No matter what kind of rules there were, absolute strength was needed to back them. Even before the era of dungeons, that was how it worked. Countries had strong military forces for a reason.

But now, they could feel multiple people with the same level of power in different areas. Alex speculated each of them led their own faction.

Unless the abbot hid his real strength and the others already knew about it, the chances were slim.

“Let’s ask for some information first.”

Alex adjusted the rune, changing himself from invisible to appearing like a maid of the place. He didn’t do the same for MingYue to keep the element of surprise.

After asking around, he found the abbot’s room and then headed toward it. To his surprise, the place was located underground.

It seemed to be part of the teaching that living underground was better than living above. Probably another ritual created to entice the commoners.

The temple had something that worked like an elevator, making their travel easy.

“I know they have many weird rules, but for the abbot to have his room located near the prisoners, isn’t it strange?” MingYue asked.

She felt they could just put them in a different place or on the higher floors if possible.

“Who knows? There are many weird traditions in my world, too. I just learned to ignore them and respect those who follow them.”

“Hmm… I doubt something like this was created by cultivators in my world.”

“I agree. This is something people from my world would think of. Probably my father’s doing. Since ShangXi Temple has existed for a long time, I wonder how it was in the past.”

“Probably not in this form.”

“Yes, Uncle Orion probably came, took it over, and changed it into this. That’s the most possible reason.”

“Why didn’t he destroy it and rebuild a new one then?” MingYue asked this because she was sure the temple in the past should have been something like a demonic cult, doing criminal activities that could easily make dark guilds in Alex’s world look like toddlers.

The stories were spread around often about how they used the civilians’ desire for power, twisted it, and then used them as furnaces.

“Probably because of the circumstances. I don’t know the specifics, but I’m sure there’s a justifiable reason.”

The lift opened, and they then walked past the dimly lit hallway.

“Abbot, excuse me.”

“Who is there? I thought I already said no one should disturb me at this time.”

“It’s quite an emergency, abbot.”

After saying those words, Alex forcefully opened the door. Normally, this should not have been possible as it was protected by a formation, making it only possible to open from the inside.

Inside, the abbot’s eyes widened in shock. “How could you enter here!?” Find exclusive stories on empire

Alex frowned. The voice was that of a stranger. Not only that but what the abbot was doing was also something Orion would never do. The abbot was hoarding a scalpel and some things that could only be categorized as torture devices.

A gruesome body that barely looked alive was lying on top of a table in front of him. Rather than a bedroom, the place itself looked more like a torture chamber.

Alex could feel there were many formations inside the room. One of them was probably an illusion that made it look like a normal room in the eyes of the maids.

Seeing no response from Alex, the abbot spread out his qi. His lips then curled into an evil grin. “Forget it. That doesn’t matter anyway. Whatever you are, your end is clear.”

But before he could make any move, Alex suddenly appeared in front of him. He choked the man by the neck and then smashed him into the wall.

At the same time, he spread out a rune formation to hide their activity.

“He’s not experimenting, Alex. It seems he’s just doing this for fun.”

MingYue said after observing the corpse. Based on the wounds, she could see it was done with no other purpose than to inflict pain.

“Heal her.”

MingYue was no healer, but she had many medicines with her, and since she was a normal person, many of them would work like an elixir.

“Wh-who are you!? I thought we had a deal!” the abbot said, flustered.

“You look like a leader, but your actions don’t reflect one. You are not the real abbot. Where is he?”

“What do you mean? I’ve always been the real abbot. I—”

His speech stopped as Alex tightened his grip, making the abbot Choke. Annoyed, he threw him to the ground, then sealed his cultivation using a rune.

“Vesa, your job,” Alex said while turning his gaze toward a few cages on the side. Beautiful women and handsome civilians could be seen there, their eyes all empty, probably drugged.

Vesa came out and then looked at the abbot. She curled into a grin. “Can I bring him to Edonia King?”

“Yes, go ahead. Do whatever you want. You can even experiment on him.”

“Oh, we will have some fun then.”

Vesa had asked Alex for some experimental subjects to test out runes that affect one’s soul. After the last incident, she felt they were in dire need of development.

Only using lost knowledge was not a choice. At that time, Alex, in his emotionless state, had told Vesa he would consider it after the war was done. He planned to use evil cultivators and those captured as the experiment targets.

Now that Alex had recovered, he hesitated, but seeing the abbot’s actions, his anger flared.

“Third-rate villain that doesn’t serve any purpose other than being a filler,” Alex mumbled while looking at the abbot’s expression, filled with fear.

Seeing this, MingYue let out a chuckle.

“Don’t get me wrong. I don’t find this torture funny, but you comparing my world to a novel is something only the current you would do.”

Alex realized she meant that, in his emotionless state, it was something he would never have done.

He then looked at the half-dead corpse that was barely recovering even after being given an elixir by MingYue.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep