Chapter 76

(Second update, phew, the recommendation votes are really getting fewer, everyone come and vote, there are free votes every day, don't waste them.)

"Take him down!"

Two demon soldiers, one a wolf demon and the other a leopard demon, were immediately identified. The wolf demon flashed to Su Qignian's side, unstrapped the green iron long saber from his back, and kicked him, sending him tumbling several times.

Outside the illusion, Su Qignian's eyes were cold as he watched the scene. The two demon soldiers could not resist his Soul Subjugation Technique, and his mental energy seeped into their divine palaces like a gentle spring rain.

However, compared to ordinary humans who had not yet established a foundation, these two demon soldiers, though they had not yet developed mental energy, had naturally strong souls, making the consumption of Su Qignian's Soul Subjugation Technique much greater.

"Little coward! Hurry up and run! Damn it, you're trying to emulate adults and seek adventures, but you don't have the skills. No, this isn't bravery; it's numbness, arrogance, and courting death!"

Another kick came from the leopard demon, whose fierce head and dark yellow eyes exuded savagery and coldness, with a bloodthirsty aura. He even swallowed his saliva involuntarily as Su Qignian passed by him.

"Indeed, they are beasts. Even if they learn to read and write and transform into human form, they can't change their nature of eating raw flesh and drinking blood. In the city, someone once scolded a guard dog, saying a dog can't change its habit of eating shit."

Su Qignian watched coldly as the illusion progressed. With his current second level of the Soul Enchantment Technique, he could not yet leave the range of his mental energy's influence.

If his cultivation deepened in the future, the Soul Subjugation Technique would eventually allow him to divide his mental energy, making it leave his body like an avatar, and it would not dissipate quickly even at a great distance.

The underground chamber was very cold, and the corridor was long, winding, and twisting. There were even human bones on the ground, the bones white, indicating they had not been dead for long, but the flesh had separated from the bones, leaving no trace of blood.

Most importantly, deep in the corridor, Su Qignian even saw four or five sets of extremely delicate bones, no larger than rabbits, belonging to infants not yet a year old.

Damn!

Su Qignian was truly enraged. Newborn infants, who had not yet experienced the beauty of the world, the vast mountains and rivers, or the warmth and cold of human relationships, were used as blood food.

A family that lost a child would never be complete again!

His internal organs trembled, and the lids of the five divine furnaces in his body almost all flew off, as if a volcano of qi and blood was about to erupt.

He forcibly suppressed it!

Su Qignian suppressed the strongest killing intent of his life deep in his heart. It was a mental thought that wanted to infect all his mental energy, but he forcibly restrained it.

He could not act yet, as he had not yet investigated the situation. He needed to find Qingyu's trail and understand the layout of the underground chamber. Acting rashly could lead to a disastrous defeat and the death of the other human martial artists imprisoned here.

Indeed!

As he went deeper, Su Qignian discovered other demon guards. Fortunately, they were all demon soldiers. The only one who made Su Qignian cautious was a person, or rather, a demon in a black robe, dressed like a scholar, about twenty years old, with a handsome appearance. If not for his demonic aura, he would have looked like a talented and elegant scholar.

"Lord Demon Soldier! We caught another human youth, but he's a coward. He surrendered without a fight, trembling all the way."

"Don't call me Lord Demon Soldier. Haven't I told you to call me Zhao Xueshan? Zhao is my surname, and Xueshan is my name. Our demon race must leave behind our past of eating raw flesh and drinking blood and enjoy the prosperity of the human world. We must start by reading and changing our names. With proper etiquette and rules, we can form a society. The reason the nine demon sages lost in the past is that the demon lords of the Four Seas have reached a consensus: we cannot act independently and be two-faced. We must establish laws and order to unite our strength, unlike the nine demon sages who were defeated one by one by the human countries and their heavenly destiny masters."

Hearing the leopard demon speak, the black-robed demon soldier lectured, but he spoke calmly without any anger or rudeness. His reasoning was clear, and most importantly, he had taken a human name, though his words still carried a bloody and murderous demonic aura.

"I will follow Lord Zhao Xueshan's teachings!" The leopard demon immediately smiled and bowed, acting like a human student receiving instruction.

"Alright, take him away. Once we have a hundred, we will transfer them immediately to avoid being detected by the Dragon Guards of the Great Han Dragon Mountain Manor."

"Yes!"

Su Qignian watched coldly. He did not easily use the Soul Subjugation Technique on this demon soldier named Zhao Xueshan. Instead, he set up layers of mental nets in front of him, distorting his gaze and guiding him into the illusion of the wolf and leopard demons.

This greatly increased his mental energy consumption, but compared to directly subjugating his soul and pulling him into the illusion, it was much easier and less likely to be detected.

The wolf and leopard demons also had a bit of cunning. They deliberately took Su Qignian's long saber and placed it in a room that looked like an armory, filled with confiscated weapons and some tassels and ribbons, clearly not belonging to the demons but to the captured martial artists.

As he left, Su Qignian glanced at the demon soldier Zhao Xueshan. His black robe fluttered as he lit an oil lamp, trimmed the wick to make the flame brighter, and held a line-bound woodblock book, which was Laozi's "Tao Te Ching." He seemed to be reading, but he was skimming through the pages, frequently frowning, clearly finding the content difficult to understand.

...

The prisoners, a group of captured martial artists, were confined in a dark stone room with a black iron door. The iron was of poor quality, clearly hastily forged, but it was enough to lock up the unarmed and ordinary martial artists.

"Go in, little coward!"

The wolf demon kicked the illusion of Su Qignian, sending him flying into the stone room.

With a thud, the iron door closed, and the room became dim, filled with the stench of excrement, making Su Qignian frown. Clearly, the prisoners had been here for more than a day, and even martial artists could not endure the need to relieve themselves.

There was only one oil lamp, which was about to go out, the flame flickering uncertainly.

But it was enough for Su Qignian to see the figures in the stone room, about seventy to eighty people, mostly middle-aged martial artists who looked rough, dressed in tight-fitting clothes, with exposed arms and rolled-up pants, and thick beards. A few wore long robes, with neatly combed hair and silk bands. There were also some young people, with fair skin and delicate features, clearly not hardened by the trials of the martial world, now looking dejected and listless, with no sense of purpose.

Without exception, these people had various injuries, and some were covered in blood, lying weakly in the corners, their breaths faint, on the verge of death.

"Another one? Greed truly harms people!"

Someone glanced at Su Qignian, noting his dark green robe and clear features, and sighed, "The demons are right. We were deluded by greed. Many of us obtained the sheepskin maps, but only when we were all imprisoned together did we realize there was more than one map."

"But young man, why are you so clean, with no blood on you? Didn't you resist?"

At this, a middle-aged man, with his left shoulder stained with blood, stared at Su Qignian from head to toe, revealing a look of disdain.

Hmm?

As the middle-aged man spoke, the others in the stone room also looked over. Soon, some of the originally listless young people sneered and shouted, "Wimp!"

"Without the courage to fight back, you dare to emulate adults and seek adventures, don't you shame your ancestors!" (Second update, phew, the recommendation votes are really getting fewer, everyone come and vote, there are free votes every day, don't waste them.)