After Chi Xue's analysis, everyone finally understood why Ling Tian had insisted on joining forces with them to face the tribulation. Naturally, now that they knew Ling Tian was using them, they no longer wanted to work with him. After all, that would give him a huge advantage, and that was the last thing they wanted.
Chi Xue, however, still insisted on joining forces with Ling Tian. Shi Meng and the others were rather puzzled, but they knew Chi Xue must have his reasons for choosing this, so they all looked at him, their meaning clear.
"Although Ling Tian is using us, we'd be using him by facing the tribulation together, too," Chi Xue said. Seeing the confusion on their faces, he explained, "The Lord of the Universe may go easy on Ling Tian, but he certainly won't send him straight out of the universe—especially since Ling Tian plans to take his friends and family with him. In other words, the Lord of the Universe will surely have to spend some of his effort dealing with Ling Tian. And as long as he has to devote some effort to Ling Tian, he won't be able to go all out against us. That will ease the pressure on us, at least compared with what we'd face if we faced the tribulation alone."
"That's right. If we don't join forces with Ling Tian, we'll have to face the Lord of the Universe on our own. Then he'll naturally be able to focus all his efforts on us, leaving us under even greater pressure and making it harder for us to break free of his hold," Shi Ming said, finally understanding.
"That's not the only benefit of joining forces with Ling Tian," Shi Ying added, looking up at the sky as she spoke.