Fantasy, starting with a treasure bowl

"My friend, please forgive me for speaking out of turn..."

After bowing again, Lu Feng asked tentatively, "May I ask who is imprisoned in the cells behind the last two gates of the village's cellar? Why are you two leaders so cautious, forbidding even the brothers in the village from approaching..."

"Well, I'm not really sure either...!"

Faced with Lu Feng's questioning, the pockmarked bandit hesitated for a moment before shaking his head repeatedly. "I've only heard that what's imprisoned inside isn't an ordinary human, and its strength is terrifying. Even the two leaders are quite wary of it..."

"Not an ordinary human?"

Lu Feng frowned slightly, his face full of suspicion. "Isn't our Evil Fools' Stronghold only ever capturing young and beautiful women from respectable families? When have we ever captured such a creature...?"

"Uh, Brother Lu, to be honest...!"

"I learned this secret by chance from a casual conversation between the two leaders after they had some drinks...!"

Seeing that Lu Feng didn't seem to believe him, the pockmarked bandit scratched his head again, then said with a slightly embarrassed expression, "At the time, the two leaders were in high spirits and accidentally said a few extra words. I happened to be toasting them, so I learned this secret by chance..."

"As for whether this secret truly exists, I'm not entirely sure myself...!"

"Anyway, those two large gates behind the cellar in the village are absolutely forbidden to be approached. Otherwise, if the two leaders blame you, Brother Lu, you'll have to pray for your own good fortune..."

The pockmarked bandit still sounded uneasy, clearly terrified of the two leaders of the Evil Man's Stronghold and daring not to disobey their rules.

"I understand, thank you for clearing up my doubts."

Finding that the other party had no more information, Lu Feng didn't bother to waste his time and simply bowed and took his leave.

"It's alright, it's nothing... uh!"

The pockmarked bandit waved his hand again and was about to turn and leave when he froze on the spot. At the same time, a trace of bright red blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, and his right chest was instantly stained with blood!

"Brother Lu?! You, how could you... Pfft!"

Slowly struggling to turn his head, he saw Lu Feng wielding the Extreme Ice Shield Axe, piercing through his vital heart meridian in one fell swoop. The pockmarked bandit couldn't help but cough up blood, and then his whole body collapsed weakly to the ground. At the same time, his eyes gradually became unfocused, and he completely stopped breathing.

"Sorry, I'm not the kind of person who lets anyone take advantage of me, so I guess I'll just have to ask you to die..."

After finishing off his opponent with a single axe stroke, Lu Feng merely grinned, then casually grabbed at the air and retrieved the Grade 8 Qi-Replenishing Pill he had just given to the pockmarked bandit back into his palm.

As for the pockmarked bandit's corpse, Lu Feng used his Yuan Power Flame to burn it to ashes on the spot. Not only did it not fall into the sight of the surrounding people, but it didn't even leave a trace. It was almost a perfect murder!

"I never imagined that such a small band of villains would hide such a secret..."

After dealing with the pockmarked bandit's corpse, Lu Feng once again used his Yuan Power to sense the situation. He discovered that the unusual occurrence had gone unnoticed by others, nor had it been detected by the two leaders of the Evil Man's Stronghold. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief, "Looks like I really came to the right place this time..."

"The cellar of Villain Stronghold, I'll see what shady dealings it holds...!"

Composing himself, Lu Feng didn't think much of it and immediately turned around and rushed towards the location of the Evil Man's Village cellar.

Creak...!

A short while later, Lu Feng arrived at a spacious wooden house that resembled a tavern, and then suddenly pushed open the door.

"Come on! Drink, drink more...!"

"Hey buddy, your alcohol tolerance is terrible! How come you passed out after only half a bottle of Moutai?"

"No, no! I really can't drink anymore. I still need to go down to the 'Pleasure Garden' to have some fun later. If I pass out now, wouldn't that be a waste of all those spirit stones I spent...!"

"Hahaha, you're right...!"

"I heard the second-in-command just brought back a bunch of women from outside today. Not only are they all young and beautiful, with fair skin and lovely faces, but one of them is also a bride-to-be, with an absolutely stunning face. We're going to have a good time with her later..."

Inside the tavern, the place was crowded and noisy, mostly with low-level thugs, but also a couple of small-time gang leaders with strength comparable to the Yuanhai Realm. They were drinking and making merry, occasionally spewing vulgarities, clearly not treating the innocent women imprisoned in the cellar as human beings, but as a group of playthings for their lust.

"The cellar entrance is indeed here..."

