My best friend asked me if I was still doing system tasks.

Lin Zhuzui frowned, pretending not to hear the shouts of Han Hongyu, Shen Siya and others: "Don't panic. Junior Brother Lu, turn around and go back. Sheng Meixu, let's contact the sect together."

Ruan Chayan and Luo Hanying turned around and climbed up again, following behind the trembling Shen Siya, Han Hongyu and the others.

Back in the passageway they had just come from, there was still no activity on the communication jade slips of Lin Zhuzui and the others.

Luo Hanying grasped Ruan Chayan's hand, and the two leaned close together.

"Cha Cha, are we going to end up like this?" Luo Hanying asked, watching the two repeatedly activate their communication jade slips. "I'm starting to regret coming with them."

"Don't say that. We should be glad we came with them."

Ruan Chayan patted Luo Hanying on the shoulder to comfort her, saying, "Otherwise, with just the two of us, we wouldn't even know when something happened."

We have no one to contact while we're out here.

"No, it won't work."

Sheng Meixu wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and calmed the rogue cultivators down. "Don't worry, when we accepted the mission, the Soul Lamp was guarded day and night. If anything goes wrong, they will know immediately."

Lu Xizhou was just reporting the situation to his junior brother. The sect must now know that we've grasped the crux of the matter, and the elders will come to rescue us.

Han Hongyu and Chen Shengzhe didn't want to investigate further with these people in the first place, and now that this strange situation has arisen, they keep blaming Gao Yuru.

Shen Siya spoke sweetly, saying that she didn't blame Sister Yuru and that it was just a momentary misjudgment, but her sarcastic remarks were all out in the open.

Tang Jieqiu brought up Gao Yuru's past actions of protecting them, cursing them for being heartless.

Gao Yuru felt embarrassed by her companion's words and awkwardly expressed her shame.

In the eerie cave, the sounds of arguing echoed.

Lin Zhuzui pinched the bridge of his nose. He exchanged glances with Lu Xizhou, Ruan Chayan, and the others, all of them speechless at the sight of the three women and two men.

It's outrageous that these people were able to disintegrate from within before they even faced real persecution. How did they manage to stay together for so long?

What time is it now? Instead of arguing, we should think about how to proceed.

"We only encountered problems after we got down there. Should we continue forward?" Ruan Chayan asked in a low voice.

Chen Shengzhe immediately objected: "What do you mean 'leave'? We've lost contact with the outside world, of course we should leave!"

Luo Hanying thought about their mission and said, "We've already come this far, wouldn't it be a waste to go back now?"

I think we should delve deeper. We're already here, so why not figure out what's going on here?

Shen Siya disagreed with Luo Hanying's statement: "We already know there's a problem here, so why bother digging deeper?"

We only have one life, we should cherish it.

Han Hongyu and the others chimed in sparsely.

Gao Yuru laughed awkwardly a few times and said to Lin Zhuzui, "Fellow Daoist, since everyone wants to go back, we can't ignore their thoughts, right?"

Lin Zhuzui said directly, "Those who want to leave, turn back now. Those who want to go deeper, come with me."

He was the first to walk towards the fault line and jumped down.

Tang Jieqiu pulled Gao Yuru aside, signaling her to quickly lead the group back.

Ruan Chayan and the others quickly followed Lin Zhuzui, leaving Gao Yuru and the others out. Lin Zhuzui walked in front, followed by Ruan Chayan and Luo Hanying, with Lu Xizhou and Sheng Meixu bringing up the rear.

The two teams separated just like that.

"Have you noticed anything amiss?"

Luo Hanying tentatively asked, "This place looks no different from the ones we've been to before, so why is the communication jade slip blocked?"

Lu Xizhou responded from behind, "It looks the same, but I'm afraid we're currently inside a formation."

Ruan Chayan asked in surprise, "Huh? How did you know?"

How did you figure that out?

Lu Xizhou patiently explained: "What else could it be but an array that can isolate communication jade slips?"

Either there's a special array to isolate communication, which would be fine, but we're still exploring the crystal cave.

The worst-case scenario is that we've been pulled into a formation and are stuck in the same place.

"We haven't seen the Stone Crystal Beast since the communication jade slip stopped working."

Lin Zhuzui added, "The light inside the cave is getting dimmer and dimmer."

Lu Xizhou responded, "I remember I once made a lantern that could emit light. I will find the lantern to provide illumination."

Lin Zhuzui suddenly called out, "Junior Brother Sheng? Are you following behind?"

Ruan Chayan shuddered, and Luo Hanying's scalp tingled. She immediately hugged Ruan Chayan.

Sheng Meixu has disappeared!

Their divine senses were constantly being extended outwards, yet they didn't notice when such a large person had disappeared!

"How could this be? How could this be? Wasn't he right behind me?" Luo Hanying's teeth chattered slightly. She felt a little cold, probably from fear.

Lu Xizhou, carrying his orange lantern, quickly approached the people in front of him. He swallowed hard, feeling embarrassed to stand too close to the two fairies.

"I didn't notice at all." Lu Xizhou recalled his feelings along the way, "There was someone missing in front of me, and I didn't even notice."

Whether it's a formation or something else, this seems beyond our capabilities.

Ruan Chayan's hands and feet were ice-cold; this kind of sudden resurrection was terrifying.

Lin Zhuzui took a deep breath and took out an inconspicuous hemp rope from his storage ring, saying, "Come here, everyone. This is a beast-binding rope. We'll tie it to our wrists."

One by one, everyone tied the rope to their left wrists. Lin Zhuzui led the group to turn around in the narrow passage and go back to look for Sheng Meixu's whereabouts.

In truth, they all felt it was impossible to find it, but they were always unwilling to give up and wanted to try.

"How about we talk?" Luo Hanying said dryly. "That way, if anyone doesn't speak up, everyone will know that something might have happened."

She dared not say anything too harsh, fearing that she would be the next one to disappear.

Sheng Meixu has a cultivation level of mid-stage Golden Core. The next two people with similar cultivation levels to Sheng Meixu are her mid-stage Golden Core and Lu Xizhou, who is at the Great Perfection of Golden Core.

Luo Hanying thought that if she wanted to capture someone, she would definitely target someone with low cultivation level who was easy to manipulate. She was very worried that she would encounter danger next.

"It's alright, Xiaoxue, don't be afraid."

Ruan Chayan held Luo Hanying's hand and said, "We still have backup, everything will definitely be alright."

Lu Xizhou chuckled a few times and said, "That's right, I'm here with you all, so don't worry, nothing will happen."

I was thinking perhaps we could sit down and analyze the current situation, look for traces of the formation, and try to see if we can break it.

After a long silence, Lu Xizhou subconsciously touched his wrist.

The rope is gone... He's separated from them...