Alex’s sudden violence had caught everyone off-guard, but what surprised them more was the changing face of the old man that they hadn’t even realized was a different person.

The man, now a young girl, teleported out of the secret realm, leaving behind a stunned silence.

“That…” a woman closest to the man spoke. “That wasn’t senior Coldsigil?” “Guo Yumi,” Miao Wupeng said with a hint of frustration on his face. “She was here this whole time?”

“Who?” Primrose turned to question him. The rest looked at him as well.

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“Guo Yumi,” the man said. “She’s the daughter of our First Elder. She has a physique that is capable of copying anyone else’s appearance, including their aura. No wonder the formation didn’t recognize her since she was someone else at that moment.”

“She wasn’t wearing your sect’s uniform,” Alex said.

“Technically not from our sect,” the man added. “She is the First Elder’s daughter, but not a disciple of the sect yet. She must’ve come as someone else. Which is why I didn’t notice her.”

Alex took in that information with a frown. “She was the one that helped the primary force teleport behind us. I had nearly taken her out, but someone defended my attack when they arrived.”

“You didn’t use your pill on them?” Primrose asked.

“I didn’t know what had happened when they came,” Alex answered. “They left to attack the remaining group when I confronted his senior sister.” freewebnσvel.cѳm

“You fought Ren Muwen?” Primrose asked.

Alex nodded. “But she’s a bit too strong for me. Just a tad,” he said.

“Won’t you lose the moment your shield goes down?” she asked. “You don’t seem very scared of fighting her.”

“I mean, he is strong,” Miao Wupeng added. “But that’s not what we should be discussing right now. What if we have another traitor among our group?” Everyone looked at each other, unsure as any of them could be a traitor. The formation that checked their aura was back in the Trueheart plaza. They couldn’t do that here.

“What’s the point?” someone asked from the group. “What if there is a traitor? What are we going to do with this group?”

The question brought forth the realization in many that the group was done. They had lost when they had 120 people just earlier. Now that they had less than 30, the chances of victory were practically zero.

There was no reason for the group to remain a group.

“We can’t split,” Primrose said. “We have to continue to fight. There are still 6 months remaining. How many people are there in this maze? We can recruit more here and fight with them.”

That got a few people to stop feeling anxious. There was a chance. “But… how many people will join us still?” someone asked. “Even if 100 people decide to join us, we will still be weaker than the other group. Not to mention their strongest are just too strong for us.”

Primrose frowned but said nothing as she couldn’t argue to the truth. And the truth was, their strongest were nowhere close to being as strong as their strongest. Alex watched the group go back and forth between making themselves think there was still a chance, and then to thinking that all hope was lost.

He waited for a long moment and asked, “There is a way to win.” This was something he had always planned on resorting to should anyone he fought end up being a little too strong for him.

The group turned to look at him, curious. “What do you have in mind?” one asked.

“Those who do not wish to fight back should leave now,” Alex said. “I think you are allowed that much freedom.”

“I’m out!” one man at the back said. “Me too,” another woman responded.

A few more people said so until there were no more than 21 people remaining in the group. Alex waited for more to leave, but it appeared as though they weren’t going to leave.

“What is it?” Primrose asked. “You must have something special to not have anyone else in on it. Are you handing us those pills of yours?”

“No,” Alex said. “But I am going to give you something good. For that, I will need to hold you all to an oath of secrecy.”

The words caught everyone’s interest. “Not a single other soul aside from you should ever know of what I’m about to tell you,” he said.

“Alright,” Primrose said. She had zero qualms about speaking the oath if it helped her here.

Miao Wupeng shrugged and nodded at Alex. A few people wanted to know what it was they were going to get before speaking the oath, but Alex’s outright refusal to do so made them rethink it all.

In the end, after some persuasion from the others, they agreed.

Alex looked happily at everyone who had said those oaths.

“Now say it,” Primrose said. “I’m curious.”

Alex nodded. “Alright, how fast can you all learn a technique?” * * * * * *

Time passed within the maze as Alex’s group gathered around the fountain with Qi-filled water. They had accidentally found it upon going around the maze and had decided to make this their base for now.

A month passed and then another. Soon, a total of 4 months in total had passed where they either trained or recruited more individuals to their group.

They had managed to amass nearly 50 additional people, increasing the total number of their people to 70 people. Not everyone was very strong, but they had managed to find someone who could replace the Tong Fanguan.

It was a young man by the Daoist title of Ninerise, not from any of the 3 great sects. He refused to let any details of where he was from be known, but it was clear by his strength and the treasures he owned that he was someone important. There was a chance that he was a rogue cultivator, but the chances were rather small.

Ninerise was rather strong, nearly as strong as both Primrose and Miao Wupeng. As such, he was quickly put into the upper echelon of the group where his words carried some weight.

Alex had waited this long as he wanted to gather more people to fight alongside him, but seeing as though they couldn’t recruit more people, he couldn’t wait any longer.

Over 10 months had passed since they entered the secret realm and in just less than 2 months, they would be thrown away.

hence, it was time to attack them.

Alex showed the group of 70 the way out of the maze and they finally made their way out to the exit.

They had sent some scouts previously to check on the situation and knew that the group was spread thin with many staying in different locations. They knew that the other group had been recruiting too, but with how far spread they were, there wasn’t much trouble.

Alex looked away from everywhere, staring directly at the building furthest within the secret realm. The one known as the Mind Palace.

“Are you sure we should start there?” Primrose asked Alex.

“Yes,” Alex said. “Attacking the weaklings first will result in everyone else getting alerted. So,