This was something May had anticipated earlier. Lang Shao was more concerned about the life of his pregnant fiancée than about himself. To some extent, she could sympathize with him, but ultimately, his actions were still unforgivable.

  “Just don’t hurt her…” he whispered hoarsely, tears rolling down his cheeks. Neither of his two tormentors responded. It was as if they enjoyed his misery, caused by his uncertainty.

  Meanwhile, May waited for the right moment to attack. She wasn't as afraid of them as Shao was. She intended to kill them and free the prisoners at all costs. Although she felt pity for the alchemist and his family, well aware that the accomplices of these men might seek revenge, their lives were no more valuable than those of these mortals.

  The bald man, whose name was probably Liu, may be difficult to surprise. However, the other one, who was currently busy with that woman... A surprise attack is certainly possible, seeing how focused he is. As long as I use [Ethereal Footwork of Flight], I should reach him in less than two seconds. There's not enough time for him to react.

  May took a deep breath. She had waited too long for this moment; one thing was certain, the situation wasn't going to get any better. She pulled a dagger from her bag and poured a small vial of poison over the blade, a concoction she had purchased from the System.

  She activated her technique, and the Qi within her body began to swirl. Her frame felt impossibly light, as if she were a feather drifting on the wind. Moving like a ghost, she slipped past Liu, who was still preoccupied with tormenting Lang Shao, and positioned herself silently right next to Umi.

  The technique was truly perfect for an assassin. Everything happened so fast that no one noticed her approach. Thanks to her incredible speed and absolute silence, she plunged her dagger into his head in one fluid motion.

  “Ugh...!” the man let out a sharp cry, but it was already too late. The blade had pierced clean through, and even if that hadn't been enough, the poison would finish the job.

  Umi dropped his tools and collapsed to the ground, desperately clutching at the wound to staunch the bleeding.

  May swiftly wrenched the dagger from his body, hoping to seize the momentum and take down the second man in the same breath. Unfortunately, the slight delay was enough; the bald man had already realized what was happening and dropped into a combat stance.

  “Who the hell are you…?!” He couldn't even finish his sentence before May, bolstered by her [Ethereal Footwork of Flight], was already upon him, thrusting her dagger at him with blinding speed.

  However, he was faster. With a strange technique, a sudden, powerful gust of wind, he easily deflected her strike.

  The strange technique threw May back several meters, but fortunately, she sustained no serious injuries.

  The man, however, had no intention of backing down. Out of nowhere, a five-foot greataxe appeared in his hand. He began twirling it with ease, clearly showing off his extraordinary proficiency with the heavy weapon. Suddenly, he stuck out his tongue and licked the blade; May could see the traces of dried blood staining the steel.

  "Disgusting," she muttered under her breath, her brow furrowed in revulsion.

  Somehow, the man heard her. He let out a raspy laugh that sounded like the croaking of a toad. Then, his eyes snapped toward Shao. "Did you let her in here?" he snarled, his voice thick with fury.

  He positioned the axe directly over Shao’s neck, holding it so close that if he dropped it by even a few centimeters, it would sever the man's head.

  “I didn't…” the man tried to explain, but the bald man clearly had no patience for excuses. He slammed the blunt side of his axe straight into the man's nose. A sharp cry of pain rang out.

  “Bullshit,” he grunted. He cleared his throat, gathering a thick pool of saliva, and spat a glob of greasy, foul phlegm directly into the man’s face. “It looks like our little bug-friend, finally has something to eat...”

  May’s brow furrowed at his words. She didn't like the sound of that at all; she knew instantly that something incredibly sinister lurked behind that comment.

  “What do you mean by that?” she asked, already certain she would likely regret hearing the answer.

  “Your employer didn't tell you?” He erupted into a loud, sinister laugh that echoed throughout the entire chamber. “The Thousand-Legged Centipede of the Lifa Jungle... its larva is currently crawling through his beloved’s body!”

  May turned pale at his words.

  The man didn't stop laughing, his voice dripping with malice as he continued. "It was only supposed to be insurance against his betrayal... but since it’s come to this, our little centipede will devour the tiny fetus first, and then the mother! Hahaha!" Having said that, he suddenly leaned down and mockingly stroked the trembling man. Then, he snapped his gaze directly toward May. "But it won't happen quickly. The woman will suffer for days in pain so agonizing that most victims commit suicide after only a few minutes."

