(MC POV)
There was understandably a rather awkward atmosphere between us and Long Er after that.
Or rather, the awkwardness only extended to Long Er and myself, since Iris and Akari didn't even pay any attention to her.
Still, she fulfilled her role as our guide and led us down the mountain to where their dungeon was. That was also when I noticed something in particular.
"You're walking?" I asked the girl who almost broke down from touching the earth earlier.
She looked at me in surprise, "Eh? Ah! Umm… If… If Divine One is already walking… The ground is already blessed by your touch so this entire place has been consecrated… That's why there's no problem for us to do that too…"
Huh, so it's not a matter of being polite or whatnot but more of 'I've already cleansed it for you so it's fine' kind of thing…
We passed by some people on the way there and they either scurried away or stopped levitating to lower their heads in our direction.
Honestly, I was kind of expecting some people to start confronting us on the chance that the patriarch and the elders have yet to tell everyone about us. Looks like they have a way to share information within the entire family quite quickly since everyone we came across seemed to be aware about our circumstances.
Although, I noticed that not all of them were very receptive to the idea, however.
"That guy is higher than the Gods? He looks nothing like it…"
"I did hear he has tamed a Qilin though…"
"Probably using some kind of trick or something… I don't believe it at all."
"The ancestor himself said so, are you questioning him?"
"Ugh… I knew Long Er was cursed all along."
"It's because of her that this guy is here isn't it… And because of that, we actually died just now didn't we?"
"Illusion, definitely an illusion."
"Shut up… Do you want the Elders to kill you?"
They were whispering those things amongst themselves so only Iris and I could hear them, although it doesn't look like Iris cared or noticed in the slightest.
'Ara? Is someone talking about us, Master?'
It's nothing, don't worry about it.
'Ufufufu~ If Master says so~'
One other thing I noticed was that several people seemed quite surprised to see us and immediately rushed off somewhere after spotting us.
No doubt they might have been asked to keep tabs on us by some people within the family.
We continued our walk towards the dungeons that was located at the foot of the mountain, ignoring everyone we passed by.
The entrance of said dungeon was a giant double door made of iron flanked by two stone lions on both sides.
I was a little surprised to see that there wasn't anyone there guarding the entrance until the heads of the stone lions moved to glare at us with ruby red eyes.
"Halt! Who seeks entrance to the Divine Long Family dungeons?!"
Long Er didn't seem surprised by them and simply answered, "Long Er, daughter of Patriarch Long, seeks entrance to the Divine Long Family dungeons."
The lions then went silent for a moment before their stone eyes turned blue, "Proceed, Daughter Long Er."
Not even a second passed before the patriarch suddenly descended from the sky and landed in front of us.
Huh… Looks like those stone lions report directly to the patriarch, that's why there's no need for guards since the top brass himself is monitoring this place.
He quickly bowed his head, a clear contrast to how he had first treated us, "Gree… Greetings Divine Ones! If you had told me you were interested in looking at our dungeons, I would have personally escorted you myself!"
I tilted my head, "I'm just looking around though? I'd feel bad if I were to trouble you over something so trivial."
"Not at all, Divine One! How can accommodating you be a trivial thing! Just say the word and I will do my best to make sure everything is perfect for you!"
I've said this before but his boot licking skills are really top tier huh.
Or else… He's trying to make sure that we don't see any of the problematic stuff by guiding us himself which is just as likely. He might even make some excuses like cleaning up the dungeon and requesting us to come back at a later time while he hides the things he doesn't want us to see.
"Since we're here now, there aren't any problems for us to tour the place right?" I asked.
Surprisingly, he nodded quickly, "Of course, of course! Right this way!"
The doors to the dungeon opened by themselves and the patriarch led the way in with us following a step behind. Long Er took up position beside her father wordlessly, matching his pace.
I was expecting the place to be dark and cramped but it felt like I was entering a villa instead.
The walls and floor were made out of what looked like white marble and the corridor was well lit with some kind of magical stone at regular intervals. Heck, there were even statues and paintings decorating both sides of the corridor too.
If they didn't mention that this was the dungeon, I would have thought this was the entrance to some kind of resort instead.
"Pretty nice for a dungeon," I mused aloud.
"A… Ah… Yes, it is… Since we do come here to… Umm… Extract Divinities for ourselves… It would be uncomfortable if the place wasn't at least well maintained…" The patriarch explained.
Ok… Correction. This wasn't a resort but a high class brothel… I forgot how they extract divinities here for a moment there…
I guess that's another reason why guards weren't posted to watch this place, since it ran the risk of those guards going in to take advantage of the prisoners themselves and extract their divinities that way.
Man… This place is pretty screwed up…
Moving to the deeper parts of the dungeon, I found that instead of jail cells, the place was basically designed like hotel rooms complete with comfortable beds and even attached bathrooms for each prisoner. The walls between the corridor and the cells were also made of glass so that people outside can see into the cells too.
The only thing was that the prisoners were basically chained up to restrict their movements inside the cell which also served as some kind of seal for their powers since none of them seemed to be trying to break out either.
And right now… I could see a few of the prisoners currently being raped, even the males…
At least there's one thing for sure in this world… Everyone is pretty much bisexual…
I said this just now and I feel like I need to say this again…
This place is screwed up…
