Main Altar

"As expected."

Chen Mu's heart held no surprise at this moment. He had long anticipated that the Black Crow Sect would stir up some major trouble, but their actions were indeed utterly deranged.

If they were to kidnap the entire million-strong population of the Outer City, using them as leverage and bargaining chips, it might indeed force the major powers of the Inner City to make certain concessions. After all, while the Inner City lords might not care about a few lives in the Outer City, the entire Outer City was a completely different concept.

Moreover, this method was difficult to stop with mere force. Even existences at the Yi Jin or even Duan Gu level could not completely eliminate the Gray-skinned Rats that roamed the Outer City.

Xu Hongyu also realized the gravity of the situation. She had no time to consider the conditions and mechanisms within the underground passage. She had to strangle the Black Crow Sect's delusions in the cradle before things spiraled out of control.

Whoosh!

Xu Hongyu took the lead, charging into the underground passage. Immediately, someone behind her followed with a torch, followed by Min Baoyi and a group of City Guard from Nine Stripes Ward, including Chen Mu. The group entered the passage in a mighty manner.

The passage was not particularly narrow, able to accommodate two people walking side by side, but the entire passage was filled with a rotten, bloody smell. After a short distance, the group quickly encountered some corpses.

These were Black Crow Sect members who had previously gone down to explore the passage, their bodies riddled with sharp arrows.

Xu Hongyu only glanced at them briefly before ignoring them, continuing to charge forward. After another stretch, two forks in the road appeared ahead. Min Baoyi immediately said, "Left, the right is a dead end trap."

This was also explored with human lives in the previous half-day.

Relying on the previously explored part of the underground situation, the group avoided many traps in the tunnel, but because Xu Hongyu's speed was very fast, they soon arrived at a completely unfamiliar section.

Chii!!

Not knowing what mechanism was triggered, a burst of air-piercing sound suddenly came from the front of the passage, accompanied by a wave of cold light.

"Be careful!"

Someone warned.

But Xu Hongyu, who was in the lead, did not retreat. With a flick of her wrist, her soft sword was unsheathed, unleashing a wave of sword light in the narrow passage, as if countless raindrops gathered into a semi-circular barrier.

Only a series of clanging sounds of metal collisions were heard, and all the incoming darts were knocked down by Xu Hongyu.

With an Yi Jin realm existence clearing the way, ordinary traps were almost useless. Whether it was flying darts, hidden arrows, or mechanisms that sprayed poisonous water and mist, many were cut down by Xu Hongyu's sword before they could even be triggered. Even the poisonous water sprayed head-on could be completely blocked by her almost watertight sword flowers, pushing forward all the way.

They advanced again in this manner.

Finally.

A very spacious stone chamber appeared ahead. Some messy footprints remained in the stone chamber, obviously indicating that someone had been here just now, but had now all evacuated.

In addition to the passage the group had entered, there were four other forks in the road in the stone chamber, leading in different directions.

"This should already be near their Main Altar."

Min Baoyi said in a deep voice, he had been estimating the distance all the way.

All four forks in the road had obvious messy footprints, obviously leading to different areas inside.

"Don't delay, split up! Kill without mercy if there is resistance!"

Xu Hongyu said in a deep voice, her figure flashed, and she had already rushed into the leftmost passage alone.

Xiao He was about to say something, but seeing that Xu Hongyu had disappeared, a look of helplessness flashed in her eyes, but she quickly looked at the crowd and said in a deep voice: "Xu Yamen Director, you take people to go the second road, Min Yamen Director, you divide some people and take the third road."

The person called 'Xu Yamen Director' was the Yamen Director of the Main Division and also Xu Hongyu's man. He responded and immediately led the people behind him into the second passage. Immediately after, Min Baoyi also looked behind him and quickly said: "Wang Gong, Zhong Chang, you take people with me, Chen Mu, Qin Bei, you follow Vice Officer He."

As her voice fell, she led the group into the third passage.

