Wang Geng’s mind hadn’t yet processed what was happening, but he howled in agony as the excruciating pain suddenly rebounded through his consciousness.

Shi Dang knelt trembling on the ground, trying to crawl forward and escape through the door. Chen Zhou merely glanced at him sideways without speaking, but his half-smiling expression terrified Shi Dang so much that his supporting arm weakened, causing half his body to collapse.

“H-haven’t you thought about the consequences of doing this?” Shi Dang asked with a trembling voice.

Chen Zhou tilted his chin toward Wang Geng: “You’ve seen it—these are the consequences of what he did back then.”

Shi Dang was utterly shocked.

Chen Zhou gripped the knife handle and pressed downward, the sharp blade against Wang Geng’s right leg, pressing down inch by inch.

Wang Geng threw his head back and screamed, drenched in sweat. “You… let go…”

Chen Zhou continued pressing the blade downward: “Bark like a dog.”

Wang Geng was naturally tall and robust, and he had often used slaves to strengthen his body, constantly beating and killing them at the slightest provocation. In contrast, Chen Zhou was frequently beaten half to death by multiple supervisors and guards; they would break his limbs and then mend them, over and over, then starve him for days before finally giving him some water and a steamed bun.

Gu San and Wen Su often thought that one day Chen Zhou would be beaten to death.

Now Chen Zhou’s Body Technique: Mountain Fist had struck Wang Geng with such force that his entire body ached. He hadn’t felt such pain for a very long time, or perhaps never before. It was as if his flesh and bones were about to crumble, breathing became fragile and difficult, and the pressure transmitted through his limbs and body made him scream in agony.

The spirit technique Mountain Fist inflicted pain like a blade cutting through flesh and bone. However, when cultivators fought among themselves, they usually had star power protection. They typically wouldn’t be hit easily, and even if struck, they would have some defense—unlike Wang Geng now, who had his eyeball knocked out with a single hit.

Wang Geng glared hatefully at Chen Zhou, who appeared very patient, though the speed at which he pressed down on the knife handle betrayed his impatience.

“I’ll bark…” Wang Geng couldn’t endure it anymore and compromised, “I’ll bark right now… woof…”

He made a humiliating sound.

Chen Zhou frowned: “Louder.”

Wang Geng screamed in pain, covering half his face where his eye was missing, and howled loudly: “WOOF!”

“You call that a dog bark?” Chen Zhou leaned closer, staring at his remaining eye. “Do you know how?”

Wang Geng’s pupil trembled; the extreme pain made it almost impossible for him to speak.

Chen Zhou: “You once said useless things shouldn’t exist. This useless tongue of yours that can’t even bark like a dog—shouldn’t it be cut off too?”

Wang Geng couldn’t help but shake his head, his gaze ferocious yet tinged with fear.

Because he knew Chen Zhou was perfectly capable of pulling out his tongue and cutting it off, or nailing it to the ground. Or rather, Chen Zhou very much wanted to do so, but Wang Geng didn’t want that, so he struggled to open his mouth and bark like a dog.

Each bark louder than the previous, becoming increasingly earnest, nearly tearing his throat, with blue veins visibly bulging at his temples and neck.

Shi Dang, cowering in the corner of the room and not daring to move, felt these barks were death knells, and he couldn’t help covering his ears.

Chen Zhou listened impassively. When Wang Geng’s barking turned hoarse, his knife-wielding hand slashed downward without warning, severing Wang Geng’s right leg.

The dog’s bark suddenly transformed into a scream of agony mid-sound.

In his pain and terror, Wang Geng cursed Chen Zhou. When fear reached its threshold, it often triggers anger, so he began to shout obscenities:

“You fucking pig slave, you’re asking for death! I’ll make you wish you were dead! I’ll cut off your arms and legs, pull out your tongue, roast it in fire, cut it into pieces, and make you eat it all!”

“Guards! Is everyone outside dead or what?!”

“Fuck! Why isn’t Xu Liangzhi here yet?! Shi Dang, why are you just standing there? Hurry outside and call someone for me!”

