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Ancestor?
Su Yi couldn’t help but look at the man in gray. He was starting to get a sense of the man’s origins.
“Fellow Daoist, we aren’t here to save anyone today,” Cui Weizhong couldn’t help but remind him.
The gray-robed man’s words scared him; he worried that any rescue attempts would alert the Cui Family. That wouldn’t be good.
“I know that, of course.” The gray-robed man glanced coldly at Cui Weizhong. “Rest assured, we’re only here tonight to make certain arrangements that will come in quite handy during the Lantern Festival.”
Cui Weizhong inwardly sighed in relief and smiled appeasingly. “That’s great.”
He was a lofty mid-stage Profound Illumination Emperor, but beneath the gray-robed man’s gaze, he sensed a potentially lethal threat, and his heart couldn’t help but shake.
“Let’s go.” The man in gray led the way into the distance, while the others followed shortly after.
Qu Mingwei had been keeping an eye on Su Yi this whole time, as if afraid he’d find an opportunity to scurry off.
Su Yi naturally wouldn’t escape.
Before long, the group arrived at the ninety-nine towering pillars. Suddenly, a high-pitched, raspy voice rang out.
“How many years has it been? Someone has finally come!” A bony elder dressed in rags shouted with excitement and struggled, rattling the blood-colored chains wrapped around him.
But no matter how much he struggled, it was useless.
Immediately afterward, a clamor of voices rang out.
“Who are you? Have you come to save us?” an aged voice asked frantically.
“Fellow Daoists, please help me break my fetters. Once I’m free, I’ll be sure to repay you generously!” someone shouted in a desperate bid for freedom.
“Are you from the Bureau of Adjudication’s Cui Family? Or are all of them already dead?” came a shout rife with loathing and resentment.
Around ten of the originally unmoving figures imprisoned on the pillars suddenly awakened and started struggling.
They’d been imprisoned here for countless years. They cut such sorry figures that it hurt just looking at them. However, the vicious auras emanating from them were still utterly terrifying.
“Seniors, please calm down and hear me out,” the man in gray said gravely, suppressing the chorus of voices.
All ten-or-so prisoners looked over.
“We’ve come to break the seals on this place and give you an opportunity to see the light of day once more, seniors!” said the man in gray.
The prisoners had been imprisoned here a long, long time ago. All of them had extraordinarily terrifying origins, so calling them “senior” wasn’t at all inappropriate.
“Wonderful!”
“Hahaha, I finally endured long enough for this day to arrive! When I escape, I’ll kill the entire Cui Family!”
The prisoners were instantly excited.
After countless years of imprisonment, most of the captives had long since fallen, unable to bear the corrosion of countless years. When their life force ran dry, they perished.
Only about a dozen of them remained. How could they not be excited to hear that they had a chance at freedom?
“Seniors, please be patient. The next millennial Lantern Festival begins one month from now. That will be the day you regain your freedom,” the gray-robed man said gravely. “But before that, there’s something I’d like all of you to agree to.”
The group instantly calmed down.
“Fellow Daoist, please tell us what it is,” someone asked.
The man in gray said, “It’s simple. I hope you can refrain from divulging what happened tonight prior to the Lantern Festival to ensure that the Cui Family doesn’t find out.”
“That’s easily done. So long as we can escape confinement, we won’t leak a word of what happened today!”
“That’s right!”
The prisoners visibly sighed in relief, and all of them agreed.
Su Yi wondered, After all these years of torment, they’re neither fully human nor fully ghost, and they’ve lost much of their vitality. Even if they escape, what use will they be in the short run?
He of course knew that if this bunch escaped, with the methods at their disposal, they’d recover their former cultivations sooner or later.
If that happened, who knew how much upheaval and bloodshed it would lead to?
After all, everyone imprisoned in the third level of the Bureau of Adjudication’s dungeons was once a famous Imperial expert, and each was guilty of heinous crimes. All were wicked to the extreme!
Without any further delays, the man in gray led the group off into the distance. They passed the pillars and proceeded about one hundred miles. Soon, a massive black mountain came into view.
It was shaped like a massive tripod cauldron connecting heaven and earth. Countless blood-red chains descended hung from the mountaintop, pouring down like a waterfall. There were so many of them that they completely obscured the mountain.
Before they’d even approached, a limitlessly terrifying energy fluctuation spread outward.
The gray-robed man and his companions visibly reacted and stopped in their tracks.
“This is most likely the most perilous place in the Bureau of Adjudication, Heavenly Tripod Mountain. Rumor has it that in the ancient era, several utterly heinous, malevolent entities were imprisoned here, and that even the weakest of them was in the Profound Serenity Realm
” said Qu Mingwei, alarm and dread all over his face.
“To the best of my knowledge, after the Bureau of Adjudication fell, the source power of Heavenly Tripod Mountain gradually dissipated. It was nowhere near what it once was, to the point that the terrifying entities imprisoned there almost escaped on multiple occasions,” said Cui Weizhong. He looked like he was trying to recall something. “Roughly thirty thousand years ago, the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force traveled the Netherworld. Our patriarch, Cui Longxiang, invited him here, and the two of them worked together to reseal Heavenly Tripod Mountain. Only then did they fully suppress those terrifying existences.”
