"Right, exactly. We only brought him along because he's from the Luo family—it was unavoidable. Does he think we wanted to?" Eighth Brother also nodded. Except for Luo Baochai, everyone else wanted to say this—the difference was that some buried it in their hearts while others wanted to speak it out.

"Let's continue. It doesn't matter whether he's here or not!" Luo Juntao nodded, then began discussing various matters. For instance, when certain things happened, how they should act, with self-preservation as the primary premise. Even sacrificing some friends would be necessary.

Next, he talked about the dining hall's situation, looking for weaknesses here that could allow them to escape.

Small groups like the Luo family's weren't unique. Many small groups were now gathered together talking, having similar thoughts—they could sacrifice other people but definitely had to preserve themselves. Since these people weren't from the same group, such divisions were very normal.

"I've observed all night. That corner has the fewest defenders, but the walls there are thickest—there seem to be several inches of iron plates inside. With such thick iron plates, even if I had full power, it would be hard to quickly break an exit. Now we can only think of ways with those iron bars, but generally these iron bars have guards outside. If we had internal energy, we could still fight for it, or if I still had my sword, I could also cut through several bars..." Luo Juntao pointed to some places, explaining what he understood and stating some countermeasures, though they were useless.

"Yes, if only we had a precious sword. But it would need to be sharp—mine probably wouldn't work," Eighth Brother said. Precious swords also had grades, and only Luo Juntao's weapon here could easily cut through those thick iron bars.

"Even if we had one, it would be useless. They've already prepared for this and would definitely confiscate it."

Everyone nodded, all feeling this was just a ridiculous fantasy, like getting their internal energy back—both currently impossible assumptions.

...

...

"That's not necessarily true. If you want precious swords, I have one!"

This sudden statement left everyone stunned, looking toward the speaker—the person lying there seemingly asleep.

"You have a precious sword? Impossible—your sword was also confiscated," Luo Baochai shook her head. She had watched Xiaoyao's sword being taken away.

"Yes, my sword was confiscated..." Xiaoyao nodded.

"Then you're still joking around? Is this the time for jokes?" Luo Juntao was somewhat angry, feeling Xiaoyao was too oblivious to the situation. Sleeping was bad enough, but now he was making fun of everyone.

"When did I joke? My sword was confiscated—one sword, but only one," Xiaoyao replied.

"...You're saying you have another sword," everyone fell silent. Generally, who would carry two swords? Dual-sword practitioners were too rare and not part of orthodox swordsmanship.

"Of course!"

"Take it out... Actually, even if you take it out, it's useless. How good could your sword be..." Everyone got excited but quickly became disappointed because they felt that with Xiaoyao's status, he definitely wouldn't have any good sword.

"My sword is very ordinary—just a backup," Xiaoyao said with a smile, taking out a sword.

"Just a backup. Forget it, having one is better than none. Even if it can't cut through those iron bars, it can be used for self-defense," Luo Juntao took the sword while speaking, casually drawing it slightly—just a little bit to see the blade.

"Ah... this sword..." Luo Juntao was immediately attracted by the sword's light. This sword definitely wasn't weaker than his own.

"What about this sword?" Luo Baochai asked.

"This sword surpasses mine—it's a rare good sword, seemingly comparable to Lingling's sword," Luo Juntao said. He had significant interactions with Lingling and had seen her sword.

"Can this sword cut through those iron bars?" Luo Baochai asked. This seemed to be everyone's most concerned question.

"Yes, those iron bars aren't made of cold iron," Xiaoyao said nonchalantly.

"Should we try it!" The Luo family members began getting eager.

"Wait, I didn't give you the sword to try that. Even if your martial arts fully recovered, it would be hard to escape from the people outside," Xiaoyao said.

"You're really a coward—you don't even dare to fight," several Luo family members wouldn't stop despising him just because he had a good sword.

