Numbness

Ye Chuan looked at Kalisia, who claimed to be a mature lady, then glanced at her short little legs and shook his head.

With a tap of his toes, his figure transformed into a streak of flowing light, speeding towards the Holy Mountain at the eastern end of the continent.

"Lord Xi Xi, wait for me!"

Kalisia immediately activated the flight mark on her forehead, following closely behind him.

It was the little girl's first time flying so smoothly and swiftly using just a mark, and her cheeks flushed bright red with excitement.

However, this joy did not last long.

As they traveled eastward, the scenery along the way grew increasingly desolate.

Expanses of charred, dead trees stretched out endlessly. The entire world was shrouded under a dark purple sky, creating an oppressive atmosphere that made it hard to breathe.

The smile on Kalisia's face gradually vanished. She had heard countless stories about the tragic aftermath of the demon invasion, but she had never seen this land completely swallowed by the abyss with her own eyes.

Just then, Ye Chuan's figure abruptly stopped in mid-air.

Ye Chuan: "..."

Hmm...

He furrowed his brows slightly and looked at a spot not too far away.

As if he had noticed something.

"Lord Xi Xi? What is it?" Kalisia hurriedly braked in mid-air, floated to his side, and followed his gaze downwards.

On the plains below, a massive black wall rose from the ground. Towering dozens of meters high, the structure looked like an impenetrable, gigantic prison cage.

Inside the walls, there were no houses and no farmlands.

Countless naked, emaciated humans were numbly dragging their feet, carrying heavy ores under the harsh scolding of the demons.

Their backs were bent like shrimp under the weight, and their exposed skin was covered in whip scars. Their eyes lacked any trace of vitality, as hollow as dried-up wells.

Several demons stood expressionlessly not far away. The moment they saw anyone slowing down even a fraction, their magic whips would lash out viciously!

Those who were struck could not even let out a scream. Their bodies would just instinctively flinch before they numbly resumed carrying the ores, as if they could not feel the pain at all.

What was even more chilling was that in a nearby corner, a slow-moving old man collapsed from exhaustion and struggled to get back up.

A demon raised its hand and delivered another whip strike, directly shattering the old man's skull and splattering blood all over the ground.

The surrounding humans merely cast a numb glance before lowering their heads to continue their work, as if the one who died was not a fellow human, but an insignificant bug.

In the deepest part of the enclosure were rows of cubicles separated by iron bars, entirely filled with young women.

Their eyes were dead. Their bodies had been forcibly matured by the demons' magic, and day after day they were used as breeding tools, solely to constantly produce new livestock and maintain the population of this breeding farm.

The newborns were carelessly piled to the side, where the demons would collectively use magic to accelerate their growth, turning them into fresh expendables. As for those with poor constitutions, they were casually incinerated with magical flames.

"Animals... these animals!!"

Kalisia clenched her small fists tightly, her voice trembling with extreme fury.

"So this is a human pasture... Everything Father said was true... Across the entire Aether Continent, who knows how many hells like this exist..."

She had only ever heard of the existence of these breeding farms from her father, knowing only that the Demon King used this method to completely eliminate the possibility of a Hero being born.

But she had never imagined the scenes inside would be this inhumane.

These demons did not see humans as people at all; they treated them like captive cattle and sheep.

Even the most basic dignity of being born human had been utterly crushed.

Seeing this scene, Ye Chuan's Dao heart naturally remained unshaken, but his furrowed brows showed that his heart was not entirely untouched.

"Let's go down and take a look."

Taking Kalisia with him, Ye Chuan turned into a streak of light and landed inside the walls of the breeding farm.

The moment they landed, a few demon guards who were whipping the humans immediately noticed the commotion and turned their heads in unison.

When they saw Ye Chuan and Kalisia, two humans dressed in clean and tidy clothes, the demons were stunned for a moment.

Perhaps they simply could not imagine humans trespassing into the pasture.

Especially these two.

They spoke in an obscure, incomprehensible demonic language, seemingly mocking the two preys who had walked right into the trap.

"Where did these humans come from? How dare you break into the breeding farm?" The leading demon flicked the magic whip in his hand, lashing it straight at Ye Chuan.

"Stay here. You two strong humans are perfect for breeding."

The long whip carried a howling wind, but before it could even get near Ye Chuan, it crashed into an invisible barrier.

With a crisp crack, the whip instantly shattered into powder and vaporized into the air.

Before the demon could react to what had happened, its body was fiercely crushed by an invisible giant hand, its bones emitting a series of crackling, shattering sounds.

"Wh-What..." Before it could even scream, it dissolved into a wisp of black smoke and dissipated into the air.

"Watch out, he's very strong." The surrounding demons drew the weapons at their waists.

"Lethality Immunity."

"Gale Steps."

"Blessing of Strength!"

They attacked together, leaving Ye Chuan absolutely no room to dodge.

But Ye Chuan did not need to dodge at all, because at this moment, his divine sense had already enveloped the entire pasture.

With just a single thought.

Every single demon in the pasture had their bodies shatter one after another, turning into wisps of black smoke without leaving a single trace behind.

In no more than a second, over twenty demons were wiped out completely by Ye Chuan, leaving not a single survivor.

Standing behind Ye Chuan, Kalisia did not seem surprised by his strength at all. "Lord Xi Xi is so amazing!"

After dealing with all the demons, Ye Chuan looked up at the humans who were still numbly carrying ores. Softening his tone, he spoke:

"It's alright now. The demons are all dead. You are safe, you can stop."

His voice carried a gentle magic, transmitting clearly into everyone's ears.

But to Ye Chuan's surprise, not a single person stopped.

Those sallow and emaciated humans continued to numbly carry the heavy ores, dragging their feet step by step toward the warehouse, getting back up whenever they fell.

Even when the sharp rubble on the ground cut their feet, they kept walking forward expressionlessly.

It was as if the fight just now, the deaths of the demons, and Ye Chuan's words had absolutely nothing to do with them.

The demons didn't even need them to transport the ores; they just wanted them to move things back and forth to wear down their will.

"Hey! You're free! We killed all the demons!" Kalisia quickly ran forward, shouting loudly at the crowd.

"You don't have to work anymore! You won't be beaten by them anymore!"

Still, no one responded to her.

Only a little boy, who looked no older than seven or eight, stopped in his tracks, making untuned, raspy sounds from his throat.

Then, he lowered his head again, picked up the ore on the ground, and continued to drag himself forward.

He couldn't even speak a complete sentence.

Ye Chuan raised his hand and waved. A gentle force swept across the area, softly pulling the ores from everyone's hands and dropping them to the ground, forcibly bringing their movements to a halt.

However, after stopping in their tracks, these people merely stood there in a daze. Their hands remained frozen in the posture of carrying something, and their hollow eyes stared blankly ahead.

Ye Chuan walked up to a middle-aged man and lightly tapped with his fingertip, sending a strand of spiritual energy probing into the man's sea of consciousness.

A second later, Ye Chuan's movements froze.

This person's sea of consciousness was almost entirely blank.

There were no memories, no cognition, no understanding of language, and not even the most basic capacity for independent thought.

He proceeded to examine several others in succession, and the results were identical without exception.

Most of these people had been born in this breeding farm.

From the moment they were born, their physical growth had been forcibly accelerated by demonic magic, entirely depriving them of the chance to learn a language or understand the world.

Day after day, they were forced to labor and breed. The slightest hint of disobedience was met with savage beatings and brutal slaughter.

From the day they were born until the day they died, they never knew they were human, never knew what the outside world looked like, and never knew the meaning of freedom.