Chapter 115: Mountainous Desperation

"What are you doing?"

Jasmine immediately became alert when she suddenly felt Yun Che's profound energy flowing in a highly unusual way. She asked sternly, "Are you trying to forcibly comprehend the fifth and sixth stages of the World Ode of the Phoenix? Have you gone mad!"

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity before me. I'll never be content if I don't try!" Yun Che closed his eyes. His mind and thoughts completely sank into the soul imprint within the jade. The World Ode of the Phoenix was recorded as a soul imprint and could only be read with soul power. If successfully comprehended, it would truly be recorded in his soul. If he failed to comprehend it, after leaving this place, he wouldn't be able to remember any of the text, images, or profound energy flow methods it contained. Therefore, Yun Che only had one month to study this incomplete scroll, making it impossible to memorize it and then comprehend it later after finding the first four stages.

"Without the first four stages, how can you comprehend the fifth and sixth? You want to pluck the fruit without even planting the root? If you forcefully act against the natural order, the most likely outcome is twisted profound veins, chaotic meridians, and even the complete closure of all your open profound orifices."

"If I don't have the foundation of the first to fourth stages, I'll build it myself!" Yun Che said with extreme calmness.

"Build it yourself? Do you know how many tens of thousands of years it took the ancient Phoenix clan to create this World Ode of the Phoenix? And after its creation, how many times has it evolved, been altered, and refined? You have at most one month, yet you want to build the foundation yourself and directly comprehend the fifth and sixth stages?" Jasmine shook her head. "Even if you were a peerless genius, it would be impossible!"

"At least let me try!" Yun Che stubbornly whispered. He then cut off all other thoughts, allowing himself to be completely immersed in the World Ode of the Phoenix's soul imprint.

At that moment, neither he nor Jasmine noticed a faint, strange light suddenly flashing on the pendant he had worn since childhood, hidden beneath his outer garment... It appeared and vanished in an instant.

Outside the sealing formation, Lan Xueruo waited anxiously. Half an hour passed... then an hour... then six hours... a full day and night went by... Her expression had long since grown dim. Feng Baichuan's heart also completely sank.

"Does this trial really kill people?" Lan Xueruo turned to the side, her eyes vacant, as she watched Feng Baichuan walk past again. She had asked the same question over a dozen times.

Feng Baichuan sighed deeply within himself and could only offer a forced comfort: "Some of our clansmen have indeed perished in this trial. However... we don't need to be so pessimistic. Perhaps young brother Yun has passed the trial. The ancestors who passed the trial stayed inside for over ten days at most before emerging. So... let's wait a little longer. Maybe he'll come out any moment now."

As he spoke, Feng Baichuan, having personally undergone the Phoenix trial, knew very well that it was impossible for someone at the first level of the Nascent Profound Realm to pass this trial. The fact that Yun Che hadn't emerged yet, in his eyes, meant the only possibility was that he had already perished in the trial grounds. But at that moment, he could only use these words to comfort Lan Xueruo, allowing her to cling to a glimmer of hope.

"Clan Chief Feng, is there any way for me to go inside?"

Feng Baichuan shook his head: "Only one person can enter the trial grounds per month. I have no way."

Lan Xueruo bit her lip and said nothing more. She stood silently before the trial gate, gazing blankly ahead, her heart frantically yearning for his appearance... She didn't know what was wrong with her, to be so secretly anxious and distraught. The thought that he might have died in the trial grounds caused a tearing pain in her heart.

Being surrounded by the Black Demon mercenary group outside, having run out of sound transmission talismans, and the giant snow eagle not waking up... none of these had caused her to panic. But Yun Che's failure to emerge for an entire day had left her mind in a constant state of turmoil, unable to find peace.

Two days passed... three days passed... ten days passed... fifteen days passed...

Yun Che still did not appear.

Lan Xueruo could no longer harbor any illusions. She had to painfully accept the fact that Yun Che had died in the trial grounds and would never emerge.

These days, she had been living in a haze of gloom, the sharp pain in her heart ceaseless, day and night. Initially, she thought she was grieving the loss of a "hope" she had finally found. But as this pain refused to subside, and her heart convulsed with agony every time she thought of Yun Che's face, she gradually became confused. She sensed that this suffering had completely surpassed the realm of regret, but what that exceeding part was, she didn't know, for the feeling was ethereal and unfamiliar.

"Damn it, half a month and they still haven't come out! They obviously have provisions in that cave!"

"What's the rush? No matter how much food and water they have, they'll eventually run out. Hmph, let's see how long they can last."

The Black Demon mercenary group still hadn't left. They were convinced there were great treasures inside, so they guarded the entrance in two shifts daily, never retreating for a moment.

