Inside of the space in the Soul Tower of Trial, the disciples were all standing there in silence as they waited for the second round to start.
They had received the same explanations as the sect representatives outside, so they knew where they were.
However, they had also been told to wait for the beginning of the second round, so they didn't know what to do.
After all, not a single one of them knew what to expect in this Soul Tower of Trial.
There were some that went around gathering people for their own groups just like in the first round. It was clear that they were trying to form a large group to take on this second round together.
Even though they had no idea if they could work together.
However, it was never said that they couldn't work together, so there was nothing to lose from this.
In fact, it was better if they grouped up now since there was really nothing to lose from grouping up.
If they could work together, it was better than scrambling to find a group later.
If they couldn't work together, then they would go their own ways.
But there were also people who didn't try to find a group.
These people just confidently stood there without interacting with anyone else, as if they were confident that they would be able to make it through the second round all on their own. They almost seemed like they didn't want to bother with other people since other people might just drag them down.
That was how confident they were in their own abilities.
But that was just how it was with the proud young masters of these sects.
The only exception to this was the Love Sect and the Demon Palm Sect group.
Even if they wanted to find allies, they wouldn't have been able to since everyone was avoiding them.
There was a clear reason why they were avoiding the Demon Palm Sect, but the Love Sect...it seemed a bit strange.
After all, even if there was conflict with the Love Sect group before, that didn't change the fact that they had come in first.
Normally, there would be opportunistic groups that would try to befriend the Love Sect during this time so that they could take advantage of the abilities that they possessed. But there wasn't a single group that came over to talk to the Love Sect group during this time.
It was almost as if they were doing their best to avoid the Love Sect group.
It was almost as if they had been ordered by someone to avoid the Love Sect group.
Xiao Ming and the others could already guess what happened, but they didn't care since they didn't plan on interacting with the others in the first place. They were deep in the enemy territory, so it wasn't as if they could act casually if they wanted.
But Hei Gui said, "This is an artifact that one enters with their soul, this is the most basic function that it could have."
Sect Master Duan then ended by saying, "The trials will sometimes be individual and sometimes be for a group, it will all depend on the floor. So please do your best and don't leave any regrets."
Everyone was confused again when they heard this since they couldn't understand how this would work.
After all, there was a very likely chance that if there was a floor that required a group...one might be waiting forever to have the chance to take the trial.
One might be so far ahead that there wasn't anyone there to group up with them, so it didn't seem to make sense at all.
But Sect Master Duan didn't seem like he was going to explain as he said, "We'll be starting in five minutes. Once it starts, the stairs to the next floor will appear."
There were many questions that the disciples wanted to ask, but Sect Master Duan's voice disappeared. Even when they asked their questions out loud, there wasn't a single answer for them.
So instead of wasting time trying to get answers for these questions, the various groups started talking amongst themselves.
The Love Sect and Demon Palm Sect group also gathered together to discuss their strategy.
Xiao Ming was the one that led their discussion as she said, "Push as fast as you can and if you reach a floor with a group challenge, wait half an hour at least for someone you recognize."
One of those from the Demon Palm Sect couldn't help saying, "There's no knowing how many floors there are and there's a time limit. If we keep waiting for someone that we know, then we'll run out of time like this."
There were a few people that nodded in agreement to this, but Mo Sha said, "It's better than being stabbed in the back. Everyone here is out for themselves, so it's best if we work together to make sure that they can't do anything."
Xiao Ming nodded in agreement before saying, "I trust everyone will be able to make it up quickly since everyone here is talented. I'm sure that no one will have to wait long for someone they recognize to appear."
They nodded in agreement to this, but they knew that Xiao Ming was just saying this to raise their spirits rather than actually believing in this.
Still, it was important to keep their spirits high, so no one said anything to poke a hole in this.
It didn't take long before the stairs that Sect Master Duan mentioned appeared, but it wasn't stairs like they thought it would be.
Instead of a single set of stairs, there were many different stairs that suddenly appeared from the roof. These sets of stairs were scattered all over the room and seemed to be in different styles.
It was clear that these stairs all led to different places, even though they weren't that far away from each other.
With a nod, Xiao Ming said to the others, "Look out for each other and do your best."
Then without any hesitation, she chose a set of stairs to head up.
Huang Xie and Yu Huang wanted to go up the same set of stairs, but they found that those stairs disappeared after Xiao Ming took them.
So they had no choice but to choose stairs that were nearby.
As for the rest, they all chose some stairs for themselves and head up to the next floor.