Everyone except his grandfather and parents.
His grandfather and parents were now curled on the prison floor. His grandfather’s bloodied cavity where his spine had been extracted had been bleeding for seven days, while his mortal parents—who lacked spiritual roots but had consumed many spirit medicines—had passed out from hunger and fear.
“Mu Cheng…”
Lian Chengfeng trembled as he raised his head, his turbid eyes filled with fear and hatred.
Seven days ago, Mu Cheng might have still had the mind to torment him slowly, but seven days later, Mu Cheng suddenly lost interest in that.
“Thank you for the gift.”
Mu Cheng stepped on Lian Chengfeng’s neck and ground down—
“I’ll accept it. It’s very useful.”
Pfft!
Blood sprayed from the corpse like a water column, splattering onto the hem of Mu Cheng’s clothes. The hideous black mist, clawing like fangs and claws, shot into Mu Cheng’s body like an arrow off the string.
Mu Cheng was already accustomed to the impact this power brought. He spread his arms wide and let out a satisfied sigh, carefully absorbing the massive power into his body.
Blood-red tears flowed from his tightly closed eyes, thick black mist seeped from his pale skin, his power began to grow endlessly, and the cultivation he had disguised surged wildly before he suppressed it firmly once more—suppressed to the Golden Core Peak Stage, where it wouldn’t be rejected by Xiaoze State.
He opened his eyes, and his pitch-black pupils turned entirely blood-red.
Yet deep within the blood-red, there was no focus at all; instead, a hint of madness faintly revealed itself.
This specially constructed prison was even more familiar with this process than he was. When the last trace of reason vanished from his eyes, when a beast-like roar erupted from his throat, when his Madness Illness fully flared up, the Storage Ring on his hand and the torture instruments on the wall lit up with blue light simultaneously. Then, a chain shot out, piercing his shoulder and nailing him firmly to the wall!
Thus, he quieted down like a wild beast whose vital point had been seized. He painfully lowered his head, no longer struggling or resisting.
“Hah… hah… hah…”
The air was filled only with the beast’s low panting.
.
It took a full quarter of an hour before Mu Cheng regained a shred of sanity.
In the past, at this moment, he would usually take out a silver awl and stab it into his chest, using the pain that had become almost habitual to stay clear-headed and remind himself not to go mad—or at least not to expose his Madness Illness in front of others.
But this time, he didn’t take out the silver awl. Instead, he pulled a wrinkled snow-white undergarment from his Storage Ring.
He buried his head deeply into it.
Half a shichen later, he lifted his head, and the madness in his eyes had completely vanished.
Mu Cheng drew a complex inscription on the wall with his hand reversed, and the chain piercing his shoulder immediately retracted.
Mu Cheng stood steadily on the ground and changed into a clean set of clothes.
“Thank you.”
He sincerely thanked Lian Chengfeng’s corpse on the ground once more, then waved his hand lightly. The corpse turned to ash and was blown away by a gust of wind to join another pile in the corner of the wall.
.
[Ding-ling, ding-ling-ling…]
Lian Yunzhi heard a crisp and ethereal bell sound.
He walked toward the source of the bell involuntarily.
At the end of the bell sound stood a man in cyan robes, his back to Lian Yunzhi, his entire figure shrouded in thick red mist, even his silhouette blurred.
“Are you the one ringing the bell?” Lian Yunzhi asked.
The man slowly turned around.
Lian Yunzhi watched as the thick red mist gradually thinned. He saw the man wearing a White Mask and clothes Lian Yunzhi had never seen before.
In that moment, Lian Yunzhi suddenly regained his senses. He didn’t know where this was, who this man was, or why he had walked over upon hearing the bell.
More importantly: Why was he naked?!
Lian Yunzhi spun around in panic, but there was nothing around him to cover his body. He even frantically tried to gather the surrounding red mist onto himself, but the red mist didn’t obey him at all.
Just as the man in front was about to fully turn his head, Lian Yunzhi’s fingers moved somehow. Countless vines and leaves sprouted from his fingertips, wrapping him in a layer of grass clothing in an instant, covering his body.
Lian Yunzhi breathed a sigh of relief and tentatively summoned more vines.
He succeeded again.
Could it be because this was a dream that his spiritual power wasn’t sealed?
Lian Yunzhi tested his spiritual power again, but no, it didn’t work.
How strange.
“You’re a Top-Grade Wood Spiritual Root, aren’t you? What great talent,” the Cyan-Clothed Man praised.
Lian Yunzhi didn’t respond. He just stared at the mask on the man’s face. “Who are you?”
“Who I am isn’t important,” the Cyan-Clothed Man said. “What’s important is that neither of us belongs here.”
“Doesn’t belong here?”
[Ding-ling, ding-ling-ling…]
Another gust of wind carried the bell sound.
Lian Yunzhi suddenly felt dazed. Strange images flashed through his mind without reason. He suddenly saw a very unfamiliar courtyard, the sky, tall unknown trees swirling as leaves fell on his shoulder, a drop of blood falling into the river beside him.
“You saw it, didn’t you?” the Cyan-Clothed Man said. “That’s where you came from.”
