Chapter 406 Chamber of Lead-glass in Peril
Snow fell all year long in Yanxue City. Even during summer, where it was usually hot everywhere, snow never failed to drop here.
Yan Wushuang’s father Yan Guilai, whom Chu Xun had fleeced a pair of Fire-Amber Bamboos from during his last visit here, was looking grave and morose.
So were the elders of the House of Yan.
“Should we try contacting Young Master Wushuang again, Chief?” asked one of the elders again. The Yan Family had tried contacting Yan Wushuang many times but to no avail.
Yan Guilai stared into the distance at the prospect of the idea before he sighed grimly, “I feel more relaxed knowing he’s in the care of the Devil. Coming back here could be riskier for him.”
“Are you sure of that, sir? That Young Master Wushuang is safer with the Devil?” asked another elder, with doubt evident and clear in his tone.
It was common knowledge that the Devil never stopped waging war upon anyone who dared cross his path. By making more enemies than friends, being at the Devil’s side seemed hardly the safest place to be.
Yan Guilai was rather surprised to hear that, although he broke into a helpless chuckle.
“Don’t underestimate that boy. Let’s not forget that he single-handedly decimated the Broken Souls Cult.”
Everyone in a hall drew a long breath, their faces flushed with apprehension. They could still remember how shocked they were when they first heard the news.
The Broken Souls Cult – an ancient and illustrious order that had vast accumulated wealth and power at their fingertips, and here it was, utterly destroyed by the hands of one single man: Chu Xun. Just by hearing it, anyone could feel a strange surrealistic sensation.
“Chief, Qingcheng is not far from Yanxue City. Why don’t we call for the Devil’s help? Surely his name would be enough to keep those Zang scums at bay?”
Yan Guilai quickly waved off that idea. The last time that man came, the Yans paid a great price for his friendship. Who could say what else would they have to give up this time? Would the Yan family vault be plundered even before the enemies reach the gates?
“If this means war, then war it is. We’ve been complacent for far too long. It is time for us to switch our plowshares for swords,” breathed Yan Guilai quietly.
“The Chief is right. There’s no way we Yans should back down! We’ll fight them to our last man!” cried an elder.
“How dare the Zangs collude with the Macroprimates! What a bunch of vile and treacherous scum!” glowered another elder.
Nevertheless, those stout words did little to quell the trepidation that virtually every man and woman in the Yan Family felt. The Zangs came prepared and their alignment with the Macroprimates made them very dangerous foes to reckon with.
An acolyte hurried in suddenly.
“Chief, Zang Fengling has made a move. He’s leading a band of men to the Chamber of Lead-glass.”
Military intelligence is crucial and central during times of war. To that effect, the Yans had sent out scores of acolytes to act as spies and report any movement of the Zangs.
“Why is the reason for them to go to the Chamber of Lead-glass?” an elder wondered aloud.
“Zang Fengling declared that he wishes to take the Lady of the Moon as his wife,” revealed the acolyte.
“Yao Baiyue?!” Yan Guilai slammed a fist into the table, “That bastard. He wishes to humiliate Wushuang!”
Yan Wushuang’s courtship of Yao Baiyue was common knowledge to virtually everyone in the city and there was no other explainable reason to Zang Fengling’s actions than to seek the disgrace of Yan Wushuang.
“There’s nothing to worry about, Chief. Everyone knows the rules of the Chamber of Lead-glass. As priestesses of the Chamber, they are sworn to eternal celibacy. What’s more, Yao Baiyue was the anointed heir to the Chamber’s leadership. If not for this, her courtship with Master Wushuang would not have been a drag since the start for so many decades.”
“That’s right. I’m sure Zang Fengling would only be rebuffed!”
But Yan Guilai was by no means assured. He growled to the acolyte, “I want more information!”
“Yes, sir!” acknowledged the acolyte as he swiveled and rushed out.
Meanwhile, at the Chamber of Lead-glass, Zang Fengling was meeting the Lady Superior Bi Keyun. “I’m sure the Lady Superior has guessed the purpose of my visit here. I only hope that you would agree to this proposal.”
