The young man came to the spot beneath the Witch Mountain Chief's seat, reaching out to explore, and quickly found the protruding stone.

Then the young man slowly turned the stone to the left, closing his eyes and listening carefully.

After turning half a circle, the young man suddenly paused and began to rotate to the right.

Slowly rotating to one and a half circles, he suddenly stopped and started to rotate to the left.

After two circles, the entire seat suddenly shook slightly.

The young man opened his eyes.

Soon after, the stone slabs on either side behind the Witch Mountain Chief's seat slowly drew apart, revealing a series of descending stone steps leading into a pitch-black tunnel.

Yuwen Heigou nodded secretly.

He only knew a bit about mechanical techniques; it would take him at least half an hour to solve such a mechanism.

Yet this young man had only taken a dozen breaths to activate this contraption.

This kind of mechanical artistry, a strange and cunning method, is hard for ordinary people to grasp.

Looking at the entrance below, Chen Tang and the other three exchanged glances, still somewhat hesitant.

Noticing the doubts in their hearts, the young man said in a deep voice, "I haven't been down there either, so it's a good chance to take a look."

Having said that, the young man picked up a torch from nearby, lit it, and descended into the tunnel first.

Changsun Jingren followed closely.

Next was Yuwen Heigou.

Dugu Qingcheng was about to go down when Chen Tang suddenly pulled her back and whispered, "You should stay up here. We need someone to stay here just in case something goes wrong, so someone's outside to help us."

Dugu Qingcheng thought for a moment and then agreed.

Indeed.

If this group entered the dungeon and triggered some mechanism, causing the dungeon to close again, she could reopen it from above.

Chen Tang's move was merely a precaution. It'd be better if nothing unusual happened.

The four of them descended the stone steps continuously, walking about thirty feet before setting foot on solid ground again.

Ahead was a long corridor, with walls on either side built of blue bricks, and a row of oil lamps lit.

The young man slightly frowned and gestured to the three to wait there for a moment.

Then he went to the edge of the corridor and squatted down to examine it.

He knocked here and there, listening for a moment.

After a while, the young man suddenly threw the torch heavily toward the front of the corridor.

The torch landed in the middle of the corridor.

Whoosh!

From the gaps in the walls on both sides, several razor-thin blades suddenly appeared, crossing each other, then disappeared back into the gaps, vanishing without a trace.

Chen Tang and the other three were inwardly shocked.

Just now, those razor blades appeared in two positions: the upper one was exactly at throat level, and the lower one was at the ankles!

Even if you could dodge the upper blades, you might not avoid the lower ones.

Entering the corridor hastily would certainly trigger the mechanisms on both sides of the walls, extremely dangerous!

The Ten Ghosts of Wushan were indeed cautious, not only hiding the dungeon so secretly but also setting up mechanical traps inside.

The young man drew a few marks in the sandy soil with his dagger, then began to walk through the corridor.

First, he leaned against the left wall, taking three steps, then moved to the center of the corridor, taking five steps forward.

Then he went to the right wall, sticking close to the wall, and walked forward, reaching the end of the corridor.

The young man used his daggers to pry open a few blue bricks at the end, took a look inside, fiddled for a while, then finally relaxed and walked back confidently through the corridor.

"Let's go. The mechanism in the corridor has been disarmed."

The young man said as he led the way.

Only then did Chen Tang and the others let down most of their guard, following behind the young man.

Reaching the end of the corridor, the space opened up like a government office prison.

But, it was much larger than the government office prison, with individual cells on both sides, holding women who were scarcely clothed!

Each cell contained dozens of people.

At a glance, there were twelve cells in total, imprisoning hundreds of women!

What shocked Chen Tang and the others even more was that most of these women were pregnant, with pale faces and terrified expressions, huddled in the corners of the cells.

"So many people?"

Changsun Ming was enraged, clenching his fists, eyes filled with killing intent, he said coldly, "The Ten Ghosts of Wushan are beasts!"

The young man saw this scene, only frowning slightly, but his expression was not surprised.

"No, don't come over."

Changsun Ming stepped forward, shooting the lock off one prison cell door.

The women huddling in the corner turned ashen, their voices trembling, unimaginable what they had gone through.

"The Ten Ghosts of Wushan are all dead, and the Wushan Village has been wiped out by us!"

Changsun Ming said in a firm voice, "You don't need to be afraid. You can go home from now on."

"We no longer have homes..."

A woman said mournfully.

Hearing this, Changsun Ming fell silent, the anger in his heart growing stronger.

"Something's wrong."

Chen Tang frowned slightly, feeling something wasn't right.

Yuwen Heigou seemed to sense something too, thoughtfully.

"What's wrong?"

Changsun Ming asked.

Chen Tang replied, "Even if the Ten Ghosts of Wushan are extremely ruthless, there's no need to capture so many women, right?"

"What's so strange about that?"

Changsun Ming said, "The Emperor's harem has three thousand beauties."

Yuwen Heigou shook his head and said, "If it was merely to satiate their lust, there's no need for the Ten Ghosts of Wushan to keep these women pregnant, and certainly no need to keep the pregnant ones till now."

Then he pointed to a cell and said, "Over there, ten pregnant women are neatly dressed and look seven or eight months pregnant, about to give birth. Locking them together suggests another purpose."

The three of them exchanged glances, simultaneously thinking of something.

"Tribute!"

The three exclaimed aloud.

Pregnant women about to give birth as tribute to some mysterious entity, but for what purpose?

The three remained puzzled.

"What do you know?"

Changsun Ming asked several women.

The women, imprisoned for an unknown duration, were mostly delirious, their answers incoherent.

But it roughly matched their guesses.

Every so often, pregnant women about to give birth in the dungeon would be chosen by the Ten Ghosts of Wushan and taken away.

Since then, those women have never returned.

The young man stood silently to the side, a trace of compassion showing on his face.

"What do you know?"

Chen Tang looked at the young man and asked in a deep voice.

The young man didn't answer, just sighed lightly and said, "Let's get them out first."

With that, they stepped forward, smashing all the locks on the cell doors.

The women inside the cells could still hardly believe it.

The latest women thrown into the cell hadn't suffered much yet, their minds still somewhat clear, tentatively stepping out, following behind Chen Tang and the others.

After confirming there was no danger, the other women in the cells began to help each other out.

"Previously, someone escaped from the cell but didn't make it out; their bodies were cut in two."

A timid woman said.

Chen Tang and the others recalled the mechanism they encountered in the corridor earlier.

Perhaps, that mechanism was set to trap these women.

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