Upon entering the space below, Long Chen found it to be quite spacious. He continued to move forward swiftly. Before long, a rich aroma of medicinal herbs drifted to his nose. After covering some distance, he discovered that a great number of Restoring Tendon Grasses were growing here.
Restoring Tendon Grass! I finally found it!
A wave of joy washed over Long Chen, and a smile touched his lips. Without hesitation, he quickly harvested the numerous stalks of Restoring Tendon Grass and stored them in his spatial ring. Once that was done, he quickly departed.
「Meanwhile, outside the stone door.」
Dong Xuan and several other disciples of Guiyuan Academy were desperately holding on, preventing the stone door from slamming shut. They knew that once the door closed, it could never be opened again. They had to hold out until Long Chen returned.
They had already exerted themselves to their limits, and now they faced falling boulders. Stuck in place and unable to dodge, they found themselves in an extremely perilous situation.
"Senior Brother, boulders are falling from above!" one of the Guiyuan Academy disciples cried out, his face etched with deep worry. "We can’t dodge or fight back. If we get hit, we’ll be in grave danger!"
"Everyone, hold on!" Dong Xuan yelled, his voice resolute. "No matter what, we must hold on until Brother Long gets out! We are a team from Guiyuan Academy. No matter what happens, we will not abandon a single one of our fellow sect members!"
"That’s right!" Lin Feifei quickly added. "Everyone, just a little longer!"
Hearing this, the disciples of Guiyuan Academy steeled their resolve, continuing to persevere as one.
At that moment, the stone door lost all support. Its entire weight bore down on the disciples of Guiyuan Academy.
BANG!!
Under the immense pressure, all of them were forced to a single knee. They grimaced and ground their teeth, straining with all their might to keep the stone door from descending any further! But in this state, they couldn’t hold out for much longer.
Just then, Lin Feifei suddenly shouted, "Hold on, everyone! Long Chen is coming!"
Hearing her words, everyone looked up. When they saw a figure rapidly approaching, their eyes lit up with hope.
"Hurry!" Dong Xuan yelled to Long Chen.
Seeing the situation, Long Chen immediately accelerated. As the stone door continued to sink, he shot through the narrowing gap.
"Everyone, out!" The moment he saw Long Chen was clear, Dong Xuan shouted to the other disciples.
Following his command, they all scrambled out from under the stone door. Just as they retreated, the stone door crashed to the ground with a thunderous bang, sealing the entrance completely.
Boulders were now flying everywhere, making it difficult for the disciples of Guiyuan Academy to even keep their footing.
"This place isn’t safe! Let’s get out of here, quickly," Dong Xuan said, leading the disciples swiftly toward the cave’s main entrance.
BOOM—
Rocks rained down like a torrential storm. Less than a second after they passed a certain spot, it was completely buried. Fortunately, the cave only collapsed completely after Long Chen and the others had made it safely outside.
Seeing this, everyone finally breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"That was close!"
"We almost bit the dust there!"
Wei Lin, still shaken, looked at Long Chen and said, "What took you so long? Any longer and our group from Guiyuan Academy might have really been buried in there."
"I really have all of you to thank for this," Long Chen said, cupping his hands toward them. "If you hadn’t held up that stone door, I’m afraid I never would have made it out."
Dong Xuan waved it off. "Brother Long, that’s too formal. We’ve been through life and death together. Helping each other is what we’re supposed to do."
Wei Lin nodded as well. Looking at Long Chen, he said, "Hey! I’m starting to accept you, you know. Don’t tell me you still don’t see us as your own?"
Hearing their words, Long Chen smiled faintly.
He had to admit, the way the disciples of Guiyuan Academy acted was a pleasant surprise. To have such fellow sect members was a true blessing. After all, treacherous hearts were common everywhere. Finding genuinely warm-hearted and loyal people was like finding a needle in a haystack.
"We are all from Guiyuan Academy," he said. "Of course, we’re our own people."
Hearing Long Chen’s words, the other disciples of Guiyuan Academy all burst into laughter.
Lin Feifei walked over to Long Chen and asked, "By the way, did you find the Restoring Tendon Grass?"
Long Chen chuckled. "I did. I guess heaven was on my side; I only found it at the last possible moment."
Just then, several figures appeared nearby.
"The commotion came from over here!" a voice called out from the distance. "Hurry, let’s see what happened!"
The sudden voices made the disciples from Guiyuan Academy tense up immediately. Long Chen’s brow furrowed. He immediately activated his Divine Demon Eye and looked in the direction of the voices. He saw two groups of people rushing toward their location.
"What is it?" Dong Xuan asked.
"It’s the same two groups from before," Long Chen replied coolly.
Hearing this, Dong Xuan’s and the others’ expressions turned grave. He turned to his fellow disciples and said, "We can’t linger here. Let’s go, now."
"Right!" The Guiyuan Academy disciples immediately nodded. But just as they prepared to leave, Long Chen shook his head slightly. "It’s too late."
"What?" Dong Xuan and the others narrowed their eyes.
Sure enough, before they could make a move, several figures flashed into view, surrounding the group from Guiyuan Academy.
Upon spotting Long Chen’s group, one of the newcomers immediately shouted, "It’s the people from Guiyuan Academy!"
Hearing this, the leader’s eyes lit up, and he slowly stepped out from the crowd.
Liu Yang let out a sinister chuckle, his gaze fixed ominously on Long Chen’s group. "Well, well. To think after searching high and low for you, I’d find you here without lifting a finger."
"The Yuanyang Sect?" Upon seeing the newcomers, Dong Xuan’s expression became incredibly grave.
The other disciples of Guiyuan Academy exchanged worried glances, the anxiety clear in their eyes. Among the Third-class Powers of the God-Devil Domain, besides the formidable Heavenly Water Sect, Divine Blade Sect, and Xuanyue Valley, the Yuanyang Sect was one of the strongest remaining.
They never expected that after barely surviving the disaster in the cave, they would run right into people from the Yuanyang Sect the moment they escaped. It was truly a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Liu Yang stared intently at them. "I hear the disciples of Guiyuan Academy obtained the Jinyin Tiger’s Inner Pill?"
"Let me give you some friendly advice. If you know what’s good for you, hand over the Jinyin Tiger’s Inner Pill!"