Bi Keyun, the Lady Superior of the Chamber of Lead-glass and a woman of at least three hundred years old. Yet with the appearance of a woman barely thirty, she looked very much a rose in its prime, and the aura that radiated off her illustrated her great powers.
“Don’t patronize me,” she hissed, nowhere near pleased at all, “You know the rules of the Chamber!”
“Be that as it may,” Zang Fengling said dismissively, still clad in flamboyant robes of red, “But times are changing with the anomalies all around the world. There’s no need for you to cling to ancient traditions and practices just for the sake of blind obeisance. Rules are made by men and men should have the right to amend them.”
“Impertinence!”
A few acolytes of the Chamber behind them spat angrily with disagreement.
The Chamber accepted only females and through their training and cultivation, members of the Chamber all looked fair and splendid.
Zang Fengling’s eyes could hardly tear his eyes off the bodies of the female acolytes who snorted and grinned lasciviously, “I’m doing this all for your own good, ladies. Look at all of you! You’re all as gorgeous as roses. Do you really want to remain old maids for your whole life? All we need is for the Lady Superior to give her blessings for my proposal and you too shall be free to seek out partners of your own! Rest assured that I have a long line of suitors ready to accord you the pleasures that are rightfully yours as women!”
The female acolytes all glared at Zang Fengling with their nostrils flaring with anger at the vulgar words he spewed.
“Zang Fengling, I’m giving you one last chance as a senior to you,” warned Bi Keyun, struggling to keep her fury checked, “Speak one more word about this and you’d regret coming here.”
“Rest easy, Lady Superior,” chuckled Zang Fengling vilely, “I’m here only for the sincerest reason: to ask for the Lady of the Moon’s hand in marriage. Agree to this and you shall have us Zangs as your everlasting allies. It’s not safe these days, and we can afford you proper protection.”
“How magnanimous of you,” Bi Keyun growled coldly, “As if the Chamber needs the likes of you to defend it! Leave now, I’m warning you before you feel my wrath!”
Zang Fengling’s eyes sparkled with a hint of malice, although he did well to mask it before anyone saw it. “So you believe that the Chamber will remain strong and tall even during such turbulent times, eh? Perhaps you’re not yet informed. We, the Zangs, had just reached an alliance with the Macroprimates. I’m pleased to announce that the Yan Family shall be the first to be wiped off the map. So, without our protection, how long do you think you’ll last?”
Bi Keyun retorted with ice, “Is that a threat?! You ignorant pup. For centuries the Chamber has endured. What makes you think that we would submit to your intimidation?! Do you really think I cannot kill you here and now?!”
“Of course, you can. You are invincible and mighty, Lady Superior,” Zang Fengling rang darkly with the voice of steel, “But what about your pretty little acolytes? Not all of them wield the same powers like yours. What would happen to these hapless girls if war breaks out between the Chamber and us? Do you really think you can resist the collective might of the Zang Family and the Macroprimates? What do you think will happen if you lose?”
Hum!
Bi Keyun’s aura burgeoned suddenly and a pulse of her powers burst out in waves, causing the furniture in the hall to shake and creak with protest as winds churned wildly inside the room.
“Think seriously, Lady Superior,” Zang Fengling yelped hastily, his voice tethering on breaking. Bi Keyun was an accomplished Ninth-grade Human King who could easily slay any Seventh-grade Human Kings like him.
Boom!
Bi Keyun’s hand shot up and fired a massive burst of Internal Breath, blasting Zang Fengling away spewing blood and froth.
In quick succession, she fired more energy bolts at the elders of the Zang Family who came chaperoning Zang Fengling.
The female acolytes then worked together to drag the men and tossed them out the door.
“This is the last warning, Young Master Zang. Come again next time and the Lady Superior won’t be so kind anymore.”
The girls scowled with utmost disdain before pivoting back indoors and slamming the gates shut.
“Young Master Fengling, are you all right?” asked one of the elders, helping him up.
A frustrated and resentful Zang Fengling shoved him aside. His face was the color of coal as he hissed with venom, “Worthless trollops! Acting all high and mighty, eh? Just you wait. I’ll have you groveling and scraping at our ankles before long!”
