After clearly hearing the other party's words, the two were stunned for a moment, then began to laugh awkwardly.
Following that, Shangguan Ji called the several Student companions behind him to come over, assuring them it was safe here.
Lin Tian counted roughly; there were six people total following Shangguan Ji, almost all of whom were injured and whose mental state did not look very good.
In contrast, the situation on his own side was much better.
After all, throughout the entire journey, his side had been like they were on an outing; when it was over, they had even acquired many "souvenirs" along the way.
Comparing the personnel on both sides, the psychological disparity was truly too intense!
And when Shangguan Ji chatted with Lin Tian for a while, that was when he became truly shocked.
Shangguan Ji had originally thought the leader of this team was Lin Tian, and that they had simply been lucky along the way, not encountering any Evil Creatures.
But after a round of questioning, he learned that the leader of this team was actually the fellow meditating not far away!
Gu Yuan... to be honest, Shangguan Ji had never even heard this name.
According to Lin Tian, this Gu Yuan was already ranked highly on the literary ranking list, possessed considerable Luck, and had obtained a decent prototype Magic Treasure immediately upon entering.
He had also displayed extremely high combat talent, easily seeing through even the "Pseudo Thunder Blade" that Lin Tian had created himself.
Aside from this Gu Yuan, the rest of the Students were completely nothing to fear.
"So you're saying... neither you nor I have seen Brother Changqing and Lin Ao?"
"That is correct."
"Then that is strange."
"What makes you say that?"
Shangguan Ji frowned deeply, "Senior Student Lin Tian, you may not know this, but we pushed down from the very top of the Death Prison, suffering heavy casualties along the way, with over ten companions dying at the hands of Evil Creatures."
"Fortunately, we cleared the entire upper section thoroughly. The most dangerous room during that time contained three first-tier Evil Creatures."
"And you all cleared the area coming up from below. Excluding the possibility of bad Luck meaning you didn't encounter them, most of the areas have likely been explored by you. Now, only the few most central locations remain unexplored."
"That's right."
Lin Tian sighed slightly. If that was the case, he had tagged along and explored quite a few areas himself.
On this trip, improvement wasn't the key; keeping one's life was... But immediately, Lin Tian understood what Shangguan Ji was trying to imply.
"You aren't suggesting that my elder brother and Senior Student Changqing have already died under the claws of an Evil Creature, are you!"
"Watch your words!"
Shangguan Ji's expression darkened, "That is merely speculation."
"This..."
Having not seen Lin Ao for such a long time, Lin Tian had actually harbored suspicions, but he dared not voice them or think about them too much.
Now that he had met Shangguan Ji, he could finally express some of the thoughts he had suppressed!
"Brother Ji, now it's just you, me, Wu Ze, and Li Shubo. Since the four of us are all Family disciples from Wuxin City, there are some things I won't hide from you..."
Lin Tian leaned close to Shangguan Ji's ear and whispered something. Shangguan Ji's eyes grew brighter the more he listened, and by the time Lin Tian finished speaking, the corners of Shangguan Ji's mouth were already turned up.
"Very good, let's do this..."
"In that case, I will start things off when the time comes."
... As time passed.
In Gu Yuan's mind, the map of the entire Death Prison was gradually being perfected.
That's right. Every location was becoming increasingly logical; the network and connections of the entire area had been clearly discerned!
"Excellent, this is it!"
Previously, Gu Yuan had only been advancing toward the "finish line" based on the route in his memory.
He was like a Student who remembered the answer but couldn't see the test question; no matter how many "correct answers" he wrote down, if the answer didn't match the question, it was meaningless.
But now, Gu Yuan understood the problem!
It wasn't that he had misremembered, nor that the people in his previous life were spouting nonsense, but because... the terrain had been altered.
After he left in his previous life, he was strictly controlled by the people of the Four Great Families, unable to leave the area they established for him by even half a step.
Naturally, he was unaware of what happened outside, but it was clear that Wuxin City's plea for help was successfully sent to the Tianyan Martial Sect. Ultimately, people from the Tianyan Martial Sect dispatched several Golden Core Cultivators and launched a collective attack on the Academy Death Prison!
The Death Prison was difficult to damage from the outside, but that didn't mean the Death Prison could ignore this damage.
It was precisely this damage that altered the geographical environment inside the Death Prison!
It must be so; this was the only possibility.
The more he thought about it, the deeper the smile on Gu Yuan's face became.
The next moment, Gu Yuan suddenly opened his eyes. He now had a new grasp of the current situation!
The feeling of solving the confusion in his heart made Gu Yuan feel refreshed and much more comfortable overall.
All he needed to do next was quietly wait for the opportune moment to arrive.
With Shangguan Changqing having gone out, Gu Yuan wasn't worried at all that the people outside wouldn't be anxious.
After all, it couldn't be that only the Shangguan Family's Cultivator Seed survived. That would truly be unacceptable to the other Families.
What followed would be a long period of wrangling. Conflicts of interest already existed among the Four Great Families, and the Tianyan Martial Sect, being one of the Lower Eight Sects, usually turned a blind eye to their infighting.
As long as things didn't get too chaotic, it didn't matter.
