Chapter 471— Little Boy
WARNING this chapter is somewhat graphic and contains upsetting content/topics; read at your own risk.
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In the beginning, the pitiful kids were still able to scream and howl in pain. But as time went on, all their blood had flowed out and their faces were pale, they were no longer able to speak and in the midst of all the pain, they lost their lives.
But even at this state, those uncivilized brutes still didn't let them off.
While their corpses were still warm, those uncivilized brutes cut off pieces of their flesh, in practiced motions, and threw them into another basin. If there was still a few drops of blood, they would carefully let it drip into the blood filled basin before throwing the flesh into the second one.
The entire process seemed extremely practiced, it almost felt as if they were machinery. It looked like an assembly line at a factory and felt like they had done this a hundred thousand times before.
When all of the children had been taken care of, those uncivilized brutes let out a few devilish laughs. They then turned around to walk toward the cages full of children.
The children all moved backward in their cages, pushing themselves against the back of the cage walls in an attempt to hide themselves, to be invisible. They let out mournful shrieks, trying to evade this miserable destiny.
But when those brutes heard the children's screams, it seemed to add to their happiness. One of the brutes grabbed onto a five or six year old little girl and held her up. Holding onto her legs, he held her completely upside down while examining her. As he did so, he burst into giddy laughter, "Look at this little girl's tender flesh. When all her blood has dripped out and we've finished skinning her, let's roast her meat and eat it. It must be the world's finest delicacy."
"Mine isn't that bad either!" Another one of the men grabbed onto a four year old boy's collar. In one motion, he took the boy's clothes off. Swallowing his saliva, he commented, "Look how tender his flesh is. If we use it to cook stew this meat will certainly be tasty and soft, it'll be a delicacy."
When the two children heard their words they became even more terrified and began to loudly cry. They struggled to get out, but they looked like chicks in an eagle's talons, what possibility could they have of escaping?
The two people who captured the children burst into loud laughter. They looked at the children's struggling appearances and seemed to get immense satisfaction from it.
Suddenly, one of the men felt a sharp pain on their lower leg. Following this, the little boy he had been holding in the air was snatched away.
The uncivilized brute angrily lowered his head to look at who had done it and quickly looked into a pair of fierce eyes that resembled those of wolf cubs.
All he saw was a boy that was roughly eight or nine years old. He wore tattered clothes and his whole face was full of mud and dust.
The sharp pain he had felt just then had come from this boy's teeth biting his leg. The boy then took advantage of the fact that he was distracted and quickly snatched the little boy out of his grip.
"You son of a bitch are you impatient of living? You actually dare to bite me?"
Soon after, the uncivilized brute raised his palm and ruthlessly swung at the boy's face. All that was heard was a loud 'pa' sound as the little boy was thrown back into the cage with a bleeding mouth.
But, like before, he still glared at the uncivilized man without a hint of cowering in his eyes.
He even hid three children behind him. Painted on his face was a look of fierceness, displaying that he wasn't afraid to die.
"Very good!" The man was provoked by the look in his eyes and sneered at him. "Since you want to court death, I'll help you become a dried corpse."
As he was speaking, he crouched down and ruthlessly dragged the boy out of the cage.
The three children hidden behind the boy started to wail, crying out "gege." Using all of their strength, they held onto the boy's clothes in a desperate attempt to prevent him from being taken away.
However, how could their strength compare to the uncivilized man? The little boy was very quickly picked up like a chick and dragged out of the cage.
"Smelly boy, soon you'll know the result of offending me… Oww... Ahhyahhh!! Smelly boy, you actually dared to scratch me!"
Soon after, five bloody marks appeared on the man's face and he felt a painful ache coming from his face.
The man's sorry state brought on all of his companions' laughter, filling the entire room with their chuckles. "Chen Laosi, the longer you live, the dumber you become! You can't even handle a little brat!"
Chapter 472— Killing A Superior
Chen Laosi suddenly became even more enraged, irritated from his comrades teasing. Raising the child even higher up in the air, he motioned to ruthlessly slam the child onto the ground.
"Ai ai, Chen Laosi, don't become befuddled. Master spent countless pills to obtain these children in order to turn them into culture fluid. The culture fluid must survive, if you allow the precious culture fluid to fall to it's death, you'd have to be careful not to let the Master skin you!"
Chen Laosi's face turned sinister and abruptly pressed the child down on a chopping block. He looked down at the child with an evil smile painted on his face. "Even if I can't kill him, I can chop his hands and feet off. Letting his blood flow a little bit won't cause harm, right?"
"Eldest brother- brother-! Don't kill eldest brother… Wu wu wu" The children from that cage let out heart tearing cries when they heard what the man said.
