"We're food."
An hour later, everyone stopped at a passageway that didn't look any different from the previous one. Nie Wushang opened her mouth and said this.
In an instant, everyone's eyes were focused on her.
Nie Wushang continued, "If you want to live, you have to kill the thing that ate us or leave this place."
Jin Shi and the other two people's breaths were obviously unstable. Yu Gui, who was the most timid among them, looked at Jin Shi in panic. "Big Brother, this …" They'd been running for a while, so they had much less devil aura than Mo Tiange's group. In the end, they'd be the first to give up.
Jin Shi stared at Nie Wushang and asked, "This … Fellow Daoist Tiancan, are you saying that Mei Feng tricked us into coming here just to feed this monster?"
Nie Wushang shook her head softly. "The truth is right in front of us, but we don't know whether it's the ultimate goal or not."
"If we're eaten, what ultimate goal is there?"
Yong Ruyu frowned with an unsightly expression. "Will this monster become stronger after eating us?"
Nie Wushang snorted and looked at him. "Didn't you notice that after you attacked, the monster's aura became stronger?"
Yong Ruyu was stunned. He really didn't notice that. He only felt annoyed when his attack failed, but after thinking about it carefully, even if the monster's aura became stronger, it shouldn't be much stronger, right?
Otherwise, with Core Formation cultivators' sensitivity to auras, they would've noticed it even if they didn't pay attention.
Jin Yu and the other two people looked pensive. Mu Xi said hesitantly, "Indeed … When we first encountered this monster, it wasn't as strong as it is now."
Yu Gui's expression changed greatly. He looked at Jin Shi and said, "Then … even if all of us joined forces, we still couldn't defeat it?"
"What are you panicking for?!"
Jin Shi shouted at him. He then turned to Nie Wushang and asked politely, "Fellow Daoist, since you've noticed 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 way yet."
Jin Shi was dumbfounded. "Then what should we do next?
Do we have to keep running like this?
In that case, we won't be able to recover our devil aura and will be eaten in the end! "
"I have a suggestion." Mo Tiange, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly spoke, instantly attracting everyone's attention.
Although they hadn't known each other for long, they had a general understanding of each other's personalities.
Yong Ruyu and Qiu Chengruo were capable of fighting, and their experience was also not bad. However, at the crucial moment, they were easily confused.
As for Jin Shi and the other two, there was no need to mention Yu Gui. Although Mu Xi was meticulous, his horizons were limited, and Jin Shi's conduct was somewhat crude.
Because of that, only Nie Wushang and Mo Tiange could put forward feasible suggestions at the critical moment.
Mo Tiange continued to say, "If the first test was to confuse us and this test was City Lord Mei's real purpose, then everyone should've reached this place."
"Not bad."
Although Jin Shi was crude, he was not stupid. Hearing these words, he immediately thought of what she wanted to say, "If we gather everyone, maybe we can..."
Mo Tiange nodded in agreement. "En, if we work together, we might not necessarily have no hope."
Mu Xi immediately began to calculate carefully. "We have seven people here, so there should be eight people who are not in the same place. One of them has already been swallowed — this is something we saw with our own eyes. If the others are all fine, then there should be seven people left!"
Yong Ruyu looked a bit hesitant. "Do we really have to gather everyone?
But this place is like a maze — how are we going to find them? "There were so many forks in the road that it would take a long time to walk through them.
"About that …" Nie Wushang said, "We'll divide into groups and make marks along the way. Every time we separate for half an hour, we must meet again to ensure that we won't get separated."
"That's fine," Jin Shi said.
"But even if we do that, we might not be able to gather everyone. Besides, if we can't restore our devil aura..."
"Therefore, we must determine a time," Mo Tiange said.
"First, let's talk about how long the medicinal pills you have can keep full of spiritual aura."
"This …" Jin Shi was the first to hesitate.
For cultivators, the number of medicinal pills they had was the same as the number of magic weapons — they were all top secrets. If this kind of thing was known by others, they would fall into a passive position during fights of magical powers. Even if they were good friends, they wouldn't ask this kind of question.
On the contrary, Yong Ruyu immediately said, "Yes, we're all in the same boat now. In front of a strong enemy, we'd naturally have a higher chance of survival if we join hands, so we must trust each other for once.
However, I hope we can all take an oath that we won't turn against each other before we can safely escape. "
"No problem." Mo Tiange glanced at Jin Shi and asked, "Fellow Daoists, what do you think?"
"This …" Jin Shi was still hesitant.
Seeing this, Yong Ruyu said with a heavy voice, "Fellow Daoists, you're devil cultivators. Relatively speaking, the binding force of an oath on you isn't as strong as ours. If you can't even accept this, how can we trust each other?
Without trust, how can we cooperate? "
"Big Brother, he's right," Mu Xi reminded him in a low voice. "The situation is urgent, so we can only do this."
After hesitating for a long time, Jin Shi clenched his teeth and said, "All right, we have to gamble!"
He then raised his hand and said, "I, Jin Shi, hereby take an oath to the Devil God that I'll advance and retreat together with all the Fellow Daoists here and trust each other. I'll treat you the same way you treat me.
