The room Ja Fiat had created beneath her home seemed innocent enough at first glance. But when I swept the room with my perception, I could identify the runes and arrays that had been crafted using blood. Those protections were used to hide the atrocities that were being performed in that room. Blood sacrifices added to the miasma of Cult and Demonic energies that swirled in eddies of malignant Karma.

What was worse was the adjoining room that she was using to hold the bodies of her recent victims. Four children, two boys, and two girls, were hanging from the ceiling by meat hooks as if they were slaughtered animals. Tubs had been positioned under them to collect the draining blood, the tubs inscribed with runes to keep it fresh and warm.

There were enchantments in place to keep the blood from coagulating, so when Ja Fiat got around to using it, it would be as potent as if she had just slaughtered her victim. Both rooms blazed with the stench of Demonic summoning, and Toi, who had followed me, actually hissed, releasing enough spiritual ectoplasm in her anger to affect some of those energies.

Enough to release the children that weren’t yet dead from the enchantments that kept them in that half-state. Trapped in limbo between life and death, they began to scream in agony when the Demonic spells that kept them tethered to life were broken.

Xu and Xui moved at Cultivator speed to free the children. Xu commanded the earth to rise, creating a bed of soft soil to hold the children and take the weight off the hooks that were holding them. Xui used his abilities as a Blacksmith to remove the hooks, softening the metal so the barbs that had been added slid out without doing more damage.

“Toi, cleanse that room,” I ordered once the children had been freed. “The children are too close to death to risk moving. Na will have to treat them here, and I don’t want any of that cursed energy to interfere as she works.”

The children were not cultivators. To give them a healing pill would be worse than letting them suffer for as long as it took Na to arrive. Their bodies could not process the concentrated Qi a tablet provided. Even the weakest healing pill would provide enough energy that they might die, especially as compromised as their bodies were at the moment.

I made a note to carry a stock of my Mother’s potions. Her healing and blood-enhancing potions would have been helpful when dealing with mortals.

I did have some of the Lodoicea bandages that she had crafted, so I offered those for use.

“Use these to bind their wounds,” I said, removing the bandages from my spatial device. “Fold them into squares large enough to cover their wounds and hold them in place. Make sure to apply pressure, but manage your strength. You want to stop the bleeding without adding to their internal injuries.”

I ignored Ja Fiat as Toi continued to cleanse more and more of the arrays and rituals that had been set up in the main room. The sacrificial altar was an especially vile piece of work. The altar resembled a coffin, one with an inlay of barbed metal. The chains that hung to the side were studded with razor blades. A hood was draped off the side, one that had been modified to gag the person it was used on, and with a network of needles that could be forced into a person’s head in random patterns.

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Knives were displayed and came in assorted sizes, each serving a specific purpose. Flaying knives, surgical scalpels, bone saws, and knives that mimicked fishhooks. The instruments of torture were well cared for, each placed with exacting precision in its own place.

I had no idea how Ja Fiat had come to be like this, but it was evident from the loving care she gave to her instruments that she enjoyed it.

As I continued to examine the room, enhancing my perceptions to the fullest, I noticed a void, an area in the room that seemed to nudge my perception to the side. A place that wrapped itself in the most potent illusion I had ever felt.

It took a few moments for me to locate the spot that was shielding itself so effectively. I had to quarter the room and then quarter that quarter again and again until I finally eliminated everything in the room except the altar.

A part of the altar, the lower third rebuked every probe I sent to discover what was hidden. Since my perception could not penetrate the protections, I flicked my Tessen closed and then struck, flowing into [White Crane Opens Wing]. When my Tessen penetrated, I flicked each Tessen open to complete the maneuver and carve out a section of the altar.

The smell of rot, death, and decay filled the room immediately. I reached out with my wind Qi to funnel that vile odor up the passage to the outside. Even with the hole in the altar damaging whatever illusion array was in place, the contents were still hidden from my perception.

With no other choice, I moved to bend over and examine what Ja Fiat was hiding. Ja Fiat’s posture of indifference exploded into motion as I approached the altar. I ‘saw’ within my mind’s eye her movement. She was reaching for something, and I reacted, not caring what she hoped to accomplish.

I engaged my understanding of the [Dao of Movement] to increase how I moved through time relative to Ja Fiat. Her hand seemed frozen as she reached for whatever she was after while I blurred into motion. A slice with my Tessen and her hand was removed; another flick and the necklace she was reaching for was removed.

I hadn’t had Ja Fiat searched, and I should have. I rectified that mistake by searching her myself, taking advantage of my heightened speed to remove everything before she could respond to my actions. Besides the necklace, I found talismans and artifacts hidden within her clothing, a few spatial devices, and an inscribed tattoo hidden within her left ear.

I severed her ear, gathered the rest of her belongings, and left her naked. I had questions for her, so I force-fed her a healing pill to staunch the bleeding from her severed hand and ear.

I searched my memory, trying to understand why I hadn’t searched and removed her items before now. I knew she had them. Even the tattoo had been noticed when I’d first sent my perception coursing through the room, but for some reason, I had ignored the items I had identified.

I had left her with the means to attack, and I didn’t understand why. Not until I did a more thorough inspection of her Hanfu and discovered that it had been embroidered with layers of enchantments. Those enchantments hid her cultivation realm, which I could now determine was at the perfected stage of the Qi Gathering Realm. Those same enchantments also suppressed the Cultist energies surrounding her and the miasma of death Qi she was cycling.

Where she had gotten them was just another thing I would have to find out. If there was a Cabal of Cultists in the area, they needed to be rooted out. I would not let something as vile and detestable as this was to exist and grow.