The food and water Yun Che had originally left for Feng Baichuan, though frugally rationed by Feng Baichuan, had dwindled to less than a third after half a month. Every day, he frowned, racking his brain for an escape method. But faced with the overwhelmingly superior strength outside, he was at a loss, no matter how hard he thought, and could only endure.

Twenty days passed... twenty-five days passed...

A month passed.

Under the protection of the sealing formation, the Phoenix remnants struggled for a full month, finally reaching the end of their rope.

The spatial ring Yun Che had given to Feng Baichuan had been completely empty for two days, devoid of a single grain of food or a drop of water. Adults, possessing low-level profound energy, could barely hold on, but the elderly and children began to collapse one after another from hunger, thirst, and persistent fear. Once unconscious, they could not be roused again.

Feng Baichuan's eye sockets were deeply sunken. He sat in a cold corner, suffocated by a profound sense of powerlessness and despair. At this point, he no longer knew what to do... If they stayed, their entire clan would starve to death. If they left, the vicious villains outside would kill them all... and might even torture and abuse them in countless ways for not handing over the so-called treasures, leading to an even more tragic death.

"Listen carefully, you people inside. As long as you obediently come out and hand over the treasures and that woman, we guarantee not to touch any men, women, elderly, or children, and we will absolutely never enter this place again."

"What a bunch of fools. What good does it do you to keep holding out like this? Don't you care about your own lives, or even the lives of your family and children? You'll die in there sooner or later. Come out obediently and surrender, then meet our conditions. We guarantee no one will die, and we'll even give you a good meal first!"

As despair gripped everyone, the shouts of the Black Demon mercenaries became increasingly hard to resist. At this moment, an elderly man shakily stood up and said, "Clan Chief, they aren't wrong. We'll all starve to death in here sooner or later. At this point, hiding any longer is meaningless. Let's go out and surrender. Perhaps they truly won't harm us, as they claim."

"No!" Feng Baichuan shook his head, his voice heavy with sorrow: "You must have sensed it before; they all carry more or less a murderous aura. These are utterly vicious villains who don't value life at all. If we go out, we'll only die a more tragic death, and endure endless humiliation. Let's hold on a little longer... Miss Xueruo said her contracted spirit beast is about to wake up. At that time, we'll have hope of rescue. And even if we are eventually fated to die... I'd rather starve to death than die a humiliating death!"

"Zuer! Xian'er!"

No sooner had Feng Baichuan finished speaking than Feng Caiyun's heart-wrenching cry suddenly rang out. Feng Baichuan shot up and rushed to his wife, Feng Caiyun... Feng Zuer and Feng Xian'er had fainted in Feng Caiyun's arms, their faces pale and sallow. No matter how Feng Caiyun called out, they remained unresponsive.

"Zuer, Xian'er..." Feng Baichuan's fingertips bled, his eyes welled with tears. He raised his hand and forcefully slapped his own head, despairingly close to collapsing.

Lan Xueruo, who had been huddled in the corner, slowly stood up. Perhaps due to extreme exhaustion, the giant snow eagle still hadn't awakened, even after a month. At this point, she knew that if she didn't come up with a solution, they wouldn't last another day.

"Clan Chief Feng, please temporarily open the sealing formation outside. I'll go out and snatch some food."

Hearing Lan Xueruo's words, Feng Baichuan froze, then quickly shook his head: "No! It's too dangerous. There are so many people outside; how can you possibly snatch food from them?"

Lan Xueruo's eyes were resolute. "I possess profound energy at the True Profound Realm, after all. As long as their True Profound Realm leaders aren't present, there shouldn't be too much danger. Right now, the children can no longer hold on. If we don't get some food soon, they'll..."

Feng Baichuan's lips trembled as he looked at the unconscious Feng Zuer and Feng Xian'er. He finally nodded, saying bitterly, "Miss Lan, you must be careful... It's truly shameful that so many strong men here are powerless, and we can only let a young woman like you take such a risk for us..."

"Clan Chief Feng, you don't need to say that. I believe if you had enough power, you would be the first to go out... Please close the sealing formation immediately. I'll open it again right after I go out, and once I have the food, I'll alert you to close it again."

Although it carried extremely high risks, this seemed to be the only temporary solution in their desperate situation. Feng Baichuan stood at the cave entrance, bit his finger, and sprinkled drops of blood onto the sealing formation. "You must be careful!" he said worriedly.

As Feng Baichuan spoke, the red light of the sealing formation flashed, then slowly disappeared. With her long sword in hand, Lan Xueruo instantly darted out like a swift white shadow, shooting towards the outside.