Just as Ji Xun and the other two were playing dead in the corner, the Frost Knight quickly noticed something was off.
He was a Tier-3 Spell Card Master.
Even in his extreme exhaustion, he couldn't ignore the presence of three additional people in the corner.
Three living people pretending to be dead!
He was originally a squad captain in the Cao family's Frost Knight Guards.
Six days ago, he received an urgent summons to the cemetery on the outskirts of the city, only to discover they were there to rescue the Governor.
However, what he hadn't anticipated was being caught in an ambush.
The entire Frost Knight Corps and the Governor were sucked into the [Great Cemetery Maze], this other-dimensional space.
From then on, it was a living nightmare.
No one expected such a terrifying creature like the [Secret Keeper] to exist in this low-level space, with its horrifying curse attacks and its immortality.
Even the Frost Knight Corps was helpless.
They could only flee through the maze, fighting monsters as they went.
They had no idea how long they had been fighting or how many skeleton monsters they had destroyed.
Their comrades dwindled one by one.
It was like a nightmare they couldn't wake from, constantly running and fighting without a break.
To protect the Governor, they had to confront the monsters head-on.
Their armor grew heavier, and the pursuing monsters multiplied...
Until a major mishap three days ago, they were cornered by dozens of [Secret Keepers] in a dead-end corridor.
Everyone died.
Except for him.
At first, he didn't understand why.
He later realized it was the mysterious box the captain had given him to carry that exempted him from the monsters' terrible, unstoppable curse contamination.
However, this was only the beginning of despair.
Resisting the contamination did not change their doomed fate.
For three whole days!
Do you know what it was like for him alone in the maze during these three days?
Without the threat of their terrifying curses, the [Secret Keepers] weren't particularly formidable in direct combat. Without the Governor to protect, he could outpace the monsters on his own.
But they were immortal.
They couldn't be killed!
The more he ran, the more monsters appeared in the maze.
For several days, he lived through a nightmare of constant battles.
In the end, he somehow stumbled into a "hidden space" indicated by a revelation.
He also discovered a mysterious room that seemed to be an exit.
But he had no way of figuring it out.
As a Frost Knight, he was built for combat, not for solving puzzles.
Knowing the exit was there but being unable to reach it tormented him with despair for days.
Although he had worked hard to clear most of the skeleton monsters from this part of the maze, the immortal [Secret Keepers] kept reviving fully intact.
This wasn't just physical exhaustion; his spirit was on the brink of collapse.
Today, he had given himself one last chance to find clues.
If he failed again, he planned to end his own life.
To end this nightmarish existence.
But unexpectedly,
In his moment of despair, he saw hope!
Just now.
While being chased by the [Secret Keepers], he suddenly noticed something.
Even though the three were hiding in the dark, he clearly saw three people lying there!
He had run this corridor many times before and never saw them.
He realized with joy: these three had just arrived!
Seeing them, he felt a sudden surge of hope for survival.
He wasn't stupid. If these three had made it to the depths of the maze, they must have some key to solving the puzzle.
Instantly, he saw a glimmer of survival!
Seeing the three unmoving, with the [Secret Keepers] ignoring them, a flash of insight hit him.
He thought back to their encounters with the [Secret Keepers], always fighting and fleeing...and suddenly, it all made sense.
Why were these three playing dead?
Could it be that the [Secret Keepers] couldn't see non-moving objects?
Of course! How could I have overlooked such an important detail?
Finally, he felt he had grasped the key to survival.
He was already very tired, knowing that continuing to run would lead to his inevitable death. The Frost Knight made a decisive decision.
....
Ji Xun and the Frost Knight exchanged a glance and naturally saw the "wisdom" in each other's eyes.
He immediately understood what the Frost Knight was planning and couldn't help but internally complain, "If you're going to play dead, at least run further away first..."
But the stronger his desire to avoid this outcome, the more reality seemed to move in the unwanted direction.
Ji Xun watched helplessly as the Frost Knight, after a brief internal struggle, suddenly lunged and collapsed stiffly into a corner, lying motionless.
This guy was copying them, opting to play dead.
Seeing this, Ji Xun's eyelid twitched slightly: of course, he copied it.
Although the Frost Knight's body didn't move, his eyes darted around nervously under his helmet, revealing his inner anxiety.
Yet the effect was immediate.
The Frost Knight lying there playing dead caused the three [Secret Keepers] chasing him to lose their dynamic target.
They indeed "couldn't see" him!
But they didn't leave; they hovered around the corridor.
The Frost Knight, seeing this, felt relieved and took a deep breath.
He thought that as long as he waited for the monsters to leave, he would be safe.
However, things were rarely so simple.
...
Ji Xun watched the Frost Knight, who had put them in this precarious situation, and couldn't help but complain internally, "The [Secret Keepers] are slow to sense non-moving objects, but they're not blind."
Just as the Frost Knight stopped moving, so did the monsters, and a terrifying aura filled the corridor.
The revelations kept refreshing.
"[Mysterious Curse Invasion detected, Clown Mask reduces 70%, Fear Contamination +1]"
"[...]"
But Ji Xun had no "box" to block the monsters' curses. Any slight movement could mean certain death.
Even though the fear contamination made his scalp tingle, he couldn't afford to make any move.
Fortunately, even with two targets, there was a distinction.
The Frost Knight's sanity fluctuation was a hundred times stronger than Ji Xun and his companions'.
It was like comparing a matchstick to a torch in the dark, easily distinguishable.
After a few moments of lingering, the [Secret Keepers] suddenly turned towards the Frost Knight.
