"Master Yu..." Chen Wan's eyes widened in shock as she looked at the young man being held by the Human Demon King, but before she could call out, Yuan Ming quickly covered her mouth.

The sound stopped abruptly, thankfully the Human Demon King did not notice.

After he landed steadily, the rest of the Human Demons all simultaneously made stiff movements as they lowered their heads, showing a submissive posture.

Senior Brother Yu from the Fire Refining Hall was being held by the neck with one arm of the Human Demon King, lifted up in front of him.

The latter's cheeks twitched in pain, his expression tortured, eyes tightly shut. Clearly, though not unconscious, he lacked even the courage to open his eyes for a glance. His muscles were tensed, his body quivering non-stop, obviously terrorized to the extreme.

Chen Wan's gaze fixed on the fellow disciple, her mind a mess. In the end, she lacked the courage to risk a rescue.

At that moment, the Human Demon King pressed a finger on the unfortunate Senior Brother Yu's forehead.

With a "pu" sound, his skull, as if made of tofu, was easily pierced, creating a bloody hole.

A wail of agony rose, echoing within the cave.

The Human Demon King's gaze was icy as he grasped the writhing Senior Brother Yu in pain and brought him to his mouth.

On opening his mouth, sharp, fang-like teeth were revealed. He leaned towards Senior Brother Yu's forehead, biting down. As he clamped on, he began to suck at the bloody hole.

The next instant, a stream of blood-red light surged from the bloody hole in the forehead, emptied by the Human Demon King's absorption.

Senior Brother Yu's screams stopped abruptly; his body withered away, slowly slipping from the hands of the Human Demon King and falling to the ground.

Immediately after, the Human Demon King spread his arms wide, head slightly tilted back, as if he had enjoyed a gluttonous feast, immersed in the delightful sensation.

At the same time, his body emitted a green glow, sprinkled with specks of light dispersing around.

The other Human Demons basked in the green specks of light, their heads rising as if they were undergoing some kind of sublimation.

Yuan Ming was shocked by this scene and stared for a good while. Chen Wan, by his side, became eerily silent, her lovely face turning pale.

Leaving aside the other Human Demons, if they fell into the hands of this Human Demon King, they definitely had no chance of survival and would become mere Blood Food. Their fate would not be any better than Senior Brother Yu's.

"Boom"

Just then, a surge of air blasted down from an opening above the cavern, the hot breath carrying a torrent of sand and leaves.

The entire underground cave shook violently as if under attack.

The Human Demon King looked up to the sky and suddenly let out an angry roar. He swiftly shot towards the exit above.

The other Human Demons immediately started moving, climbing the steep cave walls with all four limbs, following fast as if in pursuit of their queen.

"We can get out now..." Yuan Ming said to himself with a burst of joy seeing this scene.

He turned back and glanced at Chen Wan, indicating that they should get ready to escape once all the Human Demons had left.

However, after a long wait, as one Human Demon after another clambered out of the cavern, one in the corner remained motionless, not following the others.

"What's up with this guy, why isn't he moving?" Yuan Ming thought anxiously.

Chen Wan was also nervous. If the other Human Demons returned, they would have no chance to escape.

She patted Yuan Ming on the shoulder, and when he turned his head, she made a throat-slitting gesture. They needed to kill this Human Demon quickly to leave safely.

Yuan Ming hesitated for a moment but then nodded.

Just as he was about to descend through the cavern's opening, he noticed the Human Demon start to move.

It swayed its head from side to side as if surveying its surroundings. Seeing that no one was around, it abruptly turned and walked to the left, disappearing from Yuan Ming and Chen Wan's view.

Yuan Ming was startled by this scene.

"That Human Demon is acting strange, as if it has spiritual intelligence," he whispered to Chen Wan.

Chen Wan, hearing this, peered out again and noticed that the Human Demon had indeed vanished.

"This... It's impossible. Even if a king is born among the Human Demons, there could only be one. Two kings would never appear at the same time. Otherwise, they would engage in a fight to the death and never coexist peacefully," said Chen Wan, equally bewildered.

"Never mind that, let's focus on escaping first," said Yuan Ming.

With that, he leaned forward, gripping the cave wall, and began to climb down quickly.

Chen Wan followed swiftly.

Only when they reached the opening where the numerous Human Demons had burst out did they notice a hidden opening on their blind side to the left, leading in a different direction.

Chen Wan looked at the concealed entrance with curiosity in her eyes.

"Don't create unnecessary complications. Let's hurry and escape," Yuan Ming promptly reminded her.

Chen Wan softly acknowledged with a "hmm" and withdrew her gaze.

"I'll go up first and check the situation," Yuan Ming cautioned, starting to climb towards the opening.

He had barely made it halfway up when fierce roars suddenly came from outside the cave.

Immediately after, a shadow fell from the opening, nearly striking Yuan Ming and landing on the ground.

