Squelch!
Ancestor Bloodshadow's body was blown to pieces mid-air by Black Rock Demon Lord's fist. His Nascent Soul barely had time to flee before it was engulfed by a jet of golden flame from Scarlet Sun Demon Sage—vanishing into ash without a single scream.
The newly promoted Nascent Soul cultivator was eradicated, body and soul alike.
The remaining Shadow Demon Sect disciples, paralyzed with fear, scattered in all directions—only to be hunted down and slaughtered to the last man.
Jiang Ling watched his three direct disciples unleash their skills, nodding in constant approval.
The standout was undoubtedly Jincancan.
Its gleaming golden plumage blazed like a golden sun in the night, each claw strike accompanied by cries of agony.
Next was Hua Yuntian, who seemed intent on venting all the pent-up frustration of his time as a disciple—striking to kill with every move, surprising Jiang Ling greatly.
He had not expected this prickly, stubborn apprentice to defeat stronger foes with such ease, even seeming unhurried in the fray.
No wonder the system had deemed him a bearer of great fortune; he truly had some skill.
But the greatest shock came from Ye Qingshuang.
The girl flitted through the crowd like a phantom, leaving a desiccated corpse in her wake wherever she paused.
For one so young, to kill for the first time without a hint of hesitation—her resolve was unmatched, a testament to her ruthless spirit.
Falling Sparrow Ridge fell silent in an instant, save for the crackle of True Sun Fire burning through the night.
Flames cast light over the broken walls and charred ruins, the stench of burnt flesh and thick blood cloying in the air.
Just as Jiang Ling prepared to lead his group away from the wasteland, Scarlet Sun Demon Sage suddenly twitched his nose, golden flames flashing in his eyes as he pointed to a boulder-strewn corner at the back of the mountain.
"Sect Master, something is amiss here. The stench of blood is overwhelming, and I sense living beings."
Jiang Ling's eyes narrowed. "Break it open!"
Scarlet Sun Demon Sage struck out with a palm, his searing palm wind melting the boulders into lava and revealing a heavy black iron gate carved with eerie runes behind them.
"I'll do it!"
Black Rock Demon Lord stepped forward, slamming his colossal palm against the gate as terrifying power erupted from his body.
BOOM!
The black iron gate shattered on impact, revealing a deep, dark cave stretching downward into the earth.
At the same time, an indescribable stench—mingled with thick, cloying blood—gushed forth like poison gas bottled for a thousand years.
Everyone's expression darkened.
Jiang Ling's face was like thunder. He waved a hand, erecting a barrier to block the filth and dispel the stench, stepping into the cave first.
The further down they went, the dimmer the light became, only a few guttering oil lamps on the walls casting ghostly flickers, stretching twisted shadows across the rock face into the darkness.
When the scene before them came into focus in the faint glow, even Jiang Ling—who had lived eight hundred years, seen countless lives and deaths—felt a cold chill shoot straight from his spine to the top of his head.
Lining both sides of the cave were massive iron cages forged from cold iron, endless rows stretching deep into the dark.
And in every single cage, there were living people imprisoned!
A closer look revealed they were all young, around fifteen or sixteen years of age.
On one side, the cages held boys—most half-naked, skin and bones, their eyes hollow and numb, huddled in the freezing corners of the iron cages. Not even Jiang Ling and his group's arrival could tear their gazes away from the void.
Their bodies were covered in overlapping whip marks and brandings, many wounds festering and oozing, reeking of rot.
More horrifying still, some boys were so emaciated they were little more than skin and bone, their chests barely rising and falling with breath.
Yet bizarrely, their faint heartbeats still pulsed, as if some evil force was clinging to their last breath, turning them into bloodless husks.
On the other side, the cages holding girls were a scene of unspeakable horror.
Most of the girls were completely naked, their bodies covered in bruise-purple contusions and bite marks.
Their eyes were vacant, like broken dolls, unresponsive to everything around them.
Some had dried dark red blood and filth caked between their legs—a silent testament to the unspeakable abuse they had suffered.
Only a few cages near the entrance held girls whose clothes, though disheveled, were still mostly intact.
They huddled together in terror, trembling violently, their eyes filled with utter dread and a flicker of faint hope as they saw Jiang Ling and his group burst in.
Clearly, they had been captured only recently, not yet subjected to the worst of the atrocities.
The entire dungeon was shrouded in an oppressive silence and despair—far more suffocating than any screams or wails.
Chirp!
Jincancan's golden plumes stood on end, letting out a cry of unbridled rage.
What they witnessed here transcended race; any being with a shred of conscience would be filled with fury at the sight.
Had they known the Shadow Demon Sect was guilty of such heinous, unforgivable acts, they never would have killed them so quickly.
At the very least, they should have made the fiends suffer the same torments they had inflicted on these innocents.
Hua Yuntian's face turned ashen, his brows knotted in a deep frown.
In his past life, he had heard rumors of demon cultivators under Black Wind Ridge's rule raising blood slaves and preying on cauldron maidens for cultivation—rumors he had dismissed as slander from rival forces.
But seeing this hellish scene with his own eyes, the rumors suddenly felt like cold, hard truth—even more horrifying than he could have imagined.
"Beasts!"
He spat the word out cold, his killing intent all but bursting forth from his body.
Sadly, the Shadow Demon Sect's followers were all dead, leaving no one for him to vent his rage on.
Ye Qingshuang's reaction was the most violent of all.
Her fingers whitened as she clenched her Ice Soul Sword so hard her knuckles bulged, her body trembling slightly.
The girls' unspeakable suffering before her was like a thousand red-hot needles, piercing the deepest, sealed corners of her memory.
The rumors of demon cultivators abducting children she had faintly heard the day her brother vanished overlapped with the scene before her in an instant.
"Brother..."
A sharp pain shot through Ye Qingshuang's heart, and she could almost see her brother, covered in wounds, in the clutches of demon cultivators.
An icy, bone-chilling killing intent erupted from her body like a physical force, the temperature around her plummeting sharply.
The tattered cloth doll in her arms seemed to be infected by the killing intent, emanating a faint, cold glimmer.
Scarlet Sun Demon Sage and Black Rock Demon Lord also frowned deeply.
The monster race lived by the law of the jungle, but such cruel torture of their own kind crossed even their limits.
"There's someone else!"
Black Rock Demon Lord suddenly let out a low roar, slamming his colossal foot down on a seemingly smooth patch of ground nearby.
BOOM!
Rocks flew as the ground caved in, forming a deep pit.
A shrill scream echoed up from the bottom.
Black Rock Demon Lord reached down with his massive hand, snatching a Shadow Demon Sect disciple from the pit as easily as grabbing a chick—one who wore only undergarments, reeked of alcohol, and had his manhood exposed for all to see.
The man had clearly heard the commotion outside and tried to hide, only to be detected by Black Rock Demon Lord's sharp senses.
"Spare me! Spare me, immortals! I'm just a gatekeeper, I know nothing! Nothing at all!"
Clutched in Black Rock Demon Lord's hand like a worm, the man was scared out of his wits, begging for mercy incessantly.
At that moment—
Clang!
A streak of ice-blue sword light, fast as lightning and wreathed in overwhelming cold, blazed to life in an instant, streaking straight for the disciple's exposed groin!