Chapter 455: The Technique Is in Hand, the Demon Ancestor Is Exposed

The summit of Shenhuo Mountain fell silent; all that echoed in everyone's ears was the roaring surge of the earthfire within the mountain's belly.

Every face bore confusion, their gazes at Zheng Fa and Shi Nandang filled with utter bewilderment.

Shi Nandang's own gaze was also dazed.

His eyes remained fixed on the jade pendant at Zheng Fa's waist, as if still trying to determine whether it was real or fake.

"Shi Shangren?" The gaunt old man among the six Soul Transformation cultivators finally couldn't hold back and spoke.

This was utterly finished—he had just granted them freedom when they were seeking it, indirectly enabling them; this was Xia Ye Qing's worst defeat in twenty-two years.

Chu Fei hesitated but said nothing; he knew today's affair had gotten completely out of hand. He turned and got into the driver's seat.

Zieg's ability was to collect and summon—he could absorb the souls of any living being that died before his eyes into his cane, whether they were heroic spirits, demons, ordinary humans, or even rabbits; as long as Zieg wished, the dead soul would remain forever trapped within his cane.

The gray-skinned people stood no taller than one meter fifty, with round, bulbous heads, bald scalps, large ears, and huge black eyeballs bulging out—each with two distinct pupils—wearing white robes, looking utterly bizarre.

The leather sole scraped across Song Lingyue's face, burning her skin raw; mud and sand from the sole smeared over her cheeks. Song Lingyue arched her back to pull away, but the overseer's men grabbed her hair and yanked her face hard against the sole.

When he looked back at the dancer, he saw her tear-streaked face like pear blossoms in the rain, and his heart clenched painfully—he wanted to give her everything he possessed.

Looking at Liu Yao's pitifully beautiful face, Chu Fei felt a surge of inner resentment and irritation; to be honest, he had previously thought Liu Yao had invited him out specifically to thank him.

"Of course I slept with Qingqing—where else would I sleep?" Chu Fei lied without a hint of shame.

The higher one climbed, the stronger the monsters became; perhaps due to the lingering aura of the divine corpse, the monsters here were unnaturally powerful—Li Duo had personally seen a massive serpent slithering through the forest, its length reaching seventy or eighty meters, nearly as formidable as the Volcanic Black Rock Python.

"Oh, this place is great too!" Tian Xin had just put down her phone when she burst out again, picking it up to start recording.

Li Fangzhou's commission was extremely high, and these people had been carefully selected and specially trained—they could reliably distinguish all kinds of mountain goods, were willing to endure hardship and labor, and offered fair prices for purchases; how could harvests not be abundant?

Wu Fan smiled faintly, studying the old man before him; though he appeared gentle now, Wu Fan knew this elder was no benevolent soul—the piercing gaze in his eyes hinted at his true nature.

The good news was that the camp still had some semblance of soldiers; these soldiers, though their cultivation was low—around the third or fourth level of the Reincarnation Realm—were still Fangshi, likely all of Fangzun rank.

Though the burden on his shoulders was heavy, his steps remained strong. He had walked this path long enough—he had left behind his childhood days of chopping firewood and herding cattle at age ten, following his father along this mountain trail for the first time into the world beyond.

Wu Fan nodded; he understood Lin Shishi's point—if the location was too remote or shabby, clients would assume the studio lacked strength and couldn't survive, causing business to dwindle and no one to come.

"If you make another mistake and Lady Du catches you out, I can't protect you anymore—have you truly arranged it?" Zi Jin asked.

Lin Lin Bu Fan would never blame Lin Miao for the mistake, especially since those two second-generation heirs weren't worth the trouble.