「Inside the Luoyun Sect's dungeon.」
"Is... is that Ye Chen?"
"Ye Chen! What are you doing here?!"
"No! Don't... don't do it..."
"AHHH—Help! Senior Brother Ye Chen, spare us! We're innocent!"
"Ye Chen! When the Sect Leader finds out what you've done, he'll tear you limb from limb! He'll make sure you can never reincarnate..."
The thick stench of blood filled the air. After a series of agonizing screams, the dungeon quickly fell silent once more.
Along the way, Ye Chen hadn't spared a single Luoyun Sect disciple or Elder who dared to stand in his path.
"S-Senior Brother Ye... you're terrifying..."
Just then, a delicate voice suddenly came from the side.
Ye Chen's brow furrowed slightly. 'There's a survivor?'
He followed the sound and saw a pretty female disciple cowering in a corner, her face filled with terror.
She looked at Ye Chen, lightly biting her red lip and deliberately putting on a pitiful and helpless act.
Ye Chen's expression remained unchanged as he slowly walked toward the female disciple.
"Senior Brother Ye Chen, you... you won't kill me, right?"
"I've always admired you. I'll do anything you ask of me..."
The female disciple's bright eyes widened as she gazed at Ye Chen with feigned affection.
She even put on a shy and bashful expression.
But Ye Chen's long-since frozen heart felt not a single ripple.
"If I recall correctly, when I was being besieged in the grand hall, you were standing on the sidelines, watching coldly. You even clapped and cheered."
Ye Chen spoke slowly, his tone devoid of any emotion.
"I..." The female disciple's expression changed instantly. "I was forced to do that. I had no choice."
"Senior Brother Ye Chen, please spare me. As long as you don't kill me, I promise I'll serve you well."
She tugged at the corner of Ye Chen's robe, pleading pitifully.
However, an imperceptible glint of cold light flashed deep within her eyes.
'She had finally managed to win Elder Liu's favor and had planned to use the opportunity to climb the ranks and gain more benefits for herself.'
'But just moments ago, Elder Liu had been killed right before her eyes while trying to suppress Ye Chen!'
'While she was terrified of Ye Chen, her heart was also filled with resentment toward him.'
'As long as she could survive this, she would definitely report everything to the Sect Leader!'
'When that time comes, she would make sure this berserk madman was ground into dust and suffered a fate worse than death!!!'
Ye Chen remained silent. His hand slowly caressed the female disciple's shoulder, sliding up toward her neck.
The female disciple's body trembled at the touch of an unfamiliar man, but inwardly, she was secretly delighted.
'It seems my gentle approach is working?'
But in the next instant.
With a loud SNAP.
Ye Chen snapped the female disciple's neck on the spot.
Her eyes flew wide, unable to close in death.
From beginning to end, Ye Chen never gave the female disciple a second glance.
After snapping her neck, Ye Chen immediately headed deeper into the dungeon.
Along the way, he swung his palm repeatedly, destroying the lock on every single cell!
"Hahaha, I never thought the day would come when I, the Old Ghost of Wushan Mountain, would see the light of day again!"
"Kid, thanks! I saw what you did earlier. It's very much to this old man's liking!"
Many members of demonic sects were imprisoned in the dungeon. They had endured the Luoyun Sect's brutal torture day after day until they were barely recognizable as human.
Now freed from their restraints, it was as if they had ascended from hell to heaven!
For a moment, countless roars of laughter echoed one after another as Evil Qi and Demonic Qi billowed into the air, blotting out the sky!
Ye Chen paid them no mind. He was desperately searching for that small, thin figure.
But even when he reached the deepest part of the dungeon, he had found nothing.
'Where's Tongtong? Is she not in the dungeon?'
Ye Chen's brows knitted tightly!
'Tongtong, wait for me!'
'I'm going to storm the Luoyun Sect's grand hall right now. Even if I have to turn this entire mountain upside down, I will find you!'
Just then, a mysterious fluctuation of energy emanated from beneath the dungeon.
Ye Chen seemed to sense something, but he had no time to linger and quickly departed.
...
"Has that girl been sent over yet?"
Inside the grand hall, Luoyun Sect's Grand Elder, Li Moyun, stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the distant sky.
Beside him, an Inner Sect Elder of slightly lower status bowed and said, "Yes, the Sect Leader personally escorted her... However, the Cold Wind Sect said they require three Five Elements Pills as payment."
"Three?" Hearing this, Li Moyun snorted coldly. "Those vultures really know how to pick you clean."
Not long ago, after they had suppressed Ye Chen and taken him to the medicine garden, the little girl, Qin Ruotong—who had been gravely injured and used as a threat against him—had miraculously healed completely in just a few breaths!
Furthermore, an unknown fluctuation was emanating from her body, closely resembling Ye Chen's Chaos Five Elements Body before it had awakened.
Upon learning this, Li Moyun's first reaction was a pleasant surprise!
'Who would have thought the Luoyun Sect had stumbled upon such a treasure! After Ye Chen, this little girl, Qin Ruotong, also has the Chaos Five Elements Body?'
'But why hadn't they discovered it before?'
But that didn't matter.
'What mattered was that they could extract her bone and blood essence again and refine another batch of Five Elements Pills!'
Five Elements Pills were incredibly potent. Consuming one greatly benefited one's cultivation, and could even enhance a Cultivator's comprehension and improve their Spiritual Root, making them an incomparably precious and rare medicinal pill.
Most of the first batch of Five Elements Pills refined from Ye Chen's bone and blood essence was already destined to be tributed to the Lei Province government.
Very few would actually remain with the Luoyun Sect.
But if they could secretly refine one more batch, that would be a different story entirely!
"If our Luoyun Sect's Secret Technique had been able to awaken the special constitution in that girl, why would we need to beg Fairy Luoxia of the Cold Wind Sect to intervene?"
"Still, even at the cost of three Five Elements Pills, as long as we can refine an extra batch, it will be absolutely worth it!"
A cold glint flashed in Li Moyun's eyes.
'To him, Ye Chen and Qin Ruotong, two mortals raised in the secular world, were nothing more than tools for the Luoyun Sect.'
'While they were still useful, he had to squeeze every last drop of value from them!'
Just then, a panicked voice suddenly rang out from outside the hall.
"Report!!!"
"Grand Elder, this is bad! The demonic sects are attacking the mountain!"
"What?" Inside the hall, the expressions of all the Elders, led by Li Moyun, changed in unison!
They rushed outside the grand hall and looked down the mountain.
In the distance, Demonic Qi surged and Evil Qi rolled like a tide. It looked like a massive army from the demonic sects, charging toward the Luoyun Sect's grand hall!
And at the very front of that massive army...
...was a figure they knew all too well.
Staring at that figure, Li Moyun could no longer contain his astonishment and blurted out instinctively.
"Is that... Ye Chen?!"