Longevity Martial Arts: Grinding Experience in the Chaotic World Chapter 1231 639: Turning a Deaf Ear (Part 2)

Gu Sheng choked back his fury and inquired.

The young girl confirmed with a nod.

"All the females over the age of ten within the city have been seized... I have... I have been held here for three whole months!"

Three months!

This chilling revelation meant that the depraved actions of the Nie family father and son had been ongoing for a considerable duration.

"My younger sister, she is merely eight years old!"

A frail girl confined in a nearby cage suddenly erupted into tears.

"They stated they would take her when she reaches ten years of age."

Unable to continue, the girl buried her face in her hands, her sobs wracking her small frame.

Her lament seemed to shatter the silence, and the oppressive atmosphere of the dungeon was swiftly consumed by a chorus of weeping.

Gu Sheng squeezed his eyes shut, the image of his sister's innocent and joyful smile blazing through his consciousness.

What if it were her who had been captured... what if it were she who was imprisoned in this lightless oubliette.

From the adjacent cell, the muffled sobs of other girls could be faintly heard.

Abruptly, a young woman darted towards the iron bars, her voice ringing out as she confronted the guard.

"You beasts! You will all perish miserably!"

"Insolent brat!"

The guard sneered, drawing a long whip and cracking it through the bars.

"Snap!"

The whip’s shadow darted out, leaving a crimson gash across the girl's face.

She collapsed to the ground with a wail of agony but maintained her defiant glare towards the guard.

"Utter another sound, and I shall whip you to death."

The guard menacingly threatened.

"All of you, quiet yourselves. You will face torment aplenty tomorrow!"

Gu Sheng’s right hand instinctively clenched into a fist.

He was barely restraining himself, but his reason dictated that this was not the opportune moment.

He remained ignorant of the City Lord's true strength, and any rash action would only endanger these innocent souls.

After the guard departed, uttering further curses, Gu Sheng crouched beside an elder with wispy white hair.

"Elder, are you all cultivators?"

The old man offered a sorrowful smile and nodded.

"Otherwise, how would we find ourselves in such a predicament... The Nie father and son specifically hunt cultivators to hone their dark arts..."

"What is the City Lord’s cultivation level?"

Gu Sheng lowered his voice to pose the question.

A hushed silence fell over the cell, the prisoners all fixing Gu Sheng with terrified gazes, as if he had uttered a question deemed taboo.

"Why do you inquire about such a matter?"

The elder nervously scanned his surroundings, only resuming once he ascertained that no guard was in earshot.

"No one knows the precise answer; those who have witnessed his power in combat are all deceased!"

From a dark corner, a middle-aged man bearing a face scarred by countless battles suddenly interjected.

"At least the peak of the Earth Palace Realm, perhaps even the Heavenly Palace Realm."

Heavenly Palace Realm! Gu Sheng’s heart plummeted.

Despite possessing exceptional innate talent, his journey in cultivation had been relatively brief, and he was currently only at the nascent stage of the Earth Palace Realm.

Should the City Lord indeed possess Heavenly Palace Realm cultivation, his prospects in a direct confrontation were exceedingly grim.

"When will they commence their ritual?"

Gu Sheng continued his line of questioning.

"Tomorrow," the elder replied, his voice trembling.

"At noon tomorrow, when the Yang Qi reaches its zenith... they require the souls of ninety-nine cultivators and the vital blood essence of nine hundred and ninety-nine maidens."

Gu Sheng’s expression darkened considerably.

He had heard tales of the Nine Yin Soul Devouring Technique, a notoriously treacherous cultivation method belonging to the Demon Path, which necessitated the absorption of numerous cultivator souls and maiden essence blood to achieve profound mastery.

Upon its completion, the Qingsheng City Lord’s power would skyrocket, elevating him to an even more formidable status.

"I must devise a method..."

Gu Sheng had barely begun to voice his thoughts when the elder seized his wrist.

"Do not entertain such notions!"

The elder’s eyes were wide with palpable fear.

"Escape from this place is impossible; that Demon of Qingsheng has erected the Heaven and Earth Net within the City Lord Mansion... mere days ago, a cultivator in the mid-stage of the Earth Palace Realm attempted resistance and was instantly reduced to a desiccated husk."

Gu Sheng gently placed his hand over the old man’s wrist.

"Rest now and conserve your strength."

As the night deepened, the mournful sounds within the dungeon gradually subsided, yet Gu Sheng remained resolutely awake.

He assumed a cross-legged posture in the corner, circulating his spiritual energy internally and suppressing his breathing to its absolute minimum, all while keenly attuning himself to his surroundings.

A subtle hum of activity seemed to emanate from beneath the City Lord Mansion, and a faint, chilling energy fluctuation could be detected.

Gu Sheng attempted to extend his divine sense for a closer examination, but it was forcefully repelled by a malevolent power the moment it brushed against the cell wall.

"A restriction..."

Gu Sheng mused internally.

"And one specifically designed to counter divine sense."

