Under the suppression of the mysterious black object that had suddenly appeared in the Demonic Palace, the riot among the Immortal Sect disciples was finally quelled. Jia Wujie, unconscious and unresponsive, was carried into the inner chamber under the escort of numerous guards.
Xu Baizhou, kneeling in the center of the great hall at a loss for what to do, was pushed along by the jostling crowd until he stood outside the inner chamber’s door. He watched as several men who looked like physicians were hurriedly ushered in one after another and then dragged out one after another, begging for mercy.
So the one about to die here today wasn’t him, but this Demon Venerable! Xu Baizhou was overjoyed.
Xu Baizhou kept craning his neck to peer into the inner chamber, watching the guards and maidservants bustling back and forth. Each time they emerged, their expressions grew graver.
Someone murmured:
“What’s wrong with the Demon Venerable? How did eating a little food leave him like this?”
“I heard the Demon Venerable has an illness. Could it have flared up?”
“He looks so strong and healthy. What kind of illness is scary enough to kill someone just like that?”
“Haven’t you noticed how moody and unpredictable he is? They say it’s Hysteria Affliction!”
“So it’s a sickness of the brain!”
“Keep your voice down! If those masked guards hear us, we’ll all be in deep trouble!”
Just then, there was a loud crash, as if something heavy had fallen, followed by waves of wailing from the inner chamber.
A red-haired Demon Race man emerged from the inner chamber, it was Chi Xian. His face was twisted with grief, streaked with tears, and his furrowed brow and gaping mouth made his already ugly features look even more ferocious.
He dropped to his knees with a thud and wailed, “The Venerable, he has perished.”
“The Venerable lives! The Venerable lives!”
Before Chi Xian could even finish, Cang Gui’s voice came from the inner chamber. At those words, everyone surged forward and rushed inside.
Before long, excited cries indeed rang out.
“The Venerable is fine! The Venerable has fully recovered!”
Everyone was relieved and overjoyed but Xu Baizhou felt as if he’d fallen into an ice cellar.
If the Demon Venerable had recovered, then he was done for!
At last, someone remembered Xu Baizhou, this “birthday gift.” He was bound and thrown into the dungeon.
Xu Baizhou’s entire arm had gone numb, though he could still feel the searing pain radiating from his shoulder. Fortunately, his arm wasn’t broken, it seemed merely dislocated.
The dungeon was cold and damp. Xu Baizhou had no idea how he would get through the long night ahead.
Days of tension and worry, plus the enormous shock of everything that had happened today, had kept Xu Baizhou’s nerves wound tight. Though his surroundings were miserable, at least his life was no longer in immediate danger, and he finally allowed himself a moment’s respite. Before he knew it, he drifted into a fitful sleep.
In that dazed haze, who knew how many days passed. Then Xu Baizhou suddenly felt his body grow light, followed by a jolt of agony from his dislocated arm and only then did he realize he was being hauled out of the dungeon by two masked guards.
“Big brothers, where are we going?” Xu Baizhou asked timidly.
But the two masked guards acted as if they hadn’t heard him at all. They didn’t pause for even an instant, continuing to drag Xu Baizhou along.
“Ow, ow, ow!” Xu Baizhou grimaced in pain.
Xu Baizhou felt uneasy. When he was nervous, he liked to cover it up with talking, the more frightened he was, the more he chattered. And so, babbling all the way, he was escorted by those two ghost-masked guards into a side hall.
“Why aren’t you two saying anything? Are you even real people? Can you take off those masks and let me see… Ow!”
The two ghost-masked guards tossed Xu Baizhou onto the ground, cupped their hands in salute, and left.
Xu Baizhou’s injured arm couldn’t support him, and he fell flat on his face. He was about to say something, but the moment he raised his head and saw the person seated on the couch ahead, nothing came out.
At the front of the side hall stood a couch, half-reclining on which was a tall man Jia Wujie.
Jia Wujie wore a dark green inner robe draped loosely over his body, his hair falling loose behind him, the front strands curling slightly against his forehead, eyes gently closed, the very picture of languid ease.
At his feet crouched a little monkey, golden-furred with an adorable face, fluffy and quite cute. Strangely, though, it had three arms.
At that moment, each of the monkey’s three hands held a chain. Xu Baizhou followed the chains with his eyes and drew a sharp breath.
The three chains were tethered to a black hound and on that hound’s neck grew three heads!
The three chains were fastened, one each, around the necks of those three heads!
This Jia Wujie, and this entire Demonic Palace, were just too damn weird! Looking at the three-headed hound baring its teeth at him, Xu Baizhou felt a chill of dread creep over him.
As if hearing the noise, Jia Wujie opened his eyes. Those long, narrow, sinister eyes still carried a trace of weariness, no doubt that sudden fainting spell earlier had cost him some Vital Energy.
Looking at Xu Baizhou kneeling on the floor, Jia Wujie made a gesture toward the little monkey at his feet.