The boy that was held down on the chopping board also struggled under Chen Laosi's hold, but his strength was no match for Chen Laosi's.
The little boy looked up and saw Chen Laosi raising the large knife higher and higher. Then, he watched as the knife began nearing himself more and more. Without another option, the little boy closed his eyes in desperation.
But, after a few moments, he felt none of the pain he had originally anticipated.
Instead, he heard a loud 'peng' sound come from the side of his ear. It was the sound of the large knife falling to the floor.
Following this, the entire basement became chaotic.
The little boy cautiously opened his eyes to see and saw two figures slowly walking over from outside the dark and light boundary.
The person walking in front had delicate, handsome features, but their face held an unsightly, bright red scar. In his hand he held a flying sword that was bursting with coldness.
As for Chen Laosi, who was just about to chop his limbs off, he was already rolling around on the floor, clutching onto the bloody remnants of his arm and screaming out in agony.
"Who are you guys? Do you know what place this is?!"
The basement had turned chaotic and disorderly. Even the several old men who were originally refining pills had come over to check out the huge commotion.
Gu Liufeng sneered in response to the question. He looked at these brutes who looked human but were nothing more than beasts at heart. The longer he looked at them, the more the hatred and loathing became apparent in his eyes. "I've come to take your life!"
Right after he said this, he began waving his cold sword around. The sword moved too fast to be seen by the naked eye. Instead, the only thing that could be seen was a light trail following closely behind it. Due to the speed at which Gu Liufeng swung his sword, it looked as if there were fireworks in the air around him.
Screams of pain followed the sword's light, wherever it went was where the screams sounded out. Broken limbs, snapped arms, and blood spatters flew all over the room, turning it into a bloody hell.
The entire time, He Xi stood to the side and leisurely watched on. There wasn't a trace of evidence that she was going to help.
Unexpectedly, before she even moved her hand, a small person's shadow advanced toward an old man who was just about to press a mechanism and knocked him out of the way.
The pill refining old man fell to the floor and began screaming out in pain. At this time, the little boy hopped off the chopping block and took a machete along with him. He walked over to the man and began to ruthlessly chop at on the old man.
Blood splattered everywhere and the warm, fishy smelling substance sprayed onto the little boy's face.
For a moment, he blanked out before returning back to his senses. There wasn't an iota of fear in his eyes, there was only a thick sense of hatred.
The little boy felt eyes on the back of his head and turned around to see, only to meet He Xi's smiling yet not smiling eyes.
The youth residing outside of the dark and light boundary had clean, white jade-like skin and bright red lips. But, their eyes oozed iciness, it felt like crystal-clear spring water that was both remote and cold.
Those bright red lips were slightly turned up. The expression they looked at him with was so aloof, so indifferent, yet it was what enticed him into wanting to approach them more, to long to near them.
Chapter 473— Filthy Person
The little boy wiped the blood off his face and proceeded to stick his chest out. He set off the feeling of 'I'm not scared at all' whilst staring directly at He Xi.
This tsundere act he put on caused He Xi to be unable to stop herself from laughing out loud.
The little boy's face turned red and he immediately turned around to run away. Still carrying the machete, he ran over to the front of the cages and began to directly hack at the locks on them. Once he opened them he took each of the children out, one by one.
By this time, Gu Liufeng had already single-handedly brought all of the people in the basement down.
He stood atop the mountain of corpses in the sea of blood with his long sword directly pointed at one of the old men who refined pills and coldly questioned, "Tell me, what was the purpose of you kidnapping and bringing so many children here?"
"Spare my life, spare my life daoist immortal ah… We were only hired here to refine Supplement Spirit and Cleaning Spirit Pills for these children, we don't know anything else ah!"
"Begging daoist immortal to spare my life. We're actually all Murong family's people, if you killed us, Murong family wouldn't let you off."
"If… If there are children of immortals in this group and daoist immortal takes them away…"
Before the old man could complete his sentence Gu Liufeng had already cut his head off. His head flew off and onto the floor. Just like this, the man breathed his last breath.
He then walked over to Chen Laoba, whose hand had been cut off. Pressing the pointed edge of the blade against his neck, he slowly asked, "Tell me, what does Murong Feng want to do with all these children? And where did you steal all these children from?"
Chen Laoba had already watched with his own eyes as Gu Liufeng killed and slaughtered all his companions. He had long already been scared witless, pooping and peeing on the floor as he watched.
He cradled his own snapped off arm and with a trembling voice he said, "I… I don't know anything. We're only in charge of removing blood from these children's bodies. The people above require three basins full of blood every day, moreover, the blood must be from virgin males and females who possess spiritual roots. As to what exactly the blood is for, we don't know ah!"
