The scene before her left Su Muqing speechless, so shocked she almost wanted to flee the place.
The cell had no door and was divided into two levels. The entire space was small and dim, exuding an eerie and oppressive atmosphere.
The upper level was covered by a cloth, preventing Su Muqing from seeing inside. She also avoided looking, sensing something from the detector.
Below, several small iron cages were arranged. The gaps between the bars were enclosed with very fine mesh. A pipe, as thick as an arm, hung in mid-air, its purpose unknown.
Su Muqing thought she saw a person curled up inside one of the cages. She wasn't entirely sure because the person within had been so tortured they were unrecognizable.
They were stripped bare, even their hair shaved off. Each was so thin their bones protruded, revealing a skeletal frame. They were discernibly all female.
What was truly chilling were the minuscule worms, seemingly burrowing out from beneath their skin. Slightly larger ones crawled and squirmed wantonly on their bodies.
Every woman's body was covered in a dense network of black threads and small black spots. They moved incessantly, causing extreme discomfort!
"Women! Furnaces! Beauty Threads! So this is what they mean by refining Beauty Threads? These cruel scum! Using human bodies as incubators for those disgusting things."
"Then, what about the children? What fate awaits them?" Su Muqing dared not think about it.
However, a moment later, the woman dispelled Su Muqing's doubts. She poured a powdery substance and some liquid onto the "furnaces," much like watering plants.
As the liquid and powder seeped into their bodies, the women, whose eyes had been tightly shut, suddenly trembled all over. Then, as if enduring immense pain, they began to writhe in their cages, their guttural groans no longer sounding human.
They contorted their bodies, bending their bones to degrees impossible for normal people. The "crackling" sound of their joints sent a chill down Su Muqing's spine.
The woman then pulled aside the cloth covering the upper level. Su Muqing finally saw what was there—the sight she most dreaded! Unable to bear it for long, she forced herself to avert her gaze, enduring the discomfort.
Everything happening in the cages above could only be described as horrific! It was the missing children. Su Muqing wished she hadn't found them, rather than seeing them like this...
There were five children in the cages. The oldest appeared to be only four or five years old. One had lost its eyeballs, leaving two dark sockets. Another had a piece of its nose missing, revealing rotten flesh within. A third had a cleft lip, so decayed it exposed the gums.
Su Muqing didn't want to recall the state of the other two... In short, not a single one looked normal!
The woman stretched out her hand and sprinkled some powder onto the children. Su Muqing then saw some of the worms in the cages below, as if sensing a scent, become active. They twisted their bodies desperately, trying to escape the now nutrient-depleted incubators.
Soon, some worms began to crawl up the hanging pipe. Su Muqing surmised that the pipe marked a stage in the worms' evolution.
The eggs were first nurtured within the women's bodies. Once they grew to a certain extent, the better-developed ones could crawl up the pipe to seek nourishment. The children's flesh and blood were the best nourishment supply stations.
After crawling up the pipe, the worms quickly burrowed into the children's bodies. Su Muqing had always assumed they were already dead, or at least not in such pain!
But who would have thought... they were being nourished alive!
She clearly saw that as the worms emerged from their mouths, eyes, noses, and ears, many of the children's bodies twitched slightly. Some even emitted pained sounds from their throats.
Witnessing this, Su Muqing could bear it no longer. She abruptly exited the space, raised her hand, and a puff of knockout smoke emerged from behind the woman. The woman instinctively turned to look, but her head began to spin, and soon her body went limp.
Seeing the woman incapacitated, Su Muqing turned to face the cages. However, confronted by the scene, she didn't know how to help them.
She lacked the courage to go to the next room, so she blew the worms off the women in front of her onto the ground. But she could only remove the surface ones. Those already hidden within the bodies quickly retreated, moving beneath their skin.
Su Muqing thought for a moment and decided to wash off the powder with water. She took out some diluted spiritual spring water and carefully sprinkled it on the areas where the powder had been applied.
At that moment! The worms that had retreated seemed to smell the spiritual spring water and reappeared. They then crawled towards the water stains.
