Starting as a stray dog, I embarked on a journey of cultivation.

After reaching a consensus to join forces, Gou An and Qing Mianzi traveled together.

The two had a total of eleven jade tokens in their hands, which seemed plentiful, but the maze had countless branching paths, so they still couldn't afford to waste any of them.

Gou An then devised a strategy with Lao Yang: they would explore five or six forks in the road before expending a jade token to ask the stone statue for directions.

Although this approach consumes a lot of travel time, it maximizes the use of every guide and eliminates more dead ends.

Let them get closer to the right exit!

In addition, Qingmianzi has been deeply involved in array formations and mazes for many years and is familiar with the layout rules of various mazes. The two demons complement each other and cooperate, making their pathfinding efficiency several times faster than when they venture out alone.

Before they knew it, half of the trial period had passed.

As Gou An and Lao Yang were traversing the crisscrossing passages, the long-silent voice of a lingering soul suddenly descended from the dome, echoing throughout the entire labyrinth:

"The first person to escape the maze was known by the Daoist name Qingfeng Shangren!"

"Six people remain to pass the level."

"Remaining trial time: one hour."

The voice faded away, and the maze fell silent once more.

"So fast?" Gou An murmured in amazement.

Qingmianzi looked bitter and shook his head, sighing, "That's normal! That Qingfeng Shangren had more than twenty jade tokens in his hand, so he asked for directions without any hesitation. The difficulty of passing the test is far lower than yours or mine."

After a brief conversation, the two dared not linger any longer and quickened their pace to search for a way out.

Not long after, the remnant soul's announcement rang out again:

"The second person to escape the maze was known by the Daoist name Xu Gu Zi."

"Five people remain to pass the level."

"Remaining trial time: 7 quarters of an hour."

Gou Anxin realized that this Xu Gu Zi was the rat demon.

Rats are naturally adept at burrowing and finding their way, and these intricate mazes allow them to fully utilize their innate advantage.

However, after the Rat Demon cleared the level, a long time passed, and no third person ever walked out of the maze.

The remaining time was passing by rapidly, and the remnant soul would report the remaining time every quarter of an hour, urging them on, making the two demons increasingly anxious.

Six-quarters of an hour remaining!

Five-quarters of an hour remaining!

Four-quarters of an hour remaining!

The countdown caused the jade tokens in Gou An and Lao Yang's hands to be consumed rapidly.

With only 25 minutes left in the time limit, the two had used up their last jade token.

However, the two were still trapped deep in the maze and had not found any clues pointing to the exit.

Qingmianzi, who had mastered the Tongxiao Maze, was also plunged into utter despair. His steps were heavy, and he muttered to himself, "I'm afraid most of the cultivation I've accumulated through half a lifetime of hard work will be lost."

"If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have stepped into this ancient tower just to save face."

Gou An, however, never gave up easily, even though he had the least amount of time to cultivate among these people.

However, Gou An had acquired this demonic power bit by bit, so it couldn't be absorbed for nothing.

Therefore, Gou An's sense of smell was working at full capacity, his nostrils flaring rapidly as he frantically captured the subtle scents scattered in the air.

"Come with me!"

In a flash, Gou An's eyes lit up, as if he had caught a crucial clue, and he immediately ran towards one of the passages at full speed.

Qingmianzi quickly caught up, eagerly asking, "What? You found a way out?"

"That's right." Gou An said with certainty, "I smelled the unique rat-like odor on that stinky rat."

Old Sheep instantly perked up and exclaimed, "They say dogs have a keen sense of smell, and seeing it today, it's certainly true!"

"Let's just take that as a compliment!" Gou An said no more, pushing his sense of smell to its limit.

The rat demon Xu Gu Zi has successfully left the maze, and its lingering aura must lead all the way to the exit.

Moreover, the rat demon used its own scent to leave marks along the way, and many forks in the road still had faint traces of fishy smell, which just happened to point Gou An in the right direction.

Although the scent was faint and subtle, undetectable to ordinary demon cultivators and human cultivators, it was impossible for Gou An to escape his extraordinary sense of smell.

"Remaining time...15 minutes!"

The remnant soul's cold reminder echoed once more. Just then, Gou An led Qing Mianzi around a corner of a passage, where a bright light suddenly shone ahead.

The light was completely different from the black mist swirling within the maze; it was clearly the light of day at the maze's exit.

The two demons quickly passed through the passage and successfully exited the maze, reaching the exit platform.

Master Qingfeng and the rat demon Xuguzi were already waiting here.

The proclamation of the remnant soul then rang out:

"The third and fourth to escape the maze!"

"Gou Zhenren, Qingmianzi!"

"Remaining trial time... 15 minutes!"

The moment Gou An stepped out of the maze, he felt completely exhausted and collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.

Within the maze, the spirit-sealing array continuously suppressed the spiritual power around him. Just now, in order to track the aura, he forcibly activated the Myriad Scents Tracking, which consumed a great deal of spiritual power. In the last part of the journey, he sprinted with all his might, and now his physical strength was almost completely exhausted.

In contrast, the Venerable Qingfeng and the rat demon Xuguzi, who had been waiting there for a long time, were both calm and composed, with steady auras and expressions.

Time flew by, and no one appeared in the depths of the maze.

Gou An secretly concluded that the other four trapped individuals would likely be eliminated.

But just as the time limit was about to expire, two figures suddenly rushed out of the passage.

Gou An looked up and saw Yun Bai, the human cultivator who had been in dire straits, with only one jade token left.

The other figure was a crow demon with black feathers.

As soon as the two stepped out of the passage, the path leading to the depths of the maze behind them suddenly closed and disappeared completely.

"The fifth and sixth to exit the maze."

"Master Yunbai, Master Xuanyu!"

"Time's up!"

The next moment, everyone was blinded by a white light, and their vision was violently distorted.

Once everyone had calmed down and regained their senses, they were back in the spacious hall on the second floor of the pagoda.

The six who successfully navigated the maze stood side by side on one side, while on the other side were the turtle demon and the snake demon who failed to leave the maze on time.

The two demons looked bewildered, clearly aware of the punishment they were about to face.

The remnant soul hovering in mid-air spoke indifferently, its icy voice echoing throughout the hall: "You two have failed to escape the Thousand Abyss Maze within the allotted time and will be eliminated."

Before the words were finished, and before the turtle demon and snake demon could beg for mercy, a powerful and domineering suction force swept out from the remnant soul phantom, locking the two demons' bodies tightly and forcibly extracting most of their cultivation.

Two heart-wrenching cries of pain suddenly rang out.

"what!"

"Well!"

The pure energy of cultivation was continuously drawn from the two demons' bodies and flowed into the illusory remnant souls.

Once half of their cultivation had been absorbed, the remnant souls showed no mercy. Two beams of white light enveloped the weak and emaciated turtle and snake demons, directly teleporting them out of the pagoda space.

After dealing with the eliminated ones, the remnant soul slowly swept its gaze over the six people below who had successfully passed the level, and said calmly, "Not bad, more people have successfully left the maze than I expected."

"Now that the second level of the trial has concluded, please follow me upstairs!"