Seeing Chen Jing say this, Huang Yuanlong glanced to the southwest without any expression and said:

"Did the wandering souls of slaves go to Black Kiln Street?"

Chen Jing nodded: "Yes, because the slave spirits went to Black Kiln Street, that's why the Mist Monsters of Black Kiln Street left there."

"And when they arrived at the arena, they found many corpses there, which was just the right place to nest and nourish themselves?" Dao Nan said.

Huang Yuanlong nodded slowly: "That makes sense, but it's just a guess."

Gunshots and bomb explosions could still be heard from the arena, making as much noise as setting off firecrackers during the Lunar New Year.

Chen Jing glanced at it and said, "Since the slave spirits are over at Black Kiln Street, then our reconnaissance direction today was completely wrong. Should we prepare for a day and also rescue the people from Meijing Dojo?"

Although the Meijing Dojo disobeyed orders and ran around recklessly, almost causing trouble for Chen Jing and the others, it was understandable that they weren't rescued. However, Chen Jing felt that this was most likely the fault of Mei Luoliang, and the other Meijing Dojo students were innocent.

After thinking for a moment, Huang Yuanlong said, "Let me ask."

He took a pale white candle from his pouch, placed it on a rock in the ruins, flicked his fingers, and lit it. The candle glowed with a pale green light and emitted a foul stench of decay.

Looking at this scene, Chen Jing recalled his knowledge about the Dan Realm.

The mark of the Dan realm is "Dan fire," which can be ignited with one's own spiritual power. It has little destructive power and is similar to a normal flame; it is merely a symbol.

Huang Yuanlong is at the Dan realm? At least at the Dan realm? Chen Jing looked at him solemnly.

The candle that Huang Yuanlong lit with his alchemical fire was probably made of something like corpse oil. Was it made by a corpse cultivator? Or was it a magical artifact made by that high priest? Most likely, unless there was another corpse cultivator on Black Hand's side. Chen Jing thought.

Huang Yuanlong said to the flickering candlelight, "I am Huang Yuanlong."

The green light flickered for a short while, then a hoarse, indistinct voice came through, which could only be barely identified as belonging to "Black Hand Lu Gang".

"Something went wrong?" a voice came from the candlelight.

“The Meijing Dojo acted on its own and went to the arena, which is the lair of the Mist Spikes.” Huang Yuanlong said succinctly, “We suspect that the Slave Souls went to Black Kiln Street, so the Mist Spikes left there and sought the arena as their new lair.”

"That area isn't included in the cannon fodder's investigation area?" came Lu Gang's voice from across the candlelight.

"This area doesn't overlap with the trial participants' reconnaissance area at all. Should we abandon the hunt today, and should we rescue the Meijing Dojo?" Huang Yuanlong's expression was serious, and his tone remained unchanged.

"Hey, you just said cannon fodder, didn't you?!" Chen Jing and the others stared speechlessly at the candle.

Although Chen Jing guessed that they were cannon fodder, he couldn't say it to their faces! How embarrassing! Should he pretend he didn't hear it?

"Cannon fodder?" Li Ai asked, puzzled.

Huang Yuanlong turned his head and made a shushing gesture to Li Ai, who nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

A hoarse, unsteady voice came from the other end of the candlelight: "Is anyone there?"

Huang Yuanlong glanced at Chen Jing and the others expressionlessly for a few moments before turning his head and saying:

"really."

The candle remained silent for a moment.

The candle spoke: "Those trial participants?"

“Yes,” Huang Yuanlong said.

The candlelight flickered.

The candle continued to speak: "No, continue today's hunt. Send your trial participants to Black Kiln Street to lure monsters. If they disobey orders, execute them."

"Where are the people from the Meijing Dojo?" Huang Yuanlong asked.

"Give up," the candlelight replied.

Immediately, the candle went out.

Huang Yuanlong looked at Chen Jing and the others, shrugged, and said expressionlessly, "You all heard it, I don't need to repeat it, do I?"

Huang Yuanlong saw Dao Nan's hand move towards the hilt of the knife, but his expression remained unchanged.

"Are they sending us to our deaths? Are they really using us as cannon fodder? The Black Kiln Street is such a complicated environment. Without prior reconnaissance, are the three of us going there? There might be wandering slave spirits over there, or invisible, elusive mist monsters!" Dao Nan questioned.

Huang Yuanlong remained expressionless, spreading his hands and saying, "This is your problem."

He looked at Dao Nan and said:

"The boss said you're cannon fodder, and that's true. It might hurt your pride, but it's true. Since you chose this trial, you can't choose to be deserters. If you don't think you're cannon fodder, then prove it to us."

"If you want to become a cultivator and join us, then fight and lure the slave souls here. If you want to disobey orders and be killed, if you want to be a deserter, then die."

"Being cannon fodder is pretty good. Some people don't even deserve to be cannon fodder."

Huang Yuanlong spoke these words with no fluctuation in his expression or tone.

"Let's go," Chen Jing said softly, tugging at Dao Nan.

Dao Nan stared at Huang Yuanlong, and finally loosened his grip on the hilt of the knife.

...

"Damn it!" Dao Nan couldn't help but curse as they walked.

Li Ai was a little confused. She looked around but didn't see anything, but she felt that Dao Nan was very angry, so she didn't know how to speak.

"Why don't we just ignore the trial?" Dao Nan said. "Let's find a place to wait until dusk before going back. The Black Hand gang won't kill us."

Chen Jing looked at Dao Nan. Having witnessed the blood sacrifice on the big ship, he was not optimistic that the Black Hand would not kill them.

Chen Jing looked at the mist in the distance, and suddenly grinned, revealing a smile.

When he turned around, those smiles had vanished.

He told Dao Nan, "No, I'm going to fight for it. This is an opportunity, a chance for me to join the Mafia and change my destiny."

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