The first thing he noticed after emerging from the tunnel leading deeper was that Hao Lanfen was engaging in a battle against hundreds, if not thousands, of vines that filled the room. Unfortunately, he couldn't give her more than a glance as the moment he stepped onto the ground, which turned out to be vines too, he was also attacked by them.

  Defending himself came hard at first, as he had no frame of reference for how to deal with these types of opponents. As he got into the flow of things, it steadily became easier, as the plant beast's combat strategy was simple and unchangeable. That didn't stop him from getting hurt or from feeling this thing steal his qi, which sent a shiver of fear down his spine as he knew exactly what running out of qi in this place would mean. Thankfully, he pushed that feeling down enough for it to not impact his performance.

  "We need to find the entrance to the next floor! And quick!" Hao Lanfen yelled from her perch. Somewhere along the way, she climbed onto a withered tree that was barely holding its own weight up, let alone hers, trembling uncontrollably with every little twitch she made. There was something red in her hand, although he was too busy fighting to see what exactly.

  "Got it!" Fu Yunru's voice could be heard from the back; he must have made his way inside while Ze Yongrui was too busy defending himself to notice.

  "I'm going northeast!" Wu Zhenzhen's declaration was audible but weak, as if the spiritual cultivator was tired.

  A weird thought, considering she had the most qi out of all of them that Ze Yongrui couldn't properly examine, as his moment of inattentiveness cost him a good chunk of his qi.

  "Northwest!" he managed to yell out between his strikes and blocks.

  "North!" Lai Shirong's yell was also quieter than what Ze Yongrui had come to expect.

  But once again, he couldn't focus on his teammates when he was fighting for his life, especially as he began noticing that he got tired more easily than he should.

  Ze Yongrui knew his limits well; his experience with combat made him all too self-aware. This meant that he immediately detected that he was reaching them faster than usual.

  That made the pressure of time all the more apparent, but no matter how much he cut the vines and looked at the ground that revealed itself for a while before the vines obscured it once again, he couldn't find anything that even resembled an exit.

  The stress added to his mistakes, leading to a cycle he knew he had to break, but he couldn't get a good enough grasp on his fear to do so.

  Just as he began considering calling this a deadlock and retreating with everyone, Fu Yunru called out words that Ze Yongrui had been praying to hear. "I found it!"

  With joy in his heart and hope filling his thoughts, Ze Yongrui quickly got a more proper hold on his body and made his way over, careful not to make any mistakes that would lead to injuries or, worse, losing even more of his qi.

  The place where the exit should be had been covered with vines just like everything else in this room. However, it was also easy to spot because Fu Yunru was standing there and getting beaten, careful not to overexert himself in order to preserve strength.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he could make out everyone else heading this way too. A sense of relief filled him at that sight; no one had died.

  When he arrived next to Fu Yunru, he made sure to help him and began to wait there for everyone else to arrive too. They couldn't risk somebody staying behind and not knowing where the exit was located.

  Hao Lanfen was next to arrive along with Su Zhen, who was being carried as he was too worn out to deal with the plant beast by himself. Ze Yongrui doubted he would be contributing much on the next floor.

  When neither of the other two arrived soon after, he risked a divide in attention to see how much longer they had to last and saw nothing. There were only withered trees and vines to see.

  "Do any of you see Wu Zhenzhen or Lai Shirong?" he managed to ask between clashes with the vines.

  "No, I was too busy investigating the vines," Su Zhen admitted.

  "No," Fu Yunru replied.

  A feeling of worry took over Ze Yongrui at that. Should they stay longer in order to search for them? Or were they already dead, submerged and consumed by the plant beast? Should they retreat, like he originally planned to?

  "Open the exit, Junior Brother Fu; we're going deeper," Hao Lanfen declared with full confidence, and Fu Yunru followed her order by pure instinct alone.

  The hole that emerged from the vines had been uncovered only long enough for Fu Yunru to jump through it, leaving Hao Lanfen to cut her own exit as well, although Ze Yongrui was swift enough not to have to do so himself.

  The slide towards the next floor, which turned out to be the entrance, wasn't the most comfortable due to how rough and rocky it was. Likely designed in a way that would allow somebody a chance to climb back up while still enabling the motion of sliding.

  At least it must have been a more pleasant experience for Su Zhen, due to Hao Lanfen holding him above the uneven surface.

  Before hitting the end of the slide, Ze Yongrui could hear the sound of insect wings beating in the air. A sound that, while above ground, made him annoyed at best; now it filled him with dread at the prospect of fighting in this condition. Had Hao Lanfen's decision doomed them?

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  Regardless of his feelings, he had to brave on, although the sight of thousands, if not more, insects filling the air and attacking Fu Yunru made that hard.

  "I saw a structure further north! It might be the exit!" Fu Yunru shouted out, which might have resulted in him almost eating a bug.

  Might, because the insects, upon noticing them, began their harassment campaign, concealing what lay beyond his hand reach with their bodies. Though within his arm's reach, too, as one attempted to bite his eyeball, causing him to release a burst of qi to kill all that were inside his robes, trying to get there or touching his skin in some way. He didn't have a lot of qi left; so he would have to refrain from doing so later on, but how else to deal with a swarm of bugs?

  "Run forward! Don't stand there!" Hao Lanfen's yell could be heard from upfront, as well as the fact that it was getting farther.

  Only after hearing her reprimand did Ze Yongrui realize his folly and start sprinting in the direction he heard her from. Hopefully, Fu Yunru did the same. Being surrounded by a swarm that wanted nothing more than to get into his eyes made it hard to tell.

