Secret Chamber Observations
Zhou Qing and Tang San climbed down the ladder for nearly ten meters before finally reaching the bottom.
The light was dim here because the opening above was now covered by the bookshelf again—there was a faint light source behind the two of them.
The two turned around and saw a passage about twenty or thirty meters long. They picked up the Soul Conductor Godly Zhuge Crossbow II and aimed it at their respective positions, remaining vigilant at all times.
The two are back to back.
Tang San took a step forward, and Zhou Qing took a step back, and together they proceeded along the passage.
After passing through the passage, Tang San was the first to see the scene inside the secret chamber—
Human Skin Mask hung on the surrounding walls!
That was definitely real human skin!
Four skeletons were placed in the corner. The bones were a mix of old and new, and of different lengths, and were pieced together from the Human Bones!
In the very center stood a low table, and around it were four narrow beds, on which lay four pale-faced women, some even bloodless, covered with thick black quilts, completely wrapped up.
In addition, the room was filled with a strong, nauseating stench of blood.
"Vomit--"
Zhou Qing gagged, turned around from behind Tang San, fanned his nose with his hand, and frowned, "Nobody here? But why does it smell so bad? The rusty smell mixed with the blood makes me feel like my brain is being pressed into rust, and that rust has been soaked in excrement and urine."
As Zhou Qing stepped forward and saw the faces of the four women clearly, his eyes trembled.
These are the other pregnant women he and Ning Rongrong rescued back then!
"Pale as a feather, no breath, they're dead." Tang San gave them a quick check, sighed, and then, noticing Zhou Qing's somber face, asked in confusion, "You know them?"
"They, like Auntie Wang, were pregnant women from the countryside brought to Falling Star City by people from the City Lord's Mansion ..." Zhou Qing said in a deep voice, describing the situation in detail, his tone tinged with self-reproach.
He had assumed they could return safely.
but--
No.
Perhaps he had already guessed that a similar situation would occur, but he held onto a sliver of hope... thinking that he had a mission to complete... thinking that he couldn't help others forever... and so on, making numerous excuses.
"Qing Ge?"
Tang San patted Zhou Qing on the shoulder and comforted him, "This is not your fault, but the work of Dales and the guy hiding behind the scenes."
"You're overthinking it. I won't morally blackmail myself."
Zhou Qing shook her head slightly, her eyes growing even sharper. "It's just that after seeing their violent deaths, I felt a little sentimental, and I understand even more clearly what I truly want..."
As soon as he finished speaking, a faint blood-red aura flowed across Zhou Qing's body. His Blood Circulation System Martial Soul also took the initiative to attach itself to his body and started operating together with the Innate Internal Scripture Chart, as if an invisible shock force was bursting forth.
Like fire and stars, surging and endless!
"Qing Ge!"
Tang San keenly sensed this invisible force, and the flow of blood in his body suddenly accelerated at this moment, even his Spiritual Power subtly vibrated.
If it weren't for the protection of his Mysterious Heaven Skill and the innate cultivation techniques of his two Martial Soul souls, he would probably have already fainted by now.
He immediately realized that this was the kind of "belief"... power that Zhou Qing had mentioned!
belief?
How fitting!
In Tang San's perception, this power was formless and intangible, not carried by Soul Power, Spiritual Power, Bloodline Power and qi. It could spread directly from within his body, shaking not only the spirits of others, but even the souls at a deeper level.
"Feel sorry."
Zhou Qing immediately stopped circulating the Innate Internal Scripture Chart, allowing the invisible and intangible power of belief to dissipate. "Unconsciously, I used this power again, even while I was conscious... I'm starting to understand it a little. This power is closely related to the 'qi' and 'field' we've set up, but—"
Zhou Qing's gaze fell once again on the faces of the four pale-faced women. He shook his head inwardly. "It's not the right time to talk about these things. Let's take a closer look and see what caused these women to die."
When the blanket was lifted, revealing the full appearance of the four women, Zhou Qing and Tang San were both furious.
The abdomens of the four women had been cut open with huge gashes, their intestines and stomachs were in disarray, and inside each was a small, underdeveloped fetus.
"You're not a human being!"
Tang San gritted his teeth and actually cursed out loud, saying that the person who committed this crime was a beast.
This shocking scene left Zhou Qing in a daze, but he could only endure the pungent stench and have Tang San take out a pair of fire tongs from the Moon Shines Brightly in the Twelve Towers —as a blacksmith, he would naturally carry the corresponding forging tools with him.
Holding the fire tongs, Zhou Qing endured both physical and mental discomfort, gently poking at the notch on one of the women's genitals, his gaze gradually becoming serious.
Then, he examined the inside of the wounds of the other three women, and a look of doubt appeared on his face. "The uterus that nurtures the fetus is gone. The person who did this wanted to obtain the pregnant woman's uterus."
"What would you do with a pregnant woman's uterus? Use it in medicine?"
Tang San thought of the Placenta.
The so-called Placenta, also known as Baoyi or Taiyi, is simply the placenta.
The Compendium of Materia Medica explains its name as follows. "The Heavenly Placenta is the origin of the earth, the ancestor of yin and yang, the beginning of heaven and earth. When the embryo is about to be born, after the number nine times nine is completed, the fetus rides on it and travels to the Western Paradise, the Southern Sea Immortal Mountain, and drifts in the Penglai Immortal Realm and the Milky Way for thousands of miles. Therefore, it is called the River Chariot."
Regarding its medicinal effects, the Compendium of Materia Medica also has its own explanation:
During fetal development, the umbilical cord is connected to the mother, and the fetus is attached to the mother's spine, receiving the mother's blessing. It is formed by the union of the father's sperm and the mother's blood. Although it has a postnatal form, it truly receives prenatal energy, clearly incomparable to other minerals, herbs, or plants. Its nourishing effects are extremely potent; long-term consumption can sharpen hearing and vision, darken hair and beard, and prolong life.
Therefore, many high-ranking officials and nobles in his previous life would specially purchase Placenta, and even some Alchemy Sect would regularly go down the mountain to purchase it.
But the Placenta is not the entire uterus and will fall off with the baby after birth, so why dig out the whole uterus?
This is far too cruel.
"Do you remember the three books I saw on the desk back then?" Zhou Qing Zhou Qing asked after a moment of silence.
"I remember, it was ' Safe Pregnancy for Expectant Mothers,' ' The Fetal Development,' and 'The State Before Martial Soul Awakening: A Hypothetical Situation'..."
Tang San's words abruptly stopped, and after a long pause, he finally said, "Qing Ge, what do you mean?"
"The ' Safe Pregnancy for Expectant Mothers ' and ' Fetal Development ' alone don't reveal any clues, but when combined with 'The State Before Martial Soul Awakening: Hypothesis' and the fact that these four pregnant women's corpses have lost their uteruses, we can make some bold judgments."
Zhou Qing clenched his fist. "What is the state of Martial Soul Awakening? Where is it located? I wasn't the first to think of the concept of ' Soul Palace,' but I was the one who defined the term first."
In the Library of the Nuoding Spirit Hall Branch, the series of books on the Origin of Martial Souls were written by the Fallen Ones, and when I was organizing them, I found that one book was missing..."