Chapter 252 “Piece of the Map”
Due to the constant punishing torture until now, the man’s voice was hoarse and dry.
These demons, these demons of the Life Taking Hall had already tortured him for three days and three nights.
Just like him, he had five other brothers that was also taken here along with him. But due to the extremity of the methods they used, none of his comrades could endure the punishment.
Now, only he remains and continues to persist.
“Pat-Pat-Pat” The sound of clapping breaks the usual screams of agony in the chamber.
“You are a true man indeed.” Under the accompaniment of the Life Taking Hall’s lord, a man in black waltz into this dark damp room.
Upon getting a better picture of the newcomer, the constrained victim makes a beast like growl and spits a mouthful of blood mixed with saliva at the target. Just when his act of defiance was about to land on the man’s shoe, the black figure suddenly disappears and reappeared right in front of the victim again.
Through the golden mask, no anger could be found in the newcomer’s amber eye; instead, there’s only endless ridicule and contempt.
“If you have the ability then hurry and kill me, otherwise we, the Fire Wielder Sect, will never let the Life Taking Hall off the hook for this.” The chained man threatens, still holding hope his background would do something for his situation.
Fire Wielder Sect was a medium-sized sect in these lands. Their fame wasn’t all that big compared to the well-established schools out there, but their strength and numbers are comparable to a small country still.
As to how they managed to get their hands on a piece of the map that everyone sought, it was through fate and luck that one of their ancestors had managed to come across a portion.
Over the years none had known what the scrap piece was meant for inside their vault, but through coincidence, one of their elders managed to decipher the markings on the surface, thus creating this situation.
The man here in the chains – the senior disciple of one of the elders in the Fire Wielder Sect – his mission along with his five juniors were supposed to be delivering the map piece to their teacher.
Their movement should’ve been very secretive with no possible leak, and as insurance, they also disguised themselves as merchants on business while traveling. Then who would’ve guessed. Halfway into their journey, all six of them were snatched away and brought over to this place.
It wasn’t until afterwards that they learned the perpetrator was in fact the Life Taking Hall, an organization predominantly active in the kingdom of Da Xia.
As a disciple of the Fire Wielder Sect, the man in the chain would of course scoff at the underground power who couldn’t even break free of the constraints of a country. For a while they kept abusing and threatening their captors, but that soon changed when the real torture began.
The one with the loudest mouth naturally had their tongue sliced off. That brother of his was also the first to go in their long torturous ordeal. As for the remaining few, they were either flayed to the point where their minds were completely lost, or their body had succumbed to the excessive blood lost. Regardless, he’s the only one left now…
As for why he would continue his threat, the man in the chains thought his background would be enough to warrant some form of fear in the foe that just came in. However, the only response he got was a sinister chuckle like his statement was the most laughable joke out there.
“Lord Liu, I didn’t expect there to be anyone left in this world who would dare use this type of tone with me. Very well. For your courage, I, Wu Chong – master of the Underground Palace, will leave you your life.”
Wu Chong!
These two words, from light to heavy, was like an explosion in the chained man’s ear.
Torture, could not make him yield, but the name “Wu Chong” alone instantly crushed the last string of hope in his heart. Shaking uncontrollably from fear, the chains binding him rattles at the trembling movement of the body.
Regarding the background of this Ghost Emperor, there’s simply too many legends and too many terrifying stories.
Death wasn’t terrible in front of this man, what’s horrifying was not being able to die!
“You-you, what do you want?” The man’s teeth clattered even when he spoke.
Not responding right away, Wu Chong raises a hand and motions Lord Liu to bring over a sealed box. Inside was a golden cocoon.
“Rest assured, I’ve already stated I won’t kill you so that is definite. However, I still have some use for your body.” At that, Wu Chong uses two of his fingers to pinch the cocoon and forcefully fed it into the man’s mouth.
Immediately, the victim’s pupil starts to dilate in horror after the cocoon slid down his throat. He can hear it clearly, something was breaking out of the shell. Then it came, a sharp pain like something gnawing at his organs.
“Golden Silkworm, a type of seventh grade poisonous insect. From this day forward, you will only obey me.”
Raising his hand again, Wu Chong’s action instantly shatters the binding chains, releasing the mindless individual that’s no different from a corpse.
“Master.” The man kneels and respectful called out.
“Where is the map to the Tai Yi School?” Pricking his brow, Wu Chong watches on in amusement as the new slave retrieves a bottle of powder from his clothes.
Uncorking it, the mindless slave then sprinkles the content into one of the torched bowls. From his mouth, a series of incantations starts to murmur out, raising the orange flame into an earie blue.
Gradually, the scattered powder that had been lost inside the bowl starts to gather and condense until it eventually reformed into a tattered sheepskin floating there in the air.
Poof~
Making a slight sound to indicate its completion, the mindless slave then gets on his knee to offer the scroll to his new master.
“What a good method to hide the map. No wonder we couldn’t figure out its whereabout even after torturing you for so many days.” A cold gleam escapes Wu Chong’s gaze after seeing the name of the Tai Yi School on the sheepskin.
“My Lord, the men you wanted are ready as well as the clothes you wanted.”
At that, several men then came into the cell from behind Lord Liu. If the man enslaved by the worm were to see this in his normal state, he would no doubt be shocked with disbelief.
There’s no other reason, it’s because these people are the very same brothers that was “supposed” to be killed from all that torturing.
But now, they are “alive” again.
“Very good, as expected of my Underground Palace’s most outstanding disguise artist.” Wu Chong nods in approval.
Then without indication, his body started to make a crunching sound like his bones are being dislocated and moved around. No longer tall and fearsome that’s come to be expected of the Ghost Emperor, he’s now much shorter with a spec of baby fat on that face. This was the very same appearance of the youngest disciple the Life Taking Hall captured.
Now, after changing his clothes, not even Lord Liu could recognize the youngster as the very same man that had just stood before him.
“Senior Brother, us six brothers should begin departing for the secret meeting place.” Disguised as the youngest disciple of the Fire Wielder Sect, Wu Chong gives the order and left with his new entourage.
Meanwhile on the other end, Ling Yue remains oblivious to it all because she’s been too rattled by the “Feng Shen” who pounced at her. Even after returning to the Royal Hospital, her face remains a cherry pink the entire morning.
Oh Ye Ling Yue, you are too useless. It’s always been you bullying others, how can you let Feng Shen bully you like this. Humph! Ling Yue grumbles to herself in annoyance.
She did find the behavior somewhat strange today, but even after deliberating, she couldn’t figure out where the issue was. Then touching her slightly swollen lips again, she didn’t know what to think of the boy’s actions, or her own reaction for that matter.