Chapter 27

Inside the room, the doors and windows were tightly shut.

Luo Qingchen continued his cultivation in the dim space until darkness fell outside.

Within his body, the cultivation progress continued to grow rapidly.

<strong>[Bone Strengthening: 105/1000]</strong> had already changed to <strong>[Bone Strengthening: 115/1000]</strong>.

Under the tempering of pain, the bones throughout his body had become increasingly stronger, and the power contained within his muscles seemed to have grown significantly as well.

"Swish!"

He clenched his fist and threw a punch.

Amidst the whistling of the wind from his fist, the weight of his power was clearly much stronger than before!

The cultivation progress is growing, and my strength is growing too...

Even among practitioners in the same Bone Strengthening Realm, speed and strength vary, so there is naturally a distinction between the strong and the weak.

I wonder who is stronger, Chen Ju or Wang Long?

I just entered the Bone Strengthening Realm, so my strength was originally inferior to theirs, but I have the blood medicinal bath, allowing me to progress faster, while they progress slowly or even stagnate. Therefore, I should be able to surpass them very soon...

Withdrawing his fist, he looked out the window.

The light, which had been dim, had now turned pitch black.

After nightfall, the entire town was shrouded in an atmosphere of darkness and eerie terror.

This was especially true for the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion, where several murders had occurred in succession.

Here, people were even more terrifying than ghosts.

After resting for a short while, he did not go out, but instead crawled directly under the bed.

Outside the house, several pairs of eyes were hidden in the darkness, staring motionlessly at the wooden door and windows of this second room.

"Brother, shall we move?"

"Don't be hasty, wait a bit longer. We aren't the only ones watching him. Let others take the lead first. Judging by the situation over the past few days, that kid is not simple. Be careful not to capsize the boat."

The voices of Wang Long and Wang Hu whispered in the darkness.

Another half an hour passed.

Wang Hu finally couldn't help but say, "That kid had so much blood taken from him, I'm afraid he's already passed out. We must hurry. If others get there first and we arrive late, and the kid ends up dead, I'm afraid they'll pin it on us."

Wang Long didn't speak, his gaze still fixed tightly on the wooden door and windows.

About another half an hour passed.

Wang Long carefully scanned his surroundings and finally made a decision: "Let's go, take the blood!"

The two men hugged the wall and quickly arrived outside the window of the second room.

"There's no movement inside. I reckon that kid is long asleep. Who could handle losing such a large bowl of blood?"

Wang Hu was already impatient.

Wang Long listened outside the window for a while longer before taking out a thin blade, inserting it through the gap in the window, and sliding the latch open.

"Creak..."

The window opened quietly.

The two men stared into the dark room for a moment, and Wang Long whispered, "I'll go in first. You follow behind and keep watch by the window."

Wang Hu nodded and whispered, "Brother, take plenty. That kid is a practitioner; he won't die that easily. Also, remember to search his body to see if he has any silver."

Wang Long didn't speak. He glanced into the room one more time and, without further hesitation, immediately vaulted through the window.

Who would have thought that the moment he landed in the room, a sharp pain suddenly struck the soles of his feet!

"Ah!"

He let out an involuntary cry and immediately jumped up from where he stood!

Yet, as soon as he landed after jumping, more sharp pains struck the soles of both his feet again!

Hearing the sound and thinking he had been attacked, Wang Hu hurriedly jumped in from the window holding a dagger. Who would have thought that the moment he landed, several piercing pains also surged into the soles of his feet!

The two brothers jumped up in pain together and landed together, yet every time they landed, more intense pain struck their soles!

Then the two couldn't help but jump up and land again...

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

"Ahhh!"

"Ahhh!"

"Stop jumping! Stop jumping!"

Wang Long finally realized what was happening. Enduring the excruciating pain, he stood still, refusing to jump anymore, and hurriedly took out a fire starter. After blowing it into a flame, he looked at the ground.

