Although time was pressing, Ling Tian and the others knew that dwelling on this now would do nothing to help. On the contrary, their anxiety would disturb their state of mind and, in turn, slow the pace of their improvement. Better to calm themselves and improve their strength as much as possible. At least their friends and family seemed to be doing all right for now, so they could afford to delay a little longer without too much trouble.
Besides, as Ling Tian had said, more cultivators might yet break free from the God Realm in time. They could keep learning about their friends and family from those cultivators; if all was well, they could afford to delay a little longer.
The others had thought of this as well, and stopped dwelling on the matter. They continued cultivating with all their might to improve their strength.
"Brother Tian, do we really have a chance to wait until a third batch of cultivators breaks free from the God Realm?" Xiao Shi asked after the others had gone off to cultivate. His expression was grave. "Or will our friends and family be able to hold on until then?"
"They should be able to." Ling Tian replied, though he seemed to be reassuring himself as much as Xiao Shi. "Our friends and family have been hiding in the Boundary Stone all this time, and their condition was much better when they entered it than the condition of Chi Xue's friends and family. At the very least, they're doing better than Chi Xue's people. Qiu'er and the others control the Boundary Stone, so they'll favor our friends and family to some extent. That should help them hold on longer, which means we'll have more time to wait."
Seeing Xiao Shi fall silent, Ling Tian