How can simply creating a sect make you invincible?

Upon hearing Ning Tian's words, the entire Shuize City was stunned by the Qin family's actions.

"Damn, this young prodigy just said the Qin family is refining human pills?"

"It should be true. Didn't you hear him say that the Qin family wanted to refine them into human pills as well? Otherwise, why would they have destroyed the Qin family?"

"The Qin family is utterly despicable! They're capable of such inhumane acts."

"Alas, you can know a person's face but not their heart!"

"They deserved to be wiped out; who told the Qin family to dare do something like this?"

At this moment, the Qin mansion was in complete disarray, and all the servants were kneeling on the ground, trembling all over.

"Senior Brother Ning Tian, ​​Senior Sister Qing Cheng, we've swept everything out of the treasure vault! Hahaha..."

"In addition, all the main branches of the Qin family and some people related to the Human Elixir were killed. The people kneeling on the ground are basically servants and those who are unaware of the situation."

"Release them all! We must be decisive in our killings, but we cannot indiscriminately kill the innocent," Ning Tian said.

"I know!"

Kun Kun approached the group of several hundred people and said loudly, "Considering that you have no connection with or knowledge of the Qin family's refining of human pills, we have decided to let you go. But remember, never engage in any evil or heretical activities again. If we discover you doing so, we will kill you."

"Thank you so much for sparing our lives, gentlemen! We will remember your teachings."

"Let's go to the secret room and see those people who are being held captive!" Ning Tian suggested.

Soon, led by Xiao Ningyun, the group arrived at the entrance to the secret chamber and descended underground along the passage.

The further down you go, the colder and more chilly the air becomes.

This was not the usual chill, but a bone-chilling cold—like the deathly cold left after spiritual energy had been forcibly drained.

"This aura..." Mu Qingcheng's expression changed slightly, "Could it be the Spirit Sealing and Meridian Locking Technique?"

Ning Tian didn't say anything, but quickened his pace.

The Qin family's underground chamber was far larger than imagined, its stone walls covered with layers upon layers of restrictive patterns, densely packed like a spider web. Each layer of restrictions emitted a faint, eerie blue light, which was gradually fading away.

With Qin Shan's death, these restrictions, driven by the aura of a saint, have lost their source and are collapsing on their own.

As soon as they stepped into the secret chamber, they were all stunned. Dozens of people were there, some chained to the stone wall, others curled up in cages, their clothes tattered and their hair unkempt.

Without exception, they all had spirit-sealing patterns engraved on their bodies. These dark blue restriction patterns penetrated from the surface of their skin all the way into their meridians, sealing their cultivation completely, making it impossible to mobilize even a trace of spiritual energy.

The secret chamber was surrounded by piles of dry bones, and the air was filled with a pungent stench of decay—the smell of festering wounds mixed with sweat and grime that had seeped into the stone walls over the years.

"The Qin family are a bunch of beasts! I shouldn't have killed them so quickly just now. I should have tortured them one by one until they died," Kun Kun cursed angrily.

Mu Qingcheng's breath hitched. The mage clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles cracking.

"Brother, please save them! They are so pitiful!" Xiao Ningyun said.

"Okay, brother understands." Ning Tian patted Xiao Ningyun's head, then slowly walked towards the people. His footsteps were very light, but with each step, those locked to the stone wall would flinch, as if it were an instinctive reaction formed by long-term torture, trembling at the sound of footsteps.

"Stop...stop hitting me..."

In the corner, a thin young man, almost skin and bones, spoke first. His voice was so hoarse that it was almost inaudible, as if his throat was filled with sand.

"I...I was just drained of energy three days ago...I really...have no strength left to train..."

Refine?

Ning Tian frowned, walked closer to the young man, and squatted down to examine him.

The young man's hands and feet were bound by iron chains, the chains digging deep into his flesh, the skin around the wounds already blackened and ulcerated. And in the very center of his chest—

Ning Tian's pupils suddenly contracted.

There was a long scar there, stretching from the collarbone all the way to the abdomen, as if someone had cut it open.

The scar was actually shaped like an array pattern.