The monkey understood at once and immediately dropped the chains it held. Freed from restraint, the three-headed hound quickly ran off, but Jia Wujie paid it no mind. The little monkey produced another chain from who knows where this time looping it around Xu Baizhou’s neck. Jia Wujie beckoned, and the chain tethering Xu Baizhou landed in his hand.
Xu Baizhou looked down at the collar fastened around his neck, not understanding what it meant but the next second, a tremendous pull yanked him forward, forcing him to crawl on hands and knees toward Jia Wujie.
Jia Wujie sat up from the couch, legs spread apart, coiling the chain around Xu Baizhou’s neck hand over hand, drawing him in bit by bit.
Finally, he yanked the chain sharply upward and looked down at the face forced to rise between his knees.
Xu Baizhou felt the collar around his neck tighten, half his body nearly lifted off the ground. Instinctively, he reached up to grab at the collar, forgetting that his arms no longer obeyed him, and gasped in pain.
“What’s wrong with your arm?” Jia Wujie asked.
You’re asking me? Wasn’t it you who had someone twist my arm like this! Xu Baizhou fumed inwardly.
The sight of Xu Baizhou gritting his teeth, face full of hatred, seemed to remind Jia Wujie of the orders he had given, and a hint of amusement flickered across his face.
“Does it hurt?” Jia Wujie reached out and squeezed Xu Baizhou’s swollen shoulder, asking in a light, airy tone.
Of course it hurts wouldn’t it hurt if it were you? Xu Baizhou grumbled inwardly.
But he only dared to say that in his heart. Jia Wujie’s hand kept kneading his dislocated shoulder, neither too hard nor too soft. Feeling the waves of pain rising with every movement of Jia Wujie’s hand, Xu Baizhou recalled the scene at the birthday banquet a few days ago, terrified that one wrong word would make this living King of Hell rip his entire arm off.
But speaking was wrong, and staying silent was wrong too. Jia Wujie suddenly exerted force, giving Xu Baizhou’s shoulder a hard squeeze.
A jolt of sharp pain spread across Xu Baizhou’s shoulder, accompanied by Jia Wujie’s threatening voice.
“Answer this Venerable One.”
“F-f… it’s… it’s fine…”
Watching Jia Wujie’s face grow darker, Xu Baizhou forced back the curse that had almost slipped out and answered timidly.
But the next second, Jia Wujie’s action made the immense pain unbearable, and Xu Baizhou cried out.
“Fuck! What the hell is wrong with you!”
Jia Wujie grabbed Xu Baizhou’s dislocated arm, hoisted his whole body up, and tossed him onto the couch below.
Xu Baizhou’s arm hurt as if it had been snapped in two, and the back of his head knocked hard against the solid armrest, instantly breaking out in a cold sweat. Just as he struggled to lift his head, a hand with distinct knuckles clamped around his fragile neck.
Jia Wujie straddled him, and with the slightest pressure of that palm, Xu Baizhou felt himself suffocating.
All his fight evaporated instantly. He stared warily at Jia Wujie.
Jia Wujie’s hand was long and powerful, as if it could take his life at any moment.
But it didn’t linger on his neck for long. Seeing that Xu Baizhou had stopped struggling, Jia Wujie released the hand gripping his vital point and extended two fingers, slowly sliding them down along Xu Baizhou’s throat.
Though Jia Wujie’s hand had left his throat, under the crushing weight of his presence, Xu Baizhou still found it hard to breathe.
Jia Wujie’s fingers traveled down from his chest, down, down, until they stopped at his flat abdomen.
Overwhelming tension and fear left Xu Baizhou speechless. He had no idea what Jia Wujie would do next; he could only go pale, bite his lower lip hard, and stare at the man who posed such a terrifying threat to him.
Jia Wujie’s gaze followed his fingers downward the whole time, and only after they paused did he lift his eyes to Xu Baizhou, meeting his somewhat panicked expression.
As if finding the expression of the man beneath him rather amusing, a trace of a smile surfaced on Jia Wujie’s face but his words were exceptionally cold.
“This Venerable One’s Vital Energy has been gravely damaged of late. A Medicinal Catalyst is too slow. It would be better to simply dig out your Inner Core to nourish this Venerable One.”
With that, Jia Wujie pressed his two fingers downward.
Xu Baizhou was horrified. He felt the pressure of Jia Wujie’s descending fingertips carrying a faint, still-subtle ache, and panic surged in his heart.
Jia Wujie was going to carve a hole in his belly! That was Xu Baizhou’s first thought.
But before the word “don’t” could leave his lips, Xu Baizhou felt a tightening in his lower abdomen as a warm current flowed from Jia Wujie’s fingertips into his body, instantly spreading through his limbs.
An overwhelming shock, accompanied by that indescribable sensation, swept through Xu Baizhou’s body. All his senses seemed to converge on that single spot. His mind went blank for an instant, and then he involuntarily held his breath.
“Don’t… mmh…”