Luo Nian had been brimming with confidence, but when he heard the words "the price of your life," his expression finally changed considerably.
"What are the chances of dying?" Luo Nian asked.
Elder Xue tilted his head and thought for a moment. "Leaving aside those who sacrificed themselves before the sub-year, over two million people have entered the chimney since then. Wave after wave, not a single one succeeded. If you insist on a probability, then that
probability is zero."
"I-it means certain death?" Luo Nian asked, trembling.
"More or less. And virtually all of those two million people were elites selected by the Six Great Clans—their cleverest members," Elder Xue said.
Luo Nian fell silent.
His experiences had been vastly different from Luo Zheng's. He had grown up in comfort from childhood, and though he had suffered a few minor setbacks, he had never faced life and death head-on.
Upon hearing such a grim outcome, his heart was almost entirely consumed by fear.
Elder Xue had phrased it that way precisely to observe Luo Nian's reaction. He continued, "Your father, Luo Zheng, lost that sword, and he lost it to that 'humanoid.' Do you know what we'll be facing?"
"An opponent who's difficult to defeat," Luo Nian said.
"It isn't a matter of being unable to defeat him. We'll all pay with our lives. In other words, every last one of us will die," Elder Xue said solemnly.
That sent Luo Nian into an even greater panic. "What about my father? My mother?"
"Everything that exists will crumble into oblivion. All matter will be downgraded. Your father and mother certainly won't escape either," Elder Xue added.
Panic surged through Luo Nian's heart. "Th-this... I want to go back! I want to go back to my parents!"
Once he knew