Gu Liufeng's eyes shifted over to the blood-filled copper basins. They were about the size of a well and knee-high. This much blood… How many virgin boys and girls were required to fill these up?
Gu Liufeng coldly stated, "You guys were able to bring so many children here? Especially children with spiritual roots…"
"They're… They're street urchins [1]." Chen Laoba paused to bite his trembling teeth before continuing to elaborate, "For the most part, they're street urchins, though there are some that were stolen away from villages. As long as the child possesses the slightest bit of spiritual root, we'll try our best to get our hands on them!"
Gu Liufeng deeply sucked in a breath at the news. Then he suddenly lowly began to laugh, "Little Yue'er, do you see it now? This is Murong family, one of Yan Jing City's four biggest families. Hehe, surprisingly my body possesses such filthy blood."
He Xi slowly walked over to Gu Liufeng. At the same time, the purple vine flew out from her wrist and pierced into Chen Laoba's body.
Chen Laoba was overwhelmed with shock. After, he eyes widened as he felt the blood in his body slowly being absorbed by that purple vine.
"Spare… Spare my life…"
His words were hoarse and broken, but as more and more of his blood was sucked out of his body, he lacked even the power to speak words.
Chen Laoba remembered that he had once cut some of the children's throats like so. He watched as they struggled, howled in pain, and still watched as their blood slowly flowed out, eventually bringing an end to their young lives.
At the time he was so excited, so proud of himself ah. But now times had changed and karma had come so quickly!
Once the Purple Abyss Vine finished sucking the body dry, successfully turning it into a dried out corpse, it shook it's leaves and disdainfully cast the body aside. It then flew over to He Xi, happily returning into her hands.
He Xi moved to pet the vine's shaking leaves before turning to address Gu Liufeng, slowly saying, "On the world there isn't filthy blood, only filthy people. Nobody can determine their birth, but at the very least, we can determine what path we walk on."
[1] street urchin – a child who spends most, if not all, of their time on the streets, usually located in slum areas
Chapter 474— Losing Business Deal?
Gu Liufeng was startled when he heard He Xi's words, then he thought about He Xi's life. His eyes gleamed and he heavily nodded his head.
Since his blood was so filthy, he should personally go destroy the source of this filthy blood!
He Xi let the Purple Abyss Vine loose to clean up any people still alive in this basement and prepared to leave.
Just as they were ascending the stairs, a child's clear voice sounded from behind them. "Elder Brother, can we follow you guys out?"
He Xi turned back around and saw the same little boy that had just taken a knife and hacked at the old man. His small head was tilted up as he looked at them with stubborn eyes.
Standing behind the boy were quite a few children, but in their eyes, there was cowardice. They were like the little tail behind the little boy.
Gu Liufeng looked over at He Xi and didn't say anything.
He Xi was now his Master, naturally these situations would be handled as she saw fit.
Both of He Xi's hands wrapped around her chest. She coldly looked at the little boy and asked, "Why would I allow you to follow me?"
"Because… Because I can help you when I grow up." The young boy began with a nervous stutter, but as he spoke, his confidence grew. With determination shining in his wide-open eyes, he said, "In the future, we can be of assistance to you. We are willing to dedicate our bodies to work for you."
"Moreover, I'm aware that outside this prison there is a large courtyard. Even if we wished to run we wouldn't be able to. We need to follow you guys because you guys are very strong."
Gu Liufeng considered for a moment before softly saying to He Xi, "These children are the results of Murong family's evil doings. I want to return them back to their mothers and fathers' sides."
When Gu Liufeng saw He Xi nod at his idea, he then turned to address the children, "You guys should first obediently wait here. When we finish sorting out all our matters, we'll come back to fetch you. From then on, we'll work on sending you back to your mothers and fathers' sides."
The distant kids, who were originally scared, cried tears of joy when they heard Gu Liufeng's announcement. Some even went as far as to kowtow toward Gu Liufeng and He Xi.
They didn't know how many days had passed since they had been captured, but they had long given up all hope. They thought they wouldn't have the chance to see their relatives anymore in this lifetime. But who would've known that they would be able to come back from death's door. Not could they escape this fate, but they also had the chance to return to their families again.
After the children relaxed, they couldn't help but all hug each other and cry.
Gu Liufeng felt a headache coming and rubbed his head. He was just about to pull He Xi and leave when he heard the same little boy start speaking again, "We don't have a family, nor do we have a place to return to. We only wish to follow Elder Brother. Begging Elder Brother to bring us along!"
He Xi's eyebrows jumped and her eyes showed traces of astonishment.
