Not long after Yan Wuyuan sent word through her true astral force, hurried footsteps sounded on the Stone Steps behind them.
Zhou Fangyu swiftly descended into the hall with a dozen black-clad Patrol Guards from the Nether Spring Office.
When they saw the barely clothed, numb-faced girls in the cages, their expressions changed as one, despite all the dark deeds they had witnessed.
Yi Yang gave his orders. "Take them up, and have Ning Xiong bring the Pacification Guard down here. I'm going to break this place open!"
Zhou Fangyu said nothing more. He saluted Yan Wuyuan and Yi Yang with cupped hands, then immediately ordered his men to pry open the remaining cells and escort the shaken girls to the surface.
Shortly after they went up, Deputy Commander Ning Xiong led the elite Pacification Guards straight down the Stone Steps.
Fifty black-armored warriors advanced with weapons drawn and armor gleaming coldly, every step landing with a synchronized, muffled thud.
The killing air in the narrow underground space seemed almost solid.
Ning Xiong's gaze immediately landed on the enormous serpentine design in the center of the hall.
His pupils contracted within a single breath.
This design, these furnishings, this foul stench of blood mingled with herbs-this had to be the Nine Evil Sect's stronghold in the Prefectural City.
Yi Yang had not lied. Ding Xiang had died at the Nine Evil Sect's hands, and now he could finally avenge him.
At that thought, veins bulged on the back of Ning Xiong's hand as he gripped his iron spear. The shaft hummed low, responding to its master's violently surging emotions.
Meanwhile, at the deepest point beyond the doorway in the center of the underground hall, inside a secret chamber sealed by a heavy stone door-
The Nine Evil Sect's Incense Masters,