Chapter 1590: The Ten Thousand Corpses Pit
While browsing through the files related to the Kunlun Realm in the Shuxiang Pavilion Cave Heaven, Zhang Ruochen caught sight of a pair of stunning eyes that left a deep impression on him through the bookshelf. However, at that time, the other party seemed unwilling to interact with him, putting down the book and vanishing without a trace.
Now, seeing Ji Fanxin's soulful eyes, Zhang Ruochen immediately recognized that the woman standing across from him flipping through the "Sky-Connecting Divine Tree" back then was her.
Zhang Ruochen's temperament was still quite steady, and he quickly calmed down, though a series of questions arose in his mind.
After deliberating for a moment, Zhang Ruochen spoke first, "What does this have to do with the Qianrui Realm?"
Other cultivators, upon seeing Ji Fanxin, would almost always flatter her eagerly or put on a show of grace, desperately seeking opportunities to get closer to her. But Zhang Ruochen's gaze was natural, even carrying a hint of wariness, and his questions cut straight to the heart of the matter.
Dealing with someone like him, Ji Fanxin actually felt more at ease.
"This isn't the place to talk. Follow me."
Ji Fanxin's body dissipated, turning into a rain of light, and finally, the specks of light annihilated one by one, completely vanishing before Zhang Ruochen's eyes.
Zhang Ruochen was momentarily stunned, then a faint smile appeared on his face. He sniffed lightly, following the faint floral scent from her body, all the way out of the Heavenly Capital Saint Market to the edge of the Heavenly Capital Mountain.
Heavenly Capital Mountain was a sacred mountain suspended in midair. Standing at its edge felt like standing at the brink of a bottomless cliff, with a vast, misty sea of clouds before him and a river of countless brilliant stars above.
The surroundings were silent, as if few cultivators ever came here.
Zhang Ruochen stopped, gazing at the sea of clouds and stars before him, and couldn't help but exclaim, "I didn't expect to see such beautiful scenery here at Heavenly Capital Mountain."
"Beautiful scenery is just a facade. Who knows how many ugly truths are hidden beneath the thick clouds?"
Out of nowhere, a rain of light appeared and coalesced into Ji Fanxin's ethereal figure.
Earlier, Ji Fanxin had used some unknown method to vanish without a trace, and even Zhang Ruochen, mobilizing his spatial power, couldn't sense her. If she hadn't deliberately left behind a trace of her aura, Zhang Ruochen might not have been able to follow.
Though he couldn't see through her, Zhang Ruochen didn't ask.
After all, as the leader of a powerful realm, it was only natural for Ji Fanxin to possess methods beyond ordinary understanding.
That was her trump card, and she certainly wouldn't reveal it to others.
Ji Fanxin wore a veil, revealing only her shimmering eyes, as pure and clear as a fairy under the starlight. She said, "The Yin-Yang Hall is controlled by evil cultivators from three major worlds. Using their vast influence, they kidnap beautiful women from various worlds by any means necessary, treating them like goods, slaves, or prostitutes, raising and trading them for sacred stones and profit."
"Among them, many proud daughters of the Qianrui Realm have suffered calamities, captured and imprisoned within the Yin-Yang Hall, reduced to tools for those demons to amass wealth."
Zhang Ruochen said, "Have you entered the Yin-Yang Hall?"
Ji Fanxin shook her head. "No."
"Then how do you know that the proud daughters of the Qianrui Realm are imprisoned inside the Yin-Yang Hall?"
Zhang Ruochen was certain that no man in the world would tell Ji Fanxin that he had been to the Yin-Yang Hall, which was why he asked out of curiosity.
"Follow me."
Ji Fanxin leaped, jumping off Heavenly Capital Mountain and disappearing into the sea of clouds.
Zhang Ruochen spread a pair of dragon wings from his back and pursued her. He didn't know how long he flew through the mist, but he finally landed on the ground, standing at the edge of a pit filled with ten thousand corpses.
The pit was filled entirely with the dead bodies of women.
Women from all races were present—humans, fox clan, snake clan, dragon clan, Rakshasa clan, Undying Blood clan, and so on. Some bodies had rotted, while others remained intact. They were barely clothed, emaciated, as if they had suffered inhuman torture before death.
Zhang Ruochen covered his nose, unwilling to inhale the strong stench of decay. "These corpses?"
"All transported from the Yin-Yang Hall."
Ji Fanxin's eyes were both sorrowful and cold. "The remains of the missing proud daughters of the Qianrui Realm were found here."
At the edge of the ten thousand corpses pit, a forbidden formation had been set up. However, Ji Fanxin had used her profound spiritual power to open a gap in the formation. That was how Zhang Ruochen and she were able to enter.
Otherwise, even if other cultivators came near the pit, they likely wouldn't discover it, let alone break in.
But Zhang Ruochen still had doubts. "Why doesn't the Yin-Yang Hall just burn all these female corpses? Leaving them here doesn't benefit them, does it?"
Ji Fanxin said, "These women, while alive, were at least at the Half-Saint level, with many at the Saint level. Their physical bodies are incredibly strong—why would they rot so quickly?"