The children at the very back were joyously crying because they were going to return back to their mothers and fathers. But the boy at the very front, as well as a few of the children standing directly behind him, had completely clear eyes. There wasn't a bit of envy or timidness in their eyes.
He Xi used her Divine Knowledge to sweep over these few childrens' bodies and discovered that their aptitudes weren't bad.
The worst child had three spiritual roots. The best one was that little boy, he actually had dual attributes of wind and fire. Not only that, his spiritual root's essence purity was quite high.
He Xi hugged her chest, "Right now you guys are useless. If I took you in, I would have to feed and clothe you. Wouldn't this be a losing business deal?"
At once, the little boy refuted her words, "After we've become strong we can give our lives to you. It doesn't matter what you want us to do, we'll do anything!"
He Xi sneered at him, "How do I know whether or not you're able to become strong? If I was to raise you until you're older and you turn out to be a group of thankless wretches, wouldn't I be eating a big loss then?"
"We… We aren't thankless wretches! We are good children! We'll listen to you!" The children behind the little boy weakly retorted He Xi's questions.
Chapter 475— Okay, We'll Swallow It!
The little boy clenched his teeth and raised his head to say, “Or, you… You can turn me into a slave, I know all martial artists can have slaves. This way you don't have to be worried about whether or not I'll run away, right?”
The corner of He Xi's eyes slightly jumped, “Do you know what it means to be turned into a slave? Spirit Soul Slaves must draw out a part of their soul, this means that if you want to cultivate in the future, you won't be able to amount to much.”
The little boy's face twisted with pain when Hexi said that, but when he turned back around to look at the naive faces of the children behind him, he still clenched his teeth and told He Xi, “I'm willing to be your slave, but… You have to agree to let all of us follow you, moreover, you can't turn them into slaves!”
They both stared at each other, neither backing down. There was obvious fear in the little boy's eyes and his body was shaking, but despite this, he didn't hesitate.
At last, a satisfied expression appeared on He Xi's face. She took out a porcelain bottle and threw one at him, faintly saying, “If you became a spirit soul slave, your strength would greatly decline. Why would I raise a useless piece of rubbish, to play with it?”
“Since you guys are so confident that you won't betray me, each of you has to swallow one of these pills. This is a medicine that I refined myself, it's purpose is to control people's hearts. As long as you don't change your mind and decide to betray me, the poison won't flare up. But if there's any disloyalty on your part, this pill will let you taste the feeling of being unable to beg for your life nor for your death.”
“How about it, are you guys still willing to swallow it?”
The little boy held onto the porcelain bottle and hesitatingly said, “We.. All have to eat it?”
“Of course.” He Xi faintly laughed, “Granted, even if you're able to guarantee that these children won't betray me today, what about in ten or a hundred years? I stick by my words, I refuse to raise a bunch of thankless wretches.”
“Okay, we'll swallow it!” The little boy clenched his teeth and opened the porcelain bottle. He poured one pill out and then swallowed the entire thing in one go.
For the most part, the children behind him were all still ignorant to what was going on. When they saw the little boy swallowing the pill, they each obediently grabbed one pill from the boy and swallowed it, yet they didn't know what the pill was for.
Satisfied, He Xi nodded her head. “Very good. Since this is the case, stay here first and wait with those other little fellows. Once we're done dealing with our matters, we'll come get you all.”
When the little boy heard of He Xi's plan, his face immediately showed doubt and he nervously asked, “We all swallowed your medicine, you won't go back on your word right?”
Since a young age, he had roamed around alone. He'd long grown accustomed to adults' mean features. Even if the Elder Brother in front of him caused him to unconsciously want to draw closer, he still held some suspicions in his heart. He Xi sneered, “If I were to abandon you guys, would you be able to keep up with me? Would it be necessary for me to waste a bottle of pills?”
After she finished speaking, she didn't wait for the little boy to reply before grabbing onto Gu Liufeng. Their bodies both flashed and then disappeared.
Dazed, the little boy stood still and stared at the spot He Xi and Gu Liufeng were just at. Then, he snapped out of it and wiped at his still bloody-smelling face. Grinding his teeth, he muttered, “We'll… We'll just wait here. Elder Brother will definitely quickly come and bring us out!”
These words were comforting to all the children in the basement, including himself.
In the dark prison, Murong Feng's hands gripped onto a lash that had been dipped in salt water and firmly wiped a woman on the floor.
The woman's hair was in disarray, her whole face was bloodstained, and her body was full of bruises. As she was being whipped, she couldn't make any sounds aside from howling and crying.
Murong Feng retrieved his whip and ruthlessly kicked the woman. Then, he walked over to the nearby torture shelf.
The slender figure bound on the shelf had half a mask hanging off his face and his body was also entirely bruised.