Vol.2-Chapter 263 – Conspiracy

“Hehe, since they are people the Third Elder needs, then they must be guarded well. Brother Li, let us go drink!”

Zhu Liangjun saw Li Hechao become a bit unhappy, so he quickly gave himself a way out. He pulled Li Hechao toward a campfire. After all, Li Hechao’s teacher was the Third Elder, and he had higher status than his teacher. However, Zhu Liangjun’s smile was a bit strange.

Li Hechaos nodded and went to drink with Zhu Liangjun. After all, they were both in the same sect and had to give each other some face.

Zhao Jiuge’s group was taken into the secret prison by Messenger Liao. Aside from the angry Song Rujing, everyone else had some understanding of the current situation. However, with people around, it was not convenient for them to talk.

They only walked for a bit before they saw the so-called secret prison. They couldn’t help but want to laugh at it.

The so-called secret prison was just a natural cave in the corner of the canyon with a metal fence at the entrance to lock people inside.

“This is a secret prison? What is this mess?” Song Rujing immediately complained when she saw this. Now that they were in the depths of the mountain, they no longer had to deliberately disguise themselves.

Hearing this, Messenger Liao remained silent and was even more certain of his own speculations. These youths were definitely cultivators and were not much weaker than him.

Hearing Song Rujing’s words, Messenger Liao just pretended he didn’t hear them.

“The two of you guard them, I’m going to inform the Third Elder.” Messenger Liao left a command and quickly left. He didn’t want to stay here even for a moment, as a chill had appeared in his heart. If his speculation was correct, then his life was in danger by being here.

Then Messenger Liao quickly moved toward a cave in the foot of the mountain. Zhao Jiuge and company noticed that the cave seemed to extend very deep into the mountain and looked artificial. These people could not dig the cave themselves—they must have captured the surrounding villagers to do it for them.

What they guessed was correct. The deep tunnels on the opposite side were indeed dug out by the nearby villagers, and the secret prison they were in was originally used to keep the villagers. However, that was a few months ago, and all the work had been completed. All the villagers naturally had their blood drained and died at the bottom of Southern Pond Mountain.

The two Blood Fiend Pavilion disciples stood at the entrance of the secret prison after Messenger Liao left. They were a few dozen meters from the entrance, but they could easily see everything. This secret prison was very simple and was originally made to hold mortals.

The secret prison was only about 20 square meters, and there was a soft layer of dead, yellow grass on the ground. The four of them sat down close to each other.

The surrounding walls were greyish-brown and uneven, and there were rocks sticking out from the walls. There was also a damp smell that was fair foul-smelling.

“What kind of broken place is this? I’m going out, it's too dirty!” Song Rujing’s face was filled with unhappiness. Afterward, she felt it wasn’t enough and let out a cold snort. “These evil cultivators are too vicious. They want to use my blood essence to cultivate? Dream on!”

“Endure it for a bit. Didn’t you hear that the so-called Third Elder is coming soon? I think we should wait until they come to us. What do you think about this, Senior Sister Ling?”

Song Yuansheng first gently appeased his little sister and then asked Ling Bo Re. He was worried that they wouldn’t be able to adapt to this harsh environment.

“No problem. Let us wait here for a while. If my guess is correct, this Third Elder should be their Nascent Soul Realm higher-up. We’ll rest for a bit, and soon, we’ll face a difficult battle.”

Ling Bo Re gently coiled up her silk-like hair and propped it up with a hairpin. After being together for so long, she spoke more than before, but only relatively.

“None of the Blood Fiend Pavilion higher-ups are here. If the Third Elder is the only Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, we can easily kill him and the rest of the people above. Then we can enter the tunnel and capture them all at once without fear of any of them escaping.” Song Yuanshengn nodded and thought for a moment. “This would let us see exactly what they are doing here!”

“Where is that blood pool?” Zhao Jiuge suddenly asked. He couldn’t forget about the blood pool. A blood pool required countless lives to build, and he was determined to destroy it.

Ling Bo Re’s expression became serious. Song Yuansheng hesitated for a moment and slowly said, “I’m uncertain. The blood pool is very important to them, and it can’t be moved. If there is a blood pool here, it should be inside that tunnel, and it shouldn’t be very large.” He also disliked the blood pool a lot.