"That does seem suspicious."
Zhang Ruochen opened his Heavenly Eye and examined the pit again, finally noticing something. From within the female corpses, strands of saintly power and blood energy were continuously seeping out, converging toward the bottom of the pit.
It looked like... something was devouring the last bit of value from their bodies.
"What is that?"
Zhang Ruochen extended a hand, reaching out through the air to probe the secret at the bottom of the pit.
"Don't move."
Ji Fanxin stopped Zhang Ruochen. "That's an evil cultivator from the Yin-Yang Hall using the residual saintly power and blood energy of these female corpses to refine a wicked sacred artifact."
"Then why not take that wicked sacred artifact and destroy this place?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
"Destroying this place would only make them more ruthless, killing more women and building another ten thousand corpses pit elsewhere. And taking the artifact now would alert the enemy," Ji Fanxin said.
Zhang Ruochen thought it over carefully and withdrew his saintly power. "No, that's not right. Since these women are the Yin-Yang Hall's cash cows, either sold off or used to serve male cultivators, why are they reduced to corpses and dumped here to refine a wicked artifact?"
Ji Fanxin clearly didn't know the reason either. "Perhaps only by entering the Yin-Yang Hall to investigate can we find out."
Zhang Ruochen walked over to a female corpse that had been recently delivered to the pit. He extended a finger and pressed it against the corpse's right wrist, falling silent.
Then, he moved to another corpse and examined it closely as well.
After checking more than a dozen corpses of different races, Zhang Ruochen stopped. "I know the reason."
"What is it?" Ji Fanxin asked.
Zhang Ruochen said solemnly, "The yin energy in their bodies has been completely drained. They likely died from yin depletion."
"What is yin depletion?" Ji Fanxin asked, curious.
Looking at Ji Fanxin's otherworldly face, like a celestial maiden untouched by worldly affairs, Zhang Ruochen found it hard to speak, unsure how to explain it to her.
If the divine sons and grandsons pursuing Ji Fanxin knew that Zhang Ruochen was discussing "yin depletion" with the pure and chaste Flower Fairy, they would probably bring a group of experts to blast him to ashes.
Ji Fanxin kept her gaze fixed on Zhang Ruochen. "If you hide secrets from me, I will certainly hide things from you too. That benefits no one."
"Fine, I'll tell you. Yin depletion means a woman continuously engages in intercourse with men, overindulges, exhausts her yin energy, and ultimately dies unnaturally."
Due to the side effects of the Joy-Anger Pill, Zhang Ruochen's emotions were already somewhat unstable. As he said this, a sinister smile crept onto his face as he looked Ji Fanxin up and down.
"Shameless."
Ji Fanxin shot Zhang Ruochen a cold glare, then turned into a streak of light and vanished from the edge of the pit.
"What rotten luck. Damn side effects—why do they have to flare up now, of all times?"
Zhang Ruochen felt deeply embarrassed, his heart full of shame. He quickly rubbed his face to restore his expression before chasing after Ji Fanxin.
Ji Fanxin returned to the edge of Heavenly Capital Mountain but didn't leave out of anger, as if waiting for Zhang Ruochen.
"Sorry, just now... it was the side effect of the Joy-Anger Pill." Zhang Ruochen arrived at the cliff, his expression awkward.
Ji Fanxin's unique aura was like an orchid, exceptionally serene. She kept a certain distance from Zhang Ruochen. "It's fine. It doesn't matter, since we're not close and won't have deep dealings."
Zhang Ruochen could tell that the distance between him and the Flower Fairy had grown even larger. He felt frustrated—she was the one who insisted on knowing the answer, so why was she acting like she had suffered a great loss?
Zhang Ruochen didn't think he had flirted with or desecrated the Flower Fairy.
After a long silence, seeing that Ji Fanxin showed no sign of speaking first, Zhang Ruochen asked, "I'm curious. With your cultivation and strength, why don't you just storm the Yin-Yang Hall and rescue the proud daughters of the Qianrui Realm? And with so many suitors, if you just spoke up and promised them some benefits, wouldn't they immediately attack the Yin-Yang Hall?"
"It's not that simple."
Ji Fanxin shook her head. "The interests behind the Yin-Yang Hall are very complex, involving not only the divine disciples of the Truth Divine Temple but also a rather terrifying force. Those divine sons and grandsons aren't foolish. If they were to attack the Yin-Yang Hall, they would first weigh the consequences."
"So they don't dare?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Ji Fanxin fell silent, not answering Zhang Ruochen. Even she had hesitated for a long time and still hadn't acted. The Yin-Yang Hall's own strength and the interests behind it made her cautious, unwilling to act rashly.
Zhang Ruochen's eyes lit up. "I understand! Actually, you don't dare to attack the Yin-Yang Hall either, which is why you sought me out. Because you know that in the entire Truth Heaven Domain, if there's one person who dares to storm the Yin-Yang Hall, it must be me—Zhang Ruochen, number one on the Sacred Merit Ranking."