"You can speak if you want, as long as you can handle my whip!" the burly man said with a cold grin as he lashed out with his whip, sending it hurtling toward Han Li's face.

Han Li remained still on the spot displaying no intention to take evasive action, and the black whip drew to an abrupt halt right in front of his face, with its sharp spike mere inches away from his eyes.

Han Li continued to look at the whip with a calm expression, not even blinking or flinching at all.

"You've got guts, I'll give you that. No wonder Master Yin Gua went to the trouble of capturing you in person. I'll spare you this time considering it's your first offense, but don't test my patience again," the burly man warned as he withdrew his whip, then continued onward, and this time, Han Li didn't say anything.

"Fellow Daoist Li, we're not in a good position right now, so let's not start any conflicts," Shi Chuankong said in a barely audible voice.

Han Li nodded in response.

He had spoken just now not out of a moment of recklessness, but instead because he wanted to see how the burly man would react.

The attitudes displayed by Yin Gua and You Luo had struck him with a sense of unease that he couldn't quite put his finger on, but after what had just transpired, he was now feeling a bit more reassured.

After walking for a while longer, the group arrived in a huge space, where the air temperature suddenly spiked.

This was an underground plaza similar to the one in the ring-shaped building from before, and there were lit furnaces here that were releasing scorching heat that threatened to incinerate one's lungs upon inhalation.

There was a series of stone pillars on the plaza, tied to each of which was a prisoner, all of whom howling in agony from the burning heat.

Standing off to the side were some gray-robed wardens that were holding kettles, out of which they were occasionally pouring some type of white liquid into the mouths of the prisoners who were on the brink of death.

This white liquid would bring the prisoner back from the verge of death, and they would keep being tormented by the scorching flames.

"This is the first level of our nine-level infernal prison. Take a good look," the gray-robed man said to Han Li's group with a sinister grin.

"Chief Warden!"

Some of the nearby wardens hurriedly extended respectful bows upon catching sight of the gray-robed man.

The gray-robed man waved a dismissive hand in response, then Han Li and the others further onward. Before long, they had descended down a flight of stairs to the next floor.

This floor also had a massive plaza, but this one consisted of a series of black ponds that were giving off a bone-chilling aura.

There were prisoners currently submerged within the ponds, all of whom were deathly pale and trembling uncontrollably while letting loose gut-wrenching cries.

The gray-robed man continued onward, leading Han Li's group down another staircase to the third floor.

There were also some ponds on the plaza on the third floor, but they were filled with creatures like snakes and scorpions as opposed to any liquid.

All of the prisoners on this floor were forced to endure the agony of being ravaged by these venomous creatures.

After that came the fourth floor, then the fifth floor, then the sixth...

The gray-robed man seemed to want Han Li and the others to witness the horrors on every single floor, and he led the group through the infernal prison at a leisurely pace.

All of the prisoners on all of the floors were being subjected to horrific agony, and Han Li hadn't even heard of some of the torture methods on display.

Fox 3 and the others were looking a little pale at this point, and only after walking for a full hour did they finally arrive on the ninth floor of the infernal prison.

To their surprise, there were no torture methods being implemented on the ninth floor. Instead, there was only a series of prison cells, all of which appeared to be quite tidy.

However, the baleful qi was several times more abundant here than it was on the previous floors, to the extent that it was being manifested as visible gray mist.

Furthermore, the baleful qi here was also more ferocious than normal baleful qi, and muffled ghostly howls could be heard ringing out from within it.

As soon as Han Li and the others stepped onto this level, they felt as if their entire bodies were being pierced through by countless steel needles.

A cold grin appeared on the gray-robed man at the sight of their pained expressions, and he continued to lead them deeper into the area.

There were only around twenty to thirty cells on this floor, most of which were empty, and only a small portion of them were occupied.

There wasn't a single warden to be seen on the entire ninth floor, and all of the prisoners were also completely silent.

The gray-robed man opened five cells one after another, then Han Li and the others into ht cells.

"This is the ninth floor of our infernal prison. I hope you enjoy your time here," the gray-robed man cackled in a sinister manner, then immediately turned to depart, seemingly not wanting to stay here for any longer than he had to.

Han Li watched as he departed, then began to inspect his surroundings with slightly furrowed brows.

The pain of the baleful qi on this level infiltrating his body was still bearable, and all of a sudden, his expression changed slightly as he noticed something.

The cells here weren't remarkable in any way, they were just normal prison cells with some normal restrictions placed upon them.

At the moment, Han Li and the others had no strength in their bodies, so these cells were more than enough to contain them.

Through the bars of the cells, Han Li could easily see the other prisoners being held captive on this level, and that was what had caught his attention.

