As the rabbit demon's cultivation was forcibly raised by one rank, all the surrounding demons went mad. They completely disregarded the danger to their lives!
Demons, unlike humans, generally had very long lifespans. Unless they possessed extraordinary talent, it would take a demon a hundred years for their cultivation to increase by even one rank.
Now, Ye Ling could easily elevate their cultivation by a major realm. Such temptation was enough to make the demons abandon their lives!
"My lord, I once saw those humans lurking near the town mayor's residence!" another demon exclaimed loudly.
Ye Ling asked, "When was that?"
The demon replied, "Just a few days ago!"
"Very good, a reward!"
Ye Ling smiled and nodded, bestowing a ball of demonic energy upon the demon to boost its cultivation.
Boom!
The atmosphere in the square became even more fervent!
"My lord, this morning I glimpsed someone dragging a female in here!"
"A reward! Two ranks up!"
"My lord, the town mayor is actually in contact with those humans. I saw it with my own eyes; those humans were helping the mayor repair his house!"
"A reward!"
"My lord, my sense of smell is very keen. In the past few days, I've smelled human scents from beneath the town mayor's house!"
"A reward!"
Ye Ling's spiritual energy seemed inexhaustible. As long as the demons provided any useful information, he would elevate their cultivation.
Under this frenzied atmosphere, dozens of demons revealed information and received rewards of increased cultivation in a short period.
The entire Ancient Demon Town was in an uproar, with more and more demons regretting their ignorance of the humans' whereabouts and the missed opportunities.
However, amidst their excitement, the demons were also increasingly shocked by Ye Ling's power.
The ability to forcibly increase someone's cultivation by a major realm was unheard of in the world. Ye Ling's capacity for unlimited cultivation enhancement was utterly astonishing!
If Ye Ling's methods truly had no limits, wouldn't he be able to create an invincible army that could sweep across the world in an instant?
Ye Ling, however, paid no mind to the demons' astonishment.
To him, all the demons present, including Nan Batian with his seventh-rank cultivation, were mere novices who hadn't even begun to tread the path of cultivation.
It was as simple as breathing for Ye Ling to elevate their cultivation; he could do it in the blink of an eye.
The spiritual energy he consumed could be replenished instantly.
In fact, Ye Ling mused, he could completely raise the power levels of the entire Earth by several tiers!
Soon, through this system of rewards and punishments, Ye Ling obtained all the information he desired in Ancient Demon Town.
After all, Ancient Demon Town was a gathering place for demons, and many of them possessed special abilities. It was virtually impossible for the people of the Shadow Hall to remain completely hidden here.
From the information gathered from the demons, Ye Ling had a general understanding that the members of the Shadow Hall were hiding beneath Shan Bu's residence.
As for why he hadn't detected them with his divine sense before, he needed to investigate further.
Beside him, Xu Xiaoqing watched Ye Ling distribute his spiritual energy as if he were performing charity, and couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache and pain.
Charity wasn't done like this!
The act of Ye Ling directly and massively boosting the cultivation of so many demons was simply too outrageous.
Once Ye Ling had obtained the information he needed, he dispersed all the demons in the square, leaving only Nan Batian and Shan Bu.
Seeing the excited demons slowly disperse, Ye You asked Ye Ling, "Brother, shall we rush to Shan Bu's house immediately?"
Ye Ling nodded slightly, "Yes, the commotion we've caused here has likely alerted the people of the Shadow Hall, and they should be making some moves now."
"Ruoxue is probably also held there. Let's go find her."
With that, Ye Ling enveloped the unconscious Nan Batian and Shan Bu with his demonic energy, collecting them into his spatial ring. He then led Xu Xiaoqing towards Shan Bu's residence.
Ye You followed closely behind.
...
Ancient Demon Town, Shan Bu's Residence.
This was a modern villa, located in the northwest corner of the town, in a rather secluded spot.
"This is it."
Ye You arrived in front of Shan Bu's villa and scanned the entire building. He frowned, "I still can't find anything wrong with this villa. How did the people of the Shadow Hall manage to hide Ruoxue sister?"
