A group of people from the black inn pulled out longswords and axes from under the tables one after another.
They really hadn’t seen anyone able to stand up after being drugged.
“Heh, a sharp one.”
A cold voice came from the corner.
The Black Inn Boss, a burly middle-aged man in an apron, had half his face hidden in shadow and eyes sharp as knives.
He waved his hand.
“Take care of them.”
He let out a cold laugh.
This group had seized the inn after the Demon King Army fell, their methods ruthless and bloody.
Even the Principality Pass was useless here.
There were only eight people on the other side.
And now, there were eighteen brothers on their side—fifteen, nine, three… one.
That fast?
All advantage gone.
The blonde girl wielding a longsword and the scar-faced man swept through like wolves among sheep, knocking down the lackeys one by one until they stood in front of him.
Li Qiuchen swung and slapped the Black Inn Boss across the face with a crisp smack.
“With just this strength, you dare act like some mastermind behind the scenes?”
He asked,
“In front of us, there was a Merchant Caravan. Are they here?”
“Why didn’t you kill me after slaughtering my brothers?”
The middle-aged man stared at the longsword pressed to his throat with disdain, ignoring Li Qiuchen, and looked at Kaili instead.
“He asked you a question. Didn’t you hear?”
Kaili pressed the Knight’s Longsword forward, red blood beading at the neck.
“Death isn’t the end. I’ve long ceased to fear the threat of the Reaper.”
The man raised his head.
“How many people did you kill?”
“There were rumors of disappearances here before. Was it you?”
Jocelyn asked.
The man closed his eyes, like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water.
“You’re a Water-Type Mage, can you use healing magic?”
Li Qiuchen suddenly asked Aili beside him.
“Of course.”
Aili lifted her head proudly, then looked a bit puzzled.
“How did you know I’m a Water-Type Mage?”
Li Qiuchen didn’t answer, just nodded to Jocelyn.
Jocelyn donned the Destruction Armor.
A Destruction Fist smashed into the Black Inn Boss’s eye socket before he could even scream.
Another left punch landed on his mouth, dislocating his jaw so he couldn’t even cry out.
The next few punches struck his chest.
The sound of ribs breaking made Wright and the others wince.
No questions, no interrogation—just iron fists hell-bent on beating a man to death.
Fist after fist, the man’s hands and feet were reduced to pulp, the blows moving from the extremities inward, each wave of pain stabbing directly into his brain.
His arm and leg bones were broken one by one, then shattered further.
Pain drove him to unconsciousness, only for more pain to drag him back—was this hell?!
That mind-breaking agony branded itself into his skull.
Yet he had no chance even to beg for mercy.
He began to suspect his torturer was a pure sadist, intent on tormenting him to death.
“Still one breath left. Better hurry and save him.”
Jocelyn stood up, shaking out her fists.
Li Qiuchen nudged Aili.
“Archmage, show your skills.”
For the first time, Aili felt a trace of fear toward Li Qiuchen.
She gripped her Staff tightly and cast magic on the nearly dead man.
Pure Mana gathered at the tip of the Staff, forming a droplet of water that slowly seeped into the man’s body.
Bones began to mend, and because the injuries were recent, the healing worked well.
His body recovered, though his face was deathly pale, like one who’d returned from hell.
“Want to try again?”
Li Qiuchen squatted in front of him, straightening the man’s wrinkled collar.
“Before you die for real, we can do this as many times as you’d like.”
“We killed all the guests.”
“The people from that Merchant Caravan were all taken to the Underground Chamber.”
“After the offering, anything left was thrown into the Swamp.”
The man spoke quickly, like a drowning man clutching driftwood, terrified the armored figure would pin him down and start again.
He wasn’t afraid of death, but had no desire to endure endless torment before dying.
“Offering?”
Li Qiuchen sensed something was off, but changed the subject.
“What about the merchants’ cargo? What were they carrying?”
When he first saw that Merchant Caravan, Li Qiuchen had felt something was wrong.
What kind of cargo could weigh down a wagon so much, leaving deep ruts behind?
That wasn’t something seasoned merchants would do.
“Medicinal herbs.”
The boss replied at once, all arrogance gone.
“Teacher, there are a lot of corpses over here!”
Kairui’s voice came from the direction of the kitchen.