As soon as he stepped into the tavern, Lu Feng noticed a secret passage leading underground in the right corner. He frowned slightly. "Although it looks like an ordinary tavern upstairs, a group of innocent women kidnapped from the outside world are being held captive down below. These beasts from the Evil Village are truly worse than animals..."

As Lu Feng pondered this in his heart, he strode toward the cellar entrance in the right corner.

"Hey kid, stop right there!"

Seeing Lu Feng head straight for the cellar entrance like a naive fool, a burly, bald man with a strong build suddenly jumped out from the side, then frowned and said, "Which gang are you from? How come you're thinking of going down there to have fun without even paying the entrance fee...!"

"Admission fee?"

"What admission fee?" Lu Feng was taken aback.

"Damn! Are you new here? How come you don't even know the rules of 'Pleasure Park'?"

Seeing this, the bald, burly man was somewhat bewildered. He then said, "Since its founding, the Evil Man's Stronghold has had a rule that anyone other than the two leaders must pay a fee of one thousand mid-grade spirit stones or equivalent value of pills to enter the 'Pleasure Garden.' Otherwise, they will be treated as violators, regardless of life or death...!"

"Kid, it's only natural that you want to go down to the 'pleasure park' at the bottom of the cellar for some fun, and I won't stop you. But you'll have to pay the entrance fee, won't you?"

After saying that, the bald, burly man didn't waste any more words with Lu Feng. He immediately reached out and hooked his index finger, the meaning of which was self-evident.

"Uh, sorry, I'm really new here...!"

Seeing this, Lu Feng was slightly annoyed, but he didn't make a scene. He took out a thousand mid-grade spirit stones from his pocket and handed them to the bald, burly man opposite him.

After all, now is not the time to take action. Before uncovering the secrets of the Evil Village and Bai Qianqian's true intentions, Lu Feng did not want to make a big fuss so as not to alarm the two leaders of the Evil Village.

After paying the entrance fee, Lu Feng made his way to the bottom of the Evil Man's Village cellar without any obstacles.

"One, two, three... This cellar does indeed have five doors. It seems that pockmarked bandit wasn't lying to me..."

Lu Feng glanced quickly around the cellar, then stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Although that pockmarked bandit repeatedly warned us not to open the last two doors, the rules of this mere bandit stronghold won't scare me..."

Swish!

With this in mind, Lu Feng didn't wander around aimlessly. He immediately leaped to the fourth door of the cellar, chanting, "Spirit Serpent Transformation Dragon Technique, First Level!"

boom!

As a wisp of pure Yuan energy surged from his dantian, Lu Feng's appearance changed drastically the next moment. His pupils narrowed, and a black line resembling a snake's tongue appeared below the corner of his eye.

Raging...!

A large amount of Yuan energy swirled around Lu Feng's body, then transformed into wisps of blazing flames. Lu Feng himself seemed to transform into the fire god Zhu Rong, standing silently before the fourth gate, seemingly intending to break it down by brute force.

Sizzle sizzle...!

Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Feng raised his hand and slammed his palm into the center of the fourth gate. A large amount of Yuan energy flames then swept out, and in almost a breath, they instantly swallowed the special gate in front of him, leaving behind a melting hole the size of a fist.

"Although this special gate is forged from a fusion of Xuan-grade diamond and a bunch of rare minerals, its defensive power is extraordinary, but it still cannot stop the Yuan Qi flames generated by the Spirit Serpent Transformation Dragon Technique..."

Seeing the special gate melt through with a hole the size of a fist, Lu Feng's lips curled up slightly, and then he increased the temperature of the flame in the center of his palm.

Raging...!

As a massive surge of elemental flames raged, the peculiar gate melted away like spring snow, instantly turning into a pool of molten iron. This also exposed the secret hidden behind the gate, causing Lu Feng's pupils to shrink slightly. "This is... an insect nest?!"

Shh...!

Behind the gate was a dark, grotesque nest with jagged edges. An unknown blood-red liquid flowed at the bottom of the nest, and a large number of insect eggs could be vaguely seen clinging to it, wriggling slightly as if they might hatch at any moment. It was truly bizarre!

Not only that, the entire cell behind the gate was filled with all kinds of insect eggs, and even the ceiling above was infested with a large number of strange insect eggs, some of which were even bulging. Looking around, there was a dense white swarm everywhere, which made people feel nauseous!

"Strange! Aren't these cellars supposed to be used to imprison innocent women captured from the outside world for the lewd bandits of the stronghold to satisfy their lust and pleasure? Why are there so many strange insect eggs parasitizing here?"

Thinking of this, Lu Feng frowned slightly, and a sense of foreboding suddenly arose in his heart.