Chapter 515: Chapter 330: The King’s Guard_2
Looking around, there were no signs in the room indicating that these people had been abused. Each of them had their own mattress, though some of the mattresses were empty. Upon closer inspection, traces left by someone lying there were visible. Those who belonged to these mattresses had already been removed. As for where they were now, neither Lan Feng nor Yan Xiaobao had the slightest idea. However, both of them quickly understood that this house was merely a storage facility.
Taking one last glance at the laws, although Lan Feng wished to take all of them with him, Phoenix silenced his urging and turned to leave, heading back to the room with his companion.
When they returned home, Yan Xiaobao regained control of his body, and Lan Feng requested to be left alone to think. Hearing this, Yan Xiaobao nodded and leaned against the wall for a moment. While replaying in his mind everything he had seen in the house, he closed his eyes. A cold, merciless expression appeared on his face as he resolved to fight for their freedom.
...
"But Commander!" Seven guards stood inside the main office of the Dragon Company headquarters. "Xiao Li and Wang Yan were both killed last night! This was clearly done by that young white-haired man. He was the only one paying attention to the house yesterday; it must have been him!"
"Shut up!" The Commander shouted again, his eyes dimmed by fury. "Even if it was him, he didn’t do anything but watch around the house. If he wanted me to let him inside, I would have allowed him. So what if he killed two King-level experts? Think for a moment: he’s just a Master. How could he possibly kill two King-level experts? If he could, and if he happened to conceal his true aura, then he must be a Saint. Do you honestly believe such a young man could deceive me with his aura?"
"But Commander! We need to avenge our comrades! They died like dogs; they deserved better!"
"I don’t want to hear this any longer. Go back and keep watch. If the white-haired young man appears again, allow him entry. Although he only has an A-level clearance ranking, he might as well be S-ranked. We need him to have a positive experience here."
Despite the Commander’s dislike for Yan Xiaobao, he had to admit that the young man was connected to General Frozen. If anything happened to this young man, the Commander would have to answer to the General, which was something he had no desire to do. Although he was the Commander of the Dragon Army, he was still just a Commander. If the General decided to intervene, the entire Dragon Army could be wiped out in an instant.
Whatever the white-haired young man wanted to do, he was allowed to proceed according to the Commander’s orders. Even though these actions irritated the Commander, and he greatly disliked the white-haired youth, he couldn’t help but feel that as long as the boy behaved appropriately, everything would unfold without any issues.
...
For two reasons, Yan Xiaobao returned home the next day. First, he anticipated that the Dragon Army would arrive and start questioning him because of his interest in the house the day before. However, strangely enough, no one showed up, leaving Yan Xiaobao feeling perplexed.
Although surprised, he was also relieved that no one came to visit him, as it gave him time to speculate where the laws might have been taken. He had already explored all the rooms and areas within the headquarters. The only remaining option seemed to be that the laws were being held in another house, similar to the one he had seen.
For most of the day, Hui Yue waited for nightfall, and once darkness descended, he allowed Lan Feng to take control of his body again. Then he left the house, preparing to search for another building. He assumed there would be another house near the previous one, housing the unconscious laws. If this was being done in the middle of the headquarters, transporting them back and forth would attract too much attention. Therefore, Yan Xiaobao speculated that another house might be located on the outskirts of the city.
Today was purely reconnaissance. Yan Xiaobao’s plan was that by the time he began to act and reveal his true intentions, his friends would have either been sent to the Stairway of Hope or be by his side, ready to fight through the entire Dragon Army if necessary.
Yan Xiaobao sighed deeply within the depths of his Dantian Cave. He knew how important this was to Lan Feng, and he resolved to do everything he could to support Phoenix as they tried to rescue the laws.
One concern weighing on Yan Xiaobao was why the laws seemed neither dead nor alive, and how they had managed to keep them in such a state. The mystery grew even stranger when some of them were removed.
Night after night, Lan Feng searched behind the house where the laws were housed, eventually discovering another building. However, while the first house was surrounded by guards, the second house was abandoned, without a single guard standing outside to keep watch.
Upon entering, they found the house filled with small rooms. Each room’s door was locked, but every room had a window, allowing anyone in the hallway to observe its occupants.
In the initial rooms, nothing happened, but Lan Feng and Yan Xiaobao slowly made their way through the building. Each room contained a single bed with straps attached to it. These were the only visible features of the rooms. Lan Feng waited in the building for sunlight to filter through the sky above the cave. He waited for the many cultivators in the city to awaken, wondering if he could uncover what these laws were enduring inside this house.
Lan Feng concealed his aura and withdrew his presence, wearing a black cloak as well. This made it nearly impossible for anyone to notice him. He managed to hide well within the building, as it remained fairly dark.
Just as Lan Feng began to grow impatient, the front door opened, and three King-level cultivators entered. Each carried a law. Two were children, while the third was a teenager.
Each law was placed in a room, with a King-level cultivator following them in. Watching the now-empty hallway, Lan Feng positioned himself so he could see through the windows, and what he observed shocked him to the core. When he saw them fastening straps around the laws’ necks, his eyes widened in disbelief.
However, the laws had yet to be bound fully, as they were currently not breathing. He watched one of them begin breathing again, their eyes about to open, only for the straps around their necks to tighten, causing the laws to struggle. The King Ranking experts made sure they would never regain consciousness.
As they were about to die, a golden light emerged within the laws, filled with energy that rippled throughout the house. The King Ranking experts opened a Xiao Yu case, using it to absorb the golden light. Then, they once again lifted the bodies—neither alive nor dead—and left the house, taking the children back to the silent, dim world of laws.
Lan Feng finally understood what was happening. As long as the world continued to exist, the laws could not truly perish. Their bodies were filled with energy, the energy granted by the four Divine Beasts. Whenever a law was on the verge of death, this energy would be released, leaving their bodies in a state neither alive nor dead—a state where the body was repairing itself.
Some of this energy would leave the body, which was the energy being harvested by the Dragon Army. This realization caused the blood in Lan Feng and Yan Xiaobao’s veins to boil, Phoenix and the young man both filled with cold killing intent, straining to suppress it.
It was clear these laws were being used for their energy, but the purpose of this energy was unknown to Yan Xiaobao. Even Lan Feng didn’t understand what it was being used for. All he knew was that he would do anything to stop it.
Yan Xiaobao and Lan Feng quietly slipped out of the building, rushing back to the house where their friends were. They worked to rein in their emotions. Both knew that while these laws weren’t dead, they also weren’t truly alive. Yan Xiaobao desperately hoped to grant them freedom. His eyes darkened as he recalled how earlier in the day, the Dragon Army had referred to their captives as "cargo" when General Deng Wu and his friends were seized.
Lan Feng burned with rage as he handed control of the body back to Yan Xiaobao. The two walked in complete silence toward the room where their friends were waiting.
When the door opened, Yan Xiaobao’s anger dissipated, replaced by heightened vigilance. In the middle of the floor sat a man he had never seen before, chatting with Xu Biao and Deng Wu, while Sha Yun and Wang Julong cultivated nearby.
...