If I harbor evil thoughts and violate my oath, I'll never be able to advance to the Nascent Soul realm for the rest of my life, and all my divine abilities will be crippled! "
After he finished chanting, Mu Xi and Yu Gui did the same.
After making the oath, the three of them stared at Mo Tiange and the others.
Mo Tiange didn't hesitate. She said first, "I swear by my Inner Demon that before I can safely escape, as long as Fellow Daoists don't violate the oath, I'll trust you wholeheartedly and will never turn against you.
If I violate this oath, Dao Ancestor will bear witness and let me be trapped by my Inner Demon for the rest of my life. My cultivation level won't be able to advance even an inch, and my divine abilities will be crippled. "
Then Nie Wushang, Yong Ruyu, and Qiu Chengruo made the oath one by one.
When the last person finished speaking, the seven of them heaved sighs of relief. They finally had a preliminary trust among each other.
Mortals might be able to deny oaths, but cultivators like them couldn't. The reason they embarked on the path of cultivation was because they believed there were immortals and devils in this world. That being the case, how could they violate their oaths?
Even though devil cultivators didn't cultivate their minds as strictly as Dao cultivators, they still had their own taboos.
After making the oath, Jin Shi was straightforward. He took out several bottles of medicinal pills from his robe and said, "For us devil cultivators, there aren't many medicinal pills we can take directly. After entering this secret place, we've consumed a lot of devil cores. These bottles are the only medicinal pills I have left. I think they can probably last us for a day or two."
Mu Xi said, "I have less than Big Brother, but if I use them sparingly, it won't be a problem for me to last a day."
Yu Gui opened his Qiankun Bag and looked inside. "I'm about the same as Mu Xi. I can probably only last us for a day."
Seeing this situation, Mo Tiange wrinkled her brows.
She knew devil cultivators usually didn't have many medicinal pills, but she didn't expect they would have so few. They had been walking for a long time, but they still hadn't found the end of this cave. If they wanted to search the whole cave, it definitely wouldn't be a matter of a day.
In addition, in order to deal with that monster, they had to save some medicinal pills for the last moment and couldn't use them all.
Next was Qiu Chengruo. "Our situation is a bit better. I often concoct medicinal pills, so I have a lot of medicinal pills that can be used as Restorative Panaceas. I think it won't be a problem for me and Senior Martial Brother to take them for three to five days."
Upon hearing this, Mo Tiange's expression became a bit better.
Core Formation cultivators, especially Core Formation cultivators who belonged to a sect, could only get by if they had so many medicinal pills.
Nie Wushang spread her hands and said, "I don't have many medicinal pills, but I have a treasure that can replenish my spiritual aura and can last us for three to five days."
Finally, Mo Tiange said, "I have a lot of medicinal pills on me, so three to five days won't be a problem." She didn't finish her sentence and continued, "That being the case, let's make an agreement on the other matters."
The others didn't have any objections. They agreed on a marking and a rough route, and in the end, they split into three groups.
The three devil cultivators naturally stayed together. Yong Ruyu and Qiu Chengruo went one way, while Mo Tiange and Nie Wushang went the other.
Although everyone had sworn an oath, when it came to splitting up, they still needed to trust each other and have a tacit understanding.
"Fellow Daoists, Junior Martial Sister and I will go first." Once the details were settled, Yong Ruyu cupped her hands to bid farewell.
The two of them chose the left path. If they encountered too many forks in the road, they would come back early and notify the others through Voice Transmission.
Jin Shi said, "Then we'll also go." Once he finished speaking, he didn't waste any time and led his two brothers to the right path.
Finally, there were only the two of them left. Mo Tiange and Nie Wushang glanced at each other then sighed and walked towards the middle passage.
After walking for a while, when their divine senses couldn't detect the traces of the other two people, Nie Wushang suddenly asked, "Your idea isn't just to gather everyone together, right?"
Mo Tiange glanced at her then shook her head with a bitter smile. "Sure enough, I still can't hide it from you.
You're right, this proposal actually has another meaning.
If we can gather everyone together, of course it'll be good, but if this road is blocked and everyone gets separated, it'll actually buy time for everyone. "
If they split up, that monster could only chase one target at a time, so the others would be relatively safer. If they cooperated well, they'd consume less spiritual aura, which would allow them to hold on for a while longer.
This method might not necessarily guarantee everyone's safety, but even if someone was sacrificed, it could buy time for the others.
"They agreed so straightforwardly, so it's not like they didn't know what you meant."
"I know." Mo Tiange didn't try to hide it. "But they're all strangers. How could they refuse to sacrifice some people in exchange for their own safety?
In any case, I was the one who made this proposal, so they just need to acquiesce. "
"But if they're the ones sacrificing themselves …"
"Then they can only blame their bad luck. It's the same for us," Mo Tiange said flatly.
Now, she wouldn't be affected by this kind of thing. On the path of cultivation, sometimes luck was the key. If you were lucky, you could advance step by step, but if you were unlucky, you could only become someone else's stepping stone.
Nie Wushang was silent. She was even more accustomed to this kind of thing than Mo Tiange.
After a while, she once again asked, "But this isn't your ultimate goal, right?"
Mo Tiange turned her head and smiled at her. "I have to ask you about that.
Actually, you know that monster, right? "