Self-Rescue

Xue Fuyao did not refuse either. With a few quick movements she opened all the remaining cages, and then reinserted the hairpin into her hair.

"You're so amazing, you even know how to pick locks." A rescued little boy looked at Xue Fuyao with admiring eyes.

Xue Fuyao did not speak. The skill of lock-picking was something she had figured out herself in her previous life.

After everyone came out, the next step was to leave this place.

From the mouths of the others, they learned that the place they were currently in was a cellar, and the ones who had captured them were an organization specializing in human trafficking.

Every year they timed their activities around the period when the Yuanji Sect came to Cloud City to test children for Spiritual Roots.

Because all the surrounding children would gather here and the population of Cloud City would also increase, they deliberately created chaos and then carried off the children they had set their sights on.

Besides human trafficking, they also engaged in kidnapping.

If children of the Four Great Clans were caught, they would send word to their lineages, and under normal circumstances, these lineages would choose to smooth things over and let the matter rest.

"Is there really no one who manages such matters?" Xue Fuyao asked.

"How can it be managed? Whether it's the Four Great Clans or the Yuanji Sect, both have sent people to suppress these bandits, but these people simply cannot be completely wiped out."

Every time after a crackdown they would quiet down for a period of time, but they would soon make a comeback, and moreover, they would retaliate with redoubled severity against those who hunted them down.

After listening, Xue Fuyao sighed, and then said to the crowd, "Do you trust me?"

The crowd first looked at each other in dismay, and after a moment nodded heavily; after all, besides trusting her, they didn't seem to have any other better choices right now.

"Since you trust me, then you stay here, and I'll go outside to find someone to rescue you."

She had no way to take everyone away in one breath, but escaping by herself was not much of a problem.

The crowd nodded, and even those few disciples of the Four Great Clans did not say anything.

It was true that they were already used to being kidnapped and their lineages would rescue them, but that did not mean they liked being kidnapped. Furthermore, every time they returned, they would still face punishment from their lineages.

If they could really save themselves this time, perhaps they wouldn't need to be punished upon returning. With that, the others returned inside the cages. To prevent anyone from discovering that Xue Fuyao had gone missing, they even selected a person of about the same build as her to put on her clothes and impersonate her.

As for the other cages, since many people were locked inside to begin with, one less could not be told at all.

On the other side, Xue Fuyao traversed the dark passageway and arrived at the door of the cellar. The next second, her body vanished on the spot.

It looked like she had disappeared, but in reality she had simply shrunk in size.

The cellar door was not airtight, and instead had many gaps. Following these gaps, she smoothly reached the outside.

Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly heard the sound of two people conversing.

"Boss, that little girl we just grabbed seems to be a person from the Yuanji Sect. Now the entire Cloud City is under martial law, and no one is allowed to leave. Boss, what should we do?!"

"Boss, why don't we just let that little girl go."

Immediately afterwards, a reprimanding voice rang out, "Idiots, do you think that once you let the person go now, the Yuanji Sect will let you off? Stop dreaming. The arrow has already left the bow and there's no turning back. Once this matter is over we'll change places; we can't stay in a place like Cloud City anymore."

"Boss, the one who snatched people this time is Sixth, and he said he miscalculated and wants to ask you, Boss, to spare him this time."

"Spare him? If I spare him, who's going to spare me? He couldn't even manage to kidnap a single person properly."

"Then Boss, should we still send back the rest of the children from the Four Great Clans after collecting the ransom according to the original plan?"

Hearing this, a flash of ruthless cruelty crossed the eyes of the man called the boss. "Send them back? Send what back? Get rid of all of them later. The one who went missing this time is a disciple of the Yuanji Sect. I reckon the Yuanji Sect's deacon will be arriving soon!"

Hearing this conversation, Xue Fuyao did not dare to delay and immediately ran outward.

Upon reaching the outside, she turned into a cat once more, leaped lightly over the courtyard wall, and fled toward the distance.

Once she had run a sufficient distance away, she finally restored herself to her original appearance and then trotted all the way to the Wang Household.

As soon as she stepped through the gate, she saw Gu Nian, whose expression was one of anxious fury.

"Senior Sister!"

"Fuyao! It's great that you're okay!"

Gu Nian pulled Xue Fuyao into an embrace, checked her over back and forth, and only set her mind at ease after confirming she was truly unhurt.

At this moment, Lin Qing walked over, squatted down, and asked gently, "Fuyao, how did you escape?"

However, Xue Fuyao did not answer his question. Instead, she grabbed Lin Qing's sleeve and asked with an anxious tone, "Senior Brother Lin, hurry and go save people. Those people grabbed many more people, and when I escaped I heard they were going to get rid of everyone and then flee."

Upon hearing Xue Fuyao's words, Lin Qing's expression changed instantly. "Do you still remember where the specific address of those people is located?"

Xue Fuyao nodded, and then recounted the specific location as well as the matter of the cellar.

Having heard it, Lin Qing did not hesitate at all, and leading the disciples of the Yuanji Sect as well as people from the other Four Great Clans, he charged toward the human traffickers' lair.

This time, they were bound to sweep up these heinous, despicable beasts in one fell swoop.

Gu Nian walked at the very front of the procession holding Xue Fuyao, and said with a formidable momentum, "Let's go, Senior Sister will take you to get revenge!"

The rescue process went extremely smoothly.

Those people probably had not expected that they would be exposed so quickly this time. Before they could even make a move, their hiding place was surrounded ring upon ring.

This time it was different from every previous occasion; this time they truly had no way to fly and escape.

All the people were quickly captured, and the children inside the cellar were also all rescued. At that moment, Gu Nian mysteriously stuffed a Storage Bag into her hand.

She held the Storage Bag and turned her head to look at Gu Nian in puzzlement. "Senior Sister, this Storage Bag is..."

"Take it. This is your mental damage compensation, searched from the bodies of those beasts."

Hearing this, Xue Fuyao quickly put away the Storage Bag, and then flashed a sweet smile at Gu Nian. "Thank you, Senior Sister."

Gu Nian also smiled quite happily. "You're welcome, Junior Sister."

After the affair concluded, the children who had been locked in the cellar each returned to the sides of their parents, while Xue Fuyao followed Gu Nian and the others from the Yuanji Sect to temporarily reside at the Wang Household.

Because of today's events, the Spiritual Root test was postponed by a day, and would officially begin tomorrow.