The top-level junior sister also wants to act weak today

Mount Meng is not high, but the mountain road is steep and rugged, with jagged rocks. The branches and leaves of the trees on the roadside are intertwined, blocking the morning light into fragments.

The soil under my feet was slippery, and every step felt like walking on ice. I could easily slip if I wasn't careful.

Fortunately, they are cultivators, and their spiritual power is condensed under their feet. Not only are their steps steady, but their speed is also much faster than that of ordinary people.

Soon, they reached the halfway point of the mountain.

The thick fog still enveloped the surroundings, and the crying sounds were intermittent, as if deliberately distanced by the fog, or as if luring them deeper.

Yan Chuan walked in front, not daring to relax for a moment.

His hand rested lightly on the hilt of the sword at his waist, his fingertips exerting a little force, ready to draw the sword at any time to deal with sudden danger.

"Brother, the crying sound is getting closer. Be careful. I feel something is wrong here."

Before he finished speaking, Yan Chuan suddenly stopped, turned around and quickly gestured to her to stop.

"Shh, found it." Yan Chuan said in a low voice, his eyes fixed forward, then he gently raised his hand, motioning her to follow him around and hide behind a tree.

The two held their breath, hid behind a towering tree, and cautiously poked their heads out. The scene before them made them gasp.

It was a cave, and the terrain around the entrance was slightly open, forming a small clearing. Unlike the surrounding fog, the clearing was surprisingly clear, as if separated by some invisible barrier, making it particularly abrupt.

On the ground of the open space, a black totem occupied the center. The totem patterns were complex and twisted, like a coiled python.

In the center of the totem stood two wooden frames, each tied to two children, a boy and a girl. They were no more than seven or eight years old, their frail bodies dangling from the frames like kites with broken strings.

The boy was sobbing weakly, and the girl was already unconscious, her head hanging limply to the side, her messy hair covering half of her face.

What is even more shocking is that their bodies are covered with whip marks, their skin is torn and their flesh is exposed, and blood is flowing down their bodies.

Drops of blood fell on the patterns of the totem, but without stirring up a speck of dust, they were strangely absorbed by the totem and disappeared without a trace.

The little boy cried until his voice was hoarse, his voice as harsh and weak as a saw scraping through wood. His small body trembled uncontrollably from pain and fear, tears mixed with snot running down his face, making him look miserable.

But just as his crying gradually subsided, a man in a black cloak walked over.

The man suddenly raised the whip in his hand and with a "snap" sound, he whipped the two children's thin bodies hard.

The little boy's screams echoed in the valley, and Jiang Yingxue was shocked when she heard it.

"Cry! Keep crying!" The man's voice was hoarse and low, but it was filled with a creepy madness: "If you don't cry, I will beat you to death! Cry now!"

The little boy was so frightened that he trembled violently and then burst into tears.

He cried and choked, shouting, "Uncle, stop hitting me... Just kill me, it hurts so much... Didn't you kill people directly before? Why are you beating us to death slowly now?"

The man suddenly stopped what he was doing and then burst into a shrill laugh: "If you don't cry louder, how will anyone come to save you?"

Jiang Yingxue hid behind a tree, staring at the man's back.

She had never seen such cruel and absurd behavior before. Her fists were clenched until they turned white, and her nails almost dug into her palms. She barely suppressed the urge to rush out.

"This guy is simply crazy." Jiang Yingxue gritted her teeth and whispered.

In contrast, Yan Chuan seemed much calmer. He frowned and asked in confusion, "Why is it him?"

Jiang Yingxue turned her head and looked at Yan Chuan: "Do you know him?"

"Qiu Zhida, the former leader of Lingxi Sect."

Jiang Yingxue was startled when she heard this, then she looked at the man again carefully. He was wearing a black cloak, tightly wrapped from head to toe. Even his face was hidden by the brim of his hat, revealing only his chin hidden in the shadows.

"You can't tell anything from just this black robe."

Yan Chuan raised his hand and pointed at his nose: "I smelled it. No one else has that smell on him."

"You smell it? Are you a dog?"

"Ever since I awakened my elven bloodline that day, my sense of smell has become much stronger. And Qiu Zhida has a special scent that I have never smelled on anyone else."

Jiang Yingxue frowned. "Strange! Even though Qiu Zhida doesn't look like a good person, why would he torture these children?"

Her eyes flickered, thoughts swirling in her mind. She had thought this was related to the Demon King, but Qiu Zhida wasn't a member of the Demon King's camp. Could she have guessed wrong?

Not far away, the man in black suddenly raised his head. He glanced at the sky, shielding the faint light filtering through the mountains with his hand. He said in a deep voice, "It's getting late. Blood is useless at this hour."

He turned and waved towards the shadows at the cave entrance. "Come here, carry these two little devils back to the cell. If they're still alive tomorrow, hang them up again and bleed them at dawn. If they're dead, throw them away. After all, this formation needs fresh blood to be effective."

There was a rustling sound of footsteps in the cave, and then two burly men walked out.

Their faces were covered with black cloth, revealing only a pair of cold eyes. They deftly untied the two children from the wooden frame, carried them on their shoulders like sacks, and turned to walk towards the cave.

The children's bodies were as weak as rags, and blood dripped onto the ground, leaving a trail of shocking traces along the way.

Seeing this, the man in black slowly followed the two men, his cloak swaying slightly as he gradually disappeared into the dark entrance of the cave.

As the sound from the cave entrance gradually faded away, the surroundings fell into silence again.

Jiang Yingxue immediately took out the jade token from her waist and cast a spell on it quickly.

However, no matter how she cast the spell, the jade token never lit up, and the spell had no response, as if it was blocked by an invisible force.

Her heart skipped a beat, and a bad premonition arose: "Brother, something is wrong. It seems that there is a barrier here. The jade token is not working at all. I can't contact Chu Ying and the others."

Before he finished speaking, there was a strange wave in the air, as if something was approaching silently.

"Senior Brother..." She was about to remind him, but Yan Chuan was already one step ahead of her.

The long sword in his hand was unsheathed, and a cold light flashed.

He turned around and the sword blade just blocked a dark shadow.

The man was none other than the black-clothed man who had just entered the cave. His cloak fluttered slightly in the wind, revealing a sinister face. It was indeed Qiu Zhida.

"Oh." Qiu Zhida smiled and clamped Yan Chuan's sword with his bare hands: "You react very quickly. No wonder he likes you so much. I wanted to scare you a little bit."

Yan Chuan's expression remained unchanged as he raised his foot and suddenly kicked the man in black in the chest.

"You stink, don't come near me." Yan Chuan said coldly