Li Qiuchen hurried over.
A huge wooden barrel in the kitchen had been moved aside, revealing a dark, damp Underground Chamber.
Just a glimpse through the open doorway made his scalp tingle.
The merchant traveler who had bowed and thanked them earlier was hanging from a massive iron hook driven through his jaw, suspended in midair like a slaughterhouse animal.
His chest and abdomen had been split open, his organs removed.
Thick, still-congealing blood dripped slowly from his hair and fingertips, splattering onto the floor below with a regular, chilling “tap… tap…” in the dead silence.
“Ugh!”
Aili, who had followed behind, clung desperately to Li Qiuchen’s coat, collapsing to her knees, face ashen.
Li Qiuchen descended slowly.
Aili hadn’t wanted to follow, but the fear squeezing her hand onto his coat wouldn’t let her let go, forcing her to trail after him into the darkness.
Looking around, dozens of “human bodies” hung upside down from the Underground Chamber’s vaulted ceiling, forming a bizarre, bleeding forest of corpses.
They hung uniformly, like butchered pigs, the only sound the dripping of blood echoing in the emptiness.
On the ground was a strange Septagram Ritual Circle formed from blood.
Li Qiuchen frowned and pulled a Mana-filled Mirror from his inner pocket.
He’d guessed Aili was a Water-Type Mage because the Mana drawn from this Mirror was water-aligned.
He gripped the Mirror, extracting Mana to awaken the Zhesi Gem.
The Perception state came slowly, but it arrived nonetheless.
In the darkness, strands of ink-green Earth Lawtrack drifted from the corpses’ heads, writhing like venomous tentacles, converging into the blood-stained Septagram Ritual Circle on the ground.
Spell Reclamation Array?
Enduring the mental strain of the ink-green Lawtrack, Li Qiuchen squatted to examine the circle’s markings.
Someone was reclaiming the Illusion Element cast upon the merchants.
So the direction of this array’s reclamation was—?
He was about to look closer when the circle suddenly ignited, burning blood-red in the silence before slowly extinguishing.
A stabbing pain shot through Li Qiuchen’s brain.
He closed his eyes, immediately cutting off the Perception state.
Ink-green was the color of exchange Lawtrack, signifying Illusion or mental corruption magic.
Looking directly at such Lawtrack often meant enduring greater psychic damage.
And the presence of such traces indicated these people might have been controlled before death.
The missing Merchant Caravan and Orcs, he feared, had all fallen under Illusion.
“Teacher, are they making jerky out of people?”
Kairui asked, suppressing nausea.
He’d heard stories in the castle of black inns butchering travelers for meat, especially during the chaos of the Demon King Army.
“Not for human consumption.”
“The black inn has plenty of Beef stockpiled. This could be for feeding something else, or for a sacrificial ritual.”
Li Qiuchen’s heart was heavy.
Clearly, this was no ordinary black inn.
“Qiuchen, Kemel and I found the Merchant Caravan’s cargo crates by the Stable in the courtyard. Come look.”
Wright called from the Underground Chamber entrance.
Li Qiuchen was about to leave when Aili grabbed his arm.
“Wait… wait for me. Take me out of here.”
The young lady was clearly terrified, her teeth chattering as she spoke.
He didn’t shake her off, instead leading her out to the Stable and the cargo crates.
The scene there was even worse.
Ten iron crates in total, each three feet long, now open.
Inside were not precious medicinal herbs, but Orcs crammed together.
Several large, horned Orcs had been forced into grotesquely twisted positions, crammed so tightly their limbs and torsos overlapped, bones jutting at unnatural angles as if crushed into broken dolls.
Blood and flesh mangled, the sight was horrifying.
Li Qiuchen and Wright opened the crates one by one.
Finally, in the last three crates, they found living Orcs.
Eight in total, all children.
Because the last crates were less cramped, they were merely unconscious but still breathing.
What happened?
Naili remembered clearly how those merchants had greeted them and wished them a safe journey.
They hadn’t seemed like bad people at all.
Who could have imagined such horrors hidden in their wagons?
“Why would they do this?”
Naili couldn’t comprehend.
“Because… they considered these medicine.”
Li Qiuchen replied firmly.
Twisted perceptions, monstrous actions, bodies hung and cleaned.
He had a general idea now of what was going on.