In the end, Zhang Yiyi allowed Maoqiu to have its way, temporarily putting aside her discomfort with the place.

Well, Maoqiu wasn't wrong; since they had come all this way, they might as well explore a bit.

However, before setting off, she took her time to prepare and didn't recklessly reveal her true appearance in such an unfamiliar place.

After carefully selecting from the items in her storage ring for a moment, she finally found a familiar treasure among the pile that Zheng He had sent her, which made her eyes light up.

"This mask is pretty good; I'll use this one."

Zhang Yiyi happily put on the disposable disguise mask, pleasantly surprised by this unexpected find.

When Zheng He and the others had gifted her those items, she hadn't had the chance to examine them closely and didn't expect to find a disguise mask she had seen in the Luoxian River mystic realm.

After putting it on, Zhang Yiyi shaped her appearance into that of a middle-aged man so unrecognizable that it nearly made Maoqiu cry from the horror.

"Can't you choose a more handsome look?"

Maoqiu rolled its eyes in disdain, somewhat perplexed by Zhang Yiyi's overly cautious attitude at all times.

It seemed that the female cultivator it was contracted to was too afraid of death; so what if her true appearance was exposed? After all, she wasn't some rootless, nameless loose cultivator—if things got too messy, she could always just go back to the Yunxian Sect.

"What do you think we're here for? What's the point of looking good? Being ugly is definitely better than having no way to escape. If you don't understand, then just shut up! If you keep complaining, I won't go!"

Zhang Yiyi didn't expect a young beast to grasp the overly complex intricacies of the human cultivator world, but Maoqiu's disdainful look was a bit bothersome.

She certainly didn't have the ability to obliterate this place entirely, so it was better to put in some effort to disguise herself beforehand, lest she be discovered without a chance to even breathe or call for help.

Faced with Zhang Yiyi's threat of not going, Maoqiu huffed and sulked, closing its mouth.

What did it say? It only pointed out the rather unappealing appearance she had taken on, right?

Seeing that Maoqiu had quieted down, Zhang Yiyi didn't put it back in the beast pouch but instead let the little guy burrow into the small bag on her back, providing a light cover.

"Which way should we go?"

Looking at the numerous entrances of varying sizes before her, Zhang Yiyi directly handed over the decision to Maoqiu.

At this moment, her divine sense was restricted and couldn't provide much help in scouting, while Maoqiu, as a fierce beast, was completely unaffected by certain innate instincts.

"Here, here, let's go this way."

After sensing around for a bit, Maoqiu quickly pointed Zhang Yiyi toward one entrance, urging her to hurry up and move.

Although Maoqiu didn't know what lay at the very bottom of the cave, the mysterious energy fluctuations were quite alluring to it.

In short, its instincts told it that whatever that thing was, it would definitely be beneficial to it, which was why it repeatedly encouraged Zhang Yiyi not to rush out.

Seeing this, Zhang Yiyi said nothing more and trusted Maoqiu, following the direction it indicated.

Upon entering the cave, she found an incredibly long passage, unsure of where it led or what kind of dangers lay ahead.

Fortunately, Maoqiu communicated with her mentally from time to time, informing her of some situations ahead.

"Stop for a moment; there's a decent-sized open area up ahead with two people guarding the end of the cave."

Maoqiu diligently reminded Zhang Yiyi.

In reality, Zhang Yiyi had already stopped in time without Maoqiu's additional reminder because the open area was very close and within her divine sense's range of exploration.

At the end of the cave entrance stood just two Qi Refining stage cultivators, but if they tried to pass by, they would surely alert those two.

Just as Zhang Yiyi was contemplating whether to silently take down the two or distract them in some other way, footsteps approached from behind.

Zhang Yiyi cursed in her heart; there was hardly any space to hide in this narrow passage.

While the ancient jade on her body could conceal her aura and prevent divine sense from probing, it couldn't make her, a living person, invisible.

In other words, once the people behind her came closer, she and Maoqiu would be exposed without any way to escape...

"Don't worry; with me here, they won't see us even when they pass right in front of you."

