It was the same group who went towards the barrier with Lin Fan.
This was the group that had been with him the entire time and they were the strongest members of the group, so it was only natural that they would be the ones that came with him.
Plus, they were surrounded by spirit beasts controlled by the Control Toad, so they were many times stronger than before.
They were prepared for anything that happened.
Or at least that was what they thought.
The elders all stepped back and waited for Lin Fan to step through into the barrier.
They weren't sure what happened, but they were ready to charge forward to help him if anything happened. They just didn't want to crowd him so that he wouldn't have the space to act when the time came.
Lin Fan stood in front of the barrier and took one last look at the elders to make sure that they were all ready.