After putting the four enormous luminous pearls in the secret room into her Qiankun bag, Ruyi conducted a thorough search again. Only after confirming that she had found nothing else did she leave.
The warehouse had yielded an exceptionally rich haul; now, only one place remained to be searched: the prison cell, the place she least wanted to go...
Thinking of this, half of my joy vanished instantly. I don't even need to think about it to know that the prison in this mountain stronghold must be incredibly cruel and disgusting.
The prison in Wolong Village is located at the northernmost part of the village, near the back mountain. In addition to the prison, there are rows of newly built, very low earthen houses, which are probably for the miners working in the back mountain.
The prison cells were clearly different from other ordinary courtyards. The towering walls all around had only small ventilation openings at the top, which were sealed off by iron bars, making it difficult to breathe.
Actually, she had already used her lightness skill to skim over this area, but her attention was focused on the guards and patrolling bandits, so she didn't carefully observe the interior of the cell. Moreover, to prevent herself from accidentally inhaling the fragrance of Yunmeng Lotus, she not only held a lotus leaf in her mouth but also held her breath at the same time.
So when she entered again, she realized that there was something very wrong with the place.
As soon as you enter, you can smell an indescribable, creepy odor.
On her way here, Cheng Ruyi had already prepared herself mentally for the worst. She had considered all sorts of worst-case scenarios, but she never expected that when faced with such a scene, she would still feel her blood surging and be unable to bear looking at it.
This place is less a prison and more a living hell.
No wonder she had noticed a strange, sour smell coming from some of the bandits. It turned out they weren't unwashed, but rather... they had been eating human flesh.
With the heavy snow blocking the mountains, food is indeed very scarce. She had heard of cannibalism in the past when there was a natural disaster. However, when she passed by the granary just now, she clearly saw that there was still a lot of grain inside. Although it wouldn't be enough to have fish and meat every meal, there was no way she would go hungry.
Moreover, she observed that the bandits in the mountain stronghold all looked very strong and healthy, not like they were starving to death from lack of food for a long time. This meant that they had voluntarily chosen to become evil spirits when they had food.
Cheng Ruyi was forcibly suppressing the discomfort in her stomach when she suddenly felt something shaking above her head. She carefully looked up and was instantly stunned by the scene before her.
All that could be seen were countless iron chains hanging down from the roof, each chain inlaid with dozens of iron hooks. Countless severed limbs and torsos were strung together like meat skewers, including some bloody and indescribable things.
This scene was so utterly horrifying that she felt something snap in her mind with a sudden "snap"...
When she came to her senses again, she found that all the bandits in the cell who smelled sour had been beheaded by her with a single stroke.
They don't deserve to be human.
Cheng Ruyi belatedly realized that she seemed to have lost control for a moment, and suddenly remembered the side effects mentioned when the system introduced the Xuan Tie Blade... She was so frightened that she immediately threw the blade into her Qiankun bag.
As expected, she is just a mortal and cannot easily control the weapons of the cultivation world. It seems that she will have to be more careful when using them in the future!
At this moment, another wave of nausea rose in her stomach, and she could no longer hold back. She rushed outside the prison and vomited. Only after vomiting up everything she had eaten that night did she feel her legs go weak. She leaned against the wall and slowly sat down on the snow, her heart and eyes filled with coldness.
I don't know when it started, but the wind and snow got stronger again, and there were even some hailstones the size of pebbles mixed in. They were blown around by the howling cold wind and then fell heavily to the ground.
At this moment, Cheng Ruyi had only one thought in her mind: she wanted to go home, to go back to her modern home.
She was such a timid and cowardly person, she wouldn't even go to a haunted house, she'd never even killed a chicken, and now? She couldn't even bear to think about how many people she'd impulsively killed, even though they all deserved to die...
Ruyi sat blankly on the snow, staring at her blood-stained hands, her mind a complete blank.
"Tsk tsk tsk~~ Young friend, why make yourself so disheveled for such a villain? Look how heavy the snow is here, why not go back and rest?"
Cheng Ruyi's heart skipped a beat when she heard the sudden voice. She stood up instantly and gripped the black iron knife tightly in her hand.
The snowstorm was so intense that it obscured not only her own figure but also that of the other person.
She could only try to calm herself down, then lowered her voice and asked coldly, "Who are you? Why don't you dare to come out and meet me openly? Hiding in the shadows is clearly the act of a despicable person!"
No sooner had she finished speaking than a figure leaped out from the woods opposite, taking a few steps in mid-air before landing lightly on the open space in front of Ruyi.
The newcomer not only wasn't masked, but was also wearing a tattered Taoist robe, with a stained gourd hanging from his waist, and his gray hair was haphazardly tied up. He looked exactly like a charlatan Taoist priest.
However, its presence here at this moment seems particularly eerie.
“Young friend, please don’t be angry. I saw that you were in a state of mental turmoil just now, and I think you should rest and calm down.” The tattered Taoist said, stroking his sparse beard, as if the two were very familiar with each other.
"Master, what exactly do you intend to do? Speak plainly!" Although Cheng Ruyi pretended to be very calm, she was actually panicking inside. The other party's lightness skill was obviously no weaker than hers, and in her current state, she might not even be able to defeat a master who had reached the "Mastery of Skill" level, let alone a master who had reached the "Comprehensive Understanding" level!
