"We are the food."
Half an hour later, the group stopped in a passage that looked no different from the previous ones. Nie Wushang opened her mouth and said this.
In an instant, everyone's gaze focused on her.
Nie Wushang continued, "To survive, we either kill the thing that wants to eat us, or we leave this place."
The auras of Jin Shi and his two companions were visibly unstable. Upon hearing this, the most timid among them, Yugui, looked at Jin Shi in panic. "Big Brother, this..." They had already fled for quite some time, and their Demonic Qi was far less than that of Mo Tiange's group of four. If they kept running, they would definitely be the first to collapse.
Jin Shi stared intently at Nie Wushang and asked, "This... Fellow Daoist Tian Can, are you saying that Mei Feng tricked us into coming here just to feed this monster?"
Nie Wushang shook her head slightly. "The facts are laid out before us. However, whether that's his ultimate goal, I don't know."
"If we get eaten, what ultimate goal would there be?" Yong Ruyu's expression was grim, his brows tightly furrowed. "Could it be that this monster grows stronger by devouring us?"
Nie Wushang gave a light snort, her gaze sweeping over him. "Haven't you noticed that after your attacks, the monster's aura became more intense?"
Yong Ruyu was taken aback. He truly hadn't noticed that. When the attack failed, he had only felt frustration. But thinking back carefully, even if it had strengthened, it couldn't have been by much, right? Otherwise, with a Core Formation Cultivator's sensitivity to auras, he would have noticed without paying special attention.
Jin Shi and the other two looked thoughtful. Mu Xi hesitated and said, "Indeed... When we first encountered this monster, it wasn't as strong as it is now."
Hearing this, Yugui's face changed drastically. He looked at Jin Shi and said, "Doesn't that mean... even if all of us join forces, we still can't defeat it?"
"What's there to panic about?" Jin Shi scolded, seeing his expression. He then turned to Nie Wushang and asked politely, "Since Fellow Daoist has discovered this, do you have a way to deal with it?"
Nie Wushang shook her head. "I have a clue, but I can't think of a method at the moment."
Jin Shi was stunned upon hearing this. "Then what do we do next? Just keep running endlessly like this? If that's the case, we won't be able to recover our Demonic Qi in the end, and we'll still be devoured!"
"I have a suggestion." Mo Tiange, who had been silent all this while, suddenly spoke, instantly attracting everyone's attention.
Although they hadn't known each other for long, they had a general grasp of each other's personalities. Yong Ruyu and Qiu Chengruo were capable in action and had decent insight, but in critical moments, they were prone to losing their composure. As for Jin Shi's trio, Yugui didn't need mentioning; Mu Xi was meticulous but limited by his perspective, while Jin Shi himself was rather rough around the edges. Thus, when it came to proposing feasible ideas at critical junctures, only Nie Wushang and Mo Tiange could do so.
Mo Tiange continued, "If the first trial was meant to confuse us, and this place is truly City Lord Mei's goal, then everyone should have arrived here."
"Correct." Though rough, Jin Shi was not foolish. Hearing this, he immediately grasped what she was implying. "If we gather everyone together, perhaps we can..."
"Mm. With collective wisdom and effort, there might still be hope." Mo Tiange nodded in agreement.
Mu Xi immediately began calculating meticulously. "There are seven of us here, so there should be eight others not with us. One person has already been devoured—we saw that with our own eyes. Assuming the others are unharmed, that leaves seven more people."
Yong Ruyu's expression showed hesitation. "Do we really need to find everyone? But this place is like a maze. How do we search?" With so many branching paths, just walking through them all would take a long time.
"As for that," Nie Wushang said, "we split into groups, leave marks along the way, and regroup every half hour without fail. That way, we ensure we don't get separated."
"That could work," Jin Shi said. "But even so, we might not be able to find everyone. And if we can't recover our Demonic Qi all this while..."
"So we must set a time limit," Mo Tiange said. "First, everyone state how long the pills you carry can keep your Spiritual Qi replenished."
"This..." Jin Shi was the first to hesitate. For a cultivator, the amount of pills one carries is as much a secret as one's magical treasures. If others knew such information, one would be at a disadvantage during combat. Even close friends wouldn't ask such a question normally.
In contrast, Yong Ruyu immediately said, "That's right. We're all grasshoppers tied to the same rope now. With a powerful enemy before us, joining forces naturally gives us a higher chance of survival. This requires us to trust our teammates once. However, I hope we can all make a vow not to turn against each other until we safely escape."
"That's no problem," Mo Tiange said, glancing at Jin Shi. "What do you three Fellow Daoists think?"
"This..." Jin Shi was still hesitant.
Seeing this, Yong Ruyu said solemnly, "Fellow Daoists, you are Demonic Cultivators. Relatively speaking, vows don't bind you as strictly as they do us. If you can't even accept this, then how can there be trust between us? Without trust, how can we cooperate?"
"Big Brother, he's right," Mu Xi reminded quietly. "The situation is urgent. We have no choice."