A refining array pattern that uses flesh and blood as a guide and cultivation as a guide.

"They used you to practice their skills?" Ning Tian's voice wasn't loud, but it carried throughout the entire secret chamber.

The monk was startled and abruptly turned to look at the others.

Sure enough... everyone had the same scar on their chest.

The same refining array pattern.

More than seventy people, more than seventy knife scars.

"You beast—!" Kun Kun roared in fury, kicking a nearby stone pillar that shattered with a crash.

Mu Qingcheng didn't speak, but her hands were trembling slightly. She slowly walked to a woman who had already fainted. The woman looked to be under twenty years old, with delicate features but as pale as paper, her lips cracked and covered in scabs, and the same shocking scar on her chest.

"These people..." Mu Qingcheng's voice trembled slightly, "are all cultivators, and cultivators with extremely high talent at that."

She reached out and examined the woman's meridians, her expression growing increasingly grim: "Her spiritual root is... a celestial spiritual root. After being sealed with a restriction, her spiritual essence was extracted bit by bit through a method of refining a living person..."

"It must be used by the Qin family to feed their core disciples," the mage said angrily.

He looked around the secret chamber, his gaze sweeping over each person huddled against the stone wall, old and young, men and women.

Some were on the verge of death, too weak even to lift their heads; some had vacant eyes, as if their souls had long since left their bodies; and there were also several very young children—

Ning Tian walked to the innermost cage, where three children were locked up.

The oldest was no more than eleven or twelve years old, and the youngest looked only seven or eight.

The three children were huddled together, skin and bones, their bodies covered in wounds. The youngest was curled up at the very back, tightly clutching the arm of the eldest child, his eyes closed, softly and repeatedly reciting a sentence:

"Father will come... Father will come... Father will come..."

Ning Tian squatted down, reached out, and gently touched the scar on the child's chest.

Beneath his fingertips, the refining array patterns were slightly warm—still lingering spiritual energy fluctuations.

"It was left behind recently. The last time it was refined was probably three days ago," Ning Tian said slowly.

The cracking sound of Kun Kun's knuckles as he clenched his fists grew louder.

Looking at the child who was about the same age as herself, Xiao Ningyun bit her lower lip, her eyes reddening, but she tried hard not to let the tears fall.

"Junior brothers, let's rescue them first!" Ning Tian said.

Click, click, click—

Dozens of iron chains shattered simultaneously.

The people locked to the stone wall fell one after another, collapsing helplessly to the ground.

"Their injuries are easy to treat, but I can't break the spirit-sealing runes. I might need Lu Hou's help," Ning Tian said.

As soon as Ning Tian finished speaking, a figure jumped out of Xiao Ningyun's arms; it was Lu Hou.

Then, streams of energy flew from its claws and entered the spirit-sealing patterns on everyone's bodies. The dark blue patterns began to flicker, gradually dimming. Soon after, the spirit-sealing patterns dissipated, and the spiritual energy on everyone's bodies began to flow slowly. Having done all this, Lu Hou jumped back into Xiao Ningyun's arms.

Mu Qingcheng immediately took out several bottles of top-grade healing pills from her storage ring and distributed them to everyone.

Kun Kun then squatted down and helped each person up from the ground with surprisingly gentle movements—a stark contrast to his usual irritable manner.

The youngest child kept his eyes closed and refused to let go. Kunkun reached out to hug him, but was stopped by the older child.

"Don't touch him."

The child's voice was very soft, but his tone was very stubborn.

"Are you...you also from the Qin family?"

Kun Kun was taken aback, then shook his head, his voice a little tight: "No, the Qin family... is gone, wiped out by us. We're here to save you."

The children were stunned. Then, their eyes slowly reddened, their lips trembled for a long time, and finally they managed to utter a complete sentence:

"So... can we go home now?"

Kun Kun opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything. He turned to look at Ning Tian.

"able."

The child was stunned for a moment, and then finally... finally couldn't hold back and burst into tears.

"Stop crying. Take these healing pills and get yourself in better shape before you leave."

Thank you all…