Furthermore, a Cultivator Seed was just a "seed"; a dead Genius was worthless.
Of course, it was also possible that the Shangguan Family would cooperate actively, as the Shangguan Family was considered a prominent force within the Righteous Path... Thinking of this, Gu Yuan slowly stood up. Just as Gu Yuan was thinking of stretching his muscles and bones, a voice interrupted his thoughts.
"You've finally finished meditating, Gu Yuan."
Gu Yuan frowned slightly and turned his head to look.
He saw a young man looking at him with a faint smile. At first glance, Gu Yuan really couldn't recall who this person was.
But then he suddenly noticed the "fire affinity shield" radiating high heat strapped to the young man's back!
"So it's Senior Student Shangguan Ji. A pleasure to meet you."
Gu Yuan replied with a smile as well.
Seeing Gu Yuan be so courteous made Shangguan Ji slightly startled. Why... this attitude seemed different from what Lin Tian had just described.
But very quickly, Shangguan Ji recovered his previous smile, "Gu Yuan, I have already heard about everything you did earlier."
"You've heard everything?"
"Of course, you defied..."
"I protected everyone all the way here. I know my contributions are hard to express, but Senior Student Shangguan Ji doesn't need to praise me too much. If you insist on saying something, why not offer something practical?"
"You..."
Shangguan Ji's words caught in his throat, and for a moment, he didn't know how to respond.
Shangguan Ji was naturally standing on the same side as Lin Tian, and at this moment, he had naturally come to demand an explanation on Lin Tian's behalf.
Of course, the ultimate reason was that he wanted to get some benefits from Gu Yuan!
The Materials in Gu Yuan's possession were simply too tempting.
Shangguan Ji already had his own plans. Outsiders all knew that Shangguan Ji was deeply favored by the Old Master of the Shang Gong Family. On the day he reached adulthood, the Old Master Shangguan even publicly presented the second-tier Magic Treasure "fire affinity shield" to Shangguan Ji as a coming-of-age gift.
Everyone thought that Shangguan Ji was unrivaled in prominence and would become a rising star in the future, perhaps even having the chance to become the Shangguan Family Head.
But only Shangguan Ji knew that as long as Shangguan Changqing didn't fall, no matter how much the Old Master loved him, the position of Shangguan Family Head would never be his... After all, the Shangguan Family had not produced a Prodigy with a pure Fire Spiritual Root for forty or fifty years!
And Shangguan Changqing was exactly such a Genius; his perfect Fire Spiritual Root made him the center of attention since birth. He had even been selected by a prominent figure within the Tianyan Martial Sect and was destined to become a Cultivator of the third-tier Core Formation stage or higher!
As for Shangguan Ji... he was merely a mediocre three-color Spiritual Root. The abundance of Fire Dao Spiritual Root was due to the Shangguan Bloodline, while the Wood Dao Spiritual Root and a small amount of Earth Dao Spiritual Root came from his mother's Family... Shangguan Ji's talent was far inferior to Shangguan Changqing's!
This was beyond doubt... To surpass Shangguan Changqing, he had to take an unconventional Dao, even if it meant... extorting others!
Naturally, Shangguan Ji's petty schemes could not escape Gu Yuan's Dharma Eye.
Shangguan Ji... to be honest, Gu Yuan had absolutely no impression of him.
He only vaguely remembered that when the former Family Elder of the Shangguan Family learned there were no survivors, he tortured Gu Yuan for three days and three nights, his eyes bloodshot and his body trembling, crushing and healing his bones repeatedly.
And while being tortured to the point where he couldn't live or die, Gu Yuan seemed to have heard something like, "My grandson, this old man is useless, I can't even bring back your remains..."
At the time, Gu Yuan thought the old man was mourning "Shangguan Changqing," and he had felt a little guilty.
But now it seemed highly likely he was talking about Shangguan Ji right in front of him!
The suffering he endured in his previous life—it was only reasonable to collect some interest now, right?
"Shangguan Ji, what exactly do you want to say? There are no outsiders here, so why don't we speak frankly?"
Gu Yuan said calmly.
After adjusting his emotions, Shangguan Ji spoke, "Heh heh, Gu Yuan, I came here not only to lead everyone back onto the Righteous Path, but also to properly teach you, this fellow who doesn't respect seniors or the Dao, a lesson on behalf of Senior Student Lin Tian!"
"Everyone, you have all been led astray by this Gu Yuan!"
"This place is not the direction to leave at all. As for how I know, it's because we have already found the way out! As long as you follow my lead and we work together, we will definitely be able to survive this Death Prison!"
These words were like a bombshell thrown into the crowd, and the Students immediately began discussing among themselves.
Although following Gu Yuan was easy, clearly surviving was what everyone truly desired. And since Shangguan Ji had already found the exit?
"Gu Yuan, I originally didn't care about those Materials, but I truly cannot stand your methods of bullying fellow Students—taking protection money while simultaneously leading people down the drain!"
"Today, I am going to vent this anger for all the Students in the Academy who were deceived by you!"
A tall hat was placed upon Gu Yuan's head, but Gu Yuan remained expressionless...