Zhao Chengzhou struggled violently in Luo Xing’s grip, but against a Foundation Establishment cultivator, a mortal like him had no room to resist.
“Mother Empress! Mother Empress! Let me go! Let me go!”
But Luo Xing only frowned slightly before releasing Zhao Chengzhou.
“Mother Empress!”
The frail youth collapsed with a thud, then stumbled and rushed into the room.
“Mother Empress! How are you?! Mother Empress! Answer me! Mother Empress!”
Luo Xing followed him in and saw that the dim, gloomy room was filled with a thick, stale smell, mixed with a certain deathly aura.
Zhao Chengzhou was now half-sitting by the bedside, supporting Jinfei against his chest, calling out to his mother in a tearful voice.
“Mother Empress… Mother Empress, don’t scare your son…”
Luo Xing swept a glance and saw that Jinfei’s breath was faint; she was on the verge of complete exhaustion.
“Mother Empress…”
“Give her this to eat.”
Just as Zhao Chengzhou was weeping and despairing, a fair, slender hand with distinct knuckles suddenly appeared before him, and in its palm lay a single pill.
The pill glowed faintly green, and the flowing vitality and spiritual radiance instantly dispelled the deathly energy in the room.
“Your mother can still be saved.” Although Luo Xing was neither a healing cultivator nor an alchemist, he could more or less tell that Jinfei was suffering from a blockage of heart and emotions. “This is a Returning Spring Pill. It’s enough to save your mother’s life.”
Though it was only a common first-grade pill, usually used to ‘restore blood,’ when used on a mortal, it was truly a miraculous elixir.
Zhao Chengzhou froze for a moment, then a glimmer of hope burst forth in his eyes. He carefully picked up the pill and placed it between Jinfei’s dry, cracked lips.
The pill dissolved as soon as it entered her mouth. In the space of nine breaths, Jinfei, whose face had been as pale as paper, miraculously regained some color, and her nearly still chest began to rise and fall again.
“Mother Empress? Mother Empress?” Zhao Chengzhou called softly twice. “Mother Empress, how do you feel?”
“The pill is repairing her body. Don’t be nervous,” Luo Xing explained. “Now, can you tell me something?”
Zhao Chengzhou glanced at Luo Xing, then carefully laid Jinfei back down on the bed and covered her with the blanket.
“Senior Immortal…”
The youth seemed to have made some important decision. He walked over to Luo Xing.
“Follow me.”
Zhao Chengzhou led Luo Xing outside the room and then turned into the back courtyard of the Fallen Moon Palace.
The withered weeds trembled in the night wind, their rustling sound sending chills down the spine. In the courtyard, aside from two dried dead trees, there was nothing left but a dry well covered in moss.
“Senior Immortal.”
Zhao Chengzhou’s voice trembled uncontrollably, but the determination in his eyes never wavered.
“Everything you want to know… is in this well.”
Luo Xing frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Senior Immortal, you came here to look for some missing people, right?” Zhao Chengzhou asked bluntly. “Mostly young men and women between seventeen and twenty or so, am I right?”
Luo Xing grabbed his shoulder and asked urgently, “What do you know? Do these things have anything to do with you?”
Zhao Chengzhou shook his head and smiled bitterly.
“They have nothing to do with me, but… I could be considered an accomplice.”
He looked at Luo Xing as he spoke.
“Senior Immortal, please take me down with you. I also want to see… what’s really in there.”
Luo Xing looked at the well.
The dark, black mouth of the well seemed to hide some terrifying existence…
Go in?
He had no idea what was inside.
Not go in?
But Er Ya…
After thinking it over, Luo Xing finally decided to take out a communication jade slip, crush it, and then pull out his Spirit Sword.
He grabbed Zhao Chengzhou’s shoulder and said in a low voice, “Tell me everything you know, down to the last detail. Also, once we go down, you must do exactly as I say!”
With that, he jumped into the well, dragging Zhao Chengzhou along.
Darkness engulfed the two of them like a tidal wave. Since Luo Xing had not yet learned how to fly using Qi control, he could only repeatedly kick the well walls with the tips of his feet to slow their descent.
But the deeper they fell, the heavier the inexplicable chill and corrosive deathly aura became, as if trying to burrow through the pores of their skin and into their bones.
Sensing that Zhao Chengzhou’s body was becoming uncomfortable, Luo Xing channeled a bit of spiritual energy through his palm to help alleviate the cold and deathly aura.
After a moment, their feet finally touched the ground.
But there was no splash of water as Luo Xing had expected; what his feet touched was damp soil.
He took a night pearl out of his Storage Ring to illuminate the area, and to his shock, a wide, deep corridor stretched before them?!
“What’s going on?”
Luo Xing turned to Zhao Chengzhou in shock. “Zhao Chengzhou, what…”
But Zhao Chengzhou was no less shocked than Luo Xing. Staring blankly at the deep corridor ahead, he stammered, “This… Senior Immortal… I don’t know when this…”
“What do you know?”
Luo Xing grabbed his arm and slowly started walking into the corridor.
“Tell me everything, no omissions.”
Zhao Chengzhou followed cautiously behind him and spoke in a low voice.
“It was… five years ago, one night…”
That night, after soothing his mother to sleep, he had no sleepiness, so he went for a walk in this dilapidated courtyard.
But then he saw something he would never forget for the rest of his life…
He saw several people in black robes gathered around the well, throwing unconscious young men and women into it one by one.
He didn’t know who they were, nor how they managed to sneak into this heavily guarded Imperial Palace without being noticed.
But he was sure those people were no good…
At that time, Zhao Chengzhou was so scared that he stood frozen, not daring to breathe.
“Who the hell throws people into a well?” Luo Xing said, as if trying to lighten the cold and claustrophobic atmosphere.
“Of course, get to the point! I’m not here to listen to your ghost story!”
“Oh… yes…”
Zhao Chengzhou nodded repeatedly.
“At the time, I was about to run out and call for help, but because I was too flustered, I accidentally stepped on a wooden board…”
And that was how those black-robed men discovered him.
At that moment, Zhao Chengzhou thought he was done for, and would even implicate his mother.
But just as those men were about to make a move, one of them spoke up to stop them, and then came over to Zhao Chengzhou…
“Senior Immortal…”
Zhao Chengzhou smiled bitterly.
“Do you know… who that person was?”
Luo Xing’s expression grew more serious, his brow furrowed.
“Who was it?”
It seemed that due to the effect of the [Scent Sensing] skill, the deeper Luo Xing went, the stronger the smell of blood in the air became.
Wait…
Why was the blood scent so strong?
His sense of smell had been enhanced, and the situation seemed to be spiraling out of control…
“It was… my second brother…”
“Your second brother… what?!”
That fool who only knew how to practice swordsmanship and challenge him to spar?