Chen Zhou stood up with the knife in hand, looking at Wang Geng’s furious and impotent rage, slightly raising an eyebrow: “Now that sounds like a dog barking.”

Wang Geng froze upon hearing this, slowly raising his head. He had never imagined there would come a day when he would kneel in Chen Zhou’s shadow, looking up at him.

Chen Zhou looked down at him from above: “Use that pig brain of yours to think—would I have come to find you before dealing with Xu Liangzhi?”

“Impossible…” Wang Geng tried to refute but couldn’t find the words. After surveying the room, he suddenly shuddered, “How… how can you use star meridian power? How can you sense star power?”

Chen Zhou coldly replied: “Spend five years in the Sky Pit like I did, and you’ll know.”

Wang Geng dragged his mutilated body backward, leaving a trail of blood on the floor.

Chen Zhou used Wang Geng’s large knife to pin down his left leg. Wang Geng clutched his left leg and screamed in pain, hating himself for not passing out yet.

His thoughts were seen through by Chen Zhou, who casually rubbed the knife handle with his fingers and said: “I won’t let you pass out. A human should always remain conscious.”

“Oh—” Chen Zhou seemed to suddenly realize something, “You’re not human now. Tell me, what are you now?”

These too were words Wang Geng had once said.

Wang Geng knew the answer. Holding his immobilized left leg, he replied through gritted teeth: “Pig slave… I’m not human, I’m a pig slave!”

“What do you want… just tell me, I’ll do anything. You want to leave the Sky Pit, right? I’ll order them to lower the passage bridge right now so you can leave!”

Chen Zhou said, “Whether I can leave or not isn’t up to you.”

Wang Geng inwardly wished he could strangle Chen Zhou, while simultaneously wanting to clutch Chen Zhou’s legs and beg for mercy.

Chen Zhou cut through the iron chains on his feet with one slash and said to Shi Dang: “Go tell the guards to lower the passage bridge.”

Shi Dang tremblingly looked at Wang Geng, who roared: “What are you looking at me for? Go quickly!”

Shi Dang asked: “But… what reason should I give?”

Chen Zhou, with his back to him, continued looking at Wang Geng: “Say that Ye Yuanqing is coming.”

Shi Dang hurriedly took Wang Geng’s token and left. Chen Zhou wasn’t worried at all that he would say anything out of turn. He bent down to pick up the iron chains on the ground and said calmly, “Too short.”

A chill ran down Wang Geng’s back, not knowing what trick Chen Zhou was planning next. He urgently said, “I’ll arrange everything properly, I’ll make sure everything is arranged so you can leave the Sky Pit smoothly! Sage Ye won’t be informed—he already thinks you’re dead!”

“You can take whoever you want with you! Whether it’s Wen Su or Gu San, it’s fine! I can let you all leave together!”

“Me?” Chen Zhou walked to the corner to find a longer iron chain. “Do you have some misunderstanding about your identity?”

Wang Geng’s face contorted, but he quickly corrected himself: “Pig slave… pig slave will arrange everything to ensure you leave smoothly!”

Chen Zhou wrapped the iron chain around Wang Geng’s neck, with the remaining length trailing on the bloody floor.

Wang Geng continued trying to persuade him, speaking rapidly, while Chen Zhou wiped the blood from his hands and sat on a stool in the room. Elbows resting on his legs as he leaned slightly forward, drops of blood falling from his fingertips to the ground. Unhurriedly, he looked up at Wang Geng and asked: “Well, has your fear and hatred of cultivators increased?”

“How could that be? How could I dislike cultivators…” Wang Geng shook his head repeatedly, but Chen Zhou smiled and said, “I don’t care to lecture you about the principles between cultivators and ordinary people. I’m a common man, and you don’t deserve it anyway.”

Wang Geng’s face turned pale, forcing a flattering smile, “Right, right, pig slave doesn’t deserve it.”

“Time is short, so I’ll skip my part.” Chen Zhou picked up the iron chain from the ground and looked at him. “Let’s tally up the times you insulted my master and junior sister.”

