Chapter 15 Red-Scaled Boy, how did you get in here!?
The woman's voice was calm: "What's wrong?"
Since the man entered the house, there have been various noises.
The man spoke rapidly: "Our family is here! They should be here in about half an incense stick's time!"
"What!"
"It might be because of that child, but don't worry, this time I—"
"Stop talking, what happened back then was my own decision... Stop talking about it."
Soon, footsteps approached the inner room. When the door opened, the little zombie could clearly see the woman's furrowed brows.
She patted the thick blankets covering the two children with a bit of force: "Niannian, get up, hurry up and get dressed."
After saying that, she grabbed another coat from the side and put it on the little zombie: "Child, come with me. Remember, don't make a sound on the way."
The little zombie understood the phrase "Don't make a sound," and simply pursed its lips.
The little girl looked to be only seven or eight years old, but she possessed a level of rationality and composure that was completely out of character for her age. Despite being woken up in the middle of the night and experiencing a moment of panic, she didn't make a fuss and instead helped her parents pack dry food in the dark.
A few minutes later, the two figures quickly disappeared into the night.
This place is different from the spatial rift. Light snow is falling from the sky. The snow melts into water before it can even pile up on the ground, and the muddy road is full of small potholes and is wet.
Amidst the howling wind, the couple, dressed smartly but in thin clothes, carried their child on their backs and walked briskly along the muddy road.
The little zombie was holding the Taotie on the woman's back. He glanced at her and saw that after traveling for several hours without rest, the little girl's exposed face was already red from the cold.
Her breath frosted off her eyelashes, but she kept her teeth clenched and didn't make a sound.
The snow fell heavier and heavier.
They started stopping occasionally, and each time they stopped, the man would take out a cloth bag and pour something onto the ground, hold his breath for a few seconds, and then immediately continue on his way.
After an unknown amount of time, a glimmer of light finally appeared on the horizon, but the snowy day was overcast, and no light shone into the mountain for quite some time.
Just as the little zombies were about to pass through a bend in the mountain pass, a cracking sound suddenly came from afar.
The commotion was quite loud to the little zombie, but the couple, with their extraordinary senses, didn't notice it at all.
The little zombie only remembered the woman's instructions and remained silent. Soon, a shadow appeared in front of them.
The couple's eyes narrowed, and they immediately turned their feet, one to the left and the other to the right.
Even though there were no obstacles around them, they had only darted out four or five steps when they bumped into something. The impact was so strong that both of them were forced to take a half step back.
However, it was this momentary pause that ruined things.
In an instant, the shadows that had already spread over their heads suddenly descended.
The little zombie only had time to hear a voice ring out in mid-air.
"Even after all these years, you still managed to find someone to tip you off..."
The little zombie didn't hear the rest of what was said, because in those few seconds, a black shadow, of unknown origin, enveloped their bodies.
His only senses of hearing and sight were completely taken away in an instant.
In a large mansion hundreds of miles away from the mountain valley, a middle-aged man paced back and forth in the brightly lit courtyard, holding a small incense burner in both hands. He frowned and sighed from time to time, looking towards the direction of the house.
Suddenly, the wind chimes hanging under the eaves rang, and he immediately showed a look of surprise and rushed towards the door.
A young man dressed in a dark blue robe walked over, and the middle-aged man hurriedly asked, "How is it?"
The young man shook the black disc in his hand: "Still want to keep running."
The middle-aged man spat and said, "What an ingrate! The clan gave us so many resources back then."
Young man: "Anyway, the people are already here, plus two kids. Aren't the resources we spent getting back many times over?"
The middle-aged man immediately showed a satisfied expression and walked into the depths of the house with the young man.
After they left, a tiny, fluffy head peeked out from the roof ridge.
He faced the direction the two people had left, a look of doubt appearing in his amber eyes.
"Strange, I think I can sense that guy's presence..."
Deep within the mansion, an octagonal black pavilion stands in the very center of the garden.
The atmosphere here is strange. Although it is a pavilion, it is completely sealed off from all sides, and even the surrounding flowers and plants are filled with a stench of decay.
The middle-aged man stopped first, while the young man in dark blue took a few more steps forward. He stood in front of the stone path leading to the garden, bowed, and said respectfully, "Ancestor, I have returned."
Suddenly, a door appeared on the pavilion.
The door slowly opened, its old creaking sound like a mournful cry.
Below the ground, there was an endless expanse of darkness.