Even though his immortal spiritual power had been sealed away, his eyesight was still particularly sharp thanks to the spirit eye abilities that he had cultivated, and he noticed that all of the prisoners here were at least at the Golden Immortal Stage, while close to half of them were at the High Zenith Stage.

Furthermore, in addition to Gray Realm beings, there were two other people from the True Immortal Realm being held captive here.

Shi Chuankong was locked up in the cell right next to Han Li's, and upon seeing the surprised look on Han Li's face, he asked in a quiet voice, "Have you noticed something, Fellow Daoist Li?"

Han Li revealed his observations to Shi Chuankong.

Shi Chuankong took a glance at the two people from the True Immortal Realm before looking away again, clearly uninterested, then asked, "How do we get out of here, Fellow Daoist Li? You always have a bunch of tricks up your sleeve, can you think of a way out?"

"What could we possibly do in this situation? We're locked up in the bottom level of this infernal prison, and our immortal spiritual power has been sealed away, so we're no different from mortals at the moment," Han Li replied with a wry smile.

Right at this moment, a cold voice rang out from nearby.

"You're a fool if you think you can escape from the infernal prison."

Han Li and Shi Chuankong turned to discover that the voice had come from one of the nearby prison cells, which housed a thin man with a head of long and disheveled hair.

Black scales could be seen on the exposed skin of his arms and ankles, and it seemed that he was some type of Gray Realm being.

It was impossible to see the man's appearance, but his ears were extremely long, almost trailing all the way down to his shoulders, and his hearing seemed to be very sharp.

With their spiritual sense sealed away, Han Li and Shi Chuankong were unable to communicate through voice transmission, but they had spoken in barely audible voices, so it had come as quite a surprise that they had been overheard.

However, the sight of the Gray Realm being's long ears provided ample explanation for how they had been overheard.

"Who are you, and why do you say that?" Han Li asked with slightly furrowed brows.

The long-eared man ignored Han Li's questions as he chuckled coldly, "What kind of place do you think this infernal prison is?"

Fox 3, Mo Guang, and Baili Yan's attention had also been drawn to the long-eared man at this point, and Shi Chuankong asked with a puzzled expression, "Isn't this just a prison of the Infernal Tribe?"

"Ha! Where did you idiots come from? You don't even know what kind of place you're in!" the long-eared man chortled with mirth.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shi Chuankong asked as his brows furrowed slightly.

"Let me tell you what kind of situation you're in right now. This infernal prison is where the Infernal Tribe refines high-grade puppets, and we are to be used as the materials!" the long-eared man revealed with a mocking sneer.

Shi Chuankong's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but Han Li wasn't overly surprised by this revelation.

Having witnessed the puppet refinement fortresses from earlier, he already had a feeling that this was the fate that awaited them.

"You saw all of the other levels on your way down here, right? Those prisoners are undergoing the initial bodily refinement process so that it'll be easier to refine them into puppets. From the instant that you stepped into this prison, your fate has been sealed! You will become the slaves of the Infernal Tribe for all of eternity!" the long-eared man guffawed in a deranged manner.

The expressions of Shi Chuankong and the others darkened significantly upon hearing this.

After his laughter subsided, the long-eared man seemed to have been drained of all strength, and he leaned back against the wall behind him in a defeated manner as he sighed, "All of us will be reduced to mere puppets on strings for the Infernal Tribe..."

"What else do you know? Tell me!" Shi Chuankong demanded in a cold voice.

As the young master of the Vast Origin House, he was extremely proud, and he would rather die than to be reduced to a puppet.

However, the long-eared man seemed to have completely lost interest in their conversation, and he refused to answer any more questions.

"It seems like you're quite familiar with the puppet refinement methods of the Infernal Tribe. Back in the Hundred Treasure Area, I came across some puppet refinement fortresses, and the things going on inside are similar to what's happening on the other levels of this infernal prison," Han Li said.

The long-eared man took a glance at Han Li upon hearing this, but still displayed no intention of saying anything.

"The Infernal Tribe's puppet refinement skills rank at the very top in the Gray Realm. What you saw in the Hundred Treasure Area are only their most crude and puppets that have no Infernal Soul Bugs planted into their bodies, so their consciousness will fade after they're refined into puppets.

“In contrast, we'll have Infernal Soul Bugs planted into our bodies, and we'll be eternally enslaved by the Infernal Tribe without even being able to put an end to our own lives."

This time, it was an elderly man with a head of white hair in another prison cell that had spoken.

He was also a Gray Realm being whose facial features weren't all that different from those of a normal human, and there was a resentful look on his face.

However, there was also a long black serpentine tail dragging along behind him, and it was unclear which tribe he was from.

"What are these Infernal Soul Bugs that you speak of?" Han Li asked as he turned to the elderly man, as did Shi Chuankong and the others.