# Chapter 114: At the End of One's Resources
"What are you going to do?"
Sensing that the profound force within Yun Che's body was flowing in an extremely abnormal manner, Mo Li immediately became alert and said in a deep voice, "You want to forcibly comprehend the fifth and sixth realms of this *Phoenix Ode Scripture*? Have you gone mad?"
"A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is right before me. If I don't try, I will never be at peace!" Yun Che said with his eyes closed. His mind and thoughts sank completely into the soul imprint within the jade stone. This *Phoenix Ode Scripture* was recorded through a soul imprint and could only be read with soul force. If he successfully comprehended it, it would be truly recorded within his own soul. But if he failed, after leaving this place, the characters, images, and profound force flow patterns contained within would be impossible to remember even a little bit. Therefore, Yun Che only had one month to comprehend this incomplete scroll. Memorizing it and then comprehending it later after finding the first four realms was simply impossible.
"Without the first four realms, how can you comprehend the fifth and sixth? Without even the roots, you want to directly obtain the fruit? If you forcibly go against the path, the most likely result is that your profound veins will twist, your meridians will fall into chaos, and even your fully opened profound gates may close one after another."
"Without the foundation of the first to fourth realms, then I will build the foundation myself!" Yun Che said with extreme calmness.
"Build the foundation yourself? Do you know how many tens of thousands of years the ancient Phoenix Clan spent to create this *Phoenix Ode Scripture*? After the *Phoenix Ode Scripture* was born, how many evolutions, modifications, and advancements did it undergo? You have at most one month, yet you want to build your own foundation and directly comprehend the fifth and sixth realms?" Mo Li shook her head. "Even if you were a true peerless genius, it would be impossible!"
"At least let me try!" Yun Che said stubbornly in a low voice. Then he cut off all other consciousness and immersed himself completely in the soul imprint of the *Phoenix Ode Scripture*...
At this moment, neither he nor Mo Li noticed that beneath his outer clothes, the pendant he had worn since childhood suddenly flickered with an eerie light... appearing and disappearing in an instant.
---
Outside the sealing formation, Lan Xueruo waited anxiously. Half an hour passed... an hour passed... six hours passed... a full day and night passed... Her expression had long become dark. Feng Baichuan's heart had also completely sunk.
"Can this trial really kill people?" Watching Feng Baichuan walk over again, Lan Xueruo turned sideways and asked with vacant eyes. She had asked the same question more than a dozen times.
Feng Baichuan sighed deeply in his heart and could only manage to comfort her, "Some clan members have indeed been buried in this trial. But... but we don't need to be so pessimistic. Perhaps Brother Yun has passed the trial. Among the ancestors who passed, the longest stayed inside for more than ten days before coming out. So... wait a little longer; maybe he will come out soon."
As he said these words, Feng Baichuan, who had personally experienced the Phoenix trial, knew very well that it was absolutely impossible for someone with the strength of the Xuan Entry Realm, Level 1 to pass this trial. In his view, the only reason Yun Che hadn't come out yet was that he had been buried in the trial ground. But at this moment, he could only use these words to comfort Lan Xueruo and let her hold onto a sliver of hope.
"Clan Chief Feng, is there any way for you to get me inside?"
Feng Baichuan shook his head: "The trial ground can only accept one person per month. I have no way."
Lan Xueruo bit her lips, said nothing more, stood silently in front of the trial gate, staring blankly ahead, her heart madly yearning for that figure to appear... She didn't know what was wrong with her; why was she so anxious and heart-wrenched to this extent? The thought that he might have died in the trial ground caused a tearing pain in her heart.
The Black Demon Mercenary Group blocking the outside, her long-distance sound transmission talisman exhausted, the giant snow eagle not waking up... none of these had caused her to lose her composure. But Yun Che not appearing for an entire day made her mind restless and unable to calm down.
Two days passed... three days passed... ten days passed... fifteen days passed...
Yun Che still hadn't appeared.
And Lan Xueruo could no longer hold onto any illusions. She had to painfully accept the fact that Yun Che had died in the trial ground and would never come out.
These days, she had been in darkness, the piercing pain in her heart never ceasing, day or night. At first, she thought she was grieving over the loss of a "hope" she had finally found. But when this pain refused to subside, and whenever she thought of Yun Che's face her heart would ache and twitch, she gradually became confused. Because she could feel that this pain had completely exceeded the scope of regret. But what was the excess part? She didn't know, because this feeling was very illusory, very unfamiliar.
"Damn it! Half a month, and they still won't come out! There must be food stored in that cave!"
"What's the hurry! No matter how much food and water they have, they'll run out eventually. Hmph, let's see how long they can hold out."