This place is dozens of meters below the surface, but the little zombie looked up in a certain direction, and that was where the black pavilion was located.
It had been about three days since they were captured, a time that Taotie had told him by gesturing.
During the time preceding this, the little zombie had been in a state of complete loss of his five senses. Although his vision and hearing had returned, he still felt dizzy.
The little zombie remembered being captured, but couldn't recall why.
He looked around and found himself in a strange box with several sides that let in the air, and only a few upright things standing up.
After putting the gluttonous beast down, the little zombie first looked at its only left hand, then gestured with the vertical sticks in the air, as if it were thinking about something.
If someone were to explain this to the little zombie at this moment, he would know that this thing is not a box at all, but a prison.
The prison wasn't completely dark; there were lights on, and the lamps were even embedded in the walls outside each cell. However, these lamps weren't ordinary things; they were magical artifacts crafted by cultivators.
The light only illuminates an area within ten centimeters, and can only be operated by someone wearing a special talisman.
As the flame of the lamp flickered, a strange smell emanated from it. At first, the smell was putrid, but as it drifted away, it gradually transformed into a cool, delicate fragrance.
The fragrance is very subtle, and under normal circumstances, no one holds their breath all the time. So by the time someone who has smelled it realizes that they can't use their spiritual power at all, it's already too late.
Suddenly, a clanging sound rang out from a corner of the prison.
That was the sound of two thick iron chains clashing together, and those chains passed through a boy covered in scattered scales and blood.
The boy's skin was as white as jade, but unfortunately it was severely dry and cracked, lacking the smoothness of jade.
Besides the two iron chains on his shoulder blades, there were a total of twenty iron chains piercing through the bones of his body, including his palms, elbows, ribs, and knees.
The boy's eyes were closed limply, so a fiery red line could be seen at the base of his eyelashes. At the outer corner of his eyes, a golden line appeared on the red line, giving him a bewitching beauty.
"Don't come any closer...don't come any closer..." he repeated as if in a daze.
Suddenly, a soft "click" sound came from three meters away from him.
Instantly, a barrage of poisonous stingers and darts shot out from all directions, and even the cracks in the floor tiles began to spew smoke outwards.
These things are all designed for cultivators. The mist penetrates directly into the skin and muscles. Unless one is about to enter the Nascent Soul stage or is at the Great Perfection of the Golden Core stage, even a Golden Core cultivator cannot withstand it.
This wasn't the first time the boy had encountered something like this.
He knew very well that once the poisonous fog dissipated, there would be one or many gruesome corpses on the ground, their bodies swollen and rotting, their eyes bulging out, truly dying with their eyes wide open.
The boy couldn't help but let out a painful sob as he thought about what these corpses would be used for and what he would have to go through.
"Huh?"
Upon hearing the sound, the boy suddenly looked up. This excessive movement tugged at the chains binding him and tore the skin around them, but he seemed oblivious, staring intently ahead.
It was so dark that he couldn't see anything, but he could sense that there was someone standing three or four steps away from him.
The boy's expression shifted from surprise to wariness: "Who are you?"
The other party remained silent for a long time.
Just as the boy was about to ask the other person about their purpose, a clear child's voice rang out from the cell.
"Human! Ouch!"
The joy in that voice was so obvious that the boy, who was originally having a crazy brainstorming session, suddenly had his mind go blank.
At this moment, the poisonous fog dissipated, and a ray of light appeared before him again. Ignoring the stinging pain in his eyes, the boy stubbornly refused to close them even for a moment.
He finally saw clearly that the person standing there was a child.
Logically speaking, it would be a bit scary to suddenly have a child appear in such a place, but the boy didn't care about that.
He was so surprised that his voice cracked: "How did you get in?!"
This prison is made of special cold iron, which is extremely hard. Without the key, even if you use a magical weapon to directly bombard it, you might not be able to break it open.
But what's wrong with this child?
The boy looked in the direction the light came from and saw that one of the cold iron railings was bent to the left and the other to the right, just enough to make a hole large enough for a child to pass through.
He stared wide-eyed and gaped in disbelief, speechless for a long time.
The child puffed out his chest and exclaimed, "Aww!"
As if afraid the boy wouldn't believe it, the child walked over, stretched out a small hand, grabbed the railing, and with a whoosh, straightened the legendary indestructible cold iron again.
The boy has finally found his voice again.
His lips twitched for a long time before he managed to utter only one word: "...Huh?"
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