Su Muqing navigated through the small bamboo buildings, each containing some flashing dots. Just as she was unsure which way to go, her space detector showed that a cluster of small dots was continuously increasing in number not far away.
Did something happen over there? Su Muqing ran in that direction.
Upon reaching the vicinity, she hid in the shadows and saw another Thousand Poisons Sect disciple arrive. She knocked the person out and then threw them into the mist zone of her space.
She changed into the disciple's clothes, meticulously concealed her face, and smeared her lips black. Fortunately, the people of the Thousand Poisons Sect were all dark-skinned and skinny, and they liked to paint their lips black. Otherwise, it would have been difficult for her to blend in!
After changing, Su Muqing followed the people ahead, casually squeezing the small satchel on the woman's body. It felt like there were living creatures inside, wriggling in her palm.
Could this be snakes?
She held the satchel far away and carefully opened a small gap to peek inside. Inside were small, slender, long living creatures, looking somewhat like snakes. They were coiled up tightly, densely intertwined.
Su Muqing shivered instantly, her scalp tingling. She truly couldn't understand how anyone could like these disgusting things.
Especially those with small, sharp heads and black and red spotted patterns on their bodies. To an outsider like her, it was obvious they were highly poisonous. The people of the Thousand Poisons Sect carried them around all day, weren't they afraid of being bitten themselves one day?
Su Muqing squeezed the wriggling little creatures with a bit of force through the satchel, crushing them into paste.
Arriving at the gathering place of the disciples, Su Muqing realized that this small building was clearly extraordinary. It was likely the residence of a high-ranking figure in the Thousand Poisons Sect.
At this moment, the conversation of a few women nearby caught Su Muqing's attention. She casually moved closer to hear them more clearly.
Disciple A: "The Saintess just coughed up blood again!"
Disciple B: "Are they calling us here to hand over all the remaining Beauty Threads?"
Disciple C: "I heard she's already taken Beauty Threads seven times today. If they all get handed over, what about us? The blood from the cultivators in the dark prison is almost drained. We can't refine Beauty Threads anymore!"
Disciple A: "What's this? Every day this week, a batch of disciples has handed over Beauty Threads. The Sect Leader ordered everyone to use their own blood as a cultivation base to refine a batch for the Saintess."
Disciple B: "Why? I don't know what's gotten into the Sect Leader, suddenly ordering us to stop capturing women and children."
Disciple C: "It's strange too, why is the Sect Leader so generous to the Saintess? If one didn't know better, they'd think they were mother and daughter!"
Disciple A: "How dare you speak such nonsense! If the Sect Leader hears you, he'll skin you alive!"
Disciple B: "The Sect Leader is back?"
Disciple A: "Yes, he returned yesterday afternoon."
Upon hearing that the Thousand Poisons Sect Leader had returned, the other two were scared into silence, and the conversation was interrupted.
However, Su Muqing had gained quite a bit of useful information. The most crucial was about the mysterious disappearances of women and children that she'd heard from the city guard soldier in Mu Cang County.
So it was the Thousand Poisons Sect's doing? Capturing them to cultivate some Beauty Threads? Su Muqing found it strange. Couldn't they cultivate it themselves? Why did they need to capture children?
Each of these questions was a mystery. It seemed she needed to find an opportunity to visit the dark prison they mentioned to find the answers.
Speaking of which, Su Muqing was also very curious about who this person was. Although she had only been in the desolate region for a few days, many things had happened. She had met the sect leaders of other factions, but the leader of the Thousand Poisons Sect had never shown herself.
As she was lost in thought, several people arrived from another direction. The others immediately lined up, and Su Muqing seized the opportunity to stand at the farthest corner.
Several people walked from left to right, each holding a white jade plate. Then, the people lined up took out something from their small satchels and placed it on the plates.
She looked closely and realized these were the very things she had crushed into paste earlier. What were they collecting these for? And seeing the reluctant expressions on everyone's faces, could these be treasures?
It's over! Su Muqing squeezed her satchel, unable to stop herself from thinking. Everyone else was handing over live specimens. If she poured a pile of liquid into hers, would she get beaten? So, she had to slip into her space unnoticed by the others.