Maoqiu's voice resonated in her mind, promptly assuring Zhang Yiyi to relax.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yiyi realized that Maoqiu, with its spatial innate abilities, had initially hidden above the lotus pond, waiting for the right moment to ambush them.

Compared to tearing through space, the technique of concealment was clearly much easier and wouldn't exhaust Maoqiu's energy, allowing them to escape in the end.

"Not bad; I'll remember this."

Feeling relieved, Zhang Yiyi generously praised Maoqiu, then turned to look more closely at the approaching figures.

Well, to her surprise, one of them was Fang Chun. This was truly a case of enemies crossing paths, encountering each other so soon again.

However, at this time, the person known as the Ninth Master was not present. Given the Ninth Master's status, he naturally wouldn't always be with someone like Fang Chun.

Fang Chun was currently escorting more than a dozen cultivators, who were clearly captured from somewhere.

Most of the captured cultivators were at the Qi Refining stage, with a few at the Foundation Establishment stage, making them stronger than Fang Chun and his companions. However, these cultivators showed no resistance, indicating they had likely been drained of their spiritual power after being captured.

The group of more than ten people passed right in front of Zhang Yiyi, and just as Maoqiu had said, they didn't notice their presence at all.

Seeing this, Zhang Yiyi seized the opportunity to follow behind those people using Maoqiu's concealment technique.

"Where do you think they're taking these people? Why capture so many cultivators?"

Maoqiu asked curiously, remembering that Fang Chun had mentioned capturing people before. It seemed this place had imprisoned a significant number of individuals.

"I don't know; let's follow and see."

Zhang Yiyi's expression grew serious as she signaled to Maoqiu not to speak unless it was something important.

Even mental communication was temporarily paused.

"Password!"

The two guards at the cave entrance saw Fang Chun and his group and immediately blocked their way, asking for the password with utmost seriousness. Even though they clearly knew each other, the precautions were evidently strict.

Fang Chun's companion quickly provided the correct response, and only after counting and recording the number did the guards let them pass.

Zhang Yiyi followed Fang Chun's group as they turned down several corridors, without anyone noticing them along the way.

Eventually, they stopped in front of a small teleportation array. One of the group members took out a teleportation token and set it up, then began the teleportation process, completely unaware that an extra person and beast had joined their ranks.

Soon, they arrived at their destination, which turned out to be a cage specifically designed to hold captured cultivators.

"Oh, finally some new stock has arrived."

The guards at the cage greeted them and quickly began conversing with Fang Chun and the others.

"Yes, just delivered, ready to hand over to you."

Fang Chun chatted amicably with these people, as if they were quite familiar with each other, completely different from the way he had behaved in front of the Ninth Master. It was as though he had never experienced such a dire situation before.

"What? This is all there is? We're still far short of the required numbers below."

Upon seeing the captured cultivators, the cage supervisor looked displeased. "We've been pushing for more for days, yet this batch is even fewer than the last. How am I supposed to explain this?"

Seeing this, Fang Chun immediately began to explain, "Don't worry; Ninth Master told us to send these people over first. The rest should arrive soon."

At the mention of the Ninth Master's name, the guard relaxed slightly but continued to grumble, "It's not that I want to make things difficult for you, but you don't understand. The demand below is increasing, yet the supply you're sending is even less than before. If we delay too long and anger the higher-ups, it's our brothers who will suffer."

The last statement clearly resonated with the others, as they understood the stakes; after all, there had been times when the shortfall had resulted in some of them being sent down to take the blame.

Fang Chun's complexion grew even paler; his identity was more sensitive than the others', and he seemed unsure whether to comfort himself or the others. He subconsciously said, "I heard that there was an incident at the Black Marsh Liuyun Mine a few days ago, and they couldn't continue mining. The bi-weekly call for manpower couldn't proceed, either. The main source of our supplies has been cut off, so it's temporarily difficult to obtain goods as easily as before."

What they referred to as goods were precisely these captured rouge cultivators, and what Zhang Yiyi heard was undoubtedly the best proof that the Bai family and this place were in cahoots, further clarifying that this was indeed the work of the Bai family.

