"Holy crap! What's something like this doing here?" Xiao Ba, who hadn't appeared in Su Luo's mind for a while, suddenly exclaimed.
"You know what this is?" Su Luo asked.
"Of course I do. This is an altar for summoning the Demon Lord."
"Related to the Demon Realm?" Su Luo was puzzled.
According to the plot, the passage between the human and demon realms hadn't opened yet, so why would something related to the Demon Realm appear here?
"It's more than just the Demon Realm. This thing is extremely sinister, and even in the Demon Realm, it's forbidden." Xiao Ba didn't go into detail, only vaguely warning her, "Just know that this is bad news, and it's best if you can find a way to destroy it."
Su Luo approached the altar and saw countless grooves on the ground around it, the bottoms of which were covered in a dark red substance. She drew her sword and carefully picked up a bit of the red with the tip, bringing it to her nose.
There was a faint metallic smell… It was blood.
"It's animal blood," Xiao Ba explained. "It seems someone has already attempted to summon the Demon Lord but failed."
Someone had tried to summon the Demon Lord here using animal sacrifices but failed. So now, they had turned their attention to the girls in the town.
He wanted to use those girls as sacrifices to summon the Demon Lord again.
The altar likely required a specific number of sacrifices. His urgency in abducting Meng Shuying suggested that he hadn't yet gathered enough.
This meant that the girls he had kidnapped might still be alive.
Su Luo stood before the altar, gripping her spirit sword tightly. She pressed the tip of the sword against the altar and began channeling her spiritual energy into the blade, attempting to create a crack in the altar.
But the altar seemed to have a will of its own. As soon as she infused it with spiritual energy, the air around the altar seemed to solidify, as if an invisible force was protecting it. That force clashed with her spiritual energy.
Sensing the resistance, Su Luo frowned slightly and gradually increased the output of her spiritual energy. But the more energy she released, the stronger the force pushing back against her sword became, eventually threatening to overwhelm her.
Taking a deep breath, she withdrew her sword. She then pulled out a stack of talismans from her Qiankun pouch and placed them on all sides of the altar.
Perhaps because the talismans didn't emit any spiritual energy, the altar remained unchanged.
"Senior Sister, come quickly! There seems to be someone in here!" Xie Hanzhu called out.
While Su Luo was busy with the black altar, Xie Hanzhu had explored the entire cavern. In the far west corner, she discovered a low door.
Behind the door was another room, this one without torches, only dimly lit by the light from the outer chamber. But it was enough to reveal the numerous figures lying on the ground.
Hearing the door open, Meng Shuying's fingers twitched. She slowly opened one eye, peering through her hair at the doorway.
And then she saw Su Luo standing in the light.
Su Luo was dressed in a moon-white robe, with a brocade outer robe woven from silkworm silk that shimmered under the lamplight.
She looked like a bright pearl, or perhaps a flawless jade.
For a moment, Meng Shuying felt as if she were gazing at the moon itself.
Cold, distant, and unattainable.
Su Luo's beauty was well-known among the servant disciples. However, her reputation for being haughty and difficult to get along with was just as widespread.
Even someone like Meng Shuying, who was at the bottom of the sect, had heard her name countless times.
Before today, Meng Shuying had never thought she was beautiful.
Su Luo had always treated her poorly, bullying her many times. She knew that someone like Su Luo, a favored daughter of the heavens, looked down on people like her.
So she had always avoided Su Luo, never trying to win her favor like some of the other disciples.
But now, trapped in this dark place, with no sight of the sun or moon…
Su Luo had come to save her.
She hadn't abandoned her.
…
As Meng Shuying stared blankly at Su Luo, Su Luo noticed her too.
She strode into the room, stopping beside Meng Shuying, and crouched down to tug at the ropes binding her hands and feet.
They wouldn't budge.
The ropes were made of some unknown material, incredibly tough and impossible to break.
Meanwhile, Xie Hanzhu crouched down beside the nearest girl and checked for a pulse.
"She's still alive."
Su Luo drew her spirit sword and sliced through the ropes binding Meng Shuying.
Xie Hanzhu also cut the ropes binding the other girls.
But they all seemed to be in a deep coma, showing no signs of waking.
Once freed, Meng Shuying tried to stand but immediately felt dizzy, her vision going dark.
She swayed on her feet, unable to steady herself, and started to fall backward.
Su Luo was quick to react, catching her around the waist.
As she held Meng Shuying, the younger girl clung to her wrist.
Her face was pale, and cold sweat beaded on her forehead. She looked very unwell.
"Are you okay?" Su Luo looked around, but there was nothing to lean on, so she let Meng Shuying rest against her shoulder.
