Under the gloomy sky of the Abyss Demon Beast Realm, a group of people could be seen traversing the wasteland, surveying the land for any sign of human civilization.
Leading the group was Nie Li, who had taken it upon himself to guide everyone as they travel.
Chen Linlin, who had been tasked by Ye Zong and her father with being in charge of the expedition, had no qualms whatsoever about letting Nie Li take the lead as they ventured deeper into their search. She knew that Nie Li had great insight into many things, making him an important asset to their journey.
"You guys stay here. I need to check what that object is."
The group came to a halt as Nie Li suddenly sprang to his feet and approached a monument standing in the middle of nowhere.
leaving Chen Linlin and the others behind without waiting for their response. This action made Chen Linlin's eyebrows knit together. She didn't like how Nie Li would often wander off on his own without telling her or his friends why he had gone off.
This had happened quite a few times ever since he, Xiao Ning'er, and Ye Ziyun woke up, causing them to worry about his whereabouts.
Speaking of Ye Ziyun, the girl was unusually reserved.
"Ziyun, are you okay? You've been unusually withdrawn since we left the Sacred Jade Room. If you're feeling unwell, we can get some more rest," Chen Linlin said worriedly, noticing Ye Ziyun's odd behavior.
Ye Ziyun's eyes widened in surprise at being called out, but she immediately composed herself, sending a reassuring smile to Chen Linlin as she shook her head.
"Linlin, thank you for worrying, but I'm quite alright. It's just that I have something on my mind. But don't worry about it. It's nothing serious or anything."
Slap!
Slap!
Ye Ziyun then placed both hands on either side of her face before gently tapping her cheeks, as though she were trying to snap herself out of her thoughts.
Her cheeks bright red, she gave Chen Linlin a reassuring look, silently telling her that she was perfectly fine. Chen Linlin saw this and nodded, dropping the topic.
It didn't take long before Nie Li returned, looking contemplative.
"You found something interesting, Nie Li?" Chen Linlin asked, noticing his reaction.
"Nope, nothing that would interest you," Nie Li said with a grin, clearly unwilling to share what he had found.
Chen Linlin simply nodded, choosing not to press him, before prompting the group to continue their journey.
"Look, a light!" Lu Piao exclaimed, pointing toward the faint glow in the distance.
Nie Li stroked his chin as a thoughtful expression washed over him.
"We should go and see it. With our overall strength combined, as long as we don't encounter anything above Legend rank, we should be fine," Nie Li suggested before turning to Chen Linlin to ask for her opinion on the matter. "What do you think, Boss? Should we go see what it is?"
Chen Linlin wore a cautious expression as she gazed at the distant light.
"Let's head there, but stay alert. We don't know what kind of dangers are lurking in this place."
Her words prompted Nie Li to walk ahead of everyone else.
"You heard our boss. Let's see what's waiting for us over there."
The group looked at each other before they all nodded and followed Nie Li's lead.
As they got closer to the mysterious light, the landscape around them underwent a drastic change. From where they were, they could now see a lush forest filled with towering trees. Furthermore, they could finally tell what the source of the light was: a light post, clearly man-made.
This brought a wave of shock to them as they realized they had finally found what they were looking for.
It was a human settlement, fully adapted to the harsh environment of the Abyss Demon Realm. Houses built into large, ancient trees could be seen everywhere, their lights shining through the windows and making the entire forest seem as though it were surrounded by fireflies.
The entire settlement was interconnected by hanging bridges, with some trees equipped with giant crossbows, making it obvious that they had been placed there to deter demon beasts from entering their territory.
"Nie Li, do you recognize that crest?" Chen Linlin asked after composing herself from her momentary surprise.
Nie Li followed her line of sight, narrowing his eyes as he saw a crest bearing a Thunderbird.
"That's the crest of the Silver Winged Family. Their clan flourished during the Woodland Empire. Their people were born with silver wings attached to their backs. It surprises me that they still exist even after such a long time," Nie Li answered in genuine surprise.
Hearing his words, Chen Linlin then shifted her gaze toward Yue Ling.