Yuan Ming quickly dodged to the side, pressing himself against the wall and looking down, only to see a half-bodily torso landing near Chen Wan's feet.

It was covered in blood, its face obscured by clotted blood, identifiable only by its clothing, which seemed to be that of a disciple from the Beast Taming Hall.

Yuan Ming's heart tensed, and he suddenly heard the sounds of battle above growing closer, causing his face to change.

He quickly rolled over and dropped down, saying to Chen Wan, "There's a battle going on above, the situation is unclear."

Before his words had fully landed, the light at the entrance above was suddenly blocked by a shadow.

Yuan Ming and Chen Wan looked up at the same time, only to see the back of the Human Demon King.

The two instinctively dodged to the side, seeing that the Human Demon was about to return. It was already too late to climb back to the original entrance.

"This way."

Chen Wan called out and turned to run into a hidden passage on the left.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming could only immediately follow.

The two ran one after the other for half a quarter of an hour, with the cave passage ahead twisting and turning, becoming narrower and narrower.

Before long, they had reached the end.

"How could there be no way out?" Chen Wan asked, confused.

On their journey, they had neither found a fork in the road nor seen the Human Demon return, but they had walked to a dead-end without ever seeing that strange Human Demon again.

Hearing this, Yuan Ming stepped forward to search and soon found a crack near the ground less than half a person tall, just wide enough for one person to pass through.

"It might have gone through here," Yuan Ming said.

"That Human Demon even knows how to bend down and squeeze through holes. Its spiritual intelligence is definitely not that of a newly enlightened being. How did it manage to coexist peacefully with the Human Demon King?" Chen Wan bent down to check and was even more perplexed.

"Let's not worry about that now; we need to get out of here quickly, just in case those Human Demons also come this way," Yuan Ming urged. Find this chapter's source on *.

Hearing this, Chen Wan hesitated no longer, stooped, and crawled through the crack first.

Yuan Ming closely followed, crawling through as well.

Behind the crack was still a narrow, winding passageway. Yuan Ming and Chen Wan walked cautiously within it, and after nearly a quarter of an hour, they finally emerged from the narrow passage.

The passage's exit was also a narrow crack, leading to a cavern as large as two rooms combined outside.

The cavern was dimly lit, yet not pitch-black; the rock walls all around were covered with a kind of stone powder that emitted a faint phosphorescence, providing a slight glow.

Yuan Ming and Chen Wan entered the cavern and were immediately faced with an ancient Stele about six feet tall.

Underneath the rectangular body of the Stele was a stone base shaped like a fierce tiger. The carving wasn't very exquisite, but it exuded an indescribable spirit, looking quite imposing.

Yuan Ming examined it closely and discovered one face of the Stele carved with intricate runes, while the other was engraved with the characters for "Hu Shou" in Southern Border script.

"What is this?" Yuan Ming asked.

Chen Wan, who had also been carefully observing it, thought for a moment then shook her head, saying, "I'm not sure, it looks like some kind of suppression artifact or a boundary marker."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Ming didn't ask further and began to examine the rest of the cavern in detail.

But after looking around, he was surprised to discover that aside from the crack they had entered through, there were no other exits in the cavern.

"We've really reached the end this time; there are no other exits," Yuan Ming said with a frown.

"That's strange. Not only did we not find an exit, but why isn't that Human Demon anywhere to be seen?" Chen Wan also looked perplexed.

"Let's search again carefully; this can't be right," Yuan Ming sighed.

Hearing this, Chen Wan twisted her wrist and rapidly released three Fireball Techniques, illuminating the entire cavern.

Using the bright light, they carefully searched the entire cavern again only to come up empty-handed.

"Could there have been a fork in the road we came through that we didn't notice?" Chen Wan wondered.

"Well, let's return the way we came and look again. Even if we don't find a fork, maybe those Human Demons have already left, and we can get out," Yuan Ming said.

"Alright."

After discussing, the two headed back the way they came, hurrying along the narrow, cramped passage.

When they finally returned to the cavern, before they had the chance to leave, they heard voices coming from inside.

"No matter what, we need to see the person alive, or the body if dead," a man's voice came through.

"He's definitely dead; with that situation, there's no way he could've come back alive..." the certain voice of a woman rose.

...

These voices sounded somewhat familiar to Yuan Ming, and he couldn't help but pause.

"Nothing bad happened, right?" At that moment, a somewhat timid voice spoke up.

Recognizing this voice, Yuan Ming immediately realized who it was and wanted to stop Chen Wan at his side, but she had already rushed out.

"Is it the fellow disciples from Biluo Cave?" Chen Wan called out anxiously.

"Don't..."

Yuan Ming had barely shouted "don't" when the three people at the other end of the cavern had already run over upon hearing the sound.

It was none other than Kun Tu, Yang Chan, and Ba Da.