With a "hiss," Su Muqing joyfully discovered that all the worms that touched the spiritual spring water dissolved, turning into small puddles of black, sticky fluid.
The black worms surged towards the spiritual spring water in swarms, dissolving into liquid one by one.
Even the worms that had already crawled up the pipe stopped and fell directly onto the spiritual spring water. The worms inside the children were also attracted out, swarming down into the cages below.
Just then, a rustling sound came from behind her. Su Muqing turned her head and recoiled in fright, stumbling back two steps. The corridor of the dark prison was now crawling with numerous small, dark worms. They were irresistibly drawn here, wriggling madly towards them.
"Excellent! The spiritual spring water can defeat these disgusting things!" Su Muqing quickly took out a very large bucket, filled it halfway with spiritual spring water, and placed it in the middle of the corridor.
Next, the worms crawled rapidly from all directions. In a short while, the half-full bucket turned black. After waiting a moment longer and seeing no new worms appearing, she retrieved the bucket back into her space.
Just then, a voice came through her earpiece. Su Muqing decisively pressed the record button. After waiting so long, she almost thought the earpiece was broken!
Before leaving the dark prison, she took out blood-replenishing pills and healing pills, then placed them one by one into the mouths of the women and children. The conditions in the subsequent cells were even more tragic than the preceding ones, but she was certain that all those people were still alive.
Su Muqing didn't know if the medicine would be effective for them, but it was all she could do. After administering the medicine, she carefully exited the dark prison and returned the way she came.
First, she would find Lu Yuzhi, then gather people from other sects, and raid the Thousand Poisons Cult's lair overnight! Perhaps Gongsun Zan could figure out a way to rescue them.
As Su Muqing retreated, she listened to the conversation in the earpiece. She hadn't expected the Thousand Poisons Cult to have so many big secrets!
"After taking the medicine, rest well. You only need to focus on healing your injuries. As for that Su Muqing, I will kill her to avenge you." The voice on the earpiece sounded like the woman wearing a black veil in the room.
The Saintess's voice crackled intermittently, "You... can't... beat... her... she... has... a... strange... aura. For... now... we... must... lay... low..."
Chu Ruo Qiao, upon hearing the Saintess say she couldn't beat Su Muqing, immediately became furious. "I am the chosen Phoenix Maiden, she is merely someone who knows some unorthodox arts. How dare you say I am inferior to her?"
Saintess: "The Chu... family's... legitimate... daughter... is... the... true... chosen..."
The veiled woman interrupted the Saintess, "The Chu family's legitimate daughter died thirteen years ago. I am the only Phoenix Maiden in this world! You yourself told me this back then, have you forgotten? Now, it's just a girl who looks a bit like Qu Fei, not enough to confirm she is that infant from years ago. And you, you couldn't wait and acted impulsively, almost leading the entire Thousand Poisons Cult to ruin!"
The Saintess now deeply regretted it. The first time she saw Su Muqing, she was startled. For some reason, the young girl gave her a dangerous feeling.
It even made her feel that if she didn't strike first, she might fall into her hands. She never expected that she would indeed fall into her hands.
The Saintess looked at Chu Ruo Qiao's arrogant expression and said, "Don't... act rashly... anymore... recently... there are... many... changes... Wait, wait for Su... Muqing... to... leave... then..."
The veiled woman turned to look at her, her face filled with a mocking expression. "Leave? She is now the recognized领主 (língzhǔ - leader/lord) of this no-man's-land. Do you have any method to make her leave? And isn't this all your doing? If you hadn't panicked the moment you saw Su Muqing and disrupted my entire plan, would today's situation have occurred? Do you really think I don't know that you ordered Chi Yue Ji. to ensure Su Muqing was eliminated first? Do you know what immense trouble you've caused me by acting so recklessly!"
"I, am not... acting... without... reason! She... carries... an anomaly, fearing... unforeseen... changes. Previous... life..." The Saintess anxiously tried to explain, as she also had an unsettling feeling.
Before the Saintess could finish, the veiled woman excitedly stopped her. "Don't talk to me about past lives anymore! Look at my face! It was because I listened to you back then that I became this ghastly appearance. I have to eat those disgusting things every day just to be seen!"