"I've also heard about this; they say this mining operation has turned into a sea of mutated ants. Except for two who were extraordinarily lucky, everyone else inside has died."

Another person lowered their voice to add, "This time, almost everyone is truly dead, not like usual where most pretend to be dead and are sent over. I heard the two who managed to escape were picked up personally by the Young City Lord because they had connections with the City Lord's Mansion. That's why the trouble at the mine can't be concealed, and it's uncertain when things will return to normal."

"Well, if that's the case, won't the supply of goods here be affected for a long time?"

The cage supervisor immediately looked troubled. "What bad luck! It seems we'll have to be increasingly cautious in our duties; otherwise, if anything goes wrong, we'll likely become the goods needed below!"

Perhaps this conversation was too distressing, as the group lost interest after a few remarks. After finishing the headcount and handing over the prisoners, Fang Chun and his escort quickly left.

Zhang Yiyi hid behind a thick stone pillar and didn't follow Fang Chun out.

On one hand, Maoqiu was determined to reach the bottom of this cave; on the other hand, considering Fang Chun's identity, he probably was only doing trivial tasks like running errands and didn't have the authority to approach what they referred to as "below."

It now appeared that this place was another of the Bai family's secret lairs.

And unbeknownst to the outside world, this seemingly flourishing city of Jiagu Guan City harbored countless filthy and bloody secrets, and who knows what kind of conspiracy was brewing within.

From the conversation of these people, it could be inferred that the Bai family was using the situation of the cultivators mining in the Black Marsh as a cover to capture a large number of Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators.

The Bai family had likely been capturing people and sending them here for over half a year; it was hard to imagine how many cultivators had fallen victim to them during this time.

Zhang Yiyi carefully swept her divine sense over the direction of the cage and discovered that there were at least fifty cultivators currently imprisoned. Yet the supervisor still claimed that the supply of goods was too low and didn't meet the usual requirements, not to mention that the demands from below had been increasing.

"What are we doing hiding here?"

After a while, noticing that Zhang Yiyi had no intention of taking action, Maoqiu secretly inquired.

It was still thinking about the peculiar energy fluctuations at the bottom, eager to find a way to reach the lowest level as soon as possible.

As for why the Bai family was secretly imprisoning so many cultivators here, Maoqiu didn't care.

After all, as long as Zhang Yiyi was okay, it had no concern for the lives or deaths of others.

"Waiting for an opportunity."

Zhang Yiyi detected Maoqiu's urgency and calmly conveyed, "Aren't you eager to get to the very bottom? What they mentioned as 'below' should be closest to where you want to go. Since they are counting the people, they must be preparing to send someone. We can take a free ride."

The layers inside were clearly defined; entering required guards and a password, and crucially, they had to pass through a short-range teleportation array. Without a teleportation token or knowing the specific routes, even if Maoqiu could help with brief invisibility, it would still pose many problems.

It was better to patiently wait here and secretly follow these people as they entered, which would be more efficient and less troublesome.

At this point, Zhang Yiyi felt it was essential to investigate what the Bai family was hiding in such a large place and why they were continuously capturing so many people.

Upon hearing Zhang Yiyi's words, Maoqiu ceased to have any objections.

Sure enough, within the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, the cage supervisor did exactly as Zhang Yiyi had anticipated, leading all the imprisoned individuals into this layer's teleportation array.

This time, the teleportation clearly took longer than the last.

Once they exited the teleportation array, Zhang Yiyi, hidden behind, was suddenly hit by an overwhelming stench of blood and decay, almost causing her to retch.

Not far in front of her was a massive blood pool, its waters boiling and exuding a nauseating smell that was terrifying to behold.

However, Zhang Yiyi soon discovered something even more shocking—the blood pool wasn't the true horror. Surrounding the blood pool in the east, south, west, and north were four altars that were incredibly revolting.

On each altar lay stacks of human skin, bones, chunks of flesh, and hearts.

Zhang Yiyi's face turned ashen; she almost felt as if she had stepped into hell, a true living nightmare.