"Yue Ling, survey their territory. I want to get an initial look at their way of life before we make contact. Please be careful."
Chen Linlin's order prompted the smaller girl to nod before integrating with her demon spirit, causing her spiritual aura to leak out. Her entire body then seemingly disappeared before everyone's eyes.
"Void God Cultivation Technique! She's actually using the Void God Cultivation Technique!" Nie Li exclaimed in shock as Yue Ling's entire existence seemingly vanished.
Never had he imagined that there was another attribute-less soul realm besides his own in Glory City. What surprised him the most was that, despite cultivating the Void God Cultivation Technique, Yue Ling had been able to reach the Black Gold rank in such a short time.
One should know that unless one had Nie Li's vast knowledge provided by the Temporal Demon Spirit Book, it would be difficult for ordinary people to cultivate the Void God Cultivation Technique to its vanishing form, as its cultivation required abundant resources and a high level of insight into the concepts of time and space.
While Nie Li was fully aware that Xue Hui had played a major role in Yue Ling's insane cultivation progress, he couldn't ignore the fact that Yue Ling possessed monstrous talent, allowing her to harness the concepts of time and space in such a short time.
The group waited for quite some time before Yue Ling reappeared in front of everyone. Immediately, everyone could notice a scowl plastered across her youthful face.
She was clearly furious, which was extremely rare for their usually shy and sweet-natured friend.
"Yue Ling, quickly, tell me everything you discovered," Chen Linlin urged, clearly eager to hear whatever her friend had uncovered during her scouting.
"Mhm, these people seemed very normal at first. They performed their tasks and contributed to their clan. But the more I investigated, the more disturbing things I discovered. First, there's this person they dubbed the 'bastard child.' I saw how they tortured this person, restraining him and whipping him repeatedly. They even had a schedule for people to take turns torturing him."
As Yue Ling recounted what she had seen, the scowl on her face turned vicious as killing intent leaked from her body.
"You think that's the only heinous thing this clan has done? Nope! Not at all. I snooped around a little further until I found myself in a mining pit. There, I saw hundreds upon hundreds of people, all branded with blood imprints. I'm sure of it since the marks placed in them were the same ones Master showed us before. Like I said, this clan enslaves those people, young, old, women, and children. They were forced to work in the mine with those slave marks branded onto them."
At her words, everyone's expression became grim. From Yue Ling's account alone, they could tell that this Silver Winged Family was a bunch of vicious tyrants.
"Nuff talking! Let me descend the sun upon these people and burn them to a crisp! Boss told us before that any inscription master who used their talents to enslave others needs to die a horrible death. Let's do that, then." Mei Lin huffed in anger as she clenched her fists, the sound of her knuckles cracking echoing through the group.
Unexpectedly, her words were backed by everyone except Chen Linlin and Nie Li, who both wore contemplative expressions.
"Linlin, aren't we going to help those people? This Silver Winged Family is vicious in their methods," Jing Ya asked, prompting Chen Linlin to shake her head.
"It's not that I'm not willing to do anything to help those people. It's just that this is the Abyss Demon Realm, not the outside world or Glory City. The people here live differently from us. What we might see as barbaric and cruel might be perfectly normal to the people of the Abyss Demon Realm. I want to save everyone from those blood imprints, but I want to meet the Silver Winged Family in person first before doing anything rash."
Chen Linlin then fell into deep thought as she considered how they were going to handle the situation at hand.
"I know, everyone. Conceal your cultivation. Let's first see how the Silver Winged Family would react to our words if they knew they could easily subdue us," Chen Linlin said as she suppressed her cultivation to that of a Gold-rank Demon Spiritualist.
Xiao Ning'er, Ye Ziyun, and the three other girls exchanged glances before following Chen Linlin's lead and suppressing their own strength, appearing to be only Gold rank without a single flaw to be found in their auras.
This made their entire group appear to consist only of Gold-rank Demon Spiritualists, quite a formidable force, but not overwhelmingly so.
"If everyone's ready, let's go and meet these Silver Winged people," Chen Linlin said as their group approached the lush forest.
End of Chapter 134
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