Content fidelity note: This chapter depicts sexual violence involving people presented as minors. The English preserves the abuse, intervention and consequences without reproducing the original’s graphic details.
The demonic den contained countless stone chambers, each occupied by cultivators indulging in depraved pleasures.
Xu Ziqing’s expression grew stern. He searched the rooms one by one.
He felt no pity, only growing anger. He kept hoping to find at least one chamber without a victim, but every room revealed more suffering. His disappointment deepened, and he dealt with the criminals more decisively.
The outer ring contained eighteen caves. An innocent woman was being held in each one. Some had already died from exhaustion of their life force. Even those still breathing survived only briefly, without enough strength to speak a final word.
Xu Ziqing resisted the urge to confront the criminals openly. He let his demonic vines silently drain them instead.
He moved with exceptional speed. Within a single quarter of an hour, more than thirty Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators had died by his hand.
He could not leave the exposed victims as they were, but did not dare employ conspicuous spells that might alert the entire den. Instead, he stripped outer robes from the dead cultivators and used them to cover the women.
Anger burned in Xu Ziqing’s heart.
He had already killed dozens of criminals who had occupied this desert for years. How many people must they have harmed?
How many bodies lay hidden beneath the endless yellow sands? How many innocents would never return home, leaving ordinary families to suffer grief?
The deeper he went, the stronger his killing intent grew.
Xu Ziqing had never considered his senior brother’s principle of ending killing through killing to be wrong, but he had not imagined following the same path himself. Now he began to understand that wicked people often continued committing crimes because so few could punish them. If wrongdoing consistently brought swift consequences, how many would dare persist in it?
Perhaps this was why his senior brother had chosen such a path: to clear the world of those who committed evil. Xu Ziqing could no longer remain apart from that duty. He too must do everything he could to eliminate wrongdoing.
Beyond the outer ring, a narrow passage led into a series of larger stone chambers.
Xu Ziqing concentrated his aura-concealing art to its limit and moved toward the entrance of the nearest chamber, looking in through a crack.
He dared not sweep the interior with spiritual sense lest someone notice him, relying instead on his eyes.
Only one demonic cultivator was inside.
He was a late Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator whose spiritual radiance surged unevenly. He was sexually assaulting a captive while stealing his essence.
The captive’s limbs had been spread and restrained by spiritual-artifact restraints attached to the corners of the room, leaving him suspended helplessly.
It was a young man with strong brows and large eyes. His gaze burned with hatred, as though he wished to destroy the man holding him.
Xu Ziqing could see spiritual light flowing from the captive into the demonic cultivator. For every three parts of spiritual radiance the captive lost, the other gained one. The man’s vitality was nearly depleted, and the light in his eyes was fading.
Only his hatred seemed to keep him conscious.
Seeing that the victim was still alive, Xu Ziqing acted without hesitation and released a vine.
The vine flashed toward the demonic cultivator’s back.
“Who’s there?” the man shouted, springing aside and avoiding the attack.
Xu Ziqing’s expression tightened. None of the other Foundation Establishment cultivators he had encountered had reacted so quickly.
But he remained calm. Raising his other hand, he released several dozen vines that wrapped the enemy tightly.
The vines began draining his vitality immediately. Before he could utter a word, the vines had devoured him completely.
The young captive stared wide-eyed at the two people who had suddenly entered.
Xu Ziqing came closer without speaking. He tested the spiritual-artifact restraints and found they were not easily removed. Forcing them open might alert other criminals. He turned to Yun Lie, silently asking for assistance.
Yun Lie understood without further explanation. He stepped forward and moved his fingers several times.
The four chains parted under his sword intent as easily as bean curd and fell to the ground.
Freed from his bonds, the young man dropped to the floor. His face still showed shame and anger. Suddenly his hair began whitening and his skin wrinkled.
In a few breaths, he had aged into an old man.
Xu Ziqing was horrified. “Wh-what’s happening?”
The young man opened his mouth. His throat was dry and his voice hoarse.
Yun Lie answered first. “Those are spirit-locking restraints. They imprison a cultivator’s soul, cultivation, vitality, and essence within the body.”
The captive recovered enough to speak bitterly. “Senior is right. Most of my life force has been stolen, and hardly any cultivation remains. As for my essence…” He clenched a fist, hatred crossing his face. “Now that the restraints are gone, my true condition is being revealed.”
Cultivators retained their youthful appearance through spiritual energy, true essence, and their extended lifespans. Once these vanished, they differed little from mortals.
The restraints had stopped the captive from escaping or destroying himself, while preserving his youthful appearance for his tormentor. With the bindings gone, the physical age his condition warranted immediately became visible.
He continued aging before their eyes. Soon, he might die of old age.
Lost cultivation could sometimes be restored with pills and medicines. Lifespan, however, was governed by heaven. Treasures capable of extending it were exceedingly rare, and neither Xu Ziqing nor the captive possessed one. Even Yun Lie had never encountered such a treasure.
No matter how desperately Xu Ziqing wished to save him, there was no way to restore his remaining lifespan.
