It sounded ridiculous, but there were miniature insects that resembled spiders that were responsible for Xian's rapid regeneration.
Lihua and Li Wen as well had used their Soul Sense to see the process and they were just as confused.
Silence overcame the room for a brief moment leaving Xian in a worried state.
Li Shen then said after a moment.
“Don’t move.”
He then sent his perception into Xian’s hand which he was still holding.
He should have done this the moment he saw that he wasn’t affected by the Demonic Qi. Li Shen started examining Xian’s body thoroughly.
He was too curious about what was up with him. His origins were strange, his body was strange, everything about him was too strange.
Li Shen moved his perception to his dantian, and as he thought before, he saw nothing. There was no dantian in his abdomen, Xian was nothing but a mortal that couldn’t cultivate.
But something was obviously different about him, so Li Shen move to the next location, which was his Sea of Consciousness.
And there he found the first anomaly.
For people who couldn’t cultivate, there was no way their Sea of Consciousness could develop past a certain point. But Xian’s own was at the estimated size of a late-stage Foundation Realm cultivator.
This was already weird and what added to that was that he had no Soul Sense. It just wasn’t there, despite having a Sea of Consciousness open and his Soul as strong as a late-stage Foundation realm cultivator, he had no Soul Sense to use.
Li Shen was both dumbstruck as well as fascinated that someone like Xian existed. But this didn’t explain why he had instant regeneration.
Li Shen moved away from his Sea of Consciousness to examine his physical body, and bingo, he found what he was looking for.
In the center of Xian’s heart, a spider-like runic symbol was embedded into it. With each pulse of his heart, it would glow a red color and send some sort of energy as well as those spider-like insects through his meridians.
And that to Li Shen was baffling, not only the runic symbol but that he had meridians.
Li Shen right now could only describe Xian as being a carriage without a horse and wheels to move.
No actually, it was the other way around. He had the horse and the wheels to move, but he missing a carriage.
Having meridians and a Sea of Consciousness, but not having a dantian to use them.
After doing a full circle of his body Li Shen had his Divine Will leave. Letting go of Xian’s hand, his face was neutral as he turned to walk to the side of the room in thought.
Lihua and Li Wen looked at each other before they took turns to examined Xian's body and saw the same thing.
With dumbfounded looks on their faces, they turned and walked over to Li Shen, leaving Xian at first baffled by their reaction but soon went back to eating the remaining food in front of him.
‘What’s with him? This isn’t something natural.’
Lihua said to Li Shen through a spiritual message, a solemn expression on her face as she took a glance back at Xian eating obliviously.
Li Shen nodded.
‘I agree, this was most likely done to him by someone. It looks like he was experimented on.’
‘Does Young Master think this might be the Demonic Cult’s doing?’
‘That’s highly likely, I’ve read reports in my Zhi Clan of the Poison Demonic Sect using mortals for experiments. Either for testing their Demonic Poison Arts or live cultivation experiments via dissecting. This hideout might just be one of those.’
Li Wen hearing that, had his face crumple up in a disgusted expression.
‘Young Master, we must act immediately!’
Li Shen turned to look at him in amusement.
‘Weren’t you the one advocating for us to leave? Don’t just go changing your mind all of a sudden.’
‘But if we stall any further who knows how many more people they’ll conduct experimentation on. If anything, let me go alone I'm confident in my abilities. Young Master and junior sister Lihua can leave the city together while-’
Li Shen held up his hand and said out loud.
“Don’t be ridiculous, your my bodyguard and that’s your responsibility, not someone who’s obligated to forsake that to fight the Demonic Cult. As much as what their doing is completely unforgivable, your duty comes first. What would mother think about you doing this after she assigned you to protect me?”
Li Wen hearing Li Shen’s words stopped and revaluate what he had just said.
Letting out a breath to calm his emotions, he nodded his head at Li Shen.
Li Shen seeing he had calmed down nodded as well before he said.
“The only way to protect me is if you’re by my side, there’s no reason to go in alone.”
Li Wen hearing that hesitated.
“Is Young Master suggesting we take on the hideout?”
Li Shen didn’t answer and instead turned to Lihua.
She thought for a second before saying.
“Poison Demonic Sect hideouts like these are different from ordinary secret bases. They aren’t focused on recruiting disciples into the Demonic Cult, hideouts such as that are given more importance. Though given their predicament now, it isn’t.”
Li Wen and Li Shen understand she was referring to the Demonic Cult having a cultivation resources crisis in every rank.
“But what I’m trying to say is that these types hideouts for the Poison Demonic Sect main focus are capturing mortals to be used as experimentation subjects. Them using this city as a central point to spread to other towns and villages nearby is likely to fulfill that goal. They aren’t too keen on being attached to one area for too long, so fewer Demonic Cultivators are in these hideouts so it would be more efficient to escape with all their data and research if they were ever discovered.”
As Lihua spoke, she suddenly paused and showed an expression of realization.
“Now that I think about it, the reason why the town we visited before had killed all the town’s people is to cover up this experimentation. If word got out that the Demonic Cult, or specifically the Poison Demonic Sect, can manipulate an entire Core Formation realm-level city or is using them for experiments, the Righteous Faction would definitely act.”
Li Shen remained silent for a moment after Lihua finished, soon he asked with a serious expression.
“So there’s a possibility that they could kill everyone in this city to cover up their experiments?”
Lihua nodded solemnly.
Narrowed eyes, Li Shen said.
“I’m not letting that happen. Report this place to the Academy, however, at the same time we’ll search for their hideout. Once we do we’ll kill them all, and they’re bound to be people like Xian inside as well, we’ll need to help them escape.”
Li Shen made a decision, he won’t stand by and let this place exist for a second longer. Forget about escaping the city.
First his Faction members, second was Jun being attacked, and now human trafficking for experimentation. The Poison Demonic Sect just keeps on stacking up more reasons for him to eradicate them, for his hatred to reach a height it had never reached before.
And it did, the Poison Demonic Sect had actually managed to become a main target that Li Shen loath the most. The day their existence is wiped away from this continent is the day his hatred will simmer down. And this hatred extended to the other Demonic Sects.
But until that day, the Poison Demonic Sect and the Demonic Cult as whole will have to deal with an unrelenting and vengeful Li Shen. He’ll become their worst nightmare.
As Lihua stepped off to the side to send a jade slip message, Li Wen clenched his fist getting reading for a fight. But he suddenly paused, then turning to Li Shen he asked.
“Young Master, how are we going to locate the Poison Demonic Sect hideout in the city?”
Li Shen frowned at this, he would have been able to use his Heavenly Eyes to see the concentration of black miasma Demonic Qi gave off. But with so many people all producing it at once it clouded his vision making him unable to tell.
Not to mention that the sun would rise soon, so they would lose their cover of night.
Just as Li Shen was thinking of a solution, Xian with a full mouth suddenly spoke up.
“I know a secret hideout, I escaped from one.”
Hearing that, the three looked towards him simultaneously, a light bulb clicking in their heads.
That’s right, Xian was a test subject so why was he out on the streets?
“Show us.”
Li Shen said, and hearing his grim-sounding voice, Xian gulped down his food and nodded with an apprehensive look on his face.
**
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