The skeletal warhorses pawed the ground, preparing to charge.
The Frost Knight, having been observing out of the corner of his eye, saw this and his face paled. He immediately realized the monsters had noticed him.
He was puzzled, what went wrong?
Why did the monsters not attack those three but came after him?
Though he couldn't figure it out, he didn't hesitate in his actions, pushing off the ground and sprinting away like a cannonball.
However, the distance was just a single charge for the [Secret Keepers].
The Frost Knight hadn't run far before the warhorses' shadows blurred, and the monsters collided with his frost armor.
With a sound like a cannon shot, a blood-spitting figure was sent flying.
His old wounds had barely healed, and this new injury nearly killed him on the spot.
But seeing a glimmer of hope for survival, the Frost Knight was driven by sheer willpower to get back up.
He stood and raised his sword to block, fighting the three monsters in the corridor once more.
Even though he knew the three in the corner were still alive, he also knew that continuing to fight here might affect them.
With a determined look, he chose to lure the monsters away while fighting.
Soon, the corridor fell silent again.
...
Ji Xun watched the Frost Knight lead the monsters away, knowing that guy wasn't acting out of any kindness.
He just realized killing all three of them now would be meaningless.
On the contrary, with them alive, the Frost Knight felt he still had a sliver of hope for survival.
But Ji Xun wasn't about to stay put and wait for him to return.
Although the Frost Knight appeared severely injured and exhausted, the spell marks on his body during battle clearly indicated he was a Tier-3 Spell Card Master.
Even in a weakened state, such high-tier spell card masters shouldn't be underestimated.
As the monsters left, Ji Xun immediately woke up Chu Jiu and said, "Let's go!"
Without hesitation, he lifted the unconscious necromancer girl and headed back the way they came.
Although Chu Jiu hadn't seen what happened, her senses had already grasped everything. She decisively followed Ji Xun, and the three of them ran full speed ahead, no longer as cautious as they were when they first entered.
This section of the labyrinth was far less complex than before, with almost no branching paths. The Frost Knight had already cleared the entire passage of monsters, so even the [Keepers] were absent.
The path was clear.
But now the greatest threat wasn't monsters, but people.
...
While running, Ji Xun pondered possible solutions.
He had considered almost every scenario, but never thought someone could survive until the sixth day. And to run into them here of all places.
Since the Frost Knight had survived, it was clear that the monsters hadn't been able to kill him. That guy wouldn't pass up his only chance to live.
So, he would definitely come after them.
And most likely be hostile.
With this in mind, Ji Xun asked seriously, "Miss Chuju, can you handle that guy?"
Being a novice Curse Card Master, he had no clear idea of the combat capabilities of high-level Card Masters.
But even a wounded tiger is not something a rabbit should challenge.
So, he wasn't very hopeful when he asked.
Chuju, understanding the gravity of the situation, thought for a moment and cautiously replied, "If it were another Tier 3 Card Master, even if severely injured, there'd be no chance. But the Frost Knight uses ice magic... we might have a chance."
The gap between two major tiers was immense. To any Curse Card Master, such a difference seemed insurmountable.
A Tier 3 Card Master could form protective runes, and their physical strength, curse power, and resistance were dozens of times greater than a Tier 1. A Tier 3 could usually take on hundreds of Tier 1s alone.
In a fight, a low-tier Card Master's attacks would be like wooden sticks hitting iron, hardly causing any damage.
But Chuju wasn't an ordinary Tier 1.
Her demonic mark allowed her to wield some high-level ice magic, which could counter the Frost Knight's abilities, significantly reducing the threat.
"A chance?" Ji Xun was surprised, and he asked, "How confident are you?"
"More than sixty percent," Chuju replied.
Sixty percent?
Ji Xun was genuinely surprised.
He knew his old friend was formidable but didn't realize it was to this extent.
A Tier 1 against a Tier 3 was unthinkable for most, yet she had a sixty percent chance?
Chuju continued, "I sensed his curse power earlier; it's mostly depleted. His injuries are severe, his body is filled with chaotic energies, and his mental state is poor. Frost Knights don't train their mental strength, and I have some psychic abilities that could seriously harm him. With the right opportunity, we might be able to kill him. But... his frost helmet has divine runes, which complicates things..."
She had already revealed some of her cards to Ji Xun before, so there was no need to hide anything.
"..." Ji Xun fell into deeper thought.
Initially, he believed that dealing with the Frost Knight was impossible and considered seeking other forms of help in the labyrinth.
But his teammate was unexpectedly capable.
Still, sixty percent meant there was a forty percent chance of failure.
Or mutual destruction.
This wasn't enough.
Ji Xun had another idea and cautiously asked, "What if we could make him remove his helmet and ambush him up close?"
Chuju hesitated slightly but answered, "Ninety percent."
Ji Xun understood why she hesitated.
Having recently been betrayed, the word "ambush" was a sensitive topic.
Also, getting the Frost Knight to remove his armor wouldn't be easy.
But ninety percent was sufficient.
Now wasn't the time to dwell on such things. Confirming their plan, Ji Xun said in a low voice, "Alright, I'll try to create an opportunity for you."
To get out, they needed to deal with this person.
The Governor's people were definitely not their friends.
The two didn't say much more, and at that moment, Nan Jing seemed to have woken up. She spoke faintly from Ji Xun's back, "Um... Mr. Ji Xun, you can put me down. I can run by myself."
Ji Xun realized he was still carrying her and set her down.
The three of them ran deeper into the underground palace together.