The group exchanged glances, understanding that their target was not far off. They lightened their steps and continued forward.
As they drew closer, the sound of iron chains grew louder, interspersed with groans of pain.
Li Nanzhu pressed herself against the damp rock wall, spotting flickering firelight emanating from around a corner.
It was a massive underground prison. Dozens of stone chambers were carved into the walls on either side, each doorway hung with heavy iron bars covered in blackish-red rust, as if they had been repeatedly soaked in blood.
The imprisoned cultivators were chained to the stone walls. Their wrists and ankles were covered in deep gashes that exposed the bone. Some of their wounds were still seeping, the blood flowing along shallow grooves in the ground until it finally vanished into the cracks as if being absorbed by something.
Li Nanzhu even spotted a few girls in pink robes. They were likely the junior sisters Rong Yuying and the others were looking for.
Feng Qingping made a gesture for silence. Her fingertips traced a circle around the group, and a transparent light screen unfolded soundlessly.
"I've set up a soundproofing array," she whispered. "From what I can see, there are only two evil cultivators guarding the prisoners."
"The one on the left is at the early Golden Core stage," Rong Yuying said, half-covering her face with her round fan. "The one on the right is at the late Foundation Establishment stage."
The guards were currently facing away from the passage. The tall Golden Core cultivator was checking the chains of a prisoner. Li Nanzhu noticed the one being inspected was a female cultivator from the Hehuan Sect; her face was deathly pale, and her wrists were covered in festering wounds.
"They're checking the status of the restraints at regular intervals..." Feng Qingping’s voice was cold. "This isn't a temporary holding cell. This is long-term imprisonment."
Jingyi covered her mouth. "I know that senior sister... she went missing three months ago..."
While the two evil cultivators were distracted, Li Nanzhu peered back into the stone chambers. In the deepest one, she finally caught a faint glimpse of Feng Weilan. He was being held in solitary confinement. His chains were thicker than anyone else's, and a heavy iron collar was fastened around his neck, practically pinning him to the wall. His face was so pale it was almost transparent.
'Sixth Senior Brother...' Li Nanzhu's heart tightened, but she also felt a slight sense of relief. At least she had confirmed he was still alive. Feng Qingping's calm demeanor also helped settle her own nerves.
The sudden rattling of chains drew their attention back to the scene.
They watched stealthily as the Golden Core guard kicked a prisoner who was trying to struggle. "Behave! It'll be your turn tomorrow!"
The Foundation Establishment guard asked subserviently, "Boss, how many times are we draining them today?"
"The Master said to add an extra feeding," the Golden Core guard said, pulling out a jade bottle. "This batch of fodder is too low-quality; 'that one' hasn't had much of an appetite lately."
"But they're almost at their limit..."
"If they die, we can just feed the whole lot to it directly," the Golden Core evil cultivator said indifferently. "In any case, there are plenty of cultivators out there. Besides, didn't we just catch a few more from the Hehuan Sect? Once we've rounded them all up, we won't have to worry about running out of fodder."
Li Nanzhu and Feng Qingping exchanged a grim look.
Beside them, Yu'er's eyes were filled with worry. The Hehuan Sect cultivators they mentioned having just caught were clearly the third team they had spoken of earlier.
"We can't just barge in," Feng Qingping said. "While we can deal with a Golden Core cultivator, if we alert them, the entire evil cultivator stronghold will be on guard."
Rong Yuying gently swayed her round fan, thinking for a moment. "We need to find a way to lure them away, or at least figure out what they're doing."
"Suisui," Li Nanzhu spoke suddenly, looking down at the little skeleton on her shoulder. "Can you go in and take a look?"
Suisui tilted its head, its soul fire flickering once. Then, with two sharp clicks, it fell apart from Li Nanzhu's shoulder, turning into a pile of ordinary white bones that rolled onto the floor.
"How clever!" Jingyi couldn't help but whisper in amazement. Had she not seen it with her own eyes, she never would have guessed these bones could move on their own.
Suisui's bones slid silently across the floor into the prison, blending in with a pile of white bones in the corner. Many people had clearly died here, so scattered bones were not an uncommon sight. The two evil cultivators only gave them a casual glance before losing interest.
Suisui was cautious. It left most of its bones in place, controlling only a few small fragments to crawl slowly through the shadows toward the depths.
"Will it really be okay?" Yu'er asked, worried.
"Don't worry," Li Nanzhu said softly. "Trust Suisui. It's much more reliable than you think."
Sure enough, it didn't take long for Suisui's bone fragments to reach the back of the prison, even getting close to Feng Weilan's stone chamber. It didn't approach rashly, instead quietly 'listening' to the surroundings.
The Golden Core evil cultivator seemed to grow impatient. He told the Foundation Establishment evil cultivator, "Go check on the new ones we just caught. Don't let them die."
The Foundation Establishment evil cultivator nodded, taking a short blade and walking toward the stone chambers on the other side.
Taking advantage of the moment they were separated, Suisui's bone fragments slowly crawled to the entrance of Feng Weilan's chamber. However, it stopped abruptly three feet away from him. A nearly invisible line of blood was flowing slowly across the floor, drawn toward the depths of the ground by some unseen force.
Suisui's soul fire shrank. The bone fragments gripped the rock wall tightly, not continuing until the bloodline disappeared. Then, it carefully took a 'look' at Feng Weilan.
Feng Weilan's condition was worse than expected. His wrists and ankles were covered in gashes that exposed the bone, and blood dripped from the chains, slowly seeping into the ground along with those bloodlines.
Of course, it didn't forget to check the other cages. After scouting nearly every one, Suisui quickly retracted its fragments, crawled back through the shadows, reassembled itself, and slipped silently back to Li Nanzhu's side.
"How is it?" Feng Qingping asked immediately.
With two clicks, Suisui grabbed Li Nanzhu's wrist with its bone claws, its soul fire jumping violently—a sign of extreme unease.
Li Nanzhu gently stroked the top of its skull. "Don't be afraid. Tell us slowly."
After that, the others watched as Suisui gesticulated wildly while Li Nanzhu nodded from time to time, asking a few questions. The scene was oddly adorable.
"Junior Sister Li can actually communicate with the little skeleton. That's amazing." Qinghe tugged on Jingyi's sleeve, her eyes sparkling.
Jingyi didn't reply, but the light in her eyes betrayed her thoughts. Had it not been for Li Nanzhu, Yu'er suspected the two of them would have already tried to snatch Suisui away to the Hehuan Sect.
Li Nanzhu soon stood up and shared the information she had gathered with the group.
First, there was something strange about the floor. Blood was being absorbed at an extremely fast rate, as if something underground was 'eating' it.
Second, there were eight Hehuan Sect disciples here. Three were in relatively good condition, but the others were doing very poorly and seemed to have been imprisoned for a long time. One was on the verge of death.
Third, the sixth senior brother's injuries were very severe, and he was currently unconscious.
Fourth, she hadn't found any cultivators in red robes. The fourth senior brother likely wasn't here.
Feng Qingping took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay calm. "The problem now is that we can't save them without alerting the Golden Core evil cultivator."
"Maybe... we should wait for them to change shifts?" Qinghe suggested in a low voice.
"No," Feng Qingping shook her head. "It's not just my sixth junior brother. Your sisters from the Hehuan Sect probably won't last that much longer either."
Li Nanzhu thought for a moment, then looked at Suisui, a faint smile touching her lips. "Perhaps... we could cause a bit of a distraction?"
"How?"
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