"We'll know once we go inside."
Ye Ling did not linger outside and walked directly towards the villa. At the same time, he instructed Xu Xiaoqing, who was beside him, "Xiaoqing, stay close to me and don't wander too far. Be careful not to get caught in some strange place."
"Oh, okay!"
Xu Xiaoqing nodded repeatedly and followed closely behind Ye Ling.
After hearing Ye Ling's instructions, she suddenly became nervous, feeling as if something was about to happen.
As the three of them entered the villa, they felt a gust of cold wind blow towards them, causing the surrounding temperature to drop by more than ten degrees!
"So cold!" Xu Xiaoqing instinctively hugged her arms tighter and quietly circulated her cultivation technique to ward off the chill.
"There's more to this place than meets the eye..."
Ye Ling's gaze swept across the surroundings, and he expanded his divine sense outwards. He discovered that the villa was coated with a special substance that could absorb soul power and prevent divine sense from probing.
"No wonder I couldn't scan this place with my divine sense before," Ye Ling muttered, then waved his hand, erasing all the furniture inside the villa.
The entire villa instantly became empty, revealing a hidden door behind a bookshelf.
Seeing the hidden door, Ye You's eyes lit up, "There really is a hidden door!"
"Let's go in and see." Ye Ling's expression remained calm as he stepped towards the hidden door.
"So... this is how you find hidden passages?"
Xu Xiaoqing looked at the empty room around her, her mouth twitching slightly, unsure how to describe her current feelings.
Normally, to find a hidden door in a place, one would either find a way to get the access method from the homeowner or meticulously search the room for the opening mechanism.
Xu Xiaoqing had never witnessed such a crude method of finding a hidden door as Ye Ling's.
Ye Ling walked up to the hidden door and kicked it directly!
Bang!
The stone door was shattered by Ye Ling's kick, revealing a stone staircase leading underground.
A large amount of sinister aura emanated from below, accompanied by chilling winds.
Ye You sensed that the aura from below was not quite right and frowned slightly, looking at Ye Ling, "Brother..."
"The space inside is unstable. I'll go first, Xiao You, you stay at the back and protect Xu Xiaoqing." Ye Ling instructed the two women before stepping onto the stone stairs and heading underground.
The stone staircase was quite long, and there were no lights on either side. The surroundings were pitch black, and the walls were coated with a substance that absorbed divine sense. They walked a considerable distance on the stairs, relying solely on their own estimations.
After walking for ten minutes, it still didn't seem to end.
Ye You seemed unable to bear the dark environment and asked Ye Ling, "Brother, have we fallen into some kind of illusion? Why does it feel like we can't reach the end?"
Ye Ling stopped and placed his hand on the cold wall, saying, "It's not an illusion. The space here is layered. We appear to be walking downwards, but in reality, we are just going in circles within several identical spaces."
Ye You asked, "Then how do we get out of this loop?"
Ye Ling replied, "I'm considering it."
Ye You blinked in surprise, "Considering?"
Ye Ling continued, "There are two ways to escape this loop: first, destroy all these repeating spaces and find the correct main space."
"Second, find the sole exit of these overlapping spaces."
"Destroying the spaces is not difficult; I can tear them apart easily. However, the current problem is... if the people of the Shadow Hall have hidden Ruoxue in a certain space, and I destroy these spaces, Ruoxue could be caught in a spatial turbulence."
Ye You asked, "So, we have to find that only exit?"
"That is one method," Ye Ling nodded. "However, these spaces overlap significantly. Based on a rough estimate, there are tens of thousands of spatial exits hidden within the staircase. If we were to try them one by one, it might take us days and nights here without finding the correct passage."
"It's really like that..." Hearing Ye Ling's words, Ye You sat down on the steps and began to ponder a solution.
"Actually, it's unlikely they would hide Ruoxue in these spaces. If I break them..."
Ye Ling did not want to waste any more time here. Just as he was about to break a space to test it, Chu on his shoulder pointed towards the dark space ahead and said, "I see a door over there, and there are a few living people hidden inside."