Chapter 130: Chapter 127: The "Second Prince" Reappears
Standing behind the cloth screen, Song Ciwan witnessed the whole spectacle: Niu the Sixth enduring all manner of torment while Master Wu repeatedly collected his human desires.
For her, the scene held a strange sense of familiarity!
From a certain perspective, Master Wu’s method of using the Purification Bottle to collect human desires wasn’t so different from her own use of the Heaven and Earth Scale to do the same.
However, Song Ciwan would never deliberately torture someone to provoke their emotions. She rarely even took the initiative to collect such things.
Even when she did target certain individuals, her actions at most could be considered guiding things along, simply going with the flow.
Compared to this Master Wu, Song Ciwan could practically be called the greatest saint in the world!
Her refusal to be deliberate or proactive also made her methods extremely inefficient.
But Song Ciwan didn’t regret her past inefficiency. It came down to the same principle: a person living in this world must have a bottom line. Even if one wasn’t a paragon of virtue, there were still things one should and should not do.
Power without a bottom line is no longer power—it inevitably becomes a Demon!
As someone who cultivated the Void Illusion Demon Sword, how could she not understand this principle?
Niu the Sixth was covered in burns and barely breathing from Master Wu’s torture. He finally tumbled from a brazier and collapsed on the ground. Seeing that he could no longer squeeze any more emotional energy out of the man, Master Wu feigned a sigh and said, "Thirty-six rounds of fire torture. I suppose that shows some piety. Very well. I shall lend you this treasure for the time being."
With that, he flicked his hand.
A small, silver-gray object shaped like a shuttle clattered and rolled across the ground.
The Little Silver Shuttle rolled right under the screen and stopped beside Niu the Sixth’s hand. Lying on the floor, he reached out and hastily snatched it.
The moment the Silver Shuttle was in his hand, a burst of silver light, tinged with a faint red glow, enveloped Niu the Sixth completely. Under the penetrating red light, the injuries on his body began to heal at a visible rate.
Niu the Sixth groaned, "Ahhh," and scrambled up from the floor.
He cradled the Silver Shuttle in his hands, his face overcome with the ecstatic joy of someone who had just found a priceless treasure.
"Thank you, Master! You are a great benefactor!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
He began to kowtow with a frantic intensity. In just a moment, his forehead was bleeding again.
Another faint wisp of red and white "human desires" rose from the top of his head, drifting gracefully through the screen and into the Purification Bottle in Master Wu’s palm.
Meanwhile, the Little Silver Shuttle in Niu the Sixth’s hands continued to emit a silver light. It absorbed all the blood from his forehead while simultaneously releasing a red glow that healed the wound.
From behind the screen, Master Wu’s voice, both raspy and lofty, rang out, "Mortal, you may go. Soak this treasure in water for three quarter hours. After a martial artist drinks it, their Qi Blood will become agitated, their yang energy will explode, and they will die. Thus, you may have your revenge!"
Niu the Sixth immediately kowtowed again, respectfully thanking Master Wu.
He left with the Silver Shuttle, but Song Ciwan was in no hurry to follow him.
She knew where the Hongsheng Martial Arts Hall was, so she wasn’t worried about being unable to find Niu the Sixth later.
Song Ciwan remained at Master Wu’s residence for another quarter-hour. After Niu the Sixth left, she saw Master Wu suddenly leap up from where he stood.
In that single leap, Song Ciwan got a clear look. What was revealed beneath Master Wu’s dark cyan feathered cloak was not a pair of normal human legs, but clearly a pair of slender bird’s feet!
The bird’s feet, unable to wear shoes, extended from the empty trouser legs. A pair of bird claws, eight talons in total, with hooked, sharp tips that glinted coldly, were a startling sight to behold.
This Master Wu clearly had the appearance of a Demon whose bestial nature had not fully receded!
But strangely, Song Ciwan couldn’t sense the slightest trace of Demonic Qi from him.
’I don’t know if he’s using some special method to conceal his Demonic Qi, or if... this Master Wu really isn’t a Demon? Perhaps there’s another reason for his appearance?’
Song Ciwan watched patiently. After leaping up, Master Wu began to strut about haphazardly on his bird feet.
As he walked, he kicked over every brazier in the room. Embers scattered everywhere, landing on him, yet his feathered cloak remained completely unscathed. An expression of sheer ecstasy spread across his face.
"Mortals are so foolish, yet they are born with spiritual intelligence. The heavens are too unfair!"
Though his face was ecstatic, the tone of his muttering was vicious and cruel.
"I refuse to accept it! I will make all the fools in this world into fodder for my ascension to godhood!"
"You imbecile! If you don’t go to hell, who will? Hahaha! Ha ha..."
Master Wu burst out laughing, a raspy, strange sound, much like the cawing of a crow.
Listening to it, Song Ciwan frowned slightly, her eardrums seeming to throb with pain.
Fortunately, Master Wu didn’t laugh for long. After venting his feelings, he kicked all the braziers to the side, then took the Purification Bottle and placed it into the cloth screen hanging in the room.
Yes, the screen was clearly a flat surface, yet with a light touch, the Purification Bottle sank into it.
It was as if an invisible Paintbrush had instantly dabbed the Purification Bottle onto the screen’s crow-blue background.
It was truly a wondrous sight.
Immediately after, the screen began to ripple like water.
A voice, seeming both near and far, rang out ethereally from behind the screen. "Wu Yu, your speed in collecting faith seems to have slowed recently?"
The voice carried an undertone of reproach.
On this side of the screen, Wu Yu’s wrinkled face twisted for a moment.
He said in a raspy voice, "Please don’t blame me, Barbarian Envoy. It’s the new year season, after all. Even the most wicked people take time to celebrate. How can it be so easy to find those with sufficient resentment? I have done my best. I can only hope the Barbarian Envoy will put in a good word for me with the Second Prince."
"If the Barbarian Envoy could be lenient, I am not one to be ignorant of etiquette..."
Wu Yu’s face remained contorted, even as humble words left his lips.
None of this was particularly important. What truly shocked Song Ciwan at that moment was Wu Yu’s sudden mention of the "Second Prince"!
How could Song Ciwan ever forget that so-called "Second Prince"?
She was far too familiar with that title.
Back then, when Su Yang City was plagued by Mouse Demons, a Mouse Demon claiming to be the Flower God of Giant Deer Country had tried to abduct her and "offer her to the Second Prince as a consort."
Although Song Ciwan had used her abilities to blast that Flower God Mouse Demon to ashes, later, during the Washing Demon process in the Washing Room, she had, due to a prying consciousness, clashed across space with a Divinity Transformation Expert known as "Erlang"!
No, in truth, it couldn’t even be called a clash. It was a one-sided domination.
If not for the miraculous power of the Heaven and Earth Scale, which had drawn a massive amount of her True Qi and Lifespan to block that remote probe, the Song Ciwan of that time might not have had a future!
How could she not have a deep impression of this "Second Prince," or "Erlang"?