News of the incident quickly reached the ears of the Yans.
“I knew it,” said one of the elders of the Yan Family smugly, “I knew he’d be sent home like a beaten dog.”
But Yan Guilai looked nowhere near pleased.
“I know Zang Fengling to be a most spiteful and vainest person. This is not the end for the Chamber of Lead-glass. Not after he’s been so ignominiously thrown out like sacks of filth.”
“You’re worried that they might plot revenge upon the Chamber, sir?”
“The Chamber’s all made up of womenfolk. They don’t have any good fighters aside from Bi Keyun and a handful of elders. To put it bluntly, much of their backbone are nothing but weak cannon fodder. There’s no way they’ll be able to resist a joint invasion by the Macroprimates and the Zang Family.”
“Should we offer assistance then, sir?”
Yan Guilai paused to think and said, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Send word to Bi Keyun. Tell her that the Yan Family is willing to offer assistance.”
But the messenger came back not long later: the Chamber of Lead-glass had declined the Yan Family’s offer.
“Ungrateful fools. Do they really think they’ll be able to hold back both the Zang Family and the Macroprimates?” snarled one of the elders.
“They’re all womenfolk there and members of the Chamber have a lot of restrictions. It’s not hard to imagine that they’d be wary of any outsiders,” said Yan Guilai.
He thought and said, “This is what we’ll do then: have our acolytes keep watch on the Chamber. If anything happens, we’ll ride to assist them at once.”
“You’re doing all this for Young Master Wushuang, aren’t you sir?” an elder said quietly.
Yan Guilai nodded frankly. “Wushuang’s a stubborn person. He’d never waver once he’d made a decision. His courtship of Yao Baiyue tells us as much. If the Chamber is in peril, then so will Yao Baiyue. Heaven knows what trouble Wushuang would get himself into if he knows about this…”
Everyone in the hall nodded in agreement to the plan to keep watch on the Chamber and to rush to their aid if the need so arose.
“Damn it, son. I’m afraid that’s all your old man can do for you now,” Yan Guilai muttered under his breath.
It was morning when Zang Fengling was tossed out of the gates of the Chambers. Later that evening, he came back again, this time with help to avenge himself.
He brought along a company more than a hundred and fifty men strong.
The contingent was made up of various Macroprimate champions alongside the usual motley of Zang elders and acolytes.
Having eaten fruits from the Tree of Transfiguration, these Macroprimates might have assumed human forms, but their minds nevertheless remained bestial and feral. Their bloodshot eyes flared with rage and their more-than-two-meter-tall physique was as sturdy as rock that one might argue they looked more like golems instead.
Out of the five champions of the Macroprimate race, one of them was a Ninth-grade Beast Lord who came specially to deal with Bi Keyun. The rest were all Eighth-grade Beast Lords.
This was the Macroprimate race’s demonstration of goodwill in their alliance with the Zangs. The five champions and more than a dozen Zang elders specially handpicked for this invasion formed the backbone of this assault.
It was a formidable force, illustrating Zang Fengling’s determination to destroy the Chamber of Lead-glass.
“Listen up! All female members of the Chamber might be beauties and I know how much you’re all hungry for them! But Yao Baiyue is mine! Remember that! The rest of the girls there are yours for the plucking!” shouted Zang Fengling.
Acolytes of the Zang Family could no longer hold back their urge to rush in. Everyone knew that the Chamber accepted only female members and every one of them inside was gorgeous and lovely.
Even the breaths of the elders began to race. They might be warriors, but they were still very much humans with no resistance to the allure and grace of women, especially female warriors.
“Master Jin,” Zang Fengling said to the Ninth-grade Beast Lord, “Bi Keyun is yours.”
His name was Jin Zhong. His broad mouth broke open into an evil grin as he smiled grotesquely, “Don’t worry. It’s time I get to taste the brain matter of a Human King.”
Zang Fengling shivered. Jin Zhong had not any carnal appetite for Bi Keyun’s womanly charms, but rather an epicurean lust for her brain matter. This was an evil trait native to the Macroprimates: the ability to ingest the brain matter of warriors and absorb their powers to increase their own.
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