Wang Geng froze when he met Chen Zhou’s cold eyes as he said these words.

*

The screams from the seventh floor made people on the sixth floor look up from time to time.

Cheng Jingbai pointed upward and said to Xu Liangzhi, who lay in a pool of blood: “I don’t think you’d want Chen Zhou to come down and talk to you.”

Xu Liangzhi’s body was riddled with holes from wooden chopsticks. His Mountain Fixation had been released, but he was nearly finished. His screams had turned hoarse, and his bloodshot eyes turned to look at Wen Su standing behind Cheng Jingbai.

Only the immobilized dancing girls remained alive in the room.

Cheng Jingbai smiled at Xu Liangzhi again: “You probably don’t want to talk to the young lady behind me either. I can feel her killing intent without even turning around.”

Xu Liangzhi swallowed with difficulty, his voice raspy: “Sage Ye never comes to this side; at most, he only walks to the cliff wall entrance.”

“As long as he comes, that’s fine.” Cheng Jingbai said, “I’m not asking too much, am I?”

Xu Liangzhi added: “Don’t think he has no means to deal with you…”

Cheng Jingbai said, “I’ve never underestimated a Pilgrim.”

Xu Liangzhi finally gave in out of fear. “I have a communication talisman in my robe that’s only used for urgent matters.”

Cheng Jingbai used a chopstick to open his clothes and reached in to take the talisman.

Xu Liangzhi said weakly: “I can only pass on the message. Whether Sage Ye comes or not is uncertain.”

Cheng Jingbai raised an eyebrow: “That’s not your concern anymore.”

With his face twisted in pain, Xu Liangzhi said: “According to our agreement… You should let me go.”

Cheng Jingbai turned to open the door. “How old are you to still believe such nonsense?”

Xu Liangzhi’s expression froze. He slowly turned his head toward the open doorway. Cheng Jingbai’s figure was no longer visible. The floral scent brought in by the night breeze was quickly consumed by the alcoholic smell in the room.

The feeling of the cool breeze on his face made Xu Liangzhi tremble slightly.

His Adam’s apple bobbed uncontrollably as he looked in horror at Wen Su walking toward him.

*

Cheng Jingbai went upstairs to find Chen Zhou. Since most of those working and serving in the Xianchi Building were slaves, they were easily knocked down. The corridors and staircase corners were littered with fallen bodies. The Xianchi Building was now under Chen Zhou’s control.

As he left, he looked toward the cliff wall from Xianchi and vaguely saw people on the drum tower communicating with each other about lowering the bridge passage. Some people on the drum tower were also shooting arrows into the Sky Pit. The alarm bell rang, its urgent sound seeming to herald doom, announcing to the Star Lords in the Xianchi Building that there was trouble in the Sky Pit.

In the Sky Pit, Gu San watched in surprise as the Earth Ghosts suddenly rioted: they tore at each other, biting and fighting. When the supervisors were drawn to the scene, two figures suddenly emerged from the crowd, skillfully and precisely breaking the supervisors’ necks, seizing their clubs, and leading some Earth Ghosts toward the cremation pit.

Earth Ghosts had a great advantage when it came to learning.

Especially those dangerous, deadly skills—like killing.

Earth Ghosts could absorb experience through repeated deaths. Even if naturally stupid, they would be transformed through countless opportunities to start over.

Unlike Chen Zhou, whose body deteriorated from daily beatings, the Earth Ghosts only needed to die once to escape physical pain and mutilation.

Lin Xiao joked that the southern Earth Ghosts were killing gods, but the Ice Desert Earth Ghosts were nearly as capable.

Years of teetering between life and death had given them the instincts and sharpness of wild beasts.

The guards on the drum tower also spotted the two Earth Ghosts running at the front. They aimed their arrows at their hearts and the backs of their heads. Lin Xiao and Li Bushuo didn’t look back but rushed toward the cremation pit’s high ground at their fastest speed before the rain of arrows behind them arrived.