Meng Shuying closed her eyes, leaning her head on Su Luo's shoulder. It took a while before she started to feel better.
"I was drugged…" she explained softly.
After dinner at the Qian residence that evening, Meng Shuying had returned to her room. Not long after, she began to feel drowsy, her head heavy. Unable to resist, she lay down to rest.
The drowsiness had come on so suddenly that Meng Shuying immediately sensed something was wrong.
She had lain there for about a quarter of an hour, growing more and more dizzy, her limbs turning to jelly. Just as she was about to pass out, someone had climbed in.
The intruder was dressed in black, with a mask covering his face, obscuring his features.
Seeing that Meng Shuying wasn't fully unconscious, the man had seemed surprised.
"My drug can knock out even Golden Core cultivators. You're an interesting little girl."
Those were the last words she heard before blacking out. Everything that happened after that was a mystery.
When she regained consciousness, she found herself lying on a cold, hard floor. The room was dark and eerily quiet, but she could hear the breathing of others around her.
Meng Shuying guessed that after she passed out, the man had taken her away from the Qian residence and brought her to this place, where she was held with the other kidnapped girls.
She had tried to escape, but her hands and feet were bound tightly, leaving her helpless. She was terrified, but she didn't dare cry out for help.
All she could do was keep her eyes shut and curse herself for her foolishness, for blindly trusting Su Luo's promise to save her and walking straight into the trap.
She could have run away.
Back at the Qian residence, she had so many chances to drop the tracking talisman and slip away unnoticed.
But where could she go? The world was vast, yet she had no place to call home. If she left the Qingxu Sect, where would she go?
This place was freezing, and Meng Shuying could feel the warmth draining from her body.
She floated in the darkness until she heard a noise outside. Fearing the man had returned, she tried to hide.
And then Su Luo appeared.
After listening to Meng Shuying's account of the night's events, Su Luo and Xie Hanzhu exchanged a glance, seeing the same concern in each other's eyes.
Xie Hanzhu had already cut the ropes binding the other girls, but there were too many of them. The two of them couldn't possibly carry all of them out.
After a moment's thought, Su Luo said to Xie Hanzhu, "You go out and tell Han Yi to bring more people from the town."
Xie Hanzhu glanced at the unconscious girls, nodded, and hurried out.
Su Luo noticed that Meng Shuying's complexion had improved, no longer as pale as before. She helped her lean against the wall, then went to check on the other girls.
There were fifteen girls in total, all of them unconscious.
Su Luo was about to search her Qiankun pouch for something to wake them up when a loud noise came from outside.
Xie Hanzhu rushed back in, looking panicked. "It's bad! The thief is back! He's fighting Han Yi outside!"
Hearing that Han Yi was already fighting the man, Su Luo knew they were in trouble.
Of the four of them who had come down the mountain, Meng Shuying didn't need to be counted—she was just an ordinary person with no cultivation.
Of the remaining three, only Han Yi had any real combat experience.
According to the original character's memories, Xie Hanzhu was like her—just a pretty face with no real fighting skills.
So Su Luo had only planned to investigate the missing girls, maybe rescue them if the opportunity arose. She had never intended to confront the thief head-on with just the three of them.
Why did he have to come back now of all times?
Su Luo and Xie Hanzhu ran to the entrance, where Han Yi was already locked in a fierce battle with the intruder.
Fortunately, the man's aura wasn't too strong—probably at most at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage. The three of them together should be able to handle him.
Like most Qingxu Sect disciples, Han Yi wielded a sword. At the moment, he was thrusting it toward the man in black.
The man also had a sword, but unlike most swords, his was entirely black.
The sword in the man's hand was like a viper lurking in the shadows, striking with deadly precision. With a quick block and a flick of his wrist, he sent both Han Yi and his sword flying.
"Hmph, is that all you've got? You dare come here, thinking you can take me on? You really think Ning Laoxian is so easy to deal with?" the man in black sneered as he leaped toward Han Yi, sword aimed at his chest.
Seeing the sword tip inches from his chest, Han Yi's eyes filled with terror.
But just then, a rope appeared out of nowhere, silently wrapping around the man in black from behind. By the time he noticed, it was too late—the rope moved like lightning, binding him tightly and immobilizing him.
"The Immortal Binding Rope!" the man in black shouted.
He turned his head, his gaze locking onto Su Luo and Xie Hanzhu, who stood at the entrance to the rockery. His voice was chilling as he asked, "What is Qingxu Sect's Zhan Xuehan to you?"
Xie Hanzhu wasn't great in a fight, but she had plenty of bravado. Seeing the man tied up, she stepped forward and shouted, "None of your business! You thief, today is your last day!"