The gatekeeper opened the main gate. Yuan Wu had not expected to find the place where the younglings were imprisoned so easily. As she walked forward, she moved a finger and manipulated the Vines into wrapping the gatekeeper in a cocoon.
She then adjusted her clothes and walked deeper inside.
She was shocked by the scene before her, and anger soon rose within her.
“This Moon-Seeking Gang deserves to die! Don’t they even understand that killing is one thing, but abusing living creatures is another?”
Several iron cages held numerous Demon Beast Cubs. Every one of them was covered in wounds and stained with blood.
She walked to the nearest iron cage and saw a red-tailed mouse cub lying there on the verge of death. Its chest rose and fell weakly, tears streamed from the corners of its eyes, and upon seeing Yuan Wu, it fearfully tried to hide. It curled up inside and let out a mournful cry for mercy.
Yuan Wu did not know exactly what had happened to them, but it had certainly been cruel and utterly inhumane.
She knew her clothes and mask frightened them, so she immediately removed both to reassure the terrified Demon Beast Cubs. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to save you. I’m not a bad person.”
Her words did nothing to calm them. The Demon Beast Cubs still had limited intelligence and could not understand what Yuan Wu was saying. They only knew that whenever someone came, they would be bled and beaten.
They had seen the corpses of many of their kind and were afraid they would end up the same way, lifelessly tossed into a fire like garbage.
The Demon Beast Cubs would not calm down, and Yuan Wu could do nothing about it.
She decided to save them through action. She had just placed her hand on the cage and was about to wrench it open by force.
Instead, an electric current surged through her hand. Yuan Wu leaped three feet into the air with a sizzle, shaking her hand and cursing, “What the hell? Why is this lousy cage electrified too? It nearly electrocuted me.”
Yuan Wu could even smell the aroma of cooked meat rising from her hand. She had cooked it with electricity.
The System immediately began mocking her.
🟡Hahaha, you big idiot.🟨
🟢Go laugh at your sister.🟩Yuan Wu glared at the gloating System and wanted to punch it twice.
🟡Who told you to be so reckless? Serves you right.🟨
🟢Are you trying to break up?🟩Yuan Wu said irritably.
🟡I was wrong, I was wrong.🟨
🟡Ahem, using brute force to open it directly won’t work. You need a key.🟨 the System said.
Yuan Wu frowned. “A key?”
She returned to the entrance and looked at the two enormous cocoons wrapped in Vines. With a wave of her hand, she made the two people inside land hard on their bottoms.
The fall made both of them howl.
“Hand over the key.” Yuan Wu looked at them coldly as she summoned a Bamboo Sword in her hand.
The two people were so frightened by Yuan Wu that they knelt and begged for mercy. “Spare us, my lord! We’re only responsible for this gate. We don’t have the key inside either!”
“Whose possession is the key in?” Yuan Wu asked, pointing the sword at one of their throats.
“It’s carried by the people who come here regularly.”
Yuan Wu withdrew her sword and wrapped the two people in Vines again.
She returned inside and rummaged through the clothes she had just removed.
Looking at The Aloof Immortal Venerable's Pretty Disciple 🟣 lying on the ground alongside various messy objects 🟪, the corner of Yuan Wu’s mouth twitched.
What were all these things?
Not one of them looked like a key.
There was no keyhole on the cage either, nor was there anything that seemed to match it. She could only try them one by one.
A spoon?
No.
A bamboo slip?
Nope.
.......
She tried every object, but there was still no key. Yuan Wu raised her head and let out a long sigh, suspecting that the people from earlier had lied to her.
🟡Hey, there’s one thing you haven’t tried yet.🟨 the System spoke.
Yuan Wu asked in confusion What else?
🟡That book, The Aloof Immortal Venerable's Pretty Disciple 🟣🟨
🟢Are you sure?🟩
Yuan Wu picked up the Storybook The Aloof Immortal Venerable's Pretty Disciple 🟣 with its delicate pink cover 🟪 and, half-hesitantly, placed it in front of the cage.
Click.
The cage opened.
Yuan Wu was stunned.
Looking at the extraordinary Storybook in her hand, she felt as though even her CPU had burned out. That worked?
But now was not the time to think about it. Yuan Wu took the Storybook and began unlocking the remaining iron cages.
After seven or eight minutes, she finally opened all the cages and released all the younglings.
Yuan Wu roughly counted them. There were more than thirty, including a beautiful child with Fox ears and a fluffy white tail.
“Did you come to save us? Thank you.” The beautiful child gazed at Yuan Wu with a pair of large, limpid eyes, blushing shyly. Yuan Wu’s maternal instincts overflowed.
“Yes. Stay close to me later, and I’ll take you outside.” Yuan Wu’s fingers itched, and she reached out to touch the Fox child’s ears.
The Fox child gave a bashful smile, then turned and called out to the Demon Beast Cubs that were keeping their distance from Yuan Wu.
After that, the group of younglings seemed less afraid of Yuan Wu.
Yuan Wu took out another pile of powerful Pills sponsored by Pu Buyi and handed them 🟦 to the injured younglings.
The Fox child held the powerful Pill in their hand, their eyes lighting up. The Pill’s appearance and scent....... Why were they so similar to the Pills refined by their big brother?
“What is it? There’s nothing wrong with this Pill. You can eat it without worry.” Yuan Wu thought the child was concerned about the Pill. After all, the thing really did not look like an ordinary Pill, so suspicion was understandable.
The Fox child shook their head. “No, no, that’s not what I’m worried about. Sister Yuan, can you tell me where this Pill came from?”
