Chapter 488

When the Gui Yi army crashed against the gate, the other Ning Mansion servants scattered in all directions.

The Gui Yi army, having failed to break through the gate, officially began sweeping the battlefield, chasing every fleeing person.

The Blood Grade centipede Gui Yi, after killing several waves of people, began wandering aimlessly through the Ning Mansion grounds.

Unconsciously, it arrived before Liao Guanjia's corpse.

As if sniffing the scent, it drooled profusely.

Without any pause, the Blood Grade centipede Gui Yi swallowed Liao Guanjia's corpse whole.

After consuming it entirely and digesting it, the centipede Gui Yi slowly curled its body into a ball.

A black blood clot slowly formed on its exterior, rapidly expanding into a black blood sphere.

The black blood sphere, like a crystal-clear gem, stood alone amid the ruins, and unconsciously, more and more Gui Yi gathered around it, surrounding it in three layers, a dense, dark mass.

They seemed to be waiting for whatever lay inside the black blood sphere to burst forth.

Among them, a small dog with a massive head, long fangs, and a petite frame slowly, slowly cracked open a tiny slit on its forehead, forming a tiny red stone the size of a grain of rice.

If Jing Yan were here now, he would recognize at once that this dog with the oversized head and extra fangs was precisely the shadow that had shot out from the corpse of the giantized Xiao Xuedou!

Around the Blood Grade Xiao Xuedou, the Black Grade Initial Stage Gui Yi, whose eyes had previously been uniformly pitch-black, suddenly grew clear, their black irises completely fading away.

They had done nothing—merely by the passage of time—they had advanced from Black Grade Initial Stage Gui Yi to Black Grade Mid-Stage Gui Yi!

So many Gui Yi synchronizing their advancement at once—this situation was utterly astonishing.

The surviving Ning Family servants, hiding in corners, trembled all over, too terrified to sneak another glance.

They could only pray that the Second Official and the Chief Steward would return soon.

If anyone in the Ning Family now could still turn the tide, it could only be those two stewards.

As these people thought this, the black blood sphere surrounded by countless Gui Yi finally cracked with a series of crack crack sounds.

What emerged from within was not the massive Blood Grade centipede body, but a wholly new humanoid Gui Yi—half flesh, half bone—with iron chains binding its hands and feet, the ends of which were attached to… a bone coffin larger than its own body.

This Blood Grade 【Laguan Gui】 dragged the Bone Coffin slowly out of the black blood sphere.

As it departed, the black blood sphere collapsed with a rumbling sound.

All surrounding Gui Yi, including the Blood Grade Xiao Xuedou, prostrated themselves in submission.

If Fang Yue were present now, he would immediately recognize that half of the 【Laguan Gui】's face bore a striking resemblance to Liao Guanjia.

Without uttering a single word, the 【Laguan Gui】 led the Gui Yi army to the iron gate entrance of the Underground Secret Chamber.

He raised his hand and smashed it hard against the rockery.

Boom!!

The entire ground shook violently, as if an earthquake had struck, yet no damage was done.

The 【Laguan Gui】 seemed unconcerned, silently delivering another punch straight into the rockery.

Boom!!

This time, the rockery was blasted clean away, and the iron gate beneath sank inward with a perfect fist imprint.

Though the entrance to the Underground Secret Chamber had not yet opened, the surrounding Gui Yi grew excited, their roars rising in succession.

At the urging of the other Gui Yi, the 【Laguan Gui】 struck three more times.

On the third strike, one side of the Underground Secret Chamber's iron gate was smashed downward, crashing onto the staircase within.

"Roar!!"

The other Gui Yi, seeing the gate open, surged forward in unison.

The staircase was littered with human corpses—trampled, crushed, dead—but the Gui Yi army paid them no mind.

They descended without pause, racing straight to the deepest level of the Underground Secret Chamber, as if something there was calling to them.

The 【Laguan Gui】 followed behind the Gui Yi army, but no longer with its earlier frenzy.

…

As the vast Gui Yi army smashed through the iron gate and flooded into the Underground Secret Chamber.

A kilometer away from Ningguang Mountain, on the Ningguang Changdao, a group rode slowly on horseback.

"Master Ma, is this really our Phoenix Organization's base in the Heiqing Shanmai? Just a single mountain?"

Chen Xiaomiao blinked her eyes curiously.

Beside her, the horseman at the front of the line, wearing a horse-head mask, turned his head slightly to glance at Chen Xiaomiao.

"The base is inside the mountain."

"Inside the mountain?" Chen Miaofa pondered, comparing the mountain's size, then gasped aloud.

"Are you telling me our organization hollowed out the entire Ningguang Mountain?"

"..."

The horse-head masked figure said nothing, merely urging his mount to increase speed, as if unwilling to endure Chen Xiaomiao's chatter.

Behind them came a carriage, its driver unmistakably a physician—the very man who had introduced Chen Xiaomiao to the horse-head masked figure and led her to join the Phoenix Organization.

Behind the carriage, a blind girl, her hands bound in iron shackles and barefoot, was dragged along by a rope.

The group moved slowly; the carriage's pace was deliberately slowed.

Yet being dragged on foot like this, the girl's lips grew dry, and she seemed on the verge of collapsing at any moment.

But unlike her past experiences, if she fell now, no one would show her mercy out of pity.

Because this entire team that captured her consisted of heartless people!

"The Chief Captain of Yingzhong Cun is Master Ma of the Phoenix Organization? Who would believe that?" the blind girl Ming muttered bitterly.

At this moment, how she longed for the group that had rescued her from Deyun Cun.

"If… if only I'd done something to stay with that team back then…"

As Ming thought this, her vision suddenly darkened, she staggered, her body tilting, nearly crashing into the carriage.

She quickly stopped, steadied her stance, tilted her head forward—and only then noticed the convoy had halted without warning.

The horse-headed masker at the front gazed steadily at the black smoke rising from the peak of Ningguang Mountain.

"The outpost is in trouble."

His tone turned icy; suddenly, he cried "Yah!" and broke from the convoy, galloping swiftly along the Ningguang Road.

"Lord Ma Zuo?!" Chen Xiaomiao cried out, but received no reply.

She puffed out her cheeks in frustration, but no one paid her any mind.

"Miss Miao Fa, let's hurry after Lord Ma Zuo—we won't be safe out here in the wilderness without his protection."

Chen Xiaomiao, hearing the physician's words as reasonable, shrank her neck slightly: "Alright, I'll get Ming onto the carriage—we'll catch up."

She reached Ming's side, grabbed him, and shoved him into the carriage.

Ming immediately shook his head in terror, but it was useless.

A whirl of dizziness—and she was already stuffed inside the carriage.

Inside the carriage, dozens of translucent bottles filled with pale green liquid crowded every space—some soaking human heads, others soaking hands and other body parts.

Her bump sent them tumbling over with a gurgle, but the carriage had been modified: even the entrance had a wooden door, locked from within.

So the translucent bottles only clattered against the wooden door.

"Be careful! Don't break the goods inside."

"Got it, got it."

Listening to the indifferent voices outside, Ming curled up inside the carriage, trembling.

Human hearts are so complex.

…

(End of Chapter)