“... Chengyuan? Feng Chengyuan?”
Yu Nian called Feng Chengyuan several times in succession, but he still didn't respond and remained motionless.
A hint of panic flashed across Yu Nian's usually calm face. First, she reached out to feel Feng Chengyuan's breath, then she lay on his chest and listened carefully to his heartbeat.
... Strange. His breathing and pulse were normal. Could it be that the magnetic field in this factory was acting up?
Yu Nian carefully cupped Feng Chengyuan's face and intended to transmit some spiritual energy to him.
But just as their lips were about to touch, Feng Chengyuan beneath her slowly opened his eyes. At the moment their eyes met, a hint of surprise and confusion flashed in his eyes.
Yu Nian was stunned for a moment, then pretended to be calm as she got up from Feng Chengyuan. She coughed lightly and asked, “Do you feel unwell anywhere?”
“I'm just a bit tired. I just fell asleep,” Feng Chengyuan replied. There was a sweet and fishy smell floating in the air of the basement. After breathing it in for a while, it actually made one feel dizzy. Feng Chengyuan had been in a high - intensity, non - stop working state for the past few days. Coupled with the great impact when he fell from the slope, he had unconsciously fallen asleep just now.
“So worried about me?” Although Feng Chengyuan was smiling, he couldn't hide the exhaustion in his eyes.
Seeing that Yu Nian didn't say a word, Feng Chengyuan bent down to look at her expression. When he saw the unhidden worry in Yu Nian's eyes, he was slightly taken aback.
He reached out his hand and gently tucked a wisp of Yu Nian's stray hair behind her ear. He coaxed her with an apologetic tone, “It's my fault. I made Niannian worry.”
Yu Nian pursed her lips and averted her gaze. “Are you treating me like a child?” She paused for a moment and then said, “When I felt your pulse just now, I felt a strange flow of spiritual energy. Have you met any strange people recently?”
Feng Chengyuan nodded. “On my way back, I met an old man. He gave me a Sui Nian Flower. Although the old man presented himself as a beggar, I always felt that he was not that simple, so I placed him in the Qingxin Temple.”
“The Sui Nian Flower that can foresee the future?” Yu Nian slightly raised her eyebrows and suddenly took a step closer. “So what did you see with the Sui Nian Flower?”
Feng Chengyuan seemed to be choked and coughed softly.
Yu Nian was even more surprised to see Feng Chengyuan's flustered look. But since there were more important things to attend to, she didn't press further.
Yu Nian looked around and found that they had fallen into a narrow passage. She took out a fire talisman from her sleeve and shouted in a low voice, “Go!”
The talisman paper, carrying a powerful force, quickly rubbed against the wall and ignited by itself, illuminating the originally pitch - black surroundings.
Golden funeral money and paper ingots were densely piled up on both sides of the narrow passage. A row of paper - made child boys and girls were slanted and placed in the corner. Their eyebrows and eyes seemed to be flickering in the candlelight, as if they would come to life the next second.
Yu Nian couldn't help but complain, “Is Jiang Li planning to develop a side business and use this abandoned factory to provide a one - stop funeral service?”
As the two walked forward, there was actually another iron gate at the end of the road.
But unexpectedly, the area around the iron gate was clean. There were no carved runes at all, and it wasn't locked either.
Yu Nian and Feng Chengyuan exchanged a look and then pushed open this extremely heavy door in tacit understanding.
What came into view was a row of lamp candles about half a person's height. The weak yellow flames were flickering in the extreme darkness, looking extremely strange.
Yu Nian slightly moved her fingers, and the fire talisman slowly rose into the air. Finally, she could see clearly what was hidden in this basement.
It wasn't jewelry, nor was it magical artifacts.
Instead, there were huge iron cages, and inside the cages were all kinds of “people”.
The ground paved with bluestones was stained with blood, and all kinds of unpleasant smells were mixed together, making people can't help but feel nauseous.