Because of the fierce fire of the cremation pit and the howling of the Earth Ghosts below, usually no one stayed there.

The supervisors shouted themselves hoarse behind them, calling for their capture and hurling curses.

Fierce flames roared at the bottom of the cremation pit, with scorching heat blasting upward. Li Bushuo jumped down after reaching the edge. The raging fire below could burn through the iron chains on his feet. He was quickly burned beyond recognition by the fierce flames. Lin Xiao operated a black cylinder on the shore to lower iron chains, bringing the revived Li Bushuo back up.

Li Bushuo stood on the shore, glanced at his now-free feet, and turned his head. Lin Xiao smiled and said, “I don’t like being burned to death.”

Lin Xiao refused to go down and instead helped to rescue the Earth Ghosts who kept climbing up only to be burned to death. These were Earth Ghosts who had completely lost their humanity and become true bloodthirsty monsters. Having regained their freedom, they engaged in fierce fights with the supervisors who had charged up the shore.

With these ruthless, bloodthirsty monsters joining the fray, the supervisors’ inner fear of the Earth Ghosts was awakened. The more ruthlessly they struck, the louder they shouted: “Archers! Kill those coming from the cremation pit first!”

The archer guards on the drum tower cursed angrily: “These are fucking Earth Ghosts—how the hell am I supposed to kill them?!”

The supervisors shouted again: “Quickly, bring more chains!”

The defensive line at the eastern exit of the Sky Pit had already been pushed back by the surging Earth Ghosts. Yet many more slaves either sat or stood beneath the giant tree by the sand river, watching the desperate fighters with numb expressions.

Gu San seized the opportunity to break through the supervisor guards’ defensive line. Fortunately, avoiding the arrows, he ran up the stone steps toward the top of the Sky Pit.

The moment he reached the shore amid curses and screams, Chen Zhou, far away in the Xianchi Building, pointed a lethal incantation at two people on the eastern drum tower. Gu San only saw the men who had been standing at the high point somehow get their foreheads pierced and fall, smashing into a pulp.

But he didn’t hesitate for long and didn’t look back at Chen Zhou in the Xianchi Building. Instead, he gathered his strength and ran toward the drum tower, reaching the high point and taking control of the bow and arrows.

Gu San was an excellent archer.

Before being captured and thrown into the Sky Pit, he and Gu Qi had lived with a hunter in the mountains. The hunter was skilled with a bow and taught them hands-on how to survive in the deep mountains.

Until the hunter died protecting them, and the helpless children were finally sold into the Sky Pit as slaves.

Gu San targeted the other guards and archers on the drum tower. Although he never missed a shot, it was too slow with just him alone.

The archers were already shouting: “Pull up the passage bridge! Close it! Don’t let them across!”

Below the section from the cliff wall to the Sky Pit was a bottomless abyss. The connecting bridges needed to be lowered from both sides simultaneously for safe passage. Cold sweat dripped from Gu San’s forehead as he aimed his arrow at the person operating the bridge on the distant drum tower, but he knew the distance was too great.

As he anxiously calculated, his peripheral vision caught a figure below moving with incredible speed through the blocking guards. Like a leopard pursuing prey—precise and swift.

Lin Xiao was clever and skilled at disguise and transformation; Cheng Jingbai was eloquent and skilled in yin-yang dual meridian healing techniques; Li Bushuo was simply a fighter, extremely capable in combat, whether using star meridian power or not.

Li Bushuo broke through the encirclement and reached the drum tower. The guards protecting the archers drew long knives from their waists and slashed at him, but Li Bushuo dodged and seized a long knife, unhesitatingly slashing horizontally.

Two heads fell to the ground. Li Bushuo didn’t spare them a glance, picking up a bow and arrow and shooting at the guards turning the wheel to raise the bridge on the opposite side.

One arrow hit its mark!

Gu San couldn’t help but inwardly exclaim “Beautiful!” He looked at Li Bushuo with admiration, suddenly seeing him bend down to pick up a paper bag and put it on his head, punching two holes for his eyes, then looking back at Gu San.

Gu San: “…”