Qin Bei obviously knew Xiao He's identity as well. She wasn't some adjutant, but Xu Hongyu's personal maid. Her position with Xu Hongyu was even higher than Min Baoyi's, and her strength wouldn't be weak either. He had no objection to this, and Chen Mu had even fewer questions.

Xiao He also looked serious at this time. With a wave of her hand, she led Qin Bei, Chen Mu, and the others into the fourth passage. After advancing dozens of steps, the front suddenly opened up, revealing a dim prison.

Faintly visible were some emaciated, half-dead prisoners groaning in the prison.

"Those people who have disappeared in the past few months are probably all here."

The thought flashed through Chen Mu's mind.

Although it wasn't yet clear what the Black Crow Sect was specifically capturing these people for, judging from the scene before him, it was nothing more than using these people to cultivate those Gray-skinned Rats, either drawing blood or some other cruel means.

But just as Chen Mu's gaze swept over the cages one by one, trying to find familiar faces among them, a rustling sound suddenly came, and soon it became a continuous stretch, gathering into a rustling wind, making people shudder.

Everyone's expressions changed instantly.

Their gazes turned to the depths of the prison in front of them.

But just as everyone's attention was focused on the prison, a loud bang suddenly came from the passage behind them, as if some heavy object had fallen. Accompanied by a muffled sound, when they turned to look, they saw a large stone falling down, blocking their retreat.

Some Yamen Runners immediately began to panic and become chaotic at the sight.

"Don't panic!"

Qin Bei and Chen Mu spoke at the same time.

Both of their voices were calm and powerful, without any panic.

Qin Bei was an old Yamen Runner Captain of many years, and also the only one among the City Guard's Yamen Runner Captains besides Chen Mu who had mastered Saber Intent. However, now that he was over thirty-five years old, his body tempering technique had stopped at the Lian Rou minor success stage, and he no longer had the opportunity to advance further, nor was he qualified to be promoted to Yamen Director. But in terms of strength, he was still the strongest in the Nine Stripes Ward City Guard besides Min Baoyi.

With the realm of Lian Rou and the Saber Intent, he could be called a veteran of hundreds of battles, so he naturally wouldn't panic in the face of sudden changes in the situation.

Chen Mu was even more needless to say. Strength was his greatest confidence. Just like the previous passage, if he had been leading the way, he might not have been able to push through all the traps like Xu Hongyu, but most of the traps posed no threat to him.

With his Copper Steel Skin and Lian Rou major success, those mechanisms and hidden arrows were almost impossible to injure him, and poisons were basically difficult to harm him. Poisonous mist was a bit tricky, but with his saber skills, he could still destroy the source of the spray before it spread.

Even the tunnels full of traps posed little threat to him, let alone in this open area.

The two Yamen Runner Captains spoke at the same time, immediately calming down some of the Yamen Runners who had fallen into panic. Xiao He, however, did not speak, but looked at Chen Mu and Qin Bei's reactions, a hint of appreciation flashing in her eyes.

Qin Bei was fine, after all, he was an old Yamen Runner Captain of Nine Stripes Ward, and his strength was not weak. She also knew his details very well. But Chen Mu's ability to remain calm at this age showed that he was calm and composed, which was basically consistent with Min Baoyi's evaluation.

Given time,

he would surely become a capable subordinate.

If there was still a slight possibility of breaking through the shackles of Yi Jin and stepping into the third realm of body tempering, the Yi Jin level, then he would have the hope of becoming Xu Hongyu's right-hand man, a pivotal figure.

"That should be the Black Crow Sect's so-called 'Guardian God'."

Xiao He looked at the front and slowly opened her mouth.

As her voice fell, a large number of Gray-skinned Rats poured out from the depths of the prison in front of them, of different sizes. The largest of them was almost twice the size of what Chen Mu had seen before, and no longer resembled the size of ordinary rats.

These Gray-skinned Rats surged like a tide, directly submerging the prisons one by one. The half-dead prisoners barely managed to scream before being submerged by them. Accompanied by bursts of creaking and gnawing sounds, it was chilling.