271 Dream turned Nightmare 3

Jun Wu Xie who had been mistakenly taken to be a harmless little bunny, was hence led by Qiao Chu deep into the inner parts of the Hidden Cloud Peak.

Qiao Chu proceeded unerringly, and stuck to dark and dim paths, totally avoiding the patrolling disciples within the peak.

Seeing Qiao Chu's familiarity with the route to take, Jun Wu Xie grew more certain with her earlier guess.

Qiao Chu's knowledge of the Hidden Cloud Peak, might not be inferior to Bai Yun Xian!

She followed Qiao Chu through many of Hidden Cloud Peak's architecture. Jun Wu Xie's sharp nose told her, the deeper they went into the Hidden Cloud Peak, the stronger the scent of herbs and medicine was permeated in the air. The smell was not exactly the fragrance that herbs originally gave out when processed, but was the scent of a multitude variety of herbs mixed together. The stench was rather pungent, and did not smell like anything like nourishing or healing medicine.

Finally, Qiao Chu stopped before an unremarkable building. Outside the building, two Hidden Cloud Peak disciples stood guard. It was late into the night and the two guards looked to be rather tired as they leaned on the doors, eyes half closed, almost drifting off to sleep.

In the next moment, Qiao Chu streaked like a bolt of lightning past the two sleepy guards, and raised both his hands and quickly knocked the lights out of both of them before they even realised anything was amiss.

With the guards taken out, Qiao Chu waved to Jun Wu Xie who had stayed hidden in the dark, and proceeded to push the doors open to enter inside.

Jun Wu Xie followed closely behind. Upon setting foot inside the building, an overwhelming stench of blood swept over them, nearly gagging Jun Wu Xie.

The interior was lit dimly, and the faint light shone upon the furnishings within. The walls were filled with shelves of herbs and nothing looked out of place. But the thick stink of blood that went into their lungs made Jun Wu Xie realise that everything before their eyes here, was just a false front put up, to fool the unsuspecting.

Qiao Chu turned a corner from the room and squatted down to pull at a part of the floor. A gaping dark tunnel appeared before them, so dark that the bottom could not be seen. The intense stench of blood had rushed out from the darkness when the trapdoor was opened, and the stink continued to surge forth, almost as if alive.

"Follow me." Qiao Chu said quietly to Jun Wu Xie and took out a small light, a small glowing amber, and stepped down onto the dark staircase leading down.

Jun Wu Xie followed behind Qiao Chu in the seemingly endless darkness. It was deathly quiet, and the unnerving silence pounded at their souls like a soundless knell.

And soon, the stairs brought them to a scene straight from hell.

The underground chamber was filled with large urns scattered all over, and a liquid bubbled within them as they emitted a dark green gas. More shockingly, was that every large urn contained a live human soaked within the liquid!

Or rather, those people looked more dead than alive…..

The humans immersed within the urns were stark naked and their skin were festered with sores from being soaked in poisonous liquids. Their eyes had been gouged out and left with two dark gaping holes, and their mouths were gagged and tied with black ropes. Dried blood smeared around their mouths in dark brown streaks as they sat unmoving within the urns. Their lolled heads did not show any signs of movement, but only the slight rise and fall in their chests showed anything otherwise to Jun Wu Xie.

They were still alive!

Tens of urns stood with incapacitated humans immersed within. Above the urns, there were several wooden racks. Several more youths were chained to the racks and stripped off their clothes. They were covered in many festering wounds and the pus emitted a pungent stink. Another young youth hung from the rack, skinned alive…..