Zhang Ergou looked down and saw that it was Wang Tao, who had been full of spirit and pride just a moment ago.
He had not expected Wang Tao to be in such a tragic state now.
The Heavenly Dao Elder also finally recognized the person before him as Wang Tao, who had just been praised by Daoist Dongyang. His heart clenched.
It seemed he had arrived too late. How would he explain this scene to the other elders?
"Senior Brother, this..." At this moment, Daoist Chunyang and Daoist Dongyang arrived at the demon beast forest with other elders. Upon seeing the tragic scene on the ground, they were all shocked into silence.
"Wang Tao, tell us, what exactly happened?"
As soon as Daoist Dongyang arrived, he recognized the blood-stained person as his proud disciple, Wang Tao.
He had just praised Wang Tao in front of the Heavenly Dao Elder and Daoist Chunyang. This scene was clearly a slap in his face, wasn't it?
"Elder Heavenly Dao, Master, it's all my fault for being reckless and causing my junior brothers and sisters to meet their demise."
Wang Tao, ignoring his injured arm, was filled with remorse. Tears of blood streamed down his chiseled face.
"It's all my fault for being arrogant and misjudging the strength gap between our side and the demon beasts, which led to this outcome."
"Tell us in detail what happened?" The Heavenly Dao Elder heard an unspoken meaning in Wang Tao's words and couldn't help but glance at Zhang Ergou, quickly asking.
After Wang Tao calmed down, he began to recount their encounter.
When they first chased the demon beasts into the demon beast forest, their victories continued to mount. From time to time, one or two stray demon beasts fell under the attacks of the first-tier inner disciples.
Seeing more and more demon beasts fleeing without resistance, their combat achievements grew at a visible rate.
Not only the first-tier inner disciples, but Wang Tao himself had also begun to underestimate the demon beasts.
Everyone had long since cast the elders' previous warnings to the back of their minds, believing that this battle with the demon beasts was merely a slightly larger trial.
Having cultivated in the Misty Sect for so many years, they frequently trained in this demon beast forest and were quite familiar with it. Thus, relying on their greatly improved cultivation, they no longer took these demon beasts seriously.
Wang Tao was also intoxicated by victory. Egged on by several junior brothers, he directly led a thousand first-tier inner disciples into the core region of the demon beast forest.
They wanted to kill more demon beasts and make a good start to this trial.
However, things began to change as soon as they entered the core region of the demon beast forest. The demon beasts they had been pursuing had vanished.
Instead, they were faced with hundreds of demon beast leaders with profound cultivation.
Dozens of these demon beasts were above the Nascent Soul stage, far beyond what Wang Tao and his companions could handle.
Consequently, before long, out of the thousand inner disciples, many died, and many were injured, with some even being dismembered by the savage demon beasts. Wang Tao, relying on his own cultivation, battled a Nascent Soul stage demon beast for a long time.
Just as Wang Tao felt his strength waning and his situation becoming precarious, the demon beast leaders seemed to sense something and suddenly retreated, allowing him to escape with his life.
Then, the Heavenly Dao Elder appeared with Zhang Ergou.
"You're saying there were dozens of demon beasts at the Nascent Soul stage or above?"
The Heavenly Dao Elder and the other elders looked grave. After hearing Wang Tao's account, their faces turned pale. Dozens of Nascent Soul stage demon beasts, even with the full might of the Misty Sect, would be a tremendous crisis.
Now, everyone understood why Wang Tao had managed to escape with his life. It was likely that the demon beast leaders had sensed the Heavenly Dao Elder's aura.
Therefore, they had directly abandoned their intention to kill Wang Tao.
Zhang Ergou didn't know whether to praise this young man's luck or misfortune.
He was lucky to have survived under the maws of dozens of Nascent Soul stage demon beasts.
However, although he had salvaged his life, due to his reckless decision to venture alone into the core area of the demon beast forest, he had caused heavy casualties to nearly a thousand inner disciples.
This scapegoat was not something anyone could easily bear.
It remained to be seen how the Heavenly Dao Elder and the elders would decide. Zhang Ergou doubted these elders would let this rising young disciple off the hook so easily.
Where there are people, there is a martial world, and where there is a martial world, there is struggle.
Because of the deaths of nearly a thousand inner disciples, not only Wang Tao, who led them into the core area of the demon beast forest, would be punished.
Even the Heavenly Dao Elder, who had initially proposed the trial for the disciples, would not escape unscathed.
It was likely that someone would come to demand an explanation from him soon.
The Heavenly Dao Elder was also in a state of great distress. He had never expected Wang Tao and his group to be so impulsive and reckless.
Long before the disciples began their engagement, he had explicitly instructed the inner disciples not to approach the core area of the demon beast forest.
It seemed these disciples had paid no heed to his words, and now this was a bloody lesson.
"Everyone, clean up the battlefield first, collect the remains of the disciples, and leave this place as soon as possible."
With a grim expression, the Heavenly Dao Elder first ordered the elders who had accompanied him to collect the bones and remnants of the fallen inner disciples.
The elders did not object, and Zhang Ergou also joined the team collecting the remains.
When he picked up a severed leg, Zhang Ergou searched for a while longer before finding the owner of the leg.
What a horrific sight it was. Zhang Ergou had never experienced anything like it.
Several times, he couldn't help but want to vomit, but he ultimately held it back.
These disciples, all so young, and among the top cultivators in the inner sect, each a future hope for the sect. Su Dan Novel Network.
Looking at the stiff, unmoving corpses lying on the ground, Zhang Ergou felt an indescribable sense of vexation.
If only he had reminded the Heavenly Dao Elder earlier.
However, though there were myriad medicinal herbs in the world, none could be refined into the "if only" or "what if" potion of regret.
This experience also gave Zhang Ergou a new understanding of the brutality of the cultivation world.
The cultivation world was not peaceful and harmless, nor was it merely about meditation and cultivation.
These fresh lives made Zhang Ergou understand the cruel truth of the path of cultivation even more.
The cultivation world was more ruthless than the mortal world, and Zhang Ergou's resolve in his cultivation heart grew stronger.
He absolutely could not blindly follow others and become their follower.
Zhang Ergou would forge his own path of cultivation...
...
"Ergou, what happened?"
Seeing Zhang Ergou return with a pale face, Lin Yichen and the others grew somewhat anxious.