It was just as Elder Miao had described.
It must be extremely dirty and chaotic inside.
Although Zhao Shuning couldn't see much in front of her, as soon as she entered, she smelled a stench of decay.
Decay.
Dampness.
And a strong smell of blood.
These odors were mixed together.
Even Zhao Shuning, who had been through many battlefields, almost vomited.
"Girl, take it slow."
After Elder Miao came in.
He found that the entire cave.
Had become as bright as day.
He stepped out of the cave.
He took a look outside. There was nothing wrong. From the outside, it was still pitch - black inside, and not a single ray of light could be seen. But there was clearly no object blocking it. Why couldn't the light seep out?
Zhao Shuning fixed a huge night pearl in the air.
To prevent the sudden light from making the injured uncomfortable, she specially wrapped the night pearl with three or five layers of yellow cloth.
The light.
Immediately became much softer.
When the light of the night pearl shone,
Zhao Shuning finally saw the scene in the cave clearly.
This was no place for people to live.
There were a great many dry grass and branches inside. The space was fairly spacious, but there were simply too many people lying there.
They were all in ragged clothes.
Their bodies were covered in blood.
Their hair was in a complete mess.
Seeing the light,
Many people quickly opened their eyes.
After seeing that it was Elder Miao and a girl, they heaved a sigh of relief.
Now in this cave, they were barely surviving. It was already a miracle that they could still be alive. If they didn't have any attachments to the world, they would rather have died in the mass grave back then.
Zhao Shuning slowly scanned the people on the ground.
Those people were quite cooperative and sat up straight.
"Elder Miao—"
"Everyone, don't be afraid. This is a girl looking for her relatives. She won't harm you."
Zhao Shuning looked at each of them one by one.
However.
These people.
She didn't recognize any of them.
Not a single one.
Even the person Elder Miao had mentioned, who resembled her father a bit, wasn't her father. He just had a similar bone structure to her father.
Zhao Shuning's heart.
Seemed to fall to the bottom again.
On the way here, she had already made a hundred assumptions in her mind. This result was also within her expectations.
It was just that.
After knowing this,
She still couldn't help but feel disappointed.
"Girl, is there no one you're looking for?"
Zhao Shuning shook her head.
Elder Miao also lowered his head at this time.
Seeing how miserable these people were, Zhao Shuning couldn't bear it. She took out some pills from her Qiankun Pill bottle and distributed them to everyone one by one.
"This is the Spirit - Dispelling Pill."
Its effect was simple, just to stop bleeding, disperse stasis, and unblock the blood vessels.
Generally speaking.
A third - rank alchemist could refine it.
But for these people abandoned by Jiangning, this kind of pill was simply an unattainable thing.
Seeing that no one was taking the pills, Zhao Shuning said again, "I won't harm you, and there's no need for me to do so. If you really don't want to die, then heal your wounds and then walk out of here openly."
"Walk out?"
"So what?"
Sighs sounded one after another.
"We're thorns in Yang Hun's side. As long as Yang Hun is in charge of Jiangning for a day, we'll never be able to turn things around. If we go out, we'll just come back with our broken bodies.
Maybe we won't even have the chance to survive."
Zhao Shuning looked up.
The night pearl in the air was so bright.
The light wasn't dazzling.
But it made her feel depressed.
"Don't worry. The sky in Jiangning is about to change."
After saying that,
Zhao Shuning got up.
She walked out of the cave.
Leaving behind a group of stunned people.
Elder Miao was the only person in the cave with relatively intact limbs.
Seeing Zhao Shuning go out,
He quickly followed.
Zhao Shuning faced the moonlight.
The weather wasn't cold at all.
But Zhao Shuning felt that the moonlight carried a chill.
"Girl, you haven't taken back your treasure."
"Leave it to them. Don't worry. No one can take it away. I've cast a spell on it, and no one will notice. Although they have you, old man, to take care of them in that place, it's very inconvenient to do anything without light for a long time."
"Girl, now that you haven't found the person you're looking for, what are you going to do?"
Zhao Shuning looked towards Jiangning in the distance.
What was she going to do?
Naturally, she was going to rescue her mother.
Xiao Qiu should be almost ready by now.
Suddenly, Zhao Shuning thought of something. She released the last trace of her father's spiritual power she had collected at the scene. It emitted a faint light in the palm of her hand.
The light flashed by.
Zhao Shuning had sharp eyes.
She found that the residual spiritual power had run into the cave.
The last glimmer of hope welled up in her heart.
Zhao Shuning excitedly turned to look at Elder Miao.
"Old man, have you shown me all the people in this cave just now?"
Elder Miao thought for a moment.
Then he said, "Yes. Logically speaking, as long as they're alive and can move, you've seen them all just now."
Saying this,
Elder Miao suddenly slapped his forehead.
He said, "Girl, look, I forgot. Besides the people in this cave, there's a small cave behind the entrance. But the people in that cave are almost all dead. Even the great immortals in the ninth heaven come, they won't be able to come back to life. You?"
"Old man, please take me there."
Zhao Shuning quickly walked into the cave.
Everyone saw Zhao Shuning with such a solemn expression and quickly made way for her.
Elder Miao quickly walked up to Zhao Shuning and led her inside.
The smell in the cave was really disgusting. Before, there was also a very unpleasant smell of dead rats filling Zhao Shuning's ears. The smell of dampness and decay was so strong that she didn't notice at all that under this thick smell, there was also a very familiar aura hidden.
This cave.
Was also winding and turning.
Although it wasn't as complicated as the maze Zhao Shuning and the students of Yanyulou had experienced during the trial, it was still quite intricate.
The deeper Zhao Shuning walked.
The higher her heart was lifted.
That aura.
Was becoming more and more obvious.
However.
It was also very weak.
Just as Elder Miao had said, this kind of weak aura meant that the person was almost on the verge of death.
"Girl, we're here."
Elder Miao stepped aside.
The scene in front of her came into view.
Here.
There were at least dozens of corpses.
The smell was really unpleasant.
"I originally planned to find some time tonight to ask the beggars in the east of the city to help carry these corpses to the mass grave, so I went to look for those beggars. But I didn't expect to meet your maid. I couldn't leave for a while."
Zhao Shuning said, "Thank you for your hard work, old man."
She scanned the area.
Finally.
Her gaze was fixed on a filthy "corpse".