As the firelight illuminated the pitch-black floor, the two brothers were struck with shock and fury!

The entire floor of the room was covered in a dense carpet of iron nails. Their sharp points were all facing upward, glinting coldly in the lamplight and making one's scalp tingle with dread.

Even the corners and the tabletop were covered in them!

The entire room had been transformed into a veritable hell of iron spikes.

No wonder they had been caught every time they jumped and landed.

"What a sinister little bastard!"

The two cursed under their breath. Looking down at their feet, they discovered that their soles were riddled with nails.

Blood had already soaked their shoes red!

"No one is on the bed. Go! We have to go!"

Wang Long made a split-second decision. Enduring the heart-wrenching pain, he crouched down, used his hands to clear a path through the dense nails, and then dropped to his knees. With his rear end in the air and his feet lifted, he crawled toward the door in a pathetic, ungainly fashion, clearing the terrifying spikes in front of him as he went.

Clink, clink, clink...

The nails he pushed aside made a crisp sound that rang out with strange clarity in the silent night.

Wang Hu watched his brother's posture and felt deeply humiliated. He wanted to grit his teeth and walk through the pain, but the moment he took a step, his entire body convulsed and his face twisted in agony; he nearly fainted on the spot.

"Hiss—"

He sucked in a sharp breath of cold air. Abandoning all dignity and image, he mimicked his brother's humiliating posture. Kneeling on his knees with his rear end and feet held high, he gritted his teeth, his lips trembling as he crawled toward the door, inch by agonizing inch.

"Ah—"

Just as Wang Long reached the doorway, he let out a shrill, miserable scream!

Dizzy and blinded by pain, he had been clearing the dense nails ahead of him when he inadvertently triggered a bear trap. With a loud snap, the steel teeth of the trap sprang shut, biting into his right hand. The blade-like teeth pierced through his palm from both sides, locking firmly together!

Wang Long's scream made Wang Hu, who was behind him, shudder so violently that he wet himself in terror.

"Brother! What happened to you?"

He asked in a trembling voice.

Wang Hu replied with a sob and a stutter: "Ah..."

The two brothers lay on the ground with their rears in the air, shivering from a mixture of pain and fear.

Wang Long quickly regained his senses. Gritting his teeth against the excruciating pain, he prepared to pry the bear trap open.

He knew that if they didn't leave this place, the danger would only increase!

Both brothers had fallen into an ambush and were severely wounded; if they didn't get out quickly, then in a moment...

"What is that smell?"

At that moment, their noses caught the scent of a faint, strange fragrance.

Wang Hu looked up in suspicion and suddenly noticed a thin tube inserted through a gap in the window, with green smoke billowing from its tip.

The smoke had already permeated the entire room.

Distracted by the shock, fear, pain, and urgency of the nails, they hadn't noticed it until now.

"Someone is using poison smoke!"

Wang Hu shrieked.

"Hold your breath! Quickly, hold your breath!"

Wang Long shouted in a panic.

However, it was too late.

With their feet already pierced by nails, they were unable to walk; even without the poison smoke, they had no strength left to resist.

As their vision darkened and they drifted into unconsciousness amidst their terror and pain, the door suddenly creaked open.

A dark figure stepped into the room.

He held a cold, gleaming dagger in one hand and a large bowl for collecting blood in the other.

In the moment before he lost consciousness, Wang Long felt a deep sense of irony.

Tonight, the two brothers had intended to treat that brat Luo Qingchen as prey to harvest his blood, yet now, they had become the prey themselves.

"Beast!"

The two brothers passed out.

The blood from their feet pooled on the floor, and the rich, metallic scent only deepened the look of greed in the dark figure's eyes.

He immediately used the dagger to slit their wrists and began to collect the blood.

He took only one bowl before leaving immediately.

Not long after he departed, another figure appeared with a dagger and a large bowl.

Following that, two more figures appeared...