The Swordmaster of Abstruse Force!
When they heard that name, the crowd’s eyelids twitched.
Cui Weizhong continued, “At the time, the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force left a peerless treasure sealed at the peak of Heavenly Tripod Mountain.”
The group instinctively looked up at the mountaintop.
However, due to the extreme distance and numerous formations getting in the way, they could only dimly discern what looked like an altar at the peak.
Su Yi examined Heavenly Tripod too, looking a bit lost in thought.
He’d come here with Cui Longxiang at his peak, when his Dao was at its most glorious. With his peak Imperial Apex cultivation, he was the mightiest throughout the heavens!
At the time, he asked Cui Longxiang why they didn’t just kill those heinous criminals. That would save the Cui Family the trouble of keeping watch over this place.
To that, Cui Longxiang had said, “A life worse than death is the greatest punishment we can offer those heinous sinners.”
That was the decision the founding ancestor of the Cui Family had made during the ancient era, in his capacity as the master of the Bureau of Adjudication. Naturally, future generations of the Cui Family had to carry out his orders.
It was then that the gray-robed man leading the group suddenly unleashed a shocking, bloody, malevolent aura and said solemnly, “Fei Changting of the ninth generation of the Denglong Clan greets you, patriarch!” Every word boomed like thunder, reverberating throughout the entire stretch of heaven and earth.
A peak Profound Illumination Denglong! Cui Weizhong gasped as he realized the gray-robed man’s origins and cultivation base.
The Denglong were an ancient race that lived in the Shentu Territory. Rumor had it that their founder was a true Xiantian Divine Demon!
The Shentu Territory was one of the Netherworld’s six territories, and it was home to numerous Demonist factions.
The Denglong were among the top Demonist factions of the Shentu Territory, as well as one of the top five Demonist factions in the Netherworld!
Qu Mingwei, the man in beast skins, and the woman in black didn’t react to this. There was no doubt about it; they’d already known Fei Changting’s identity.
So, he really is a Denglong, thought Su Yi, but he didn’t find it strange either.
Boom!
As Fei Changting’s voice spread out, the distant Heavenly Tripod Mountain suddenly shook. The countless blood-colored chains surrounding it surged and rattled like mad.
Then, a streak of dark light forced its way out of the chains’ confinement, manifesting an illusory, stalwart figure in the air.
This was obviously an incarnation of will, but it was extremely indistinct.
However, to manifest an avatar despite the suppression of Heavenly Tripod Mountain made it readily apparent just how terrifying this expert’s real body was.
The stalwart figure stood in the air. Although they couldn’t see his features clearly, his wanton, unrestrained pride and vicious aura were utterly imposing.
Everyone but Su Yi felt their hearts shake and their bodies stiffen.
“Have you come to free me?” asked the stalwart figure, his voice dry and dispirited.
As he spoke, he endured the suppressive powers of Heavenly Tripod Mountain’s formation, and streaks of blood-colored divine chains ruthlessly whipped him, leaving him shaking from head to toe and surging with dark light.
However, he made no attempt to dodge. It was as if he didn’t even see them.
“Patriarch, I have indeed come to free you, but
 you’ll have to wait another month,” Fei Changting said respectfully. “When the next Lantern Festival arrives, the Cui Family will face unprecedented adversity, both internal and external. Then, you’ll have your opportunity to escape your bonds!”
“Why not now?” asked the tall, stalwart figure without the slightest ripple of emotion. His expression was cold and indifferent.
“Er
 According to the clan’s plans, we have to wait until
” Fei Changting was just about to explain.
But before he could, the stalwart figure cut him off. “I’m asking you this: can you break Heavenly Tripod Mountain’s formation now?”
Fei Changting took a deep breath and said in a low voice, “Patriarch, with our abilities and the treasures we’ve brought with us, we
 cannot.”
As soon as he said this, he hurriedly added, “But we’re confident we can set up a transmission formation here. On the day of the Lantern Festival, experts of numerous factions will gather and use its power to force their way into the dungeons. We can help you escape confinement then!”
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The tall, stalwart figure said, “A month
? Very well, this lofty one can wait a while longer.”
His voice revealed a rare trace of eagerness and excitement.
The man in gray instantly felt a massive weight lift from his shoulders. “Patriarch, the clan has been preparing to welcome you back for a long time. I’m confident that this time, we won’t just help you escape; we’ll even be able to destroy the Cui Family and get revenge for all you’ve suffered!”
He spoke with complete conviction.
But it was then that someone snickered.
The sound wasn’t particularly loud, but in the stifled, oppressive atmosphere of the dungeons, it seemed extraordinarily out of place.
Whoosh!
All eyes were instantly upon the same person.
A young man in blue. He stood there leisurely, hands behind his back, a mocking smile on his face.