Hu Yingmeng, Lin Xiaoyi, and Mu Fei naturally had no objections; they followed closely behind Luo Ling'er and Ye Jingyu, weaving their way into the assembled crowd...
Under the imposing aura Ye Jingyu exuded, the common folk unconsciously parted the way, allowing the group to slip effortlessly to the front of the throng. Yet, upon reaching the forefront, they were instantly stunned by the spectacle before them...
This was clearly a gathering of street performers, numbering about a dozen individuals: eight burly, tall men, three young girls no older than eleven or twelve, and one grim-faced old man...
Of course, these details barely registered with Ye Jingyu and his companions. What truly captured their attention were the three semi-translucent glass vats placed directly ahead. These vessels contained neither animals nor sustenance, but rather three youths with the most bizarre appearances imaginable...
They were strange because the youth on the left lacked ears entirely; his two arms were raised stiffly above his head, pressed tightly against his skull, and on closer inspection, they appeared fused to his head, utterly immobile. His legs, moreover, seemed violently twisted, resembling the crooked, gnarled limbs of an ancient tree...
The one in the center was even more horrifying. His left arm was bent impossibly behind his back, yet his left hand emerged sickeningly from his abdomen. His right hand was plastered against his cheek, clearly fused with the facial musculature. Both legs were strangely contorted, making him barely recognizable as human...
As for the third, he was the most conventionally structured, but his legs and feet had been completely severed, rendering him a human stump encased within the vat...
None of the three were dead; they were living bodies, but their eyes were utterly desolate, signifying a complete loss of the will to live...
Their throats had clearly been cut, rendering them incapable of speech...
The surrounding villagers displayed expressions of astonishment, clearly having never witnessed human forms so bizarre. However, many also showed profound pity for the trio...
Seeing this, Luo Ling'er immediately covered her mouth with a gasp. Having lived within the palace walls, she had never encountered such a sight. In her sheltered worldview, people were supposed to be normal—even without her pampered life, they should at least be healthy. She never imagined anyone could be deformed in such a manner...
But when Ye Jingyu witnessed the scene, a wave of pure fury washed over him, and the violent energy within his core surged. His vision, exceedingly sharp, clearly discerned that these conditions were not natural deformities. Whether it was the youth with the hand emerging from his torso or the one with arms fused to his head like a scarab beetle, marks were visible at every connection point...
The Rinnegan in his brow flickered, instantly projecting the entire history of these injuries into Ye Jingyu's mind...
The youth with the raised arms was relatively 'better off'; flesh had simply been excised from his face and limbs, and his arms forcibly bound to his head while the wounds were allowed to heal, resulting in the unnatural posture. His legs had been deliberately snapped and then healed into their current contorted state...
As for the one with the hand emerging from his torso, a gaping, bloody hole had been brutally torn in his abdomen, and his arm violently twisted around his back until it punched through this aperture...
They were then revived with medicinal elixirs, allowing the wounds to slowly knit together into their present horror. The third youth, of course, had simply had his limbs hacked off...
Such was the terrifying power of the Rinnegan; any injury, no matter how complex, would reveal its origin upon a single sweep of its gaze...
Reincarnation—it carried the inherent understanding of cycles...
Fully grasping the truth, Ye Jingyu was instantly enraged. He could not fathom that such cruelty existed in the world—to torture a living child to this extent. The violation of the torso, the brutal breaking of limbs—the sheer agony involved was unimaginable...
Any normal person could never perpetrate such acts, yet here it was, undeniable fact: these individuals had been deliberately mutilated...
Regardless of the motive, such perpetrators deserved nothing. Furthermore, Ye Jingyu didn't believe everyone subjected to such trauma survived; how many must have perished before this result was achieved?
An inexpressible anger welled up in Ye Jingyu's heart. He looked at the helpless Luo Ling'er, the shocked Hu Yingmeng, and Lin Xiaoyi, who had already retreated to vomit. He observed the varied expressions of the crowd, then focused on the grim-faced old man, the eight cruel-looking strongmen, and the three terrified yet cautiously performing young girls. Ye Jingyu began to suspect this troupe was responsible for these atrocities...
Even if they weren't the direct perpetrators, they were certainly complicit...
"Let's go..." He casually pulled out a gold ingot, tossed it onto the ground, and took Luo Ling'er's hand, leading her away from the scene...
"Little Yezi, they are so pitiful!" Luo Ling'er's eyes were filled with sorrow...
"They are pitiful, yes, but if you knew they were all forcibly twisted into this state, you would see they are not just pitiful, but tragically cursed," Ye Jingyu said, pulling her through the crowd, forcibly suppressing his fury. He had promised Luo Ling'er he would face everything with her, and that meant revealing the full truth...
"What? Forcibly twisted? How is that possible? How can there be such cruel people in this world?" Luo Ling'er's face was a mask of shock and disbelief. She truly struggled to accept that someone could commit such an atrocity...
"Heh heh, nothing is impossible. Mu Fei, you stay here and monitor this group's movements. Report anything to me immediately!" Ye Jingyu sneered slightly as he instructed Mu Fei behind him...
He was not a good man; never had been. The lives he had taken numbered in the thousands, if not tens of thousands. But even he would never commit such savage acts. Had he not seen it, he might have ignored it, but now that he had encountered it, how could he walk away?
I am not a good man, but at least I possess a conscience, Ye Jingyu thought fiercely to himself...
Mu Fei merely acknowledged the order, his figure melting back into the crowd. Having reached the Corpse King realm, equivalent to a Grandmaster, his strength was formidable, and he held no regard for these common street performers...
Luo Ling'er, held tightly by Ye Jingyu, realized what he intended to do. A flicker of righteous anger, mingled with a hint of killing intent, appeared in her usually pure eyes...
(End of Chapter Three)