After confirming they were safe for the moment, their nerves loosened a little, but the atmosphere inside the cavern only grew heavier.
The faint blue glow from the moss washed over two faces, both tense and guarded in their own way. Under their feet, the cold touch of a dead giant vine curled like the corpse of some ancient beast, and the air reeked of rot and silence.
Elder Chou slowly turned around and put three zhang between herself and Xie Zhaolin. It was a distance close enough to strike, far enough to retreat.
The shock and suspicion on her face had faded, replaced by a cold, steady calm. The red mark that the Jingxiao Ribbon had left on her wrist still throbbed with pain.
"Elder Mo," she said quietly, "I'll remember your help just now. Though I must say, the way you dragged me down earlier was… unforgettable."
"Elder Chou, you're putting it too seriously." Xie Zhaolin's tone stayed flat. "I only acted to protect myself, so it doesn't count as helping you. As for just now, if I hadn't done that, you'd already be outside fighting that monster to the death. Who knows if you'd survive. Compared to that, this place is strange, but at least it's not immediately deadly, isn't it?"
Her words made Elder Chou's eye twitch, but she quickly smoothed her expression. "Elder Mo speaks bluntly. Since that's the case, we're stuck in this together. Let's put aside our grudges and find a way out first."
A few breaths passed, long enough to feel like hours.
"The third opening on the left has a faint airflow. It might be one of the exits," Xie Zhaolin said without emotion.
"This corpse has an extremely weak residue inside. The energy fluctuation is… the same origin as the monster outside, but reversed." Elder Chou spoke at almost the same time. Her voice was calm, her hand pointing at a thin crack along the dead plant's trunk. "This might be the key."
They exchanged information quickly, with no questions, no suspicion, only the necessary details. They both knew wasting energy on each other was suicide. The monster outside might break in any moment, and the cave itself radiated danger.
Together, they lived. Apart, they died.
"Scout the path first or check the corpse first?" Xie Zhaolin finally turned her head to Elder Chou.
"The corpse. If there's a clue here, we might restrain that thing outside. If not, we can search for a path later." She paused, then added, "I'm good with formations. I'll investigate. You stay alert, especially around the openings and those roots."
"Alright." Xie Zhaolin moved instantly, choosing a spot where she could monitor both the entrance and Elder Chou.
The Jingxiao Ribbon was already put away, but her aura only grew sharper.
Elder Chou didn't waste words. She formed a hand seal, and a formation disc floated in front of her, casting a soft glow. She approached the dead corpse with caution, sending her divine sense into the narrow crack.
The cave fell silent again, leaving only the dim blue flicker.
Were they loyal allies? Not even close.
But their determination to live aligned perfectly for now. It was a relationship more genuine than fake cooperation and more dangerous than ordinary hostility. It might also be their only chance.
Time crept by.
Elder Chou's brows furrowed, her expression focused and heavy.
Xie Zhaolin stood watch, eyes narrowed as she swept her surroundings. Most of her mind, though, stayed on Elder Chou and that corpse. Her divine sense quietly scanned every ripple of energy around them.
One stick of incense passed… then two…
The light around Elder Chou dimmed. The formation disc slowed its rotation. She finally withdrew her divine threads and opened her eyes. Exhaustion and confusion flashed through them before she could hide it.
"What did you find?" Xie Zhaolin asked calmly.
Elder Chou turned, her face pale. She shook her head, her voice tinged with disbelief and frustration. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
She paused, choosing her words. "Inside the corpse… the energy's frighteningly still. It's like everything inside was sucked dry. Except for a thin trace on the outer layer, the same source as the monster outside but reversed, there's nothing in the core. No mark, no consciousness fragment, nothing."
She looked up, her eyes complicated. "It's not normal. A corpse this big shouldn't be this clean. Unless something erased everything inside before it died."
Her tone sounded honest.
With her level of formation mastery, if there were any obvious clues or weaknesses inside the corpse, she wouldn't miss them. The emptiness itself was the strange part.
Xie Zhaolin stayed silent, her gaze cutting across the massive remains. She believed Elder Chou, at least mostly. Her own divine sense felt the same unsettling emptiness, that eerie dead silence.
The corpse felt more like an abandoned shell, stripped of value.
The air inside the cavern tightened, even heavier and more suffocating than before.
After a moment of silence, Elder Chou took a slow breath, forcing down her disappointment and the faint fear flickering in her eyes. She looked toward the left side where Xie Zhaolin had sensed airflow earlier. "Seems like we can only hope that passage leads somewhere."
Her voice stayed calm, but the dryness at the end betrayed her nerves.
Xie Zhaolin didn't respond.
She tilted her head slightly, listening to the relentless grinding and twisting of roots at the entrance above them. The monster outside hadn't given up. It was getting more agitated with every moment its prey stayed hidden.
"That passage might not be safe," she said quietly. "The airflow is weak. It could lead into a deeper maze or a dead end. And…"
She met Elder Chou's gaze. "Do you think that thing outside will let us slip out of its senses? Even if we find another exit, the moment we show up, it'll launch everything it has at us."
It was cruel, but likely true. They might not have escaped danger. They might have stepped into a bigger trap. The only difference was whether they waited to die or risked a fight.
Elder Chou fell silent. Her face lost more color, a trace of despair flickering behind her eyes.
But when Xie Zhaolin saw that expression, her lips curved slightly, cold and amused.
"She's acting.
Someone who managed to carve out a place in Qingxi Sect with only a Golden Core cultivation, someone possibly connected to the mysterious deaths of two elders, someone who hid her true nature this well… would she really break down so easily?
Yeah, right."
Xie Zhaolin was certain Elder Chou still held cards hidden up her sleeve.
Her helpless act was just another test, another trap meant to lure her into exposing her own hidden trump cards, or to shove her forward as a sacrifice when things got critical.
Of course, Xie Zhaolin herself hadn't shown her hand either.
Whether it was You You, Mo Yan, or the strength and experience she carried from her rebirth, she wasn't nearly as desperate as she appeared.
From the moment they fell into this cavern, they'd been playing a silent game. They pretended to cooperate, but every step was filled with probing and feints, both waiting for the moment the other ran out of options first.