Jin Shi hesitated for a long moment, then gritted his teeth. "Fine! I'll have to gamble this once!" With that, he raised his hand and declared, "I, Jin Shi, hereby swear to the Demon God: on this journey, I shall advance and retreat together with the Fellow Daoists present here, trusting each other. I shall treat others as they treat me. If I harbor ill intentions or break this vow, may I never advance to the Nascent Soul stage in this lifetime, and may all my Supernatural Abilities be destroyed!"
After he finished, Mu Xi and Yugui followed suit. After making their vows, the three of them looked at Mo Tiange and the others.
Without hesitation, Mo Tiange was the first to speak. "I swear by my Inner Demon: until we safely escape, as long as none of the Fellow Daoists break their vow, I will trust them wholeheartedly and never become their enemy. If I break this vow, may the Dao Ancestors bear witness, condemning me to a lifetime trapped by Inner Demons, my cultivation never progressing, and all my Supernatural Abilities destroyed."
Afterwards, Nie Wushang, Yong Ruyu, and Qiu Chengruo each made their vows one by one.
When the last person finished speaking, all seven let out a sigh of relief. Finally, there was a preliminary trust between them.
Mortals might be able to deny their vows outright, but they, as cultivators, could not. The reason they embarked on the path of cultivation was their belief in the existence of Immortals and demons in this world. How, then, could they break their vows? Even though Demonic Cultivators didn't have as strict mental cultivation as Daoist cultivators, they had their own taboos.
After making his vow, Jin Shi became straightforward. He directly took out several bottles of pills from his robe and said, "For us Demonic Cultivators, there aren't many pills we can take directly. After entering this secret land, we've already consumed quite a few demonic pills. These few bottles are all I have left. They can probably sustain me for a day or two."
Mu Xi followed up. "I have slightly less than Big Brother, but if used sparingly, I can last a day."
Yugui opened his Qiankun Bag to check and said, "I'm about the same as Mu Xi. Probably only a day's worth."
Seeing this, Mo Tiange frowned slightly. She knew Demonic Cultivators often didn't have many pills, but she hadn't expected it to be this little. They had walked through this cave system for so long without sensing an end. To search it all would definitely take more than a day. Furthermore, to deal with that monster, they must reserve some pills for the final moments and not use them all up.
Next was Qiu Chengruo. "Our situation is better. I often refine pills, so I have many stored that can be consumed as Spiritual Qi replenishing pills. I think my Senior Brother and I can last three to five days."
Hearing this, Mo Tiange's expression improved slightly. For a Core Formation Cultivator, especially one from a sect, having this many pills was more reasonable.
Nie Wushang spread her hands. "I don't have many pills. However, I have a treasure that can replenish Spiritual Qi. It can also last three to five days."
Finally, it was Mo Tiange's turn. She said, "I have quite a few pills on me. Three to five days won't be a problem either." She didn't reveal everything and continued, "Since that's the case, let's agree on other matters."
The others had no objections. They agreed on the markings to use and a general route, then split into three groups. The three Demonic Cultivators naturally stayed together. Yong Ruyu and Qiu Chengruo formed one group, while Mo Tiange and Nie Wushang formed another. Although everyone had made vows, for splitting into groups and acting separately, mutual trust and rapport were still necessary.
"Fellow Daoists, my Junior Sister and I will take our leave first." After finalizing the details, Yong Ruyu was the first to cup his hands in farewell. The two of them chose the left path. If they encountered too many branching paths, they would return early and send a sound transmission.
Then it was Jin Shi's turn. "Then we'll be off too." Without further ado, he led his two brothers towards the right path.
Finally, only two people remained. Mo Tiange and Nie Wushang exchanged a glance, both sighing, then stepped into the central passage.
After walking for a while, when their spiritual sense could no longer detect the traces of the other two groups, Nie Wushang suddenly asked, "Your idea isn't just about gathering everyone together, is it?"
Mo Tiange glanced at her, shaking her head with a bitter smile. "As expected, I can't hide it from you. Correct. This proposal actually has another layer of meaning. If we can gather everyone together, of course that's good. But if that path proves impassable, having people scattered might actually buy time for everyone."
By splitting up and acting separately, the monster could only chase one target at a time, making the others relatively safer. If coordinated well, they would consume less Spiritual Qi and could hold out longer. This method couldn't guarantee everyone's safety, but even if someone sacrificed themselves, it would buy time for the others.
"They agreed so readily. They probably understood your meaning."
"I know," Mo Tiange didn't hide it. "But they're all strangers. Sacrificing some to ensure their own safety—why would they refuse? After all, I'm the one who proposed it. They just have to tacitly agree."
"But what if the ones sacrificed are themselves..."
"Then they can only blame bad luck. The same goes for us." Mo Tiange's tone was flat. By now, she no longer felt emotional turmoil over such matters. On the path of cultivation, sometimes it all came down to luck. Good luck meant advancing step by step; bad luck meant becoming someone else's stepping stone.
Nie Wushang fell silent. She was even more accustomed to such things than Mo Tiange. After a while, she asked again, "But your ultimate goal isn't this, is it?"
Mo Tiange turned her head, looking at her with a smile. "That's something I should ask you. That monster... you actually recognize it, don't you?"