Kapitel 50: Cold and Heartless

Liu Peng, Siyi, Juanxiu, and Chang Bao stood hidden behind a large boulder, watching intently as a group of weary travelers rested in the nearby meadows. They had been in the tower for thirty long years, honing their skills and mastering their abilities, and now they were finally ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead.

Juanxiu carefully counted out the remaining Sky Cleansing Pills and handed one to each of them, urging them to protect themselves from the deadly miasma that pervaded the district. But to his surprise, they all refused.

"I don't need them," Siyi said calmly. "I've already assimilated with the blood of the lightning cicada. The poison no longer affects me."

"I've developed my own techniques to neutralize the miasma," Liu Peng added confidently.

"And I've been training," Chang Bao said proudly. "I have my own ways."

Juanxiu nodded in approval, impressed with their progress. "Very well," he said. "But be careful nonetheless."

The party of four hid as they watched the group of people before them; they could see that they were in a sorry state. Some were standing in a daze, while others were locked inside a cage, their eyes vacant and lifeless. It was clear that they had seen unspeakable horrors that would traumatize them for a lifetime.

Before these people were a group of people who appears to be guarding them. They even have two beasts that pulls the cage.

SiYi's heart was pounding with anxiety as she watched the group of people trapped in the cage. Their lifeless eyes showed that they had suffered and seen horrors that no one should ever endure. She could not stand idly by and let them suffer any longer.

"We must save them," she said with determination.

Juanxiu, however, was quick to caution her. "Wait, we cannot risk being seen. Our primary mission is to save Liu Peng's family, remember? Any unnecessary movement might jeopardize our plan."

"I am sorry, for inconveniencing you all," Liu Peng, feeling guilty for putting them in a difficult position, apologized.

But SiYi was impatient. She unsheathed her transparent blade and performed the second movement of the Hollylock Blade technique, swiftly killing all the guards except for one whom she knocked unconscious.

"See, it will be much faster if we just do it," SiYi said, breathing heavily.

Juanxiu sighed, "That's risky. What if we encounter someone stronger than us? What if they are able to signal their allies?"

SiYi stood firm. "But they didn't, and I solved the problem."

Juanxiu let out a tired sigh as Siyi's impulsive behavior caused yet another unforeseen obstacle.

"What are we going to do with these people?" Chang Bao asked, his voice heavy with concern.

"It's impossible for us to take them with us. They'll only become a burden, and leaving them here would be just as difficult since most of them have lost their will to live." Liu Peng answered

Liu Peng surveyed the group of dazed and traumatized captives, wondering how they could possibly help them all. With a heavy heart, he began freeing those trapped inside the cages. It took a while for them to react, but one by one they stumbled out, their eyes glazed with despair.

A child's voice broke the heavy silence, "My parents were killed by these people. We were trying to escape, when they butchered my father and rape my mother." Tears streamed down his face as he spoke.

The sobbing of the child was followed by a woman's voice. "They killed my husband and fed his body to their beast while we were on the way. We're nothing more than livestock to them."

Juanxiu knelt down to the kid's level and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry for your loss," he said softly, his voice conveying both empathy and determination. "We'll get you all out of here, but you have to be brave and trust us."

Liu Peng put a comforting hand on the woman's back. "Don't worry, we won't let them get away with what they've done," he said, his tone firm and resolute.

Juanxiu observed the hypnotized people carefully. He had studied formation control for years, and recognized that this was a type of dynamic formation.

The life force of these people was continuously being drained feeding the fragment. For others it would be difficult to determine the type of formation used without seeing the actual formation. But Juanxiu had learned from hundreds of ancient books about formation, and he knew he could identify the signs and effects of the formation.

Taking a branch from a nearby tree, Juanxiu drew a sigil on the ground, consisting of several complex geometric shapes and patterns. He explained to Liu Peng that they needed to move all the hypnotized people inside the sigil. Liu Peng nodded, and together they gently guided each person to the designated area.

Juanxiu retrieved the flags that the Tower had rewarded him with upon calculating his accomplishments inside the tower. They were made from the cocoon of the Empress Butterfly Supernova, and he knew they would come in handy for this situation.

He activated the formation, which created a space that removed the miasma from the area. Invasive energies were being purged out of the hypnotized individuals, and after a while, they began to regain consciousness.

The process took some time, but eventually, all the people were freed from the hypnosis. They looked around, disoriented and weak, unaware of what had happened to them. Juanxiu and Liu Peng breathed a sigh of relief, glad that they were able to break the formation and save these people.

It took a while before those people started to calm down, but their disorientation was palpable. They looked around in confusion, trying to piece together what had happened to them.

