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Chapter 414: The Burden of Humanity
🕑 Added 2024-10-11 05:00:24 +0000 UTCAs Lin Qian plummeted from the sky into the dense forest below, he concealed himself within the branches of a lush spirit tree.
The spirit trees in this underground space were unlike those above ground; their leaves were enormous, large enough for a person to lie on like a bed, and their branches were thin yet dense.
Because of this, Lin Qian could easily hide within the thick foliage without being detected by others.
From his hidden perch, Lin Qian carefully observed a path below him. The path appeared well-trodden, clearly the result of frequent passage, indicating that this underground space was regularly traversed.
This suggested that the strange absence of spiritual energy in the Southern Nine Provinces above was indeed connected to the activities of the inhabitants of this underground world.
In fact, Lin Qian had descended rapidly from the sky earlier because he noticed a group approaching from the distance. To avoid detection, he quickly dropped into the forest to observe them discreetly.
As Lin Qian focused on the approaching group, he was surprised by what he saw.
At the front of the group was a purple-black-skinned, horned humanoid riding a Nirvana Realm tiger-like soul beast. This horned being exuded the aura of a Nirvana Realm Sixth Stage cultivator.
Behind him were about twenty more of these horned beings, all with the same purple-black skin. They were escorting a group of nearly three hundred prisoners.
What surprised Lin Qian even more was that among the captives were members of different races. Each one was shackled with glowing, enchanted restraints that locked their hands and feet together in a long chain. Their expressions were downcast as they trudged along.
To Lin Qian's astonishment, there were over a hundred humans among the captives, making up about a third of the group.
In addition to the humans, there was another race with the same horned features as their captors but with reddish-purple skin. These captives glared at their escorts with eyes full of hatred.
There were also smaller, stout creatures with long fingers, extending twice as long as a human's, and bushy beards. They walked at the rear of the group, their wide noses flushed red.
Lastly, there was a race of tall, muscular beings with legs resembling those of animals, ending in hooves. Their bodies were powerfully built.
None of the captives displayed any signs of cultivation, as if the restraints had completely sealed their abilities.
The scene before Lin Qian was unexpected. He hadn’t anticipated that there would be humans in this underground world, let alone so many other races.
This revealed that the situation underground was far more complex than he had initially imagined, with at least five different races coexisting in this subterranean world.
Judging from the appearance of the group, it seemed that the humans were not faring well. While the other races wore decent, forged garments, the humans were dressed in simple, crudely sewn clothes that offered no protection.
As a result, the humans bore far more injuries than the others.
Crack!
"Move faster!" At that moment, one of the purple-black-skinned captors cracked a whip across the back of a human, leaving a deep, bloody mark.
The human who received the blow didn't cry out, forcing himself to quicken his pace, clearly too fearful to resist.
Hidden among the branches, Lin Qian frowned. "It seems that the humans in this underground world aren’t faring much better. But at least their situation is slightly better than that of the Starting Province."
In the Starting Province, humans had no other races to share the burden of hatred with. They were ruthlessly enslaved by the Giant Ghost Clan and Dwarf Ghost Clan, treated as livestock for consumption.
At least in this underground world, the humans had access to a slightly better environment and spiritual energy.
But seeing his fellow humans being treated like this—whipped and driven like animals—ignited a fire of anger within Lin Qian.
Just as he was about to act and rescue the human captives, he suddenly paused, his attention drawn to movement from another direction.
At his current cultivation level, these beings couldn’t sense his presence, but Lin Qian's soul sense allowed him to monitor his surroundings carefully.
He noticed a group of individuals rushing toward the captors from the front.
"Enemy attack!" The nearest purple-black-skinned captor shouted a warning.
The horned leader atop the tiger soul beast raised his hand, and as his soul power surged, the restraints on the captives suddenly glowed, increasing in weight and slamming the prisoners to the ground.
"Charge!" The attackers, numbering around sixty, included humans as well as members of the reddish-purple-skinned race, the tall, muscular beings, and the small, stout ones.
It was clear that this rescue team was made up of members from various races, just like the captive group.
However, Lin Qian, still hidden in the trees, shook his head after observing for a moment.
Although the rescue team consisted of Nirvana Realm cultivators, most of them were only at the first to third stages.
On the other hand, the purple-black-skinned captors were all at least Nirvana Realm Stage Two, with several at Stage Four. The leader himself was a Nirvana Realm Stage Six.
It was evident that this rescue attempt would end in failure.
Lin Qian didn’t rush to intervene, choosing to continue observing. He wanted to see how the humans in this underground world fared in battle.
However, when he saw that the human fighters only had a thin layer of soul energy protecting them, he couldn’t help but chuckle. Clearly, the humans here were not in great shape.
At least they had some basic weapons, though their quality was abysmal. Judging by the rough clothes the human captives wore, their craftsmanship was severely lacking.
Boom!
The clash between the two sides was short-lived. The difference in strength became immediately apparent as the human fighters were sent flying, spitting blood after being struck by the purple-black-skinned captors.
"I told you, bringing these humans along is just a burden!" One of the reddish-purple-skinned fighters roared in frustration as the humans' failure created a gap in their defense.
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