  He almost tripped during his dash as something grabbed his shoe but thankfully let go easily enough when he stomped it into the ground.

  Every once in a while, he had to release a burst of qi to get rid of the bugs that were getting too close to any vulnerable part of his body. A decision he made after one of the bugs almost crawled into his asshole.

  From up ahead, a loud slash could be heard between the beating of insect wings, one that he recognized as one that always followed Hao Lanfen's signature move.

  He expertly changed direction to run towards that, as at some point, he had strayed from the straight path he thought he was taking. Internally hoping that whatever caused such a reaction wasn't that dangerous.

  When he finally was at the spot where the sound came from, a hand reached out to him from between the swarm of bugs still biting him, pulling him towards it. He let it, for he knew the owner of the hand.

  "Are you wounded?" Hao Lanfen asked, her eyes filled with concern. She was covered in bug bites, and from their placement, it was clear they were going for her eyes. There was also a wound on her other hand, of which he couldn't name the source, for he didn't know what could possibly make that kind of indentation on the skin.

  "Only mildly," came his not-so-smooth reply, although considering how out of breath he was, he'd declare it good enough.

  "Good," was her only response as she leaned against an earth spine.

  The current place they were located in seemed peaceful enough for a break. There were spikes surrounding them, shielding them from sight. Up ahead was muddy ground that ended at a crag. The rocky cliff looked climbable, but he wasn't about to do that unless he was truly desperate and this was the only way out. He could see shadows of branches or something sticking out of the wall through the clouds that hid the upper parts of the cliff. There was also some kind of creature on the rock, but he wasn't sure what it was, as he only glimpsed something move.

  Ze Yongrui turned around, wanting to see for himself just what was keeping the bugs at bay, only to realize there was nothing. No barrier or wall; it was as if the frame was so intimidating they dared not cross it.

  "Thank you, Senior Sister Hao, for saving this one," Su Zhen said, causing Ze Yongrui to look his way. Junior Brother Su was currently lying on the ground between the spikes that were protruding from it. What caused the most concern was how pale he was, as if he had lost a lot of blood, but there were no injuries that would indicate that. The best he had was numerous bug bites, which they all had.

  "I was only fulfilling my duty; besides, we're not done yet," Hao Lanfen replied calmly.

  "We're not retreating?" Ze Yongrui couldn't help but snap his head toward her in disbelief.

  "What? No, we are. It's just that none of us are in the state to do so. Let's rest, treat ourselves to the best of our abilities and supplies, and then leave. We can return if we so wish later," Hao Lanfen stared at him as if an evil spirit overtook him for a moment for even daring to think of continuing their mission.

  "Alright," he sighed and added under his breath, "although I doubt I will return."

  Hao Lanfen gave him a sorrowful, knowing look, sharing his decision but not voicing it. Instead, she took out a qi replenishing pill, swallowed it, and began meditating on the ground.

  "I will," Su Zhen said, shifting into a sitting position and taking out a healing ointment to apply to his wounds from his other spatial ring.

  "You will?" he asked with incredulity as he sat on the ground, keeping watch of their surroundings as the other two weren't in the position to do so.

  "Yeah, I got a sample of every creature we encountered so far. Each of them is something I haven't seen before! The vine beast even had qi inside of itself; none of those beasts here do that; instead, they circulate this new energy. Do you think it works like a plant that you can grow?" Su Zhen rambled, whether to distract himself from the dull throbs of pain from the bug bites that Ze Yongrui was also feeling or if he just suddenly decided to get chatty wasn't known to the other man, nor did he particularly care. Although he briefly wondered how he managed to collect a sample of the insects considering the state he was in then and still is.

  "...I don't know," was Ze Yongrui's only reply.

  "Me neither, but I'm not good with plants either way, so I will ask somebody else to try. I'm most excited to work with the living samples, as the dead ones will go to my other senior brothers and sisters. When I return, I'm going to make sure I collect every living beast here and analyze it thoroughly!" the younger man declared, the determination in his eyes a stark contrast to his pale, bite-ridden skin, dirty robes, and messy hair.

  "You almost died," Ze Yongrui reminded him, in case he forgot due to all the chaos.

  "But I didn't, thanks to Senior Sister Hao," was Su Zhen's nonchalant response.

  "And if the people you will enter this place with in the future aren't as capable or willing to help as Senior Sister Hao?" Ze Yongrui couldn't help but press.

  "Then I will die," the reply was spoken in the same blasé tone as if one were speaking of the weather.

  Ze Yongrui couldn't hide his surprise at that declaration.

  "I'm pursuing immortality with the goal of endlessly researching spiritual beasts and animals alike, but with my talent, it is unlikely I will ever reach it; therefore, I'd rather risk it now than die with regrets," Su Zhen elaborated, seeing his confusion.

  "You can grow stronger and then return here." Ze Yongrui explained with a dead tone, more out of the sheer disbelief he felt at the moment rather than a lack of emotional involvment.

  "I'm too impatient for that!" was the light-hearted reply, coupled with a bright smile.

  Ze Yongrui looked at the other man and decided he would never understand him. So instead, he began scanning the area with his eyes and straining his ears to catch any approaching danger, something he should have admittedly done before.

  Every so often, he glanced at Hao Lanfen, who was still deep in meditation; Su Zhen, who after coating his injuries in ointment also ate the qi replenishing pill and started meditating as well; and the entrance to the previous floor, where the bugs had long since ceased their flying, retreating to an unknown place, along with any traces of Fu Yunru.

  A pang of bitter regret, resentment, and mourning overcame him at that sight, but he decided that he would deal with that later, when they were safe and whole back at the sect. Or outside, or anywhere that wasn't here.