Wangjiang Mountain, at the summit.
Four light screens materialized simultaneously. Most gazes had been fixed upon two locations: Bright Moon Square Yao Fang Courtyard and the Cangling County Prison.
Suddenly, soone pointed to the screen showing the Hongsheng Martial Arts Hall and exclaid, "Wh-what is that!"
In the very center of the light screen, in the Martial Arts Arena where the view was focused, a Cyan Flower Bottle was being pushed out.
At first glance, it seed to be nothing more than an exquisitely crafted, ordinary, large cyan flower bottle.
But the Cultivators present possessed extraordinary vision. How could they fail to see that within this Cyan Flower Bottle, no taller than three feet and with a mouth at most six inches in diater, there was clearly sothing more sinister at play?
A pair of beautiful young won with porcelain-white skin had been stripped, their eyes gouged out, their ears cut off, and their dark hair shaved away. Then, their bones had been broken, and they were forcibly stuffed into this Cyan Flower Bottle with a mouth no more than six inches in diater!
Six inches. What did that even an?
If you were to encircle it with your hands, your palms would be enough to surround it.
Even the most slender young woman would not normally have such a tiny waist.
Yet now, two beautiful young won in the pri of their youth had been stuffed into a Cyan Flower Bottle with an opening that narrow!
The two young won were pressed back to back, their heads exposed above the bottle’s mouth, their gently swelling chests resting right against the sloped edge of the vase’s top.
Because their skin was so immaculate and white, it was nearly identical to the porcelain-white base of the bottle. Since they also had no eyes and no hair, many people, watching from a distance, had not even noticed their existence at first.
Only at this mont, illuminated by the hall’s countless lamps and the focus of every eye, did an unspeakable dread and horror begin to spread from that expanse of porcelain white.
Before the light screens, even the Cultivators, who had weathered countless storms and seen great turmoil, were collectively struck silent.
anwhile, inside the Hongsheng Martial Arts Hall, Feng Chuncai was still explaining with a warm smile, "This kind of Beauty Bottle is known to connoisseurs as Xinglin Beauty Spring. Why is it called that, you ask? To let you all in on the secret, the beauties in this bottle are first ticulously raised and conditioned with rare treasures like Snow Sunflowers, Clear Spirit Grass, Reishi Spring water, and Qingming Dew..."
"They must be fed for a full eighty-one days, during which they cannot eat a single speck of mortal food or see any outsiders. They must gaze upon snowy plains and be kept in an ice cellar..."
He spoke with the enthusiastic, ceaseless tone of soone introducing a rare treasure, explaining the origins and creation of this Beauty Bottle to the crowd.
"After they are properly fed, a Talisman Array must be carved into their bodies to stabilize their Divine Souls and protect their heart ridians. Only then are their limbs broken and every inch of their bones pulverized until they are as soft and pliant as pastry. Then they are placed into this specially made Cyan Flower Bottle."
"The bottle is filled with a special Primordial Liquid, into which Thousand-Threaded Demon Insects are placed. These insects are extrely fine. After drilling into the human body, they can replace the ridians and release a unique insect fluid, amplifying the person’s senses several tis over."
"Ai." At this point, Feng Chuncai let out a soft sigh and said with a tone of pity, "It is a pitiable sight, isn’t it? Having one’s bones turned to paste is already agonizingly painful. Add to that the fluid from the Thousand-Threaded Demon Insects... just how much pain must these two bottle-beauties be in? Everyone, don’t you agree?"
No one in the hall answered him. Everyone was speechless.
A storm of emotions churned within them, beyond description, beyond words.
But Feng Chuncai continued smugly, "But the pain is necessary. You see, this Xinglin Beauty Spring is all about the beauty’s tears. If you collect their tears in a cup and drink them with wine, it becos a superior dicine that extends one’s life!"
"Everyone, please watch!"
He raised a wine cup before him, walked to the side of the Cyan Flower Beauty Bottle, and chose the young woman on the left. Then, he gently pressed on her empty eye socket.
The young woman’s body trembled slightly, and two streams of clear tears imdiately welled up from the torn corners of her eyes.
Feng Chuncai hurriedly brought the cold rim of the wine cup to the woman’s porcelain-white cheek. He moved it from left to right, then from right to left, until he had collected every last drop of the two streams of tears. Only then did he joyfully carry the cup over to the old Hall Master on the main seat and say with a humble smile, "Hall Master, please, drink."