Song Rujing suddenly asked, “Did the Blood Fiend Pavilion come here to build a new blood pool?”

“Impossible. The Blood Fiend Pavilion moved from the Ten Thousand Barbarian Mountain, which is filled with people. The disciples of the Great Barbarian Sect are nearby. They spent a lot of effort to move their entire sect here, so it must be something big. Also, building a blood pool requires a lot of human blood, and there are barely any people here.” Song Yuansheng rebuttled Song Rujing almost immediately.

“No matter what, once we go down there, we’ll know. Use this time to rest a bit and recover to your peaks. These disciples from the Blood Fiend Pavilion are not weak—they have a lot of Spirit Core Realm disciples, and there must be some Nascent Soul Realm elders. It will be a tough fight.” Zhao Jiuge was a bit worried. He was afraid of some accident occurring at the end. After all, this was a matter of life or death.

The humble secret prison became silent. Everyone began to prepare themselves for the vicious battle to come.

……

Bottom of Southern Pond Mountain.

Messenger Liao rushed through the narrow tunnel to the bottom of the mountain. It was artificially made and looked very shabby.

There was not a single disciple guarding the tunnel. After half an hour, Messenger Liao saw the brought light ahead and let out a sigh of relief. All the higher-ups of the Blood Fiend Pavilion were here.

After taking a turn, he arrived at a wide, stone hall. This hall was carved out. There were stone platforms evenly spaced out, with thick candles lighting up the entire hall.

The hall was very simple, with a dozen or so Blood Fiend Pavilion disciples cultivating in the middle. At the end was a five-meter-wide stone door that was tightly shut. There were three figures sitting before the door, talking about something.

The one sitting in the middle had black hair mixed with silver. He was very skinny, but his eyes were filled with life. He was Li Hechao and Messenger Liao’s teacher, the Third Elder.

To his left was a fat and bald man who had an oily face. He was the Ninth Elder.

To his right was someone whose face was terrifyingly pale. He gave off a gloomy aura like he was a ghost. He was the Fifth Elder. The three elders were leisurely sitting before the stone gate, having a relaxed conversion.

The Third Elder smiled and asked, “Old Ninth, how is the situation at Deer Mountain?”

“What can those damn fellows do but watch us from the side? They are afraid that all of us are on the move for this, so they are tailing us. As long as we succeed this time, we’ll wipe those people out as well,” the Ninth Elder said with a smile, but his smile gave off a vicious aura.

“I wonder how the Pavilion Master and the others are doing inside. If they can succeed, our Blood Fiend Pavilion will rise!” The Fifth Elder’s gloomy eyes contained a hint of hope. He felt a rush of joy when thinking about how their plans would succeed.

The Third Elder moved a bit, gently patted his armrest, and laughed. “We’ll definitely succeed. This time, everyone came out. We have prepared for three months now, and now we just have to see what happens at the critical step.”

The Ninth Elder echoed, “Third Brother is right. The closer we get to the critical moment, the more we have to be on guard. I don’t know why the people from Deer Mountain suddenly had a change of heart. Don’t they always try to ruin our plans? This doesn’t fit their style.”

The Fifth Elder said, “We shouldn’t be overly suspicious. They must not know why we came here, that's why they haven’t made a move.”

Just at this moment, their gazes suddenly moved toward the entrance. Messenger Liao, who was breathless, had entered.

Seeing his youngest disciple come to him in a rush, the Third Elder yelled unhappily, “What are you panicking about? Didn’t I teach you to become calm?”

Messenger Liao’s face immediately became red after being yelled at by his teacher. He stood there mumbling, his body stiff. He didn’t know what to do.

The Ninth Elder asked “What are you panicking for? Did something happen up there?”

Right now, the secret their Blood Fiend Pavilion was working on had reached a critical step. The nine elders and the pavilion master had brought more than two dozen elite disciples here to guard it. They had left a few direct disciples in charge of matters above. Seeing this disciple come here in a rush, the Ninth Elder was afraid something had gone wrong.

The moment the Ninth Elder spoke, even the Third Elder and the Fifth Elder moved their gazes to Messenger Liao. Even the people cultivating in the middle stopped cultivating and looked over.