The Black Demon Mercenary Group still hadn't left. They were certain there was a huge treasure inside. Two shifts of men took turns guarding, never withdrawing for a moment.
The food and water Yun Che had left for Feng Baichuan, under his frugal distribution, had less than a third left after half a month. Every day, he frowned deeply, racking his brains for a way to escape. But facing the overwhelming strength outside, even if he racked his brains, he was at his wit's end and could only struggle on painfully.
Twenty days passed... twenty-five days passed...
A month passed.
Under the cover of the sealing formation, the Phoenix Remnant Clan had barely held on for an entire month, and finally reached the point of utter exhaustion.
The space ring Yun Che had given to Feng Baichuan had been completely empty two days ago, with not a single grain of food or drop of water left. The adults, with their low-level profound strength, could barely hold on. But the elderly and children fell one after another from hunger, thirst, and the lingering fear that had never dissipated. Once they fell unconscious, they could no longer be woken up.
Feng Baichuan's eye sockets had sunken deeply. He sat in a cold corner, suffocated by deep powerlessness and despair. At this point, he didn't know where to go from here... If they continued to stay, the entire clan would starve to death. If they left, the vicious bandits outside would kill them all... and might even torture and abuse them cruelly because they couldn't produce the so-called treasure, making their deaths even more miserable.
"Listen carefully, you people inside! If you come out obediently and hand over the treasure and that woman, we guarantee we won't touch a single one of you, old or young, and we'll never enter this place again."
"What a bunch of fools! What good does it do you to hold out like this? Don't you care about your own lives? Don't you care about the lives of your family and children? Staying inside means death sooner or later. Come out and surrender, fulfill our conditions, and we guarantee not a single one of you will die. We'll even let you have a good meal first!"
In the midst of everyone's despair, the shouts of the Black Demon mercenaries became harder and harder to resist. At this moment, an elderly man stood up shakily and said, "Clan Chief, what they say isn't wrong. Staying here will only starve us all to death. At this point, hiding any longer is meaningless. Let's go out and surrender. They might keep their word and not harm us."
"No!" Feng Baichuan shook his head, his voice gloomy. "You should have felt it before. Those people all carry a certain amount of malevolent aura. They are a bunch of vicious thugs who don't care about life at all. If we go out, we'll only die more miserably and suffer humiliation. Hold on a little longer... Miss Xue Ruo said her contracted spirit beast is about to wake up. When it does, we might have hope of rescue. And even if we die in the end... I would rather starve to death than die in humiliation!"
"Zu'er! Xian'er!!!"
Just as Feng Baichuan finished speaking, Feng Caiyun's heart-wrenching cries suddenly rang out. Feng Baichuan stood up abruptly and rushed to his wife, Feng Caiyun... Feng Zu'er and Feng Xian'er had fainted in Feng Caiyun's arms. Their faces were pale with a yellowish tinge, and no matter how Feng Caiyun called out, they showed no response.
"Zu'er, Xian'er..." Feng Baichuan's fingertips oozed blood, tears in his eyes. He raised his hand and slapped his head forcefully, almost fainting from despair.
Lan Xueruo, who had been huddled in a corner, slowly stood up. Perhaps because the depletion was too severe, even after a month, the giant snow eagle had not awakened. At this point, she knew that if she didn't think of something, they wouldn't last another day.
"Clan Chief Feng, please temporarily open the sealing formation outside. I'll go out and grab some food."
Hearing Lan Xueruo's words, Feng Baichuan was stunned, then quickly shook his head: "No! It's too dangerous. There are so many people outside. How can you snatch food from them?"
Lan Xueruo said firmly, "After all, I have the strength of the True Xuan Realm. As long as their few True Xuan Realm leaders aren't around, I shouldn't be in too much danger. Right now, the children can't hold on any longer. If we don't get some food soon, they will..."
Feng Baichuan's lips moved. Looking at the unconscious Feng Zu'er and Feng Xian'er, he finally nodded and said bitterly, "Miss Lan, you must be careful... So many of us men are helpless here, yet we have to let a young lady like you take such a risk for us. This is truly..."
"Clan Chief Feng, don't say that. I believe that if you had enough strength, you would be the first to go out... Open the sealing formation now. I'll go out, and you close it immediately. After I get the food, I'll signal you to close the sealing formation again."
Although it carried extremely high risk, this seemed to be the only temporary solution in this desperate situation. Feng Baichuan stood at the cave entrance, bit his lip, and sprinkled his blood on the sealing formation, saying worriedly, "Be careful!"
At Feng Baichuan's command, the crimson sealing formation flashed with light, then slowly disappeared. Lan Xueruo held her longsword, her body turning into a swift white shadow as she shot outward.