Including Li Qingxian's team, a total of six teams stood on the broad open ground.
The crossroads leading north, deeper into the Inner City, was shrouded in gray mist.
Before the northern crossroads, hundreds of children in colorful clothes had divided into dozens of groups, playing different games.
"Pass, pass, pass the handkerchief, gently place it behind a little friend. Don't let him know, everyone. Hurry, hurry, catch him! Hurry, hurry, catch him..."
"Chop, chop, chop the cabbage..."
"Beat the treacherous ministers, beat the bad guys..."
"Sell the piglets, sell the piglets, sell all the piglets..."
The other five teams had originally been watching the children play, but now they all turned to look over.
There were two Martial Cultivator teams, one Literary Cultivation team, one Dao Cultivator team, and one Devil Sect team.
When they saw Ye Han, Gang Feng's son, who had shared games with Meng Huaichuan, four teams aside from the Devil Sect team cupped their fists in greeting.
Li Qingxian and the others likewise returned the salute with cupped fists.
Li Qingxian observed the crowd and discovered that, among these five teams, aside from the Dao Cultivator team, whose peculiarities he could not discern, the people in the other four teams all seemed slightly different.
Of the two Martial Cultivator teams, everyone in one had lost their left ear, while everyone in the other leaned toward the left, as though an invisible burden weighed upon their left shoulders.
Everyone in the Literary Cultivation team had a high hump on their backs, resembling hunchbacks.
Every member of the Devil Sect team had a pitch-black left eye, as though it had been covered with black cloth.
In each of the first four teams, roughly one-quarter of the people had lost children, while the Devil Sect team had lost