"Fighting requires having a chance. Without a chance, that's just going to die," Xiaoyao said nonchalantly. "Of course, if you want to go die, I won't mind. But I advise you to wait a bit—someone will soon help prove this point."

"What?" The Luo family members were confused.

"Look over there..." Xiaoyao pointed in a direction where there happened to be a small team, and someone seemed to be carefully holding a gleaming dagger—very carefully, and Xiaoyao's angle could just see a bit of it.

When confiscating weapons, these people weren't very thorough. Having someone secretly hide a dagger was normal. Why these people were so careless, no one seemed to think much about it at this moment.

"From their actions, they want to leave. Now you have two choices: one is to see what their result will be, the other is to use them as decoys while you escape at the same time. However, the second choice carries certain risks—it's not guaranteed to succeed," Xiaoyao said.

"Let's watch first," after some consideration, Luo Juntao made his decision. He didn't want to take risks. This wasn't worth risking in the first place. If these people definitely wanted to kill them, then the risk would be worth taking, but the current situation wasn't like that. Maybe after this matter ended, they would be peacefully released.

"That's right. But to let you see their strength, I'll go help those people who want to escape," Xiaoyao said, then got up and walked toward that small team, leaving the Luo family members looking at each other in confusion. What did he mean? What did he mean by "to see their strength" and how would he help others?

"Wait, wait, don't be nervous. I'm here to help. You don't want to attract others' attention either, right?" When Xiaoyao approached that small team, he was immediately surrounded by those people—in attitude, of course. They didn't actually attack.

"Do you want us to take you along? That's impossible. At most, after we get out, we'll call people to rescue you," one of them said coldly.

"I have no interest in going to die with you," Xiaoyao waved his hand.

"What did you say!!" The small group glared angrily. If not for the current environment, they might have already attacked.

"This is fact. I also want to advise you, but you definitely won't listen, so I'll provide a plan that can increase your success rate," Xiaoyao didn't mind their stares, just smiled.

Actually, I'm also trying to save these people. By providing help, at least I can give them a chance to escape. Otherwise, they absolutely wouldn't have this chance.

But would others accept his goodwill when he wanted to provide a plan? The answer was no.

"We don't need your plan."

"Don't say that. Let me ask you—do you know where this place is?" Xiaoyao asked with a smile.

"Of course we know. This is Yanhua Temple!"

"If this is what I needed to ask you, I could also say this is Yanhua Mountain, or even say this is Flowing Stone Kingdom," Xiaoyao said.

"What do you mean?" Those people were confused.

"I want to ask if you know what position this place occupies within Yanhua Temple, and what buildings and facilities are nearby," Xiaoyao asked.

"This... we don't know..." Those people shook their heads. They were just here to play—how would they pay attention to the specific location here? Of course, they knew roughly, but they definitely weren't clear about what was nearby.

"There you go. You don't even know the outside situation, so what's the success rate of your plan? I believe I don't need to say more—you yourselves know," Xiaoyao continued.

"So you know?" Those people looked at Xiaoyao. Since he brought this up, he should know.

Xiaoyao nodded and said: "I know. During the day, I toured the entire temple and observed the whole temple's structure from the tower. Come, let me draw it for you and write my plan as well."

With that, Xiaoyao took out paper and pen. These were always carried—needed in any environment, including the current one.

Soon, Xiaoyao drew a floor plan of Yanhua Temple, including the surrounding environment, then wrote the plan on it—where to start breaking through, how several people should move, then doing things to attract attention, etc. The entire plan was presented in detail.

"Once you've memorized this and arranged everything, you can act. Of course, you can also choose not to use my plan and use your own instead," Xiaoyao said, then returned to the Luo family members. Without saying anything, he lay back down on the stools to sleep.

After discussing for a while, that small team decided to use Xiaoyao's plan. At least his plan was perfect, and currently, they couldn't think of a better plan than his.

Soon, this small team began taking action...

"Someone's escaping!!"

Soon the people outside discovered the escape attempt—this was bound to happen.

(End of Chapter)