  “That’s…”

  Inhuman.

  How could these people even dare to call themselves human?

  She had no intention of dignifying his words with a comment. Instead, she activated her next technique, [Yellow Turtle Skin], and immediately layered it with [Ethereal Footwork of Flight]. Before the man could even blink, May was already at his side, driving her blade into him.

  The man hissed in pain, but before he could swing his massive axe, May had already vanished from his line of sight.

  "Are you a cultivator who focuses solely on physical strength?" she asked coldly. "What a pity. It clearly limits your speed. I am your natural opponent."

  Thanks to her [Qi Sensing], May already had a clear idea of his power level. Physically, he was far stronger than her, but that was where his advantage ended. He was at the seventh, perhaps eighth stage of Qi Refinement, yet in terms of Qi reserves, control, speed, and techniques, he was vastly inferior. A single clash of their weapons had been enough for her to realize that.

  "My blade was poisoned. You're already a dead man," May said quietly.

  There was no practical reason to tell him, but she wanted him to feel fear. She had no intention of engaging him directly anymore; she would simply evade his attacks and let him die a natural death from her potent poison, a toxin brewed from incredibly powerful mushrooms found in far-off lands.

  However, upon hearing her words, the man reacted in a way completely different from what she had expected. He began to laugh fanatically, barely able to remain standing. "And that is why you were so confident?"

  May’s brow furrowed in confusion. Did he have a hidden trump card up his sleeve after all? Perhaps she shouldn't have underestimated him so quickly.

  "It is an incredibly potent poison. I don't see what's so funny about it."

  "I am an alchemist."

  May’s brow furrowed even deeper in shock. He certainly didn't look like a typical alchemist, especially now, gripping a massive axe in his hand.

  "And? What of it?" May asked, her voice laced with slight bewilderment.

  "It means I am immune to every kind of poison."

  ...? Huh? How does one thing connect to the other?! Poison-resistant? What kind of bullshit is that! There are many different types of poisons, so how can he be resistant to all of them?! Besides, alchemy has nothing to do with it!

  “And what exactly does being an alchemist have to do with that?” she asked.

  “Why the hell would I explain that to you?” He tilted his head in mock confusion. “The point is, your little poison won't work on me. So, if you want to kill me, you’ll have to get serious, little girl.”

  It seemed it wasn't a bluff; just seconds after he spoke, May noticed a massive amount of energy swirling around him. He was channeling a technique.

  Unexpectedly, he lunged toward her with explosive speed. May swallowed hard, but having had a moment to prepare, she immediately activated her own counter-technique. She managed to leap aside, narrowly evading a blow from the axe, which slammed into one of the stone pillars supporting the structure. Had she been hit, she would have certainly been cleaved in half.

  "Damn it..." she whispered, realizing this fight wouldn't be nearly as simple as she had initially hoped.

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  However, she had no time for such worries. Since she was already here, she had to stand her ground and give it her all. After all, she wasn't doing this just for herself, but for those imprisoned here and subjected to inhuman experiments.

  The fact remained that she was significantly faster than him. She decided to press her advantage immediately, closing the distance to land three rapid strikes before retreating. It was exhausting work, draining both her physical stamina and her Qi reserves; she had already burned through more than 20% of her energy.

  Looking at the man, however, she saw that the wounds she had inflicted were bleeding profusely.

  The man lunged at her again. May braced herself to dodge, but at the last second, he suddenly veered to the side. It was a feint, she wasn't his target. He snatched up a vial filled with a crimson liquid.

  A healing potion! May thought instantly, guessing he intended to close his wounds.

  Without a second thought, she threw her dagger. The blade struck true, shattering the vial and spilling its contents onto the ground.

  The man chuckled. "Smart... but you lost your weapon, you idiot!"

  He charged straight at her. May dodged the assault, but she had indeed lost her dagger, and the bald man picked it up, a look of pure satisfaction in his eyes.

  “With a weapon or without, it makes no difference. Liu... that’s your name, isn’t it? I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, but you were already dead the moment you decided to come to this place!”

