"Speak," Ye Jingyu stood before Lü Yun once more, the indifferent voice emanating from him, like a God-King passing judgment on all creation...

His right hand, however, pointed towards several large jars tucked away in the corner, containers holding three deformed youths who had remained utterly blank from the moment Ye Jingyu and his party arrived until now...

If the three young girls still held a flicker of despair in their eyes, these three were utterly vacant—mere statues, devoid of life, emotion, or anything that marked them as human...

"I... I don't know how they came to be?" Lü Yun failed to notice the intensity of Ye Jingyu's gaze, for he genuinely had no idea about the origins of these children...

"You don't know?" Ye Jingyu's voice turned frigid, and a foot suddenly slammed down onto Lü Yun's body, eliciting another piercing shriek of pain from him...

"My patience is wearing thin. You best start talking quickly, or I will show you what it means to wish for death," Ye Jingyu stated coldly...

Don't I already look like I'm wishing for death? Lü Yun cursed inwardly upon hearing Ye Jingyu's words, but he dared not utter a sound...

"You seem very reluctant to speak?" Seeing Lü Yun's continued silence, the smile on Ye Jingyu's face grew even more chilling...

Faced with Ye Jingyu's icy glare, Lü Yun finally laid bare everything, starting from when he encountered a mysterious individual...

After hearing Lü Yun's account and confirming he wasn't lying, Ye Jingyu wasted no more time. Several streaks of blade energy tore through the air from his body, instantly slaying Lü Yun and the handful of large men with him. It was only at this moment that Lü Yun and the others truly understood Ye Jingyu's terrifying might. Their eyes widened in disbelief, dying without grasping why a legendary figure like Ye Jingyu would involve himself in such trivial matters...

"Husband, what about them?" Seeing Ye Jingyu eliminate those men, Luo Ling'er's expression had begun slowly accommodating his violence. She turned her gaze toward the deformed youths huddled in the corner...

Ye Jingyu looked again at the youths and let out a heavy sigh. What meaning was there in the lives of those who could not even manage despair?

The very bone structure of these individuals was permanently set; even a divine physician could never restore them. For them, perhaps the best outcome was simply entering the cycle of reincarnation...

"Mu Fei, grant them passage," Ye Jingyu said softly, his words heavy with exhaustion and resignation. Yet, beneath that resignation boiled a fierce murderous intent, and he vowed inwardly to find the mastermind behind this atrocity and avenge these youths...

"Yes..." Mu Fei responded respectfully, moving towards the youths. Meanwhile, Luo Ling'er watched Ye Jingyu with confusion. Grant them passage—did he mean sending them somewhere?

Seeing Mu Fei approach them, the youths' eyes remained utterly blank, seemingly unconcerned by whatever Mu Fei intended to do next...

"Thwack, thwack, thwack..." Before Luo Ling'er and the others could react, Mu Fei delivered three swift palms directly onto the crowns of their heads...

Luo Ling'er gasped. For the first time, a change flickered across the vacant expressions of the three youths. They all lifted their heads to look at Mu Fei, and a sense of gratitude actually appeared in their eyes. And then, their lips curled upward—a faint smile...

At the very edge of life, they displayed perhaps the first genuine smile they had ever known—a smile of release...

Luo Ling'er, who had been about to scold Mu Fei, froze upon seeing that expression. She could understand Ye Jingyu killing the brutes; those men were unforgivable. But why kill these deformed youths who already suffered such bitter fates? Only when she saw the smile of liberation on their faces did she suddenly grasp it: Death, for them, truly was the finest absolution...

"Go on ahead. I will exact justice for each of you," Ye Jingyu stated solemnly, looking at the youths in the corner. Then, his figure moved toward the two naked, heavily scarred young women huddled against the wall...

Looking at the two scantily clad and wounded girls, Ye Jingyu’s eyes held no heat, no pity, not even a flicker of emotion: "If you wish to live, to live like a person, go in, gather your companions, and leave with me. I will wait for you outside for a quarter of an hour." Having delivered the ultimatum, Ye Jingyu turned and walked toward the exit...

"Xiao Yezi..." Luo Ling'er began to speak but was pulled along by Ye Jingyu as they moved out. Seeing the coldness in his gaze, Luo Ling'er suddenly found herself speechless...

"We can provide them food, clothes, and shelter, but we cannot give them the will to live. If a person lacks the conviction to keep going, they are nothing more than walking corpses. What meaning is there in such a life?" Ye Jingyu explained calmly, noticing Luo Ling'er’s expression...

Luo Ling'er heard him. Though the logic felt somewhat forced, she couldn't find a solid argument to refute it. As for Hu Yanmeng, she naturally remained silent. Mu Fei stepped forward to help Lin Xiaoyi up, following Ye Jingyu outside...

The group stood on the deserted street outside, waiting for the three girls to emerge...

Luo Ling'er held Ye Jingyu's hand tightly, her heart filled with anxiety. She feared the three girls wouldn't come out. Knowing Ye Jingyu's temperament, if he had spoken those words, failing to appear would mean he would never concern himself with them again, potentially forcing them back into the pit of fire. Kind-hearted Luo Ling'er dreaded seeing them stumble into that danger once more...

Time ticked by. As the quarter hour was about to expire, and Luo Ling'er prepared to gently persuade Ye Jingyu, faint footsteps sounded from behind them...

Luo Ling'er turned her head and saw the three girls walking out tentatively, the despair that had perpetually haunted their gazes beginning to harbor a faint glimmer...

A gleam of life?

"Meng, take them," Ye Jingyu said lightly, then took Luo Ling'er's small hand and walked toward the inn...

Hu Yanmeng smiled gently at the three girls and led them closely behind Ye Jingyu...

Shortly after the group left the courtyard, a dark figure landed within its grounds. Upon seeing the corpses littering the floor, a look of shock crossed the figure's face...

It was at that precise moment that another, pale-faced man materialized out of thin air directly in front of the figure...

(Third update done, six more to go!)