Chapter 214: Chapter 117: The "Key" Is Actually the Demon Suppression Stele! Breaking Through to the Entering the Realm of Strength, Transforming Qi and Blood into Force, and Mastering Microscopic Control

Yue Mankong’s Paperman shook its head. "I’ve been investigating that as well... but the few cultists I captured only knew they were ordered to search for it. They had no idea what the key looked like or what it was for."

"I tracked them all the way to Dragon Ridge Mountain, but I unexpectedly fell into a Grand Array set up by a powerful member of the Moon Worship Sect. My real body is still trapped inside."

The Paperman raised its slender arm, as if recalling the scene. "At the critical moment, I had no choice but to attach a wisp of my Divine Sense to this Paperman and barely managed to escape."

"I originally sensed a powerful energy fluctuation in the pit at the Seven Stars Gang’s headquarters and wanted to investigate. If I could have absorbed even a little of that power, I would have been able to send a message back to the Demon Suppression Bureau for help."

"Who would have thought..."

Yue Mankong’s voice turned grave. "That the Seven Stars Gang and the Moon Worship Sect would be so depraved as to imprison a Resentful Spirit underground! The Paperman was detected by that Resentful Spirit. I used the last of my strength to cast a Concealing Technique and hid beneath the stone platform until you appeared."

Chu Fan silently stroked the sealed piece of White Bone in his robes, recalling the little girl—the Resentful Spirit from the stone platform who had pleaded with him for help.

He asked again, "Senior, is the Moon Worship Sect’s search for the key related to that Resentful Spirit?"

Yue Mankong’s Paperman suddenly went still. After a long moment, it spoke. "Now that you mention it, I hadn’t connected the two."

"Thinking about it now, the Moon Worship Sect has been making frequent moves in recent years. Searching for the key, refining a Resentful Spirit... I’m afraid their ambitions are vast."

"I need to go back to sleep. Don’t wake me unless it’s something particularly important."

"You haven’t even broken through the five stages of Foundation Establishment yet. Try to avoid any conflict with the Moon Worship Sect and just wait for reinforcements to arrive."

Chu Fan nodded slightly. "I understand."

He sorted through the information he had gathered in his room, tucked the Paperman into his robes, then stood up and walked out the door.

In the Martial Arts Arena, he stopped a Seven Stars Gang disciple who was carrying a saber and asked for directions to the dungeon.

The man was intimidated by his cold gaze and stammered as he pointed toward the western courtyard. "The dungeon... it’s that way... in the western courtyard."

Chu Fan followed his directions through a covered corridor to the entrance of the western courtyard, where he saw four young men guarding the dungeon’s main gate.

Two of them wore the Cao Family’s signature maroon short coats, with Yan Chi Sabers tucked at their waists.

The other two wore the Li Family’s blue cloth long robes, their cuffs embroidered with subtle cloud patterns.

"Who goes there?"

One of the young men from the Cao Family stepped forward, his hand on the hilt of his saber.

Before Chu Fan could speak, a young man from the Li Family beside him preemptively cupped his hands in a salute. "Ah, it’s Junior Brother Chu Fan. What business brings you here, Junior Brother?"

Hearing the name "Chu Fan," the expressions of the other three changed slightly. They relaxed a little, but also looked him over with a hint of curiosity, sizing up this genius disciple whom the Gang Leader valued so highly.

Chu Fan nodded, his voice calm. "Greetings, Senior Brothers. I’ve come to the dungeon to find two people, one named Liang Qiu and the other Ling Feng. I’d appreciate it if you’d let me through."

The Li Family youth smiled faintly. "I’ll take you in myself."

With that, he shot a look at one of the Cao Family members.

That Cao Family youth took out a key and unlocked the dungeon’s main gate.

Chu Fan followed the two of them down the stone steps leading to the dungeon.

A damp Cold Qi gradually seeped from the stone slabs underfoot.

The deeper they went, the thicker the air became, a foul mixture of mildew, rust, and stale sweat.

At the bottom of the steps was a mottled iron door. The Li Family youth stepped forward and gave it a gentle push. A piercing CREAK echoed out, only to be instantly swallowed by the din from within.

Half-burnt torches were stuck into the stone walls on either side of the dungeon.

Their orange-red light flickered unsteadily in the damp air, casting the crowded shadows of the people in the iron cells into distorted, lurching shapes.

The slick stone slabs were coated with a sticky, dark green moss.

Occasionally, a drop of water would fall from a crack in the stone, DRIPPING into a puddle of stagnant water, but the sound was drowned out by the unceasing clamor.

In the third iron cell on the left, a burly man was chained to a stone pillar. His voice was already hoarse from shouting, but he continued to cry out intermittently, "I didn’t collude with the enemy! I was framed!"

The door of the cell diagonally opposite was ajar, and the shrill screams of a woman could be heard from inside.

Farther down, someone was repeatedly slamming their head against the iron bars, their forehead bleeding, as they mumbled over and over, "Please, kind sirs, be merciful! Let me out, I have a family at home..."

The CRACKLE of the burning torches sounded exceptionally stark amidst the cries and pleas.

Chu Fan remained expressionless, his gaze sweeping over the terrified and despairing faces in the cells.

...

「Inside a cell.」

Liang Qiu and Ling Feng were huddled on a pile of filthy straw, their faces deathly pale.

They still bore the unhealed wounds from the lesson Chu Fan had taught them days ago, and now they were covered in fresh injuries. Even their robes had been whipped into tatters.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps grew louder, approaching from a distance, exceptionally clear in the quiet of the dungeon.

When Chu Fan’s figure appeared outside the cell door, led by the Cao Family disciple, an intense will to survive flared in Liang Qiu’s eyes.

"Chu Fan! Boss Chu! Save us! We’ve been framed! We’re not Zhou Tianci’s trusted men!"

Liang Qiu scrambled to the bars, his voice urgent and hoarse.

Ling Feng, who had once been the most defiant toward Chu Fan, now lunged for the bars as if Chu Fan were his last hope.

This former "genius" no longer had any of his old pride and confidence; his eyes held only terror and panic.

However, upon seeing Chu Fan, a sliver of hope now mingled with that terror and panic.

Chu Fan’s gaze swept over the two wretched figures, finally settling on Liang Qiu. His tone was perfectly flat, without a ripple of emotion. "Are we close? I’ve thought about it, and I can’t find a single reason to save you."

"I’m here to get my money back. The money from selling the Boxing Manual, you have it all on you, right? How much is it in total?"

Liang Qiu froze, not expecting Chu Fan to be so direct. But he didn’t dare hide anything and quickly stammered, "Five... five thousand eight hundred taels!"