The scene in front of them was so absurd that Feng Chengyuan's eyebrows also turned cold. With a gloomy look on his face, he asked Yu Nian, “Are the ones in the cages humans or demons?”
“They are demons.” Most of the demons in the cages were mountain and wild spirits. Some were animals that had become demons, and some were plants that had achieved spiritual enlightenment. Although they had transformed into men, women, the old, and the young of different appearances, Yu Nian had felt a soaring demonic aura the moment she pushed open the door.
Each demon in the cage was extremely disheveled. Some demons were numbly curled up in the corner, waiting for death.
Some demons were missing arms or legs, and various life - sustaining talismans were pasted on their bodies. They wouldn't die, but their wounds were still constantly oozing blood.
Looking at these miserable demons, a faint air of hostility appeared between Yu Nian's eyebrows.
Just like humans, demons could be divided into good and evil.
Someone like Jiang Li, who imprisoned these demons without a second thought, must be up to some evil scheme.
When they saw the door being opened, the demons' gazes were cast in Yu Nian's direction, but after a glance, they indifferently shifted their eyes away.
Maybe she was just a newly captured demon... They were all in such a difficult situation themselves that they were not interested in anything.
Suddenly, a noisy rattling sound of chains came from one of the cages. It was especially obvious in the silent room. A man suddenly rushed to the cage, grabbed the railing and shouted at Yu Nian, “Who... who are you? Are you here to save us?”
Yu Nian looked in the direction of the sound and was slightly surprised.
The person who had just called for help was actually a human, the only human in the cage.
His clothes were ragged, and his hair was messily stuck together. When he spoke, his expression was erratic, as if he had been greatly stimulated and was on the verge of collapse at any moment.
Yu Nian stepped forward and asked in a low voice, “Who are you? Why are you locked up here?”
Seeing that Yu Nian was willing to talk to him, the man was as excited as if he had grabbed a life - saving straw. He roared frantically and said regardless, “Let me out. I'll give you all my possessions!”
Yu Nian lowered her eyebrows and probed, “What's your relationship with Jiang Li?”
The man seemed not to hear Yu Nian's words and kept repeating, “Open the cage quickly! Hurry up!”
Yu Nian looked at him for a moment, then slowly got up and looked down at him from a high position. “Since you're not willing to say anything, there's no need for me to let you out.”
The man cursed loudly, “Don't you have any compassion?”
But Yu Nian seemed not to hear and just walked away.
Her gaze fell on the cage in the farthest corner of the room. A little boy about seven or eight years old was silently curled up. Blood was still constantly oozing from his arm. Sensing Yu Nian's gaze, he stiffly turned around. There was no light in his pitch - black eyes, and despair was almost devouring him.
This was a century - old ginseng spirit who had practiced by absorbing the essence of the sun and the moon, but was also locked up here by Jiang Li.
Yu Nian let out a soft sigh and walked to the ginseng spirit's cage. She reached out and grabbed the heavy iron lock, as if she wanted to break it open.
“Heh,” a sneer came. A beautiful fox demon was lazily leaning against the corner. Her eyes were dull. “Don't waste your energy. This lock is like a curse shackle. It will rebound all the force it receives. If it could be broken by brute force, how could so many of us demons have been trapped until now?”
Before it could finish speaking, a very crisp sound came from the ginseng spirit's cage.
Click!
The lock was broken, split in two from the middle. It was broken by Yu Nian.
The fox demon:.......???
Yu Nian reached out and tore off the evil talismans on the ginseng spirit's body and threw them out like garbage.
“Come out.”
The ginseng spirit looked at the open cage door in disbelief. After staggering out of the cage, he immediately cried with joy, “I'm finally free...”
There was a moment of silence in the surroundings, and then the whole basement exploded like it had come to life. All the demons rushed to the cage doors, and cries rose and fell one after another.
“Please save us too! Let us out!”
“I want to go home!”
“Master, quickly destroy this basement!”
...
The little demons' eyes were filled with hope and pleading. Yu Nian pursed her lips and nodded. “Don't be afraid. I'll save you all out.”