I raised stunning young ladies, but they all wanted to possess me.

Gu Yan squatted down and took a closer look; the lock was new.

It doesn't fit in at all with this old camphor wood cabinet.

An old cabinet with a new lock means there must be something inside.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a thin wire.

Use your fingers to slowly straighten the wire.

Then I poked it into the keyhole and probed it a few times.

Feel the resistance inside the lock cylinder to determine the position of the pins.

His hands were steady, and his fingertips moved with precision and patience.

This old-fashioned brass lock has a simple structure and does not require special tools.

A few seconds later, with a click, the lock opened.

The voice was very soft, but it still made him pause for a moment.

There was no sound from the living room, and there was no movement from the adoptive parents' bedroom either.

He opened the drawer, and inside lay only a key.

The black iron key was larger than a regular key.

The key handle has a crooked "down" character engraved on it.

The marks are very shallow, as if they were slowly made by the tip of a knife.

He gripped the key tightly, the coolness of the metal emanating from his palm.

Walk to the small door with a curtain hanging in the corner of the kitchen.

Lift the curtain to reveal a low wooden door behind it.

There were some faint scratches on the door frame, as if they were left from frequent opening.

There is a keyhole on the door, and its shape matches this key perfectly.

He inserted the key and turned it gently.

The door opened silently, a crack.

A cold wind blew out from inside.

It smelled damp and rotten.

There's something else, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

The first thing you see is a downward staircase, the steps of which are made of rough cement.

There were mottled water stains on the wall, seeping down along the cracks.

There was only a dim little lamp on the wall.

The light was a dark red, like blood that had been congealed for a long time.

The entire stairwell looked like the esophagus of some kind of animal when it was illuminated.

The light didn't reach the bottom; at the end of the steps was a thick darkness.

Gu Yan stood at the door without going in immediately.

He drew the Demon-Suppressing Blade from its sheath.

There was no metallic scraping sound when the blade was drawn from its sheath.

The dim red light fell on the blade, giving it a cold, sharp gleam.

Deep within his pupils, a seven-colored light silently shone.

Seven colors swirled slowly in his eyes, their reflections layered upon each other.

He activated the Mirror Flower Seal and gripped the Demon-Suppressing Blade tightly in his hand.

Then he smelled a scent.

The smell of blood, a very strong smell of blood.

It surged up from the cracks in the basement, like an invisible hand.

It carried a deeper, heavier rusty smell.

It doesn't have the fishy or gamey smell of pig's blood or cow's blood.

It has a heavier, more nauseating taste.

Gu Yan's heart skipped a beat, but her breathing remained steady.

He stood at the door for several seconds, sharpening all his senses to their highest level.

There was no sound downstairs, only deathly silence.

It seems there really is more to the story than I thought.

These adoptive parents could never be ordinary people.

Ordinary households wouldn't have such a secret room built under their kitchens.

Even Fu Wanqing herself may not be as ignorant as she appears.

He took his first step, light but steady.

Land on your toes first, then lower your entire foot.

I walked down the steps one by one, keeping my body close to the wall.

With each step, the smell of blood grew stronger.

It's like walking into a pool filled with blood.

The dim red light from the wall shone on his face.

His shadow stretched long, falling onto the steps behind him.

The further down you go, the lower the light becomes, and the dark red turns into dark gray.

The air was getting colder and colder; it was clearly summer, but it felt like a late autumn night.

His breath almost turned into white mist.

The surroundings were so quiet that only the sound of his own footsteps and breathing could be heard.

Just then, a sharp mental fluctuation suddenly surged from the darkness.

Without any warning, it was like an ice pick piercing straight into the depths of his consciousness.

Gu Yan's body swayed suddenly, and a sharp pain shot through her head.

It looked like someone had driven a nail into his temple.

He gritted his teeth and steadied himself, bracing himself against the wall to avoid falling.

The seven-colored light in his pupils surged dramatically in that instant.

He saw a cloud of gray mist rising from below the steps.

A distorted face was shrouded in mist; it had no eyes, only a mouth.

His mouth was wide open, so wide that it took up most of his face.

It emitted a silent, piercing shriek, the sound waves directly impacting the mental level.

A mental calamity, at least level C.

Gu Yan did not retreat; retreating at this point would mean certain death.

There's no way to escape in such a narrow stairwell.

He held the Demon-Suppressing Blade horizontally in front of him, with the blade facing outwards.

The seven-colored light in the pupils unfolded in layers.

It rotates like a kaleidoscope, each layer reflecting the shadow of that gray mist.

His Mirror Flower Imperial Seal is specifically designed to counter mental attacks.

In that instant, consciousness became a mirror.

It reflected that sharp mental shock back directly.

The shrieking of the gray fog abruptly stopped in mid-air.

Countless mirror images surrounded and covered it from all directions.

That distorted face began to shatter under the backlash of the Mirror Flower Seal.

The crack started at the corner of his mouth and spread like a spider web.

The calamity let out a piercing shriek, its tone as sharp as shards of glass scraping across a blackboard.

Taking advantage of the moment it was injured, Gu Yan stepped forward.

He pushed off the steps with his toes and shot out like an arrow.

The Demon-Suppressing Blade drew a cold arc in mid-air.

The blade cleaved straight down through the mist, clean and crisp.

There was no resistance when cutting into a solid object, but the patterns on the blade lit up for a moment.

The patterns emitted a faint glow, as if they had been activated.

The gray mist let out a final wail and exploded in the air.

A few wisps of mist drifted on the steps, making a soft hissing sound.

It quickly vanished, leaving nothing behind.

Even the putrid smell had faded somewhat.

Gu Yan sheathed her knife, the tip of which lightly touched the cement step.

The gray residue clinging to the blade was shaken off.

He took a deep breath and adjusted his breathing.

He suppressed the churning breath in his chest and the lingering stinging sensation in his head.

As they continued walking, their gaze sharpened even more than before.

There was no wavering, nor any intention to back down.

I finally reached the bottom of the steps and stepped onto flat ground.

All I could see was complete darkness; I couldn't see anything at all.

The black here is different from the one above; it's an absolute black without a single ray of light.

It was pitch black; the darkness pressed down on my eyes, making me instinctively feel uneasy.

But the intense smell of blood reached its peak here.

It was so strong that it made my stomach churn.

Gu Yan covered her mouth and nose with the back of her hand, forcing herself to get used to the smell.

It wasn't just a drop or two of blood, but large swathes of blood piled up.

It smelled like old blood that had been congealed for a long time mixed with new blood.

In the surrounding darkness, you can vaguely see something.

Soft, hard, cold things.

Some surfaces even have hair.

Some of them were as smooth as frozen meat.

Is it an animal carcass or a human carcass?

Gu Yan couldn't figure it out, and he didn't dare to think any further.

He forced himself to remain calm, the hilt of the Demon-Suppressing Blade burning hot in his grip.