Chapter 661: Demon Base

"What a piece of cake those two were."

The cultivation room door opened, and Mu Zixi bounced out cheerfully. She looked at the person in black holding lightning in Ah Huo’s grip, then at the spirit array master in black held by Ah Bing, and couldn't help but exclaim in wonder.

Xu Xiaoshou chuckled at her words. "Perhaps it's not that they were weak, but that we were too strong."

Mu Zixi wrinkled her delicate nose. "But aren't they Wangzuo?"

Xu Xiaoshou pointed at Ah Huo and Ah Bing. "They are Wangzuo too. Xin Gugu is a Wangzuo, Ah Bing and Ah Huo are also Wangzuo, and the Bagua Chaosheng Tu is even more effective against Wangzuo."

"I can only say, the Jiang family seriously underestimated us."

"But honestly..."

He paused, turning back to look at the two unconscious figures, and mused, "I really didn't expect that Wangzuo from a semi-saint family would be this weak."

Xin Gugu and Mo Mo walked out from the other two cultivation rooms, speechless.

This brother and sister pair were both innate cultivators, yet they were here, seriously discussing how "Wangzuo are so weak"!

The key was...

It was actually true!

And outsiders couldn't even argue against it!

"How boring," Xin Gugu said, scratching his head as he took the two black-clad figures from Ah Bing and Ah Huo.

He was one of their trump cards, waiting to step in if the enemy made a last-ditch effort, attempted to escape, or launched a surprise attack—serving as the ultimate weapon to crush any hopes.

But the enemy's performance was just too disappointing.

These two major Wangzuo—one taken down by their own teammate, the other by Xin Gugu himself.

Throughout the whole thing, they hadn't even unleashed one percent of their Wangzuo abilities; they were completely toyed with by Xu Xiaoshou.

"It's not your fault," Xin Gugu sighed, holding a black-clad person in each hand as he looked at the two fools.

The only blame is that you ran into a monster!

"Roar, roar, roar!"

Ah Huo let out excited howls after finishing off the enemies. It had no concept of boredom.

Having been cooped up in the Yuanfu for so long, getting to come out and thrash a human—even one with no resistance—was pure joy for it.

Ah Bing, on the other hand, was more composed. After dealing with his target, he quietly returned to Xu Xiaoshou's side, waiting for the next orders.

"Go have fun!" Xu Xiaoshou said, looking at the joyful Ah Huo. He didn't plan to keep them locked in the Yuanfu anymore.

The space in Tian Shang First Building was vast. As long as they opened up some of the ceilings, there would be plenty of room for these two to play without causing trouble.

With the command token in hand, Xu Xiaoshou raised it and sent Ah Bing and Ah Huo to the top floor, where they could join their final trump card, Ah Jie. Then, he turned to the group and said,

"Based on this situation, any Wangzuo who dares to break into this building will end up unable to eat or leave."

"As for Zhandao level, we'd probably need Ah Jie and the gray mist figure to step in."

"But those two should stay put if possible—hidden trump cards are always better than revealed ones."

"Strictly speaking, our strength is still a bit lacking, so we need to improve quickly."

Xu Xiaoshou looked at Xin Gugu.

He had high hopes for this guy. Xin Gugu had been at the Wangzuo level for a long time, and with the right opportunity, reaching Zhandao wouldn't be hard.

Once that happened, combined with his ghost beast body and the ghost beast pearl "Shengzhan Hei Tian Shi" that Xu Xiaoshou carried, even a Zhandao intruder would have to kneel in defeat.

"It won't be that fast," Xin Gugu replied, not optimistic.

True, as a ghost beast host, his cultivation progress was beyond normal comprehension.

But Zhandao... though it was just a hair's breadth away, for most people, finding that breakthrough could take a lifetime.

If the great dao were that easy to sever, the world wouldn't be dominated by Wangzuo.

"No rush, take it slow," Xu Xiaoshou said with a smile, patting Xin Gugu on the shoulder. His gaze fell on the two unconscious black-clad figures. "Take them to the cultivation rooms and see if we can extract some information."

After a pause, as if remembering something, Xu Xiaoshou quickly walked with Xin Gugu to one of the cultivation rooms.

Sure enough, the spirit crystal slot in the middle was completely empty.

The Bagua cultivation rooms came with a powerful spirit-gathering array, perfect for rapid cultivation.

However, every time Xu Xiaoshou activated the Bagua Chaosheng Tu's eight core arrays, he had to spend a fortune in spirit crystals, placing them in the slots to power it up.

The cost for one use was steep. A single room could hold up to 100,000 spirit crystals, but activating the array required filling all eight rooms.

In other words, tonight's brief activation had cost Xu Xiaoshou a whopping 800,000 spirit crystals!

