"Option two. How many points does it need?"
Yu Xiaotang barely hesitated as she weighed the cost against the benefit.
Abandoning Hua Wuying was never going to happen. She had only just pulled the group together through a careful mix of intimidation and incentive. If she gave up now, all those efforts would lose most of their effect. Furthermore, the woman was still a mid-stage Nascent Soul level combatant and remained useful for the trials ahead. More than that, Yu Xiaotang wanted to see what was actually hiding beyond that flickering spatial node.
[Exchanging for a one-time Micro Spatial Stabilization Talisman requires 80 points. Success rate increases to 75 percent. Duration is ten breaths. Confirm exchange and injection?]
"Exchange it. Use it immediately. Injection point, the end of the silk rope, right next to Hua Wuying." She didn't hesitate at all as she gave the mental command.
[Exchange successful. 80 points consumed. Micro Spatial Stabilization Talisman is ready.]
A force carrying strange, oscillating spatial fluctuations surged along the silk rope under Yu Xiaotang's control. It ignored the violent currents and the chaotic energy swirling through the depths, pierced through the spatial barrier with perfect precision, and reached the bottom of the pool in an instant.
"Weng!"
The dark gold formation diagram, which had looked like it could collapse at any moment, shuddered violently after the stabilizing energy poured in. The light was still dim, but the flickering slowed sharply, becoming steady and continuous. The suction caused by the spatial instability weakened rapidly and then vanished into nothingness. The massive silent vortex at the bottom of the pool calmed as well, and the chaotic water flow gradually returned to normal.
"The pull… it stopped?" Underwater, Hua Wuying suddenly felt her body lighten. She almost fell backward from using too much force to resist the grip of the node. Still shaken, she stared at the now stable "gateway," then at the silk rope still tightly wrapped around her waist. A surge of relief after surviving the disaster flooded her heart, along with a deeper sense of awe and gratitude toward Yu Xiaotang.
The Young Sect Master really had a way to handle even this.
"What are you spacing out for? Come up!"
Hua Wuying snapped back to her senses and used the last of her strength to swim upward along the pull of the rope. This time, there was no resistance at all from the water.
Splash!
Water sprayed everywhere as everyone worked together to haul the woman onto the shore. The moment she landed, she collapsed to the damp ground, coughing violently and gasping for breath. The struggle just now had drained her badly, and she had clearly suffered serious internal injuries from the pressure. The protective layers on her body were already shattered into fragments. Her clothes were soaked through, and she looked utterly miserable.
"The water… down there…" she panted, her finger pointing at the surface that had returned to a deceptive calm. "That… that looks like a… temporarily stabilized… spatial entrance?"
Yu Xiaotang didn't answer her right away. She walked to the edge of the pool and focused her senses on the depths. Sure enough, faint but clear spatial fluctuations were coming from the dark gold light gate at the bottom. Compared to the earlier violent suction, it felt much calmer now.
"System, reassess the entrance status and how long it will hold."
[Ding. Target spatial node has been temporarily stabilized. The entrance is a one-way unstable passage.]
[Internal energy fluctuations. Chaotic.]
[Danger level. High.]
[Estimated duration. One ke (15 minutes). After that, it will close automatically due to energy depletion or instability and be covered again by a concealment formation.]
One ke (15 minutes).
Yu Xiaotang weighed the pros and cons at lightning speed. She didn't ask the system whether she should go in. When it came to major decisions, she never relied on the system to decide for her. To her, the system was just a tool. It was something she used to exchange points for convenience, gather information, and even seize Luck from others. The real choice had to be made by her, and the consequences had to be borne by her alone. Blindly following the system's so-called optimal solution would only make her lose her independent judgment and eventually turn her into its slave. Dependence meant losing control. It meant weakness. She would never allow herself to have that kind of weakness.
"Everyone, can you still move?" she turned around, her eyes scanning the group. "Time is tight. The entrance can only last one ke (15 minutes). You all know what it's like outside. If we stay here and wait for it to close, once the floating corpses show up, we're dead anyway."
She paused, then pointed at the dark surface of the pool. "Going in might be another dead end. I have decided to enter."
"You can choose to stay here and wait for the entrance to close, then find your own way out. Or you can choose to follow me and gamble on an unknown path ahead."
In truth, Yu Xiaotang wasn't incapable of taking everyone away from here. The system shop had expensive group teleportation talismans that could send them out of this area, even straight to a relatively safe location. She just didn't want to use them right now and waste her remaining points.
As for Hua Wuying and the others, as disciples of the Hehuan Sect—especially ones assigned to protect the Young Sect Master—each of them had more or less some life-saving trump cards. They had things like long-range instant movement talismans or short-distance teleportation array plates. But once they were used, those cards were gone for good. In a place this strange, whether the destination of an instant movement talisman would even be safe was completely unknown. It might drop them straight into a beast nest or a forbidden zone. The risk was just as huge as staying.
She tossed the choice to them. They had ninety-plus favorability? Then she wanted to see how much that so-called loyalty really weighed when faced with true life and death. Was it temporary loyalty held together by profit and fear, or was it something actually worth investing in when she truly needed reliable tools?"
Three breaths of heavy silence followed.
"This disciple will follow the Young Sect Master!" Hua Wuying struggled to her feet and was the first to answer hoarsely.
"This disciple too!" Liu Shaoyu followed immediately. The rest of them clenched their teeth and echoed their agreement one after another.
"Good." Yu Xiaotang nodded, without the slightest surprise.
"Liu Shaoyu, you and Hua Wuying take care of Ah Ling together and stay in the middle. Everyone else, form pairs. Cover each other and stay alert. No wandering off. I will scout ahead. Liu Shaoyu stays central for support. Hua Wuying brings up the rear. Once inside, no matter what you see, without my order, don't act on your own, and don't make any unnecessary noise."
"Yes!"
After giving the orders, she hesitated no longer. Spiritual energy circulated through her body, and a layer of protective light enveloped her. At the same time, several defensive passive states on the system panel were quietly activated. She walked straight to the pool and stepped in without hesitation.
Splash.
The icy water swallowed her instantly, but the protective light around her body kept the chill out. She dove quickly toward the dark gold light gate below. Behind her, Liu Shaoyu raised a pale blue water-attribute barrier that wrapped around the entire group, and they followed her into the dark water.
The closer they got to the dark gold gate, the thicker the surrounding water seemed to become. A faint pulling sensation tugged at space itself. The light gate was like an inverted vortex at the bottom of the pool, radiating stable yet mysterious spatial fluctuations. Yu Xiaotang paused briefly before it, glanced back at everyone to confirm they were all there, then suddenly surged forward and crashed straight into the dark gold light.
In an instant, the world spun. A violent tearing sensation swept through her, as if it were stretching and twisting both her body and her soul. Her protective light shook violently, letting out a sharp, overloaded hum. Her vision filled with chaotic streams of bizarre, flickering colors, and her ears rang with a silent roar.
At the same time, thousands of miles away, Xie Zhaolin seemed to sense something in the shifting air. She lifted her head thoughtfully, her gaze drifting toward the distant horizon.