When Fang Qianyuan and the others entered the cave, its occupants had already fled, leaving only a scattering of guards and various implements, ritual platforms, weapons, and armor strewn about.
There were also ordinary villagers penned inside the stone chambers, all with filthy, matted hair and ragged clothes. Clearly, they had been imprisoned for quite some time.
The imprisoned villagers included men and women, old and young. It looked as though entire villages had been abducted, swept up wholesale.
By the group's rough count, there were at least five hundred of them.
"This really is a demon-refining workshop. It looks much larger than that estate we investigated last time!" Li Yan said, covering her nose and fanning the air with her hand.
"Brother Fang, these people actually... actually used mortals to create Demon Refinement!" Seeing the villagers penned up like livestock, tortured beyond human semblance and barely able to cry for help even when the group entered, Wen Qingfei's face filled with distress.
"Immortal Maiden Wen, I'm afraid it isn't as simple as creating Demon Refinement. These are human sacrifices, kept as offerings in reserve. What they want are demonized warriors loyal to them, capable of following orders. Why would they grant power so readily?" Sun Jixing explained.
"Human sacrifices... the demonic path is actually this cruel!" Wen Qingfei was shocked. She had never imagined such atrocities could exist in the world.
Fang Qianyuan, however, looked thoughtful.
He had long since heard of these practices in the Warrior Administration, but only now did he realize that the scourge of war was far from over. Taking advantage of the Azure Cloud Sect and the righteous path's loss of control over the Outlaw Martial World in the Northern Frontier, those people had done a great deal. Yet because the sufferers were all