"What happened to us?" one of them asked, rubbing his head.

"Yeah, the last thing I remember was I was buying fruits from the market," another chimed in, looking equally bewildered.

"I remember tending to my father's farm," a third said, his brow furrowed.

Liu Peng exchanged a worried glance with Juanxiu. They didn't have time to explain the situation to these people, but they couldn't just leave them without any answers. Morover, more people are waiting to be rescued. They needed to act fast.

Juanxiu approached the group of people, trying to assess the situation. His eyes fell upon an elderly man who seemed to be leading the group. The man's face was creased with wrinkles, his hair thin and gray. Juanxiu approached him, his voice gentle yet firm. "Where are they taking you?" he asked.

The old man, whose name was Meng Huan, looked up at Juanxiu with a mixture of fear and confusion in his eyes. "They told us that we will be taken to the center of the Tiger Quarry, that would be the Autumn Moonlight District," he replied, his voice trembling slightly.

Juanxiu knew that these innocent people would be in grave danger if they were taken there. He quickly gathered his companions, and they began to make a plan.

They asked Meng Huan to lead the group of people, assuring him that they would do everything in their power to keep them safe. They knew they had to move quickly and get outside of the Tiger Quarry, where the miasma couldn't reach them.

"A man named Pan Geming had reported the situation to the nearby town. It may take a few days before you would be rescued. We cannot take you to where we are heading since it will be dangerous,"

The people looked at Juanxiu and his companions with a mix of gratitude and confusion.

Juanxiu and the rest gathered around the unconscious guard, who had been knocked out during the scuffle. Siyi approached him cautiously, holding a bucket filled with water that was lying on the side.

She nudged him with her foot, then poured all the water content onto his face. The guard sputtered and coughed as he regained consciousness, his eyes darting around in confusion.

Siyi's eyes narrowed as she watched the guard jolt awake. The man was disoriented, his eyes moving frantically around the area, before finally settling on the littered corpses of his comrades. The gruesome sight seemed to have paralyzed him with fear, rendering him unable to react to the three kids surrounding him.

"Who are you, people?" Siyi demanded, her voice ringing out sharply in the silence that followed.

The guard's eyes flicked over to Liu Peng, the only member of the group whom he thought was old enough to pose a real threat. He swallowed hard, his throat dry. "Kill me, I will never divulge our plans," he said, his voice shaking with fear.

But Juanxiu was quick to cut him off. "We already know your plans," he said coolly, his eyes fixed on the guard's face. "You plan to sacrifice the life force of these people for the fragment of the God's consciousness that you have."

The guard's eyes widened in surprise, then quickly turned to panic. "How did you know?" he blurted out, before quickly realizing his mistake and clapping a hand over his mouth.

Liu Peng let out a small sigh of relief, as if the guard's inadvertent admission had confirmed his suspicions. "Okay, that confirms it," he said grimly, turning to the others. "We must move now."

Siyi's hand moved to her waist, where her sword was holstered. She unfastened the leather strap and pulled out the transparent blade in one swift motion. The sharpness glinted in the light, reflecting her fierce determination. She held the weapon with both hands, its point aimed directly at the throat of the guard. Her muscles tensed as she prepared to deliver the final blow. With a swift move, everything was over in an instant.

Siyi stood over the lifeless body of the unconscious guard, her blade dripping with blood. She was unapologetic for her actions, and her face was set in a determined expression.

"Trash of society," she muttered under her breath.

Chang Bao watched in shock as Siyi brandished her blade once again and delivered a swift, final blow to the man's chest.

"Why did you have to kill him?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"If we don't eliminate him, he will go back to their base and reveal our plans. He'll put the lives of these people in danger," Siyi replied coldly.

Juanxiu interjected, "We can just tie him up and seal his cultivation."

Siyi turned to face him, her eyes filled with a fierce determination. "What if another group shows up and releases his cultivation seal? Do we have enough manpower to guard him? Do you expect these ordinary people to guard them?"

Juanxiu was taken aback by Siyi's words. He was worried about her. During his time in the tower, he had learned about many powerful techniques and formations, but none of them had prepared him for dealing with someone like Siyi. She became emotionally unattached, and he couldn't tell what had happened to her inside the tower.

As Siyi wiped her blade clean and started to drag the body away, Juanxiu followed her lead. They worked quickly to remove all traces of the dead guard from the area, hoping to avoid any further suspicion.

The situation had become more dangerous than they had anticipated, but they couldn't afford to hesitate. They needed to act quickly to save the lives of the innocent people who were being held captive by the group of cultists.

They also removed one of the uniform of the guards. They will be using the carriage and the beast to act like they were captives while Liu Peng will pose as a member of the cult.