an army to resist the beast tide.
The second line of defense was the tens of thousands of miles of area behind, a line of defense composed of large forces such as Flying Cloud Island that independently controlled an island.
The third line of defense behind was the area centered on Wanxiang City. In the past, the beast tide would at most spread to Wanxiang City, and it would be cleaned up by Wanxiang City.
Once the beast tide broke through Wanxiang City, the hinterland of the human race's area would be behind. At that time, not to mention the casualties of cultivators, the deaths of mortals alone would definitely greatly damage the vitality of the human race.
According to the news from several dispatched elders, the human race's army resisting the beast tide had been fighting the beast tide for more than half a month. The situation was extremely bad. Not only was the number of wild beasts in the beast tide amazing, but it was said that a Nascent Soul-level wild spirit had appeared.
Moreover, several small and medium-sized islands closest to the wilderness had been flattened.
Because the geographical location of the Flowing Cloud Sea was extremely special, the areas controlled by the human and demon races were the outer areas of the original entire continent, which were scattered into large and small islands.
This kind of scattered island was not easy to form an overall line of defense, so now many wild beasts had crossed the first line of defense and spread towards the human and demon races.
The news brought back by several elders made the people of the Flying Cloud Sect truly realize that the beast tide was at hand. The entire sect and the rogue cultivators and mortals on the island immediately became busy.
Zhang Ling's mission did not change much, he was still patrolling the western outer area of the island. It was just a little busier than a few days ago, and he had to patrol the thousand-mile area two or three times a day.
During the discussion of the beast tide, he also received a message that at this moment, only the old woman surnamed Lu, this Supreme Elder, was sitting in the Flying Cloud Sect.
The other two Supreme Elders in the sect were not on the island. It was said that they had gone to the side near the first line of defense to hunt wild beasts.
These Nascent Soul old monsters were highly skilled. Although they might not be able to stop the spread of the wild beast tide, they would not be in much danger when they acted alone, unless they encountered a wild spirit comparable to the Nascent Soul level.
So these old monsters mostly acted alone, specializing in hunting those high-level wild beasts. This was a big income for them.
And Zhang Ling was concerned that there was only one Nascent Soul old ancestor in the Flying Cloud Sect at this time, and this one would definitely take action once the beast tide spread here. At that time, he would have the opportunity to sneak into the library to steal the secret technique.
