Chapter 40 - Worse Than Death
"Senior Yun, please help Brother Chen!" Hua Wanru shouted anxiously.
Yun Lintian looked up and saw Yang Chen's body almost turned purple completely. He left Luo Kun to Yun Li, speedily arrived at Yang Chen's side, and checked his condition.
"Purple Thorn Poison!" Yun Lintian recognized the poison right away.
This poison was rare in Heavenly Fortune Nation and was extremely deadly. When the target infected by it, they would feel as if countless needles had drilled into every part of their body. Moreover, this Purple Thorn Poison was acted incredibly fast. In just two seconds, its effect would immediately show on the target's body.
Yun Lintian inserted several silver needles on Yang Chen's body to slow the poison's effect down and said solemnly, "I don't have medicinal ingredients to concoct a detoxifying pill for him. Let's bring him back to the central hall first. Maybe there is someone who can help him."
***
Yun Lintian's group returned to the central hall hours later.
"Senior Yan, can you get rid of this Purple Thorn Poison?" Yun Lintian went to ask Yan Qi after laying Yang Chen on the bed.
Yan Qi squint his eyes and smiled playfully. "You are willing to call me Senior now?"
In fact, Yun Lintian still held the previous grudge, but right now wasn't the time to be petty. He said with a solemn expression, "Please, Senior Yan. This is not the time to make a joke. I don't have medicinal ingredients in my hands right now. Otherwise, I can concoct a detoxifying pill for him."
Yan Qi didn't continue to tease him further. He moved to Yang Chen's side and frowned slightly. "How did he get this poison? Although I haven't left this place for thousands of years, I still know something about the outside world. This poison shouldn't appear around here."
Yun Lintian glanced at the lifeless Luo Kun, who was tied up by Yun Li, and replied, "Senior, have you ever heard of the Poison Valley?"
"It's them!?" Yan Qi's expression changed greatly.
Yun Lintian was surprised by Yan Qi's reaction. He asked Yan Qi this question without hoping to get a piece of information from him. He didn't expect Yan Qi to actually know the Poison Valley. That meant this notorious group had existed thousands of years ago, too.
It seems this Poison Valley is scarier than I thought. Yun Lintian thought inwardly. He nodded. "Yes, it's them. Can you tell me about this, Senior Yan?"
Yan Qi went silent for a while before he turned to Yang Chen and sent a trace of crimson energy into his body. A moment later, the purple color on Yang Chen's skins returned to normal at a visible rate.
Yang Chen opened his eyes in disbelief and got up from the bed, looking at himself with astonishment.
"Senior, Thank you for saving my life." Yang Chen bowed ninety degrees to Yan Qi.
Hua Wanru on the side was overjoyed and also gave a deep bow toward Yan Qi. "Thank you, Senior, for helping Brother Chen. I have nothing to repay to Senior. Please accept this bow."
Yan Qi waved his hand dismissively. "You don't have to bother saying this. Even I want you to repay me, I won't be able to wait that long." He said in a joking manner.
Hua Wanru glanced at Yun Lintian as if she wanted to ask something.
Yun Lintian introduced, "Everyone, this senior is no other than Blazing Sun Monarch who built this mythical realm."
Everyone had an incredible expression upon hearing this. What kind of concept was this? Their ancestors explored this mythical realm for thousands of years, but no one had successfully met the owner of the mythical realm. However, they somehow did it unexpectedly. How could they not amaze?
"Greetings, Senior Blazing Sun Monarch." Everyone quickly bowed their head toward Yan Qi.
Yan Qi laughed slightly, appearing like a benevolent old man. "Raise your head. As all you juniors see, I am no longer Blazing Sun Monarch now. Just treat me as an old man in his last moment."
Everyone looked at each other and said nothing.
Yan Qi looked at these juniors and sighed emotionally. "All of you are good people… Oh, sorry, except that boy over there." He pointed at Luo Kun with a chuckle, and the latter stared at him as if he wanted to eat him alive. Yan Qi said further, "I have nothing to teach you much, but there is one thing I want all of you to remember in your heart. Just don't lose your good heart in your profound ways."
"We will remember Senior's words in our hearts." Hua Litong led everyone to express their gratitude.
Yan Qi turned to Yang Chen and said, "Boy, I see you are a sword practitioner and also using fire element mainly. You're similar to me back then. I'll give you my profound arts." He pointed his finger at Yang Chen's forehead and a crimson light immediately drilled into him.
Yang Chen involuntarily closed his eyes, digesting huge information that appeared in his mind.
"Let's go to the next room." Yan Qi said to Yun Lintian.
Yun Lintian shook his head. "Please wait for a while. I have to finish something first."
Yan Qi glanced at Luo Kun and nodded his head, sitting on the chair beside Little Flame.
Yun Lintian cut the rope on Luo Kun and smiled slightly. "Are you ready?"
Luo Kun shrank backward in fear. "W-what are you going to do?"
"What am I going to do? Are you stupid, Young Master Luo? Did you lose your cunning brain somewhere?" Yun Lintian teased and stepped forward, grabbing Luo Kun's right hand.
Crack!
"Arghhh!" Luo Kun screamed out loud when Yun Lintian broke his index finger.
"You use this hand to touch my senior sister, right?" Yun Lintian asked plainly and broke Luo Kun's other finger, causing him to scream painfully again.
When profound practitioners were crippled, unless they were practicing a body refining technique, their bodies were not much different from ordinary people. They could not use profound energy to ease pain like they used to do during a battle.
A young master who rarely got injured like Luo Kun naturally could not bear such pain with a body that was similar to an ordinary person.
The shrill screams from Luo Kun continued to reverberate throughout the central hall as Yun Lintian broke all of Luo Kun's fingers, toes, arms, legs, and inserted needles into his nails, as well as his ears and eyes.
The scene was too brutal that even a brave woman like Hua Litong could not bear to watch further. At the same time, she felt Yun Lintian was simply a reincarnation of a devil. She didn't know where did he learn all of this torture method.
Yun Ting looked at Yun Lintian with tears in her eyes. She was extremely touched deep down in her heart. This junior brother of her had avenged her in the most satisfying way. At present, all the grievances she suffered from Luo Kun had completely vanished from her heart.
"K… Kill me. I'm begging you." Luo Kun uttered hoarsely. He screamed until his throat became dried. At this moment, he wished he could die