After dwelling on his hatred for a moment, the captive gritted his teeth. “Seniors, have you come to eliminate these monsters?”
Xu Ziqing nodded solemnly. “Yes. That’s why we’re here.” Sorrow entered his expression. “I’m only sorry we came too late to…”
The captive drew a deep breath. “Every demon in this den is wicked. Please be careful. I overheard that there are actually two half-step Nascent Soul cultivators here, not one as people outside believe. The righteous cultivators who came before were killed when those two joined forces. Please take every precaution.”
He quickly related other details about the occupants’ cultivation levels and their rooms. Clearly, he had learned quite a lot about the den.
But how could a captive have acquired such intimate knowledge?
Xu Ziqing thought for a moment and understood. His loathing for the perpetrators intensified.
The young man aged more rapidly as he spoke. He gazed upward and lamented, “I was only a rogue cultivator. I struggled for years to reach this point, and was finally about to enter an immortal sect, but those monsters ruined everything. I hate them! How I hate them!”
His final words dwindled to a whisper. Before he finished, his soul dispersed.
He died.
Sorrow passed across Xu Ziqing’s face. He pulled a sheet from the bed and covered the young man’s body.
Then he composed himself. He understood that he must be still more cautious from this point onward.
Following the victim’s directions, Xu Ziqing found other demonic cultivators in chambers to the upper left and right. Knowing something of their strengths, he released several vines at once when attacking and quickly eliminated them.
Their captives were cultivators, both men and women. Most were only one or two cultivation realms below their captors.
As before, once the spirit-locking restraints were removed, the victims aged and died.
Their condition showed that they had been drained of vital essence over and over, apparently passed from one abuser to another.
Some came from small sects, though most were rogue cultivators. All were from the immortal path; he had not found a single captive demonic cultivator.
From a dying female cultivator, Xu Ziqing learned that she and her junior brother had once fought a demonic man and woman. The den’s criminals had intervened and captured them all.
The demonic woman had been killed at once, while the demonic man was recruited. The female cultivator and her junior brother were imprisoned and used to fuel the gang’s cultivation. The recruited man had been only at the tenth level of Qi Refining, yet after exploiting several captives he had reached Foundation Establishment.
This information helped Xu Ziqing understand the den’s system.
The criminals preyed upon immortal cultivators and ordinary people, while demonic women seemed to be killed rather than recruited. Demonic men, by contrast, could be taught their methods regardless of background. The technique was deeply harmful and would have to be destroyed when the stronghold was eliminated.
Gradually, Xu Ziqing killed all the Foundation Establishment cultivators he encountered, without finding a single Essence Transformation cultivator.
Yet the deeper he penetrated the den, the more dangerous it felt.
The same silent ambush tactics would probably not work so easily farther inside.
After several winding passages, he reached an open space overlaid with an elaborate illusion. It resembled a dazzling palace of earthly pleasures, its wealth and luxury almost unreal.
Several grand halls stood within the illusion. Xu Ziqing was about to examine them when Yun Lie took hold of him.
He dared not speak aloud and sent a message instead. “Senior Brother?”
Yun Lie answered the same way. “The first three and last four halls are false. Enter the middle section. I’ll go to the rear hall.”
Xu Ziqing understood. He gripped Yun Lie’s hand and said quickly, “Senior Brother, be careful.”
The middle section must contain the Essence Transformation criminals described by the victims, while the rear hall concealed the two half-step Nascent Soul leaders.
They would have to separate now, an opportunity to temper Xu Ziqing and a battle that would test his senior brother as well.
Xu Ziqing took a deep breath. “I’ll give it everything I have. Senior Brother, you must return victorious.”
Yun Lie had already moved several zhang away. “I will return.”
The two passed one another. Xu Ziqing transformed into a streak of green light and entered the central hall.
Obscene laughter, voices, and the unmistakable sounds of captives being abused carried from within.
Even from the doorway, Xu Ziqing could sense the abundant spiritual energy inside, mingled with a faint fragrance that made his head spin at the slightest breath.
He quickly dispelled the dizzying incense and approached the doorway. His gaze fell upon a great many unclothed captives.
Many young male and female cultivators, all at least at Foundation Establishment, had been stripped and restrained. However desperately they struggled, they could not escape.
Six or seven Essence Transformation demonic cultivators, wearing cultivator robes but no trousers, were taking turns assaulting the captives and draining their vital essence.
Most shocking were two boys who appeared no older than twelve or thirteen, pinned to a couch and sexually assaulted by two of the men. They looked terrified and cried out repeatedly.
Just as Xu Ziqing was about to unleash his demonic vine, the two men looked sharply toward the doorway.
“Who’s there?”
Xu Ziqing no longer needed to worry about alerting them. With a flick of his fingers, he sent out dozens of seeds.
In the next instant, trees sprang up throughout the hall, tall enough to reach the ceiling. Waist-high plants swayed around them, sending out bindings whenever they moved.
Crimson leaves spread across the walls in an eerie pattern. Countless plants obscured the view.
Pure wood qi filled the hall in a flash.
At the same moment, Xu Ziqing disappeared.