Yuan Wu smiled and said, “It was refined by an unreliable friend. Why?”
“Your friend wouldn’t happen to be surnamed Pu, would he?” The Fox child pressed their lips together.
Yuan Wu was startled. “How did you know? Don’t tell me you know him?”
The Fox child scratched their head and smiled. “He’s my big brother.”
“Your big brother?” Yuan Wu asked in confusion, looking the Fox child up and down several times before covering her mouth and exclaiming, “You’re not the little white fox he asked me to save, are you?”
The Fox child nodded, looking somewhat embarrassed. “I think so. I don’t know why, but I suddenly underwent Transformation and can’t change back.”
Yuan Wu was overjoyed. She had not expected her luck to be so good—she had actually found the little white fox Pu Buyi wanted in one go.
“Good. Then let’s hurry and find the exit.” Yuan Wu said.
Wait, was there something else she had forgotten?
Halfway there, Yuan Wu’s mind suddenly started working. She turned back and carefully counted the Demon Beast Cubs, discovering that the White Jade Rhinoceros Ox cubs were missing.
Could there be another place where they were being held?
Seeing Yuan Wu stop and frown in place, the Fox child stepped forward and asked, “Sister Yuan, what’s wrong?”
Yuan Wu asked them, “An Bai, is there another place where they’re being held?”
An Bai shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“Forget it. Let’s get you out first. Perhaps Hanhan and the others found something?” After all, they were the protagonist duo.
Yuan Wu raised the glowing orb and remembered that she seemed to have a map, one that had fallen out of The Aloof Immortal Venerable's Pretty Disciple 🟣🟪 just now.
This place must be too winding. Without a map, even those people themselves could not find their way.
She opened the map and determined their current location.
Yuan Wu headed toward the marked exit, with the younglings behind her following closely...... No, it should be An Bai.
It seemed that An Bai was very trusted in their eyes.
On the way out, Yuan Wu learned from An Bai about the Moon-Seeking Gang’s secrets, as well as how they abused the younglings.
“That’s absolutely vile. How could they treat you like this?” Yuan Wu said angrily.
“Hmph! Once I get out, I’ll definitely settle the score with them!” An Bai was angry too. Before undergoing Transformation, he had been bled extensively and beaten several times.
Once he got out, he would scatter all those strange things refined by his big brother over those people!
“As Cultivators, they actually commit acts that harm heaven and reason. They’re utterly contemptible!” After learning the Moon-Seeking Gang’s purpose in imprisoning so many younglings, Yuan Wu was so furious her teeth itched.
Just to cultivate that so-called demonization technique, they had harmed so many younglings. They were even worse than beasts.
Skinning, ripping out tendons, bleeding them, and swallowing them alive—this was pure perversion.
Although the cultivation world followed the law of the jungle, people still had to possess some humanity.
Forget it. Getting them to safety quickly was what mattered.
Yuan Wu sped up and finally found the exit.
But things had gone far too smoothly, making Yuan Wu feel that something was wrong.
The instant she pushed open the exit, Yuan Wu was struck and sent flying outside.
At least ten men in black appeared and surrounded Yuan Wu and the others.
The leader was at the Late Foundation Establishment stage. He looked at Yuan Wu and let out an evil villainous laugh.
“I was wondering what that crawling insect was. So it was you! You dared ruin my Moon-Seeking Gang’s plans. You must have a death wish. You can run pretty well, too—we only caught up with you here.”
After finishing, the man in black spat and said, “It’s all because of this lousy Maze. Otherwise, you would have died the moment you fell!”
So that hole had not been an accident. Yuan Wu was surprised.
“Then how did you catch up with us?” Yuan Wu asked, inexplicably voicing her confusion at such an inappropriate time.
The man in black actually answered her. “Of course we knew you would escape through the exit, so we came straight here to ambush you. But I don’t know who was leading the way—you nearly got away.”
“You were,” one of the underlings behind him muttered.
This left the black-clothed leader somewhat embarrassed. He turned around and shouted, “Did I ask you to speak? Shut up!”
Yuan Wu ignored them and whispered to An Bai, “I’ll hold these people back. Take them and run.”
An Bai knew they would only be a burden if they stayed. He called to Yuan Wu, “Take care,” then led the younglings through the gate and fled.
“Stop them!” the man in black roared.
Swish.
A green wall rose from the ground and blocked all the men in black.
Holding the Bamboo Sword, Yuan Wu tilted her head and said, “This way is blocked~”
“Hmph! You’re only at the mid Foundation Establishment stage, yet you dare block me? You lot, go after them.” The black-clothed leader sneered, gripping the great axe with both hands and bringing it down at Yuan Wu.
Yuan Wu had to dodge the attack while also splitting her attention to stop the underlings who wanted to give chase.
This left her somewhat frustrated.
“Damn it, I should’ve brought a few helpers. Having too few people really is inconvenient.” An axe slashed her shoulder. Yuan Wu cursed as she watched several men in black leave.
“You’re even looking elsewhere. You really don’t take me seriously.” Seeing Yuan Wu distracted, the black-clothed leader felt that his dignity had been insulted and attacked even more viciously.
Yuan Wu was beaten back repeatedly. “Damn, what did you grow up eating? How are you so strong?”
The black-clothed leader revealed a sinister smile. “I possess the Bloodline of a Steel Bear. Naturally, my strength is beyond that of an ordinary person.”
“What?”
Yuan Wu felt that things were not as simple as they appeared.
There had to be another conspiracy at work.