Seeing that Cheng Ruyi was covered in blood and looked extremely wary despite his disheveled state, the old Taoist priest tilted his head and thought for a moment before patiently explaining, "Speaking of which, it was clearly you, young friend, who disregarded the morals of the martial world and intercepted the goods first. Why are you now so arrogantly questioning me?"
“Intercept…Hu?” What does that mean? Ruyi didn’t understand for a moment.
"Young friend, didn't you notice they were all fast asleep when you arrived? This is all thanks to the wine I brought!" The old Taoist patted the gourd hanging from his waist after saying this.
So that's how it is! That explains why tonight's operation went so smoothly. As soon as she arrived at the mountain stronghold, she found everyone gathered together drinking, and many of them were so drunk that they just fell asleep, saving her a lot of trouble.
It turned out that someone had planned tonight's operation before her and had already begun to carry it out!
I really didn't expect this! She deliberately chose such terrible weather with wind and snow for her operation, how did she still manage to bump into someone else? What kind of unspoken understanding is this?
Cheng Ruyi noticed that the other party's clothes were not thick, which meant that he must have been using his internal energy to maintain his body temperature. This proved that the old Taoist's internal strength must have reached a very high level. If he really made a move, she estimated that she would have no chance of winning. However, since he had talked to her for so long without making a move, he probably had no intention of killing her.
Thinking of this, Ruyi decided to immediately admit defeat, "So it was the Taoist priest's doing. In that case, I, the junior, have gotten a good deal. I thank the Taoist priest in advance!"
"Hmm, it's good that you know~~" The old Taoist priest was very satisfied to see Cheng Ruyi's change in attitude. "Alright, since you arrived here before me, you must have already searched everything, right? There is only one thing I want. As long as you hand it over, I will not only let you leave, but I can also clean up the mess and take the blame for you. What do you think, young friend?"
"I wonder what the chief is looking for?"
"It's a scripture called the *Zhenwu Taiqing Xin Jing*." The old Taoist priest's demeanor suddenly shifted from nonchalant to devout and earnest as he spoke of the scripture. "This scripture was written by our sect's grandmaster, but it was somewhat lost during the turmoil of the previous dynasty. Thirty years have passed; I've searched for it for a full thirty years..."
Thank goodness! Ruyi was terrified that the old Taoist priest was looking for some kind of "national fortune jade," in which case she would be doomed!
She had just glanced at this scripture, and its contents were extremely obscure and difficult to understand. She immediately felt that it must be a profound internal energy cultivation method.
For an ordinary martial arts practitioner, it might indeed be difficult to give up, but she is different. She believes that her cheat ability will definitely allow her to draw another top-grade internal energy cultivation method. At that time, she can skip the translation and learn it with one click, which is more cost-effective!
Although he could give him the scriptures, just in case, he couldn't give them to him directly. So Ruyi suggested, "Master, I have indeed seen the scriptures you mentioned earlier, but due to my dullness, I didn't recognize their value and didn't take them with me. How about this, Master, why don't you rest for a while, and I'll go and get them for you now?"
The old Taoist priest stared at Ruyi for a while, making her break out in a cold sweat, before silently nodding.
Cheng Ruyi felt as if she had been granted a pardon and immediately used her lightness skill to disappear into the vast snow.
"Impressive movement!" The old Taoist priest exclaimed, watching her depart. When did such a figure emerge in the martial world? He had just checked the other areas; everyone in the entire stronghold was asleep, and in an unusually deep sleep. This was no effect his medicine could produce. Truly remarkable!
Once Cheng Ruyi was certain that the other party had not caught up, the pressure in her heart finally eased a little. This old Taoist priest was a hidden master, and his martial arts level was probably above "perfect".
Mom, the world of martial arts is really scary!
Hastily retreating back to the main hall of the mountain stronghold, Cheng Ruyi placed the scriptures on the prominent throne of the stronghold chief in the center of the hall, and then immediately left this awful place.
Although the old Taoist priest said he would help her clean up the mess and take the blame, she naturally didn't completely trust him. She carefully recalled the process and realized that she hadn't revealed her identity at all, so even if he didn't help, it wouldn't be a big problem.
Unless there's more than one Western Jin spy in Wolong Village, and other masters are lurking there...
She knew she couldn't help in this situation. With her current abilities, this was all she could do. She was too exhausted tonight, so she didn't care about the Western Jin or Eastern Jin dynasties anymore!
Although she really wanted to go home immediately, for safety's sake, she found a dilapidated mud house outside Nanyang County and hid there. Then she set up a concealment array that she hadn't used in a long time before she felt at ease and tidied herself up a bit.
First, you need to change out of the blood-soaked clothes and burn them. Then, take out the hot water you prepared beforehand and wipe your face and hands. Finally, put on another set of night clothes and a rabbit fur coat.
Cheng Ruyi sat clean in the house where half of the wall had collapsed, her hands warming herself over the fire. She felt the long-lost warmth and comfort and finally felt like she had returned to the human world. Everything that had just happened seemed like a dream, and she felt somewhat dazed.
Portable storage is truly a treasure; anyone who uses it knows how amazing it is!
She waited quietly for half an hour, and as it was almost dawn, no suspicious person came after her, so she figured she must be safe.
This trip to explore the mountain stronghold was indeed quite dangerous, with two unexpected incidents in a row. Fortunately, the gains were also very substantial, and with the rewards for completing the mission, it was actually worth it overall.
Now, she only has one last thing left to do...
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