To everyone's surprise, Yu Nian managed to unlock the cage. The man inside the cage immediately scrambled to his feet and pushed his way to the front of the group of demons out of sheer will to survive.
"Hey! All the beings locked up here are cunning demons. I'm the only innocent human! We're of the same race! You have to rescue me first!"
His words made the once noisy demons fall silent. Suspicion clouded their eyes as they stared at Yu Nian.
Yu Nian was still human no matter how powerful she was. There had always been a feud between the Xuanmen practitioners and the demon race since ancient times. Would Yu Nian really rescue these out - siders?
The man in the cage continued to rant. Yu Nian gave him a casual glance, and he immediately forced a sycophantic smile. "I'll tell you everything I know!"
"My name is Yuan Ao. I'm a villager from Putuo Village. I was captured here by Jiang Li half a month ago. In the old days, Jiang Li was on good terms with my father and they even regarded each other as brothers. But later, they seemed to have had a falling - out and suddenly stopped contacting each other. He never told me the reason even after my father passed away. That night, I just got off work. I saw Jiang Li sneaking towards the old factory alone. Curious, I secretly followed him... But as soon as I reached the factory gate, he disappeared. I got scared and was about to run when I was hit hard and fainted. When I woke up, I was already in this basement."
Feng Chengyuan asked, "What did Jiang Li do after he captured you here?"
Yuan Ao's facial features contorted as if he had recalled something extremely terrifying.
He tremblingly rolled up his sleeve. Only then did Yu Nian notice the criss - crossing scars on his arm. Some wounds had scabbed over, while others were still oozing blood.
"I seriously suspect that Jiang Li is a pervert! He locked me up with these demons but didn't kill us. He provided us with good food and drinks, but every midnight, he would take out two demons to bleed them. After collecting a bowl of blood, he would throw them back and give us a bunch of talisman papers to stop the bleeding."
"Bleeding them at midnight?" Yu Nian frowned. These demons who had been cultivating in the mountains and forests had one thing in common: their blood was extremely yin and pure.
She asked Yuan Ao, "What's your birth date and time?"
After Yuan Ao blankly recited a series of numbers, Yu Nian was slightly stunned.
Yuan Ao was born in a yin year, month, and hour, with a completely yin constitution.
No wonder Jiang Li had captured Yuan Ao. It seemed that his blood was even more precious than that of the demons who had been cultivating.
But what about the little black cat with no cultivation that she and Feng Chengyuan had seen earlier? Was it just for warding off evil spirits?
Suddenly, the fox demon in the corner spoke up. "Every demon in this cage has been cultivating for a hundred years. We've been focusing on cultivation and never harmed humans. But we don't know what evil methods Jiang Li used. We were completely helpless in front of him. Every demon here is wounded. The one you just rescued is a ginseng spirit. The other demons with missing limbs are plant spirits. Some animal demons were taken out and never came back..."
Perhaps Yuan Ao's memories had triggered the demons' panic. The basement fell silent, and despair spread. This silence was deafening to Yu Nian and Feng Chengyuan.
All the doubts dissipated at this moment. As long as the plant spirits weren't dead, their flesh and blood would regenerate.
Jiang Li "raised" them here, just like harvesting leeks, one batch after another.
This made Yu Nian think of a story she had read in a scripture.
There was once a merchant who loved to eat donkey meat, but he was extremely picky. He wouldn't touch it unless it was fresh.
But how could meat not go bad?
He came up with an idea. He selected a donkey and raised it from a young age.
When the donkey grew a bit older, he would cut off a piece of the best part of the donkey's body and then use spiritual medicine to treat the donkey.
Eat, cut, eat again, cut again. This cycle continued until the donkey couldn't bear the pain and died.
Thinking of such a cruel and bloody scene, Yu Nian's calm face darkened. The powerful pressure emanating from her made it hard for anyone to approach.
Regardless of Jiang Li's purpose, this almost torturous way of exterminating demons was a disgrace to the Xuanmen.
Seeing Yu Nian's silence, the fox demon smiled resignedly and wearily.
She never really expected Yu Nian to rescue them.
There were dozens of tiny and evil incantations engraved on just one lock. Although Yu Nian seemed to unlock it easily, she was actually using her spiritual power to break through the curse!
There were at least a hundred cages here. How could Yu Nian possibly rescue them all?
"Leave quickly before Jiang Li comes back. Maybe this is our fate..."
Yu Nian stopped talking. She first snapped the locks of two nearby cages. Then, seemingly impatient with this slow pace, she stopped and turned to look at Feng Chengyuan.
Feng Chengyuan lowered his eyes and looked at Yu Nian with a questioning look.
Yu Nian curved her lips slightly. "Borrow some of your spiritual power."
Just as Feng Chengyuan was about to reach out his hand, Yu Nian suddenly threw herself into his arms. Her small face was buried deep in his chest as she murmured some incantations.
Feng Chengyuan was only slightly stunned for a moment. As he returned the hug, he gently placed his left hand on Yu Nian's neck, locking her firmly in his embrace in a very reassuring way.
Her gentle breath sprayed on Feng Chengyuan's chest. He felt all his fatigue disappear in an instant.
"Can you guys... go hug somewhere else??" the fox demon scolded angrily.
Feng Chengyuan ignored the fox demon. He lowered his head, his deep voice reaching Yu Nian's ear. "Niannian, is that enough?"
For some reason, Yu Nian felt that there was a hint of a smile in Feng Chengyuan's tone.
A few seconds later, Yu Nian suddenly wriggled out of Feng Chengyuan's arms. Her cheeks were slightly red. She didn't even dare to look back at Feng Chengyuan as she walked towards the cages with determination.
Yu Nian formed a hand seal. Strange light waves spread out from her in all directions. It seemed that a faint golden and sharp sword qi burst out from her body.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The moment Yu Nian finished reciting the incantation, all the locks fell to the ground.
The demons were stunned by what they saw. Then they rushed out of the cages one after another.
"What's going on??" the fox demon asked the toad demon beside her in disbelief. "How did she unlock the locks??"
The toad demon answered honestly, "With spiritual power. Didn't you see that the girl's spiritual power was overflowing?"
"That's exactly what I'm confused about. Just now, when I checked, Yu Nian's spiritual power was almost exhausted, no different from an ordinary person. Just by hugging her man, her spiritual power skyrocketed? Even if Feng Chengyuan has the furnace constitution, it's too unreasonable!"
Unless she was a powerful being who had possessed someone else's body, but the fox demon quickly dismissed this possibility as too unlikely.
The toad demon smacked his lips and hopped out of the cage while sighing, "Maybe this is the power of love~"
The fox demon fell silent. She decided that after getting out, she would also find a human to hug. Maybe she could slack off on her cultivation for hundreds of years!