The people collected all the little long creatures and then carried them into the inner room. A jingling sound came from the inner room, like a ritual being performed! The others in the outer room suddenly sat down cross-legged, each with a small cauldron-like object placed in front of them.
Then, they took out small knives from their bodies, made a deep cut on their arms, and dripped their blood into the cauldrons. Afterward, they closed their eyes and began to mutter. Then Su Muqing saw those women in great pain, with white smoke rising from their heads.
Seeing that they were all closing their eyes, Su Muqing, like before, extended two fingers. Then, like legs, she crawled along the hidden parts of the wall and out.
Su Muqing reached the outside. She looked around, and there was only one small dot, which had been standing still in its original position for a long time. So she climbed up the wall again and carefully crawled in through a bamboo window.
What she didn't notice was that not long after she started climbing, that small dot began to move towards her.
Chu Ruo Qiao suddenly felt a strange aura in her surroundings. She abruptly turned her head towards the window and raised her hand, striking the slightly ajar window.
With a loud "bang~", the strange woman in the room who looked like she was performing a ritual suddenly knelt towards the window, repeatedly kowtowing and speaking gibberish.
Su Muqing looked at the woman walking towards her, her heart filled with surprise! She had hidden so stealthily, yet she was discovered? Did this person have an advanced membership?
The woman wore a black veil, and her exposed eyes were adorned with smoky makeup. Her appearance was hazy and unclear, but Su Muqing felt a sense of familiarity.
Chu Ruo Qiao walked to the window, saw the disciple lying in a pool of blood, frowned, then turned to the shaman-like woman and pointed outside the window, asking, "You say she is the Divine Maiden?"
The woman tremblingly got up and walked to the window, looking outside with her body sideways. Su Muqing took the opportunity to jump onto her back and quickly retreated into her space.
Su Muqing probably never dreamed that someone had seen her while she was climbing the window. That disciple was just unlucky.
She had only gone to the restroom, and on her way back, she happened to pass by. She saw a pale hand crawling around on the wall. Finally, it slipped into the Saintess's small bamboo building. She thought she was seeing things and moved closer to get a better look, only to be sent flying with a palm strike, dying on the spot!
The shaman-like woman, seeing the woman lying on the ground with wide-open eyes and already dead, suddenly couldn't be sure if this person was the Divine Maiden.
However, she had indeed sensed the Divine Maiden's aura just now. She could still sense it now and felt that the Divine Maiden was getting closer. She turned to look at Chu Ruo Qiao and spoke to her again in gibberish. It was unclear which part of her speech was incorrect.
Chu Ruo Qiao showed displeasure, then turned away with a flick of her sleeve, speaking to her in a threatening tone, "I already told you, I am the Divine Maiden! If I hear you say such things again, don't blame me for being impolite. Go and check the dark prison to see if the new Beauty Threads have been refined. I will take care of the Saintess from now on!"
Su Muqing wanted to stay and listen to their conversation but also wanted to follow them to the dark prison. She turned and quickly bought a micro-listening device with the longest range from the space shop.
Fortunately, the time in her space was slowed down. By the time she learned how to use the listening device, only a blink of an eye had passed outside.
As the woman moved with difficulty and got up, Su Muqing quickly jumped down and stuck a small black dot in a hidden spot.
After she had installed the listening device, the woman had just managed to get up. Chu Ruo Qiao felt that strange feeling again, she curiously turned her head and looked around, but still found nothing suspicious.
At this moment, under the woman's skirt, Su Muqing's two fingers were tightly gripping her. Then she extended one hand, changing to using both hands to climb up. After managing to climb onto her shoulder, she returned to her space.
The woman, holding a lantern in one hand and leaning on a cane with the other, left the bamboo building. Su Muqing watched from inside her space with wide eyes, trying hard to remember every path.
She walked to a rockery and pressed down forcefully on a spot. Then, the rockery made a "swish~" sound, and a large hole appeared in the ground.
The woman, carrying the lantern, cautiously stepped down the stone stairs. The passage was dark, and the lantern's illumination range was limited, casting a dim, yellowish light. Therefore, Su Muqing in her space could see almost nothing.
When she reached the bottom of the stone stairs, the woman lit the torch oil lamps on the wall. Only then did Su Muqing see the scene before her clearly.