  “How arrogant. I was simply going to cleave you in two, but I think I’ll play with you a little longer before I tear you apart! Your type is the best, there’s no fun in messing with people who give up right away.” He licked his lips, leering at her from head to toe. “You’ll certainly resist until the very end. I like you.”

  May snorted at his words. With every passing second, her urge to kill him only grew.

  Despite her words, May wasn't entirely sure how to approach her next attack. Simply dodging and waiting for him to bleed out didn't seem like the worst idea, but maintaining such a high level of evasion required her to expend massive amounts of Qi.

  It didn't take long for her to realize that was a losing strategy. She expanded the range of her [Qi Sensing], searching for anything that could serve as a weapon. She quickly located a surgical scalpel, the same one used by the man she had killed earlier.

  Using [Ethereal Footwork of Flight], she moved so fast that Liu didn't stand a chance of catching her. She snatched up the scalpel and pointed it directly at him.

  "Your weapons keep getting smaller and smaller. You really are amusing. A little toy like that won't even be able to nick my skin, honey."

  May rolled her eyes, but she knew he was right. It didn't take a genius to figure out he was using a defensive technique; his skin looked as tough as tempered metal.

  "You don't need to worry about that," she replied back. She quickly coated the entire scalpel in a dense layer of her Qi. "This should be enough."

  "You underestimate me," he growled, with a hint of genuine offense in his voice.

  A few moments later, they clashed at close range once more. She noticed that the man had suddenly become much faster, which was a very bad sign. May managed to inflict a few more serious wounds, none of them fatal, but she was definitely making progress.

  I still have to be incredibly careful. One single hit, and I am dead.

  Suddenly, the man was right next to her, and May barely managed to avoid his attack. His axe slammed into the floor with a loud thud that echoed in her ears.

  For some reason, he was able to almost match her speed now. She couldn't believe it!

  “You look surprised... Let me enlighten you. It's my technique that makes me stronger with every minute of the fight! In just a few minutes, you won't be able to match my speed!”

  Damn! It is really bad!

  She desperately lunged at him, which might have seemed foolish, but she did it out of panic. May knew she had to kill him right then and there.

  However, the roles suddenly seemed to reverse. Before, she had been avoiding him, but now he was doing the same thing she had done earlier! She saw amusement in his eyes as he nimbly dodged her blade, laughing right in her face!

  For over a minute, she had been attacking him relentlessly, her Qi escaping her body like crazy, but she couldn't hit him even once. What's worse, he seemed to be getting faster and faster. His words were no bluff. May felt that soon she would be nothing but mincemeat!

  She committed herself to one final attack. If she failed to land a decisive blow this time, she knew her only choice would be to retreat and escape this place while she still had any chance left. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before she became slower than him. As things stood, she still had a chance to escape, given that her energy reserves were still significantly higher than his. Furthermore, thanks to her technique, she was capable of moving in complete silence; in a dark forest, finding her would be nearly impossible.

  May lunged straight for his heart, but before she could close the critical distance, she noticed the man buckle, dropping one knee to the ground. The movement was so unexpected that she accidentally drove her scalpel a bit too high, missing his vital organs.

  The man retreated quickly, leaping backward.

  May immediately realized what had happened. Lang Shao, the battered alchemist, had helped her!

  He had attacked him from behind. Sticking out of Liu's back was something long, a metal rod of some kind that had practically pierced him through.

  She had no idea how the alchemist had managed to drive such a thing into that iron-like body, but she knew this was her chance to win.

  "Run!" he suddenly screamed at her.

  May stood frozen for a split second, unable to believe what had just occurred.

  "You piece of shit!" the bald man roared in a blind fury. He grabbed his axe and slammed the blunt wooden handle into Shao’s face with all his might, shattering his nose. Then, he curled his hand into a claw and shoved his fingers directly into the alchemist's eye. Shao let out a guttural scream as blood gushed from the socket.

  The man began to savage him from all sides, tearing his face to pieces, ripping away skin, and yanking his hair so violently that a large portion of the scalp was torn right off the skull.

  Unable to bear the sight and snapping back to her senses, May activated her technique. With explosive speed, she reached him and snapped his neck, finally ending the man's life forever.

  She managed to get rid of two opponents for good. However, the price was high.

