109: Chapter 109 Main Altar

What was once a somewhat spacious prison area was now packed with forty or fifty grown men. The numbers were greater now, but at this moment, they were useless—more people just meant more living targets.

Armament Three leaned against the corner of a wall, tearing a strip of cloth from his garment to wrap around his hand. His expressionless, death-like face showed no emotion, but his eyes were darker and more somber than usual.

"That's 'Bone-Melting Liquid'," Armament Three's voice was very soft, yet in this deathly silence, every man heard it clearly. "A single touch, and your flesh will rot away, your bones will turn brittle. If you don't want to die without a whole corpse, listen to me."

Tiger Li swallowed hard. "We're listening. Whatever you say goes. How do we do this?"

Armament Three pointed at the piles of rotten wood and broken torture tools lining both sides of the passageway. "This place is narrow. They can't line up properly, only two can spray at a time. There's a gap between sprays, about three breaths' worth. That's their weak point."

He looked at Chen Mo and Tiger Li. "You two, take people and spread out to both sides. On my signal, throw everything you can get your hands on at them. Make a big commotion, distract them."

"What about you?" Chen Mo asked.

"I'll charge down the center." Armament Three drew his twin blades. The edges gleamed coldly in the dim light. "Within three breaths, I'll kill them all. If I don't, we all rot here together."

The plan was rough as hell, but in such a desperate situation, the logic was sound, even if the method wasn't refined.

"Let's do it!" Tiger Li gritted his teeth, hefting a half-broken cell door. "Brothers, grab anything! Even a brick, hold it tight for me!"

Chen Mo didn't speak. He bent down, picked up a rusty iron shackle, and tested its weight in his hand.

The poison water squad drew closer.

Their faces were hidden behind masks, their expressions unreadable, but their arrogant swagger was palpable even through the oilcloth. The leader raised his copper tube, finger poised on the trigger mechanism.

"Now!"

Armament Three roared.

"To hell with you bastards!" Tiger Li's side struck first. The half-door cell door flew through the air with a whoosh, followed by bricks, rotten wood, and even a broken shoe.

Chen Mo's side didn't hesitate either. Iron shackles, broken torture tools rained down on the group like a storm.

*Thud! Crash! Bang!*

The narrow passage instantly descended into chaos.

The poison water squad clearly hadn't expected these "fish in a barrel" to fight back. Instinctively, they raised their arms to protect their heads or adjusted their copper tubes to block the debris.

In that moment of confusion, a dark shadow moved.

Armament Three was like a bat skimming the ground.

He didn't charge straight ahead. Instead, using the walls on both sides for leverage, his body zigzagged twice in the air, moving so fast it was hard to follow.

*Hiss—*

The poison water sprayed out, but it went wide. A green jet struck the empty ground, billowing white smoke as the stone floor was instantly corroded into a large pit.

Armament Three was already upon them.

Blade light flashed.

Not some fancy sword dance, just the simplest moves: throat-slashing, heart-piercing.

*Thump! Thump! Thump!*

Blood blossomed amidst the green mist.

The two poison water soldiers at the front didn't even have time to scream before their throats were slit. The thick oilcloth garments were like paper before Armament Three's blades.

"Charge!"

Seeing Armament Three succeed, Chen Mo roared and charged forward, blade in hand.

This was no time to hesitate. If Armament Three got surrounded, they were all finished.

Tiger Li's eyes were bloodshot. Brandishing his large blade, he barreled in like a wild boar.

A melee erupted.

The remaining poison water soldiers panicked, trying to retreat, but the way back was blocked—by the barricade they'd set up themselves to prevent escape.

Chen Mo rushed up to one poison water soldier. The man was fumbling with his copper tube, trying to get a shot at Chen Mo.

Chen Mo gave him no chance. Dropping low, he swept his leg out.

*Crack.*

The man's shin bone snapped. He screamed and fell, his copper tube spraying green liquid wildly.

"Watch out!"

From the corner of his eye, Chen Mo saw a spray of poison water coming his way. Without thinking, he grabbed the fallen soldier with the broken leg and used him as a shield.

*Sizzle—*

Smoke instantly billowed from the unlucky man's back, his screams so piercing they made one's scalp crawl.

Chen Mo felt a sudden chill on his abdomen, followed by a burning pain.

"Damn it!"

He looked down. A few splashes of poison water had hit the hem of his clothes. The fabric was already black, corroding inward.

Reacting with extreme speed, he swept his blade sideways, cleanly slicing off that section of his garment along with a layer of skin and flesh beneath.

Blood flowed out, but it was red—not poisoned.

Gritting his teeth, cold sweat beaded on Chen Mo's forehead. That was brutal. A half-second slower, and his guts would have been spilling out.

The fight ended quickly.

These poison water soldiers were just bullies relying on their equipment. Once you got in close, their combat ability was worse than an ordinary cult follower's.

Seven or eight corpses lay on the ground, green liquid and red blood mixing together. The stench was enough to make a person faint.

Armament Three stood amidst the pile of bodies, breathing heavily. On his left arm, a large section of his black sleeve was ruined, the exposed skin red, swollen, and festering—clearly, he'd also been hit.

"Are you alright?" Chen Mo asked, holding his stomach as he walked over.

Armament Three shook his head. He pulled out a small porcelain vial from his robes, poured some white powder onto his wound. The powder smoked upon contact, the pain making the muscles in his face twitch violently, but he didn't utter a single sound.

"Won't die." Armament Three put the vial away and kicked a poison water soldier who was still breathing on the ground. "Leave one alive. For questioning."

Tiger Li came over then, his face covered in blood—whether his own or others' was unclear. He grabbed the captive by the collar and hauled him up like a chick.

"Talk! What's the layout of this place underground? And where are those damned dogs kept?"

The man was stubborn, trying to spit.

Tiger Li wasted no words. He simply pressed the man's hand into a puddle of leftover poison water on the ground.

"Aaaaaah—!!!"

The scream echoed through the prison area, grating on the ears.

"I'll talk! I'll talk!" The man was a mess of snot and tears. "This is... this is the main altar of the Zodiac Altar... Ahead is the prison area, further in... further in is the Forbidden Ground..."

"What's in the Forbidden Ground?" Chen Mo asked.

"Don't know... really don't know... Only the altar master and those Protectors can enter... We're just responsible for feeding the dogs and guarding the doors..."

"Who's kept in the prison area?"

"They're all... all the 'hostages' we captured... Some are for feeding the dogs, some are... are wanted by those above..."

"Wanted by those above?" Armament Three frowned. "What do you mean?"

"They say... they're selecting a 'Saintess'... Kept in the women's cells at the very back..."

Chen Mo's heart sank.

Saintess?

He thought of Little Sister Zhang. That girl had been missing for days. If she'd really been captured and brought here...

"Lead the way." Chen Mo tightened his grip on his blade. "To the women's cells."

The captive didn't dare disobey. Trembling, he scrambled to his feet and led the group inward.

Passing through several iron doors, the smell of blood faded somewhat, but the musty odor grew stronger.

The cells here were slightly better than the outer ones, at least having dry straw spread on the floors.

Chen Mo looked into each cell as he passed.

They held many young women. Some were crying, some stared blankly, clearly terrified out of their wits. Seeing Chen Mo and the others—blood-covered, burly men—they shrank back in fear, huddling together.

"Is there one called Little Sister Zhang?" Chen Mo asked in a low voice.