This observation further solidified his belief in the Qingsheng City Lord’s extraordinary prowess—the establishment of such a formidable restriction would undoubtedly require an expert at least at the peak of the Earth Palace Realm.

At the first hint of dawn, the clamor of approaching footsteps echoed from beyond the dungeon entrance.

"Rise! All of you, get on your feet!"

With a rough shove, the guards kicked at the prison doors.

"Today is a fine day to send them to meet King Yan!"

The cell doors creaked open one by one, and the prisoners were unceremoniously hauled out.

As the girls were dragged from their cells, their cries and screams filled the air; those who dared to resist were immediately subjected to the lash until their skin tore open.

"Be silent!"

One guard roughly seized an old man by his collar, yanking him outside.

"To be part of the City Lord's Divine Skill is a great honor for all of you!"

Gu Sheng offered no resistance, allowing the guards to escort him out of the dungeon.

They emerged into a vast square, which was clearly the Martial Arts Arena of the City Lord Mansion, now transformed into a horrifying altar.

Stone pillars were deliberately arranged in a peculiar formation, each with a bound girl shivering by it in the morning breeze, their faces stained with tears.

"Sister!"

A young girl's voice suddenly pierced the air.

"Sister, please save me!"

Gu Sheng turned his gaze toward the distressed call and saw the spirited girl from the previous day, secured to a stone pillar not far away. The marks of whip lashes were still evident on her face.

She valiantly suppressed her tears.

"Do not be afraid! Your sister is here."

Gu Sheng's fists clenched instinctively, unable to remain still.

The cultivators were herded to the center of the square, where an even larger stone pillar stood, heavily stained with dark red blood, a clear testament to its frequent use.

"Get up there!"

The guards shoved Gu Sheng forward and bound him to a stone pillar.

The instant the ropes made contact with his skin, Gu Sheng felt an unsettling coldness attempt to infiltrate his body.

He swiftly circulated his spiritual power to ward it off, all while maintaining a facade of utter weakness.

"Is everything prepared?"

A familiar voice echoed.

Nie Shan swaggered into the square, his face alight with anticipation.

"Are the numbers correct?"

"Yes, Young Master, ninety-nine cultivators and nine hundred and ninety-nine girls, not a single one missing!"

The head guard responded with utmost deference.

"Excellent! Excellent!"

Nie Shan's eyes blazed with fervor.

"Your Father will be here shortly; prepare to commence the ceremony!"

As the sun climbed higher in the sky, the girls' initial cries devolved into sobs of despair, while most of the cultivators adopted the pallor of the doomed, their eyes closing in resigned waiting.

At this precise moment, the ground beneath them began to tremble faintly.

"He has arrived!"

Nie Shan exclaimed with excitement.

"Father has appeared!"

At the far end of the square, a colossal stone door slowly ground open, releasing a potent, heavy aroma of blood into the atmosphere.

Gu Sheng observed a figure cloaked in blood-red gracefully emerge from the shadows behind the stone door.

It was a towering middle-aged man, adorned in a crimson robe, his countenance exuding a sinister aura. He floated in mid-air, enveloped by a palpable crimson mist, and each subtle movement he made produced faint cracking sounds in the air.

"Welcome, City Lord!"

All the guards simultaneously fell to their knees, their foreheads touching the ground in unison.

Qingsheng City Lord paid them no heed, his gaze sweeping methodically over every girl and cultivator present.

Upon noticing Gu Sheng, he paused momentarily, a slight frown creasing his brow.

Gu Sheng immediately suppressed his aura to its absolute minimum, slowing his heartbeat to the point of near stillness.

He recalled reading in the ancient texts of the Holy Land that cultivators of higher realms could discern an opponent's strength by their life aura, thus necessitating his complete concealment.

"Welcome, Father, to your Grand Culmination of the Divine Skill!"

Nie Shan prostrated himself fully on the stone slab, his forehead pressed firmly against the cold surface.

"The auspicious hour has arrived."

Qingsheng City Lord's voice was a rough rasp.

"Begin the ritual."

Nie Shan's face was overcome with a zealous fervor.

"Light the fires! Bring forth the Pill Furnace!"

At his command, numerous guards strained to push a massive bronze pill furnace, standing three feet tall, into the center of the square.

The furnace's exterior was intricately carved with ferocious ghost visages, and an eerie green flame flickered at its base. Even from dozens of feet away, the intense cold radiating from the heat was palpable.

"No... please don't..."

A girl bound to a pillar suddenly cried out in terror.

"Mother... save me..."

While the cultivators managed to maintain a semblance of composure, the girls were utterly consumed by panic.

Qingsheng City Lord remained unmoved, deaf to their pleas.

The malevolent Qi surrounding him intensified dramatically. Swirls of pitch-black mist erupted from his seven orifices, rapidly obscuring half the sky.

The sunlight was extinguished, plunging the entire square into a ghastly twilight, with only the phantom green fire beneath the furnace providing any illumination.

Within Gu Sheng's body, his spiritual power continued to circulate silently.

He observed a subtle fluctuation in the surrounding malevolent Qi that occurred precisely when Qingsheng City Lord absorbed a Blood Pearl.