The cup was brought before the old Hall Master, but he neither spoke nor moved.
His heavily wrinkled eyes were slightly downcast, as if he were carefully examining the cup before him, or perhaps, carefully examining the man before him.
The atmosphere suddenly grew inexplicably tense. There was the decrepit old Hall Master, the ambitious Feng Chuncai in the pri of his life, and the young apprentice by the old master’s side, whom he had raised like his own son!
Three n, three generations, ford a triangle under the bright lights of the Martial Arts Arena. Beneath the lights were the shadows they trampled underfoot.
The old Hall Master said nothing, but his gaze spoke volus, as did the lingering authority he had accumulated over many years.
At this mont, silence was more powerful than sound!
Feng Chuncai’s eyes shifted, but his hand remained perfectly still, stubbornly holding the cup of wine before the old Hall Master.
An unknown amount of ti passed. It felt like an eternity—long enough that everyone present seed to find it difficult to breathe.
And yet, it also felt like only a mont had passed, for in the blink of an eye, Feng Chuncai spoke: "Hall Master, drinking this cup will extend your life by at least a year. Are you truly not going to drink?"
The old Hall Master, curled in his chair with his back completely stooped, suddenly sighed and said, "With such a display of filial piety, how could I not..."
As he spoke, he reached out for the cup before him.
With the cup in hand, he continued, "How could I not gladly accept?"
A relieved smile had just begun to form on Feng Chuncai’s face when, in the next instant, the cup in the old Hall Master’s hand transford.
It beca a cannonball, a weapon, a flash of unsheathed fury, a bolt of lightning striking down wickedness!
The cup flew from his hand, striking Feng Chuncai, who stood before him, with the wrath of a thunderbolt.
Feng Chuncai had no way to dodge, but in the instant he faced the thunderous blow, he roared, cursing, "You old fool, you don’t know what’s good for you!"
Then he clenched his fists, and in a flash, his entire body began to swell and grow explosively.
He grew with incredible speed, shooting up from his normal height of seven feet to twice that in a re mont.
His clothes burst apart as his muscles bulged, and his abundant Qi Blood erupted skyward like a column of wolf smoke. The thunderous cup slamd into his chest with a BANG, gouging out a bloody, bowl-sized crater.
Feng Chuncai staggered back two steps, then let out a ferocious yell, "YAAA!"
He roared, "Brothers, attack! The old fool forced my hand!"
Blood stread from his chest, but he paid it no mind, simply reaching out with his huge, Palm Leaf Fan-like hands to grab violently at the old Hall Master.
The sound of strings and bamboo flutes on the floor instantly changed, shifting from a slow, gentle lancholy to a frantic, percussive storm.
The Dancing Girls scread and fled outward, as Feng Chuncai, his body now transford to that of a giant, locked in fierce battle with the decrepit old Hall Master.
At the sa ti, the Martial Masters and apprentices of the hall also erupted into a chaotic brawl.
Friends who had been calling each other brother just a mont before instantly turned on one another. One demanded in an angry voice, "Brother Hong, what are you doing? Have I ever wronged you in the slightest? Why would you do this...?"
The other craned his neck and retorted, "Who told you to be so stubborn and follow that old fool? He’s so old he’s practically a puddle of mud; he could die at any mont! If I don’t follow Hall Master Feng, who else can I follow? You’re the one who can’t see the writing on the wall!"
Soone said, "We still have the Young Hall Master..."
Soone else scoffed, "The Young Hall Master? Hmph! He hasn’t even grown all his hair yet! How could he possibly fight Hall Master Feng? Hall Master Feng has managed things for years, his contributions are imnse, and his Power long ago broke through to the Innate Second Transformation..."
Reaching the Innate Second Transformation was no trivial feat. The Hongsheng Martial Arts Hall was not so high-level, prestigious institution, and it was said that the old Hall Master’s own Power had only just broken through to the Innate Second Transformation.
But back in the center of the fray, the old Hall Master had, at so unknown point, drawn a long spear from so unknown place.
The old man, with his loose teeth and falling hair, brandished the spear with a flick of his wrist. The spear struck like a dragon.
User Comments
0 comments from readers