Truth

"Argh!!!"

I stab a Luo member and pry Azrim out of his chest.

"D-Die!"

The remaining two throw sword Qi at me.

I break the barrier and open up the void that sucks in all of their sword Qi.

!?

One of them was decapitated as the void in the shape of a disc separates his head and torso.

'A-Ah!! H-Help-"

I finish off the last one by decapitation before he escaped.

Phew...

I wipe the sweat off my forehead.

Their corpses add to the stench of blood and piles of bodies in this room.

The room I am in is filled with bodies and corpses of people the Luo Family killed. Most are female corpses...

This dungeon is crazy. The corpses lying around act as if it is part of the "appeal".

Not to mention the number of thriving bugs and diseases. Yet the Luo family are doing completely fine due to their cultivation base.

I shake off a bunch of maggots that have climbed onto my leg.

The layout of the dungeon is simple. A linear square dimension that extends deeper and deeper. There are rooms specifically dedicated to corpses of children or adults, those insane people just left them to rot.

I pinch my nose as I advance. The odour is getting stronger.

"Hehehe..." Laughter through the thin walls and sounds of...smacking? And creaking.

Opening the door to the sound, the hallway light shines into only a particular segment. However, it was enough for me to know what was going on.

Men...no...beast are having intercourse with something lifeless. I can't even discern the gender. Why beast? They have no light in their eyes, are scrawny as a stick, drooling like a madman. Simply rocking their hips with no indication of sanity.

Ugh...the smell...

I can smell something weird... The smell of aphrodisiac mixed with blood. Fuck it's nauseous.

!

I spot a map in the corner of the room. A part of the map is labelled "162". It is oddly specific when every room isn't labelled.

Quickly leaving the room, I went to "162".

I am used to blood. But this...is something new. I haven't seen something as insane as this back in my terrorism days.

What is their purpose in imprisoning so many people? I have so many questions...

Is Xie Mo in cahoots with the Luo family? I have a feeling Xie Mo doesn't know this.

I wrap a cloth around my face to mitigate the smell.

!!!

"Ack! Ack!"

It's worse. The air...

The suffocating smell... It became awful as I approach "162".

...

I grip the door handle. It's locked.

Taking a deep breath and drawing Azrim, I slash the door into two and the gush of demonic qi rushes out.

"What?!"

Piles and mountains of bones shoved aside in the room are accompanied by buckets of crimson red pills.

The demonic qi is emitting from the countless bones, not from the pills but the pills have formed an outer layer of condensed demonic qi.

I gulped. My meridians throb at the sight of pills, why is it so alluring?

(Haha...hahahaha...)

Azrim?

(Those cold bastards. They are even worse than the both of us combined. Those are condensed life essence pills, extracted probably from the prisoners here.)

So that's the meaning of "livestock" that the Luo family mentioned.

I see. It's no wonder every single member is high in the cultivation tier.

Life essence is a necessity for survival. As time goes by, your life essence is consumed and you grow older. Cultivation increases one's life essence, it can be said that life essence is similar to cultivation base.

Thus, when they consume life essence, naturally their cultivation increases. However, the method is very...unorthodox. It requires many sacrifices to create even one pill, the amount in each bucket can be up to a hundred.

Do such pills have any side effects?

(A very small minor one. Pain. By forcefully increasing your life essence, your body is forced to adapt. It is similar to a jug that can grow, if the amount that is poured inside exceeds the maximum, it will spill. The jug will then have to grow and adapt to the amount poured.)

So if I consume too much in a short time I will die.

(Well, in short, yes. But the effects of the pill should be 100 times better than normal alchemy pills.)

...

I store every single pill in the pouch and pack it up.

"It's time to leave, I have what I came here for."

I dash out of the room without bothering to cover up my tracks, it is useless.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Left.

Shit, how is this any different from the tomb maze? Every corner I turn to has the same interior.

"There he is-"

I shove a void sword through his throat.

"!?"

His partner attempts to retaliate but my knuckles glow in red and I punch his face into a wall.

The Fist of the King technique is useful for non-lethal attacks.

The cultivator loses consciousness as two teeth drop from his mouth.

With an infection of the second virus, he immediately springs up awake when I command him to.

"Where is the exit?" I ask him.

"It's very far from here. But I can bring you there."

"Good. Let's go."

"However, I advise against it." The man says.

??

...

"What do you mean?"

"Our Patriarch, Luo Kai, is waiting at the exit. There is only one way out and into the dungeon." He says. "The entire dungeon is made from black titanium that even cultivators in the Golden Soul realm have trouble making more than a 3cm mark." He replies.

Hm...

I draw Azrim and slash at it.

As expected, Azrim easily cut through thanks to the void.

"Tell me which direction leads to the area beside the mountains."

The Luo member points to my south.

"I see, keep a lookout for any more Luo family."

I materialize a large amount of void while using Qi to hold up the overhead dirt, creating a cave out.

It might be a few hours later that the Luo family started to release poison gas into the dungeon but it was also the time I managed to grasp some light.

"Ah!"

I punch the small hole and stick my hand through. From there, I pluck the residue dirt and manage to make a hole big enough for my body to squeeze through.

Huff huff...

A release of the Qi control collapses the entire tunnel.

I get up and brush the dirt off. I should escape before that guy notices.

-------------

"He escaped?" Luo Kai says.

"M-My apologies."

...

"The pills?" Luo Kai asks.

...

Luo Kai clenches his fist as veins erect on his face. "That bastard is more slippery than I thought."

A core formation cannot possibly cut through the black titanium to dig its way out. A jammer array was also put into place to interrupt teleportation using Qi. How did the prisoner escape?

Luo Kai shrinks his eye.

"W-What are we going to do?" One of the Luo family members says.

"Shut up. Split apart and search the parameters."

The Luo family have contributed to the subjugation of the demonic clan for many years. Who would believe Tian Shen if he attempts to expose their doings, they can even issue an arrest to mark his claims as slanders and imprison Tian Shen once more.

"T-This lowly one understands."

However, Luo Kai's annoyance is derived from Tian Shen, someone a lot younger, outsmarting.

Although in reality, Tian Shen is a fake name and Wang Ji simply brute-forced his way out.

"Patriarch Luo, Xie Mo has returned with a woman." A servant informs Luo Kai who was walking back to his residence.

Luo Kai glares at the servant. "Bring him in."

Xie Mo and Chunhua meet an irritated Luo Kai who taps on the table.

"Hey! Tell me about Wang Ji." Says Chunhua.

"Quiet! I will tell you later."

...

"I apologize for the short notice." Says Xie Mo. "But I want to know, why have you not done anything to pick me up?"

Xie Mo thinks that the Luo family do not have a reason to attack the Heavenly Divine Dragon sect yet and that can tarnish their reputation.

I can't blame them for that. Xie Mo thought.

Luo Kai smiles. "Benefactor, you are here at a very good time."

??

"Pardon?" Xie Mo raises his eyebrow.

Luo Kai appears behind Xie Mo and Chunhua, striking their spine to paralyze them.

?!!!!

"W-What?"

Two Luo members came in and inject the poison, previously administrated to Wang Ji, into Chunhua and Xie Mo.

"Alas, I wanted you to grow stronger so I can extract more life essence. But by the rate of things, I wonder if you even were Ji Qiang. Ji Qiang isn't this weak and foolish." Luo Kai says.

"Y-You bastard...I...will..."

Xie Mo attempts to stay awake, he grits his teeth and slightly moves his arm by sheer willpower. His efforts were in vain.