  Lang Shao, lying on the ground and gasping for breath, let out an animalistic howl. She heard a soft whistling sound from his ugly, mangled face, wet with tears. Unsure of herself, May moved closer to his face, so close that she could smell his foul breath, yet she did not dare to move away, even for a moment.

  She had no chance of understanding what he was trying to say. His words were now just a jumbled and ugly mass. She took a healing potion out of her bag, throwing the dagger aside. Still, she knew that trying to save him was pointless. Even if she spent all the money she had, saving him was beyond her capabilities.

  “You'll feel better,” she said, gently opening his mouth with her hand and pouring the potion into it.

  It was a high-grade, expensive potion. But the man needed immediate intensive care, a transfusion, and probably several surgeries. There was no magic potion for that. Being in the middle of this forest, Lang Shao must have known this as well as May did.

  “Thank you...” he gasped. “Can I have some water...?”

  May suddenly heard a strange sound. Some of the abducted people were getting closer. May felt the irony that instead of helping the victims, she was helping the one who was, in a way, the cause of all this suffering.

  “I'll free you soon!” she said in a loud voice, wanting to make sure everyone knew she had come to rescue them. “Please, hang in there a little longer.”

  Their condition was equally critical, but they had already survived so long that a few minutes would not save them anyway. Lang Shao, on the other hand, was the last person who could know more. After all, he had direct contact with the main perpetrators. She had to keep him alive at least for the moment.

  Soon she found water and poured it into his mouth.

  “Why... are you helping me...?” he asked nervously, still coughing up blood from time to time. “You think it's my fault... don't you?”

  May looked at his ugly face, which could be the source of scary stories for children, and suppressing the urge to vomit, she replied honestly. “Yes, I do, cultivator Lang Shao. But in the end, you helped me.” She decided that telling the truth would be better. “That's why you have to tell me more about these people... It's too late for you, but I'll take care of your fiancée and child.”

  “Oh no... They attacked me one day, I didn't stand a chance. They're not from around here.” He spoke with difficulty, barely lifting himself up a little to lean against the wall.

  “Haven't you heard anything? What sect are they from?” May asked, hoping to learn something. “Every detail could be important.”

  He closed his eye for a moment, and May feared the worst. The moment seemed to last forever. She nudged him lightly in the leg, hoping he hadn't fallen into an eternal sleep. Feeling an energetic tremor, he woke up abruptly.

  “I also really want to know... Ugh!” Suddenly, he clutched his chest, gasping for breath. “But I don't know!... They... Kueh! Kueh! They wouldn't answer!”

  It wasn't hard to guess what the reaction of these two men would be if Lang Shao tried to ask them anything… He had no chance of getting anything out of them; he would only have been beaten up.

  May fell silent. The man suddenly looked up at her. She already knew what he was going to ask. It wasn't hard to guess.

  “Will you be able to help her...?” His lips, trembling with cold, opened with sudden animation. “At least she has to...”

  “I don't know if I'll be able to,” she replied. “But I'll try to help as best I can.”

  Despite May's rather blunt words, the man looked at her with gratitude. She looked away from him and walked away in silence.

  She couldn't help him anymore, nor could she gain anything more from him. She could only leave him alone to die in peace.

  Now it was the living ones who needed more care. She went towards the corpses and began to search through the men’s bodies. Before she finally found the key, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Lang Shao had stopped breathing some time ago.

  After paying a moment's attention to his body, she quickly focused on the real victims of this whole incident. She began to open the cells. The weak and ugly lay on straw beds, and only a few people had enough strength to stand on their own two feet. They must have been fresh victims.

  “He's dead. Let him rest,” said one of the better-looking (compared to the others) women suddenly, as May checked on one of the children lying on the ground in the shape of a cross. He had tousled hair and gray hair, the same color as his skin, which was already decomposing. His nails were claw-like.

  May got up and walked away. There were other children there, alive. She had to focus on them.

  She couldn't get them all out. There were too many of them. Their condition wasn't any better. The ones that could walk weren't any better either. Outside, a storm was raging, and their frail bodies would surely break like tree branches in such a strong blizzard.

  She had no intention of revealing herself to the sect, but it was too late for that. It was already certain that everyone would find out about May Shang's actions the next day.

  But before she did anything, she decided to look around. To find some clue, or something valuable she could take... She had no intention of leaving empty-handed.