800,000 wasn't much for him now, but that was just for dealing with Wangzuo. If a Zhandao showed up, they'd need continuous powering, turning it into a bottomless pit!

Xu Xiaoshou realized he had to think this through seriously. Luckily, he'd exchanged millions of spirit crystals from Duojin Merchant House earlier that day. Otherwise, a mere purple gold card with numbers on it would be useless.

After staring at the spirit crystal slot for a while, and then glancing back at the two unconscious Wangzuo, Xu Xiaoshou pondered and said,

"Let's put them on it and try?"

Xin Gugu was startled, then suddenly understood.

"Drain them? Will it work?"

"Let's give it a shot!"

Xu Xiaoshou wasn't sure, but logically, the slot drained spiritual power. The spirit yuan stored in a Wangzuo's Qihai was far superior—if they sealed the person properly, it should work.

Xin Gugu examined the two black-clad people back and forth, then stared at the spirit crystal slot. A shiver ran through him, and he felt a chill.

"Alright, let's try."

He placed the lightning-clad black-clad person into one slot and the other into the opposite cultivation room.

Xu Xiaoshou tried it out.

It didn't work.

He thought for a moment, then filled the other cultivation rooms with spirit crystals. Holding the command token, he infused it with spiritual intent.

"Buzz!"

The hall's spiritual energy trembled as the array activated.

"It works," Xu Xiaoshou said, his eyes lighting up. He looked back at the two black-clad people, his gaze changing.

These weren't just intruders.

They were like ATMs—ones for long-term use!

"Seal their cultivation completely. When their spirit yuan is nearly drained, unseal them, let them cultivate to recover..." Xu Xiaoshou said, pausing,

"Then drain them again."

Mo Mo stood there holding her small bronze furnace, watching the twitching unconscious black-clad person in the cultivation room. She was silent for a long moment before muttering,

"Devil."

She turned and headed upstairs to rest.

"Mocked, passive points +1."

"Fiend!" Mu Zixi chimed in as she rushed over.

"Praised, passive points +1."

Xu Xiaoshou was taken aback. Only after hearing his junior sister's praise did he continue, as she added,

"But this way, we can save 200,000 spirit crystals. If six more Wangzuo come to 'help,' we can run the array for free from now on."

She counted on her fingers, her little face beaming with excitement.

Xu Xiaoshou: "..."

Xin Gugu: ???

Even Mo Mo, who had just reached the stairs, paused for a moment before hurrying away.

"You're the real fiend!" Xu Xiaoshou said with a laugh, rubbing his junior sister's head. It was actually a solid suggestion.

Xin Gugu stepped back a bit as he looked at this equally devious senior-junior pair and added seriously,

"Two fiends!"

Darkness.

Pitch-black darkness, where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

When Jiang Yu regained consciousness, he had lost track of how long he'd been out.

True, Wangzuo could survive decapitation.

But Jiang Tai's lightning attribute had completely shattered his unguarded mind.

When he came to, his head was reattached, and the wounds all over his body seemed to have been carefully treated, mostly healed.

Jiang Yu felt a surge of joy in his heart. The grudge of decapitation could wait; escaping was a blessing!

But as he stirred his spiritual intent, his Qihai, which should have been brimming, was now barren and dry—like that of an ordinary person, with only a faint bit of energy and no spirit yuan to draw upon.

"What?" Jiang Yu was stunned.

This was clearly a seal. Given the situation, had he not been rescued by Jiang Tai afterward, but captured along with him?

"You're awake?"

A soft voice echoed from the dimness, and Jiang Yu, kneeling on the ground, snapped to attention—this was enemy territory!

He looked up, his eyes gradually adjusting to the dark, allowing him to make out the scene ahead.

In the empty room, besides a simple wooden chair and a person sitting on it, there was nothing else.

"Who are you?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Jiang Yu realized something was off—his speech sounded lisping.

He rolled his tongue and discovered that his upper and lower teeth had been completely pulled out.

Naturally, the poison hidden in his back molars was gone too.

A gust of wind arose out of nowhere in the dim room, making Jiang Yu shiver. His nose tingled, and he fought back a sneeze.

He sucked in his breath, suppressing the urge, and only then noticed that his whole body was soaked.

This level of wetness didn't feel like sweat—it was more like he'd been doused with a bucket of water.

"Clang!"

Xin Gugu, leaning back in the wooden chair, tossed the wooden bucket in his hand to the ground and smirked coldly at the person before him.

Everyone else had gone to sleep, but he still had a job to do!

All because of these two, his extra task tonight was to wring out of them everything Xu Xiaoshou wanted to know.

It was infuriating—how could he not be the first to sleep in this house he'd personally secured?

"You can still talk, right!" Xin Gugu said, tapping his foot in rhythm, his tone growing heavier with each beat. "Since you can talk, you still have some value. I'll give you two choices."

He held up two fingers, wiggling the one on his left hand first and saying,

"One: I treat you well, feed you, and you spill everything voluntarily."

Then he wiggled the one on his right and continued,

"Two: I torture you first, then deprive you of food and water, keeping you barely alive until you spill everything."

"Heh..."

Jiang Yu let out a cold laugh.

But before it could continue, a massive "Boom!" echoed in the room as Xin Gugu's foot slammed into Jiang Yu's head, driving it into the floor.

Ripples spread across the ground's barrier, and the stone slabs cracked.

Xin Gugu retracted his bloodied foot and used his toes to tilt Jiang Yu's chin up.

"Speak only when I tell you to, got it?"

"Pfft!"

Jiang Yu felt like the bones in his neck were nearly shattered. As he lifted his head, the blood stuck in his throat spurted out, leaving him speechless.

Only then did Xin Gugu pick up where he'd left off:

"Don't worry, neither choice will kill you. You can count on that—Xu Laoda gave the orders, and I know how to hold back."

The room felt oppressively cold.

When Jiang Yu regained his senses, his heart had turned to ice.

Death wasn't on the table, but the pain was getting to him.

He realized why the room had these unbidden winds—it was because of the array beneath him, ceaselessly draining his spirit yuan!

During his unconsciousness, his Qihai had already been emptied.

And now, even with his spirit yuan depleted, it was still sucking away—damaging the very foundation of his Wangzuo cultivation!

"You..."

"Boom!"

As soon as Jiang Yu opened his mouth, Xin Gugu's foot came down again, smashing his head back into the floor.

"Pfft, cough cough..."

"Pfft!"

Jiang Yu vomited blood, his consciousness blurring.

This guy was insane!

Wasn't there supposed to be a choice? Why was he kicking as soon as I spoke?

This is just venting, isn't it? I didn't even provoke you!

It was Jiang Tai you faced earlier—did you get the wrong guy?

"Remember to ask permission before speaking," Xin Gugu said indifferently.

Ever since he'd gotten the task from Xu Xiaoshou to "try not to kill them," he knew exactly how hard to hit.

Interrogation might be tough for Xu Xiaoshou to handle or know where to start, but luckily...

Xin Gugu had plenty of experience!

He lifted his head, his spiritual intent piercing through the ancient building to see the dawn breaking on the horizon, then clapped his hands and stood up.

"I can see you're a tough one. You probably won't pick the first option, so I'll decide for you and go with the second."

"I'll step out for now. You rest up, heal a bit, and gather your strength. Then we can dive into how exactly to follow through with your choice."

With a smile, Xin Gugu got up and walked past Jiang Yu.

Resting...

Jiang Yu's heart sank completely.

This awakening had caught him completely off guard—from confusion to being beaten awake, and now assessing the situation.

He could already foresee that, whether for Jiang Tai or himself, the rest of their lives was probably over.

Their cultivation sealed.

Falling into the hands of such a ruthless person.

If Young Master Jiang didn't send reinforcements, or if those who came weren't strong enough, he and Jiang Tai would likely spend the rest of their days as mere spirit power sources for this unknown array.

At the thought, Jiang Yu felt a wave of sorrow.

A dignified Wangzuo and grandmaster of spirit arrays, spending his life as fuel for some array?

This was...

"Oh, right—there's a gift for you on the table. Open it first and think about how you want to talk to me. Take your time," Xin Gugu said, remembering something as he reached the door. He glanced back before closing it.

"Slap!"

A sliver of light seeped into the room, then darkness returned.

Jiang Yu's expression was dazed. He let out a self-mocking laugh.

He raised his eyes and saw a long wooden box on the back of the chair in front of him—it had been hidden behind the person earlier.

As a prisoner with no way out, he thought for a moment, steadied himself against the heavy chains on his limbs, sighed, and took down the box to open it.

A thick, bloody stench hit him.

Jiang Yu frowned.

His hand touched something fuzzy—some parts hard, some soft, and still slightly warm.

"What is this?"

As he brought it closer, Jiang Yu's blood ran cold, and he threw the object back into the box in terror.

"You bastard!"

He cursed loudly, because the box contained what was clearly a bare human leg!

The pungent blood smell lingered.

After tossing aside the leg and calming himself, Jiang Yu finally had a moment to ponder a few questions.

Whose leg?

Where did it come from?

His thoughts froze as a possibility struck him, leaving him rigid.

"Jiang Tai..."

"He wouldn't have spilled everything, would he?"