Jin followed the kid's instructions he overheard and found the secret entrance. It was not hard if you knew where it was. He unsheathed his new weapon, The Sword of Glacial Light, and made his way down while staying on-guard.

He reached the room lightened by the torches and saw the metallic door at the opposite side.

He moved forward and approached the door. With his eye technique, he double-checked everything. Not discovering any traps or mechanisms, he pushed the door slightly open before retreating.

Nothing happened.

His sight was not omnipotent after all, it would not cost to remain careful.

While nothing happened, he began to hear things. Screams. He recognized them as those of people in utter despair. He was quite familiar with those...

He breathed hard, preparing himself for what would come next and walked back up to the door. He pried it open a bit more to see what was inside. Then, his expression distorted.

He had expected something along those lines but seeing it for himself was still something else. Blood and gore were things that one would never get used to. No matter how much you saw of it. It would unconsciously make one feel ill at ease. If not worst.

In this case, he was disgusted.

What he saw was a dimly room, as big as a yard, extending for a few hundred square meters. The floor was made of metal, it was a grid. A metallic grid. On which humans were strapped. Of all ages and genders.

The grid had tiny needles all over it. It was quite clear that the people were constantly in a state of being pierced. Constantly bleeding.

Jin turned his sight under him. He could see through the grid. There seemed to be a metallic funnel covering the entirety of the grid. It was tainted red. By blood.

"Blood boiling sect..."

He looked at those people and sighed. He could not help them right now. His priority was to find the three idiots and send them to Ame. As for these strangers, he was not even able to pity them as he felt nothing.

He turned his sight away.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

He tried to find the way down. Quite clearly, the three were not here. He could sense that only mortals were strapped on this grid...

He saw a staircase on the right side. He quickly and agilely went over. The people who saw him pleaded for help. He heard none of it and continued on his way.

He went down and reached a second level similar to the first. A grid, people strapped to it, a funnel under it. There was a pillar in the middle coming from the higher level and from which blood dropped. It all went down through the second funnel. On this level, it was no longer a bunch of mortals.

Young cultivators.

All seemingly young adults.

"They teach the kids to drain them later on...Like livestock...But why blood?"

Blood was not spiritual energy.

Why would they need it? He did not know. As far as he was aware, it was impossible to use blood to cultivate.

He continued his way down through the staircase, shutting his eyes and ears to the pleas sent his way. As he nearly reached the third level, he began to hear voices he recognized. The three idiots. They were screaming. Cursing or pleading or both. No one was answering them but the screams of the other captives.

Jin carefully moved closer in order to get a line of sight.

This level was reproduced exactly the same as the previous one. However, there were very few people down here. Only a dozen or so. He could not try to sense them as he would be discovered if he did but he guessed that these people were likely the stronger cultivators that got captured.

Jin watched the two elders of this sect strap the last of the three to the grid. Taking both of them on would prove challenging... He could not waste the time on this. So, he waited as he read their conversation on their lips.

...

"Liao Hu, go take care of things downstairs, I will go to pack the other things"

"Alright"

...

Jin watched as they separated. Just like he had to act quickly, they did too. Considering they had much to pack and needed to flee as soon as possible... This was perfect for Jin.

Taking them out one by one was not going to be too hard.

He watched as Liao Hu went to the stairway that led down while Yu Chin moved towards him while teasing the prisoners. As soon as the opportunity arrived, Jin jumped out and rushed at Yu Chin. His sword was filled to the brim with his will and condensed spiritual energy.

He sliced towards his head.

While Yu Chin had been taken by surprise and the distance between them was short, he managed to react. The sword missed his neck and only grazed his left shoulder. Jin did not relent or paused; he swung the sword again without losing any speed.

Yu Chin dodged as he began to circulate his spiritual energy. A powerful shockwave made of the wind element erupted from him and pushed Jin back. Using the sword to defend himself, he did not suffer any injuries.

Yu Chin seemed to want to say some words but Jin did not let him. He moved back in, intent on taking the man's life as fast as he could.

Wind blades formed in the hands of Yu Chin as he cursed and began to exchange some moves with Jin. Jin, who had been on the offensive, was slightly being pushed back.

He realized that Yu Chin was of a higher stage.

Around the 12th stage considering that he was not being pushed too much. Still, if this went on, it would be a battle of attrition. While he would not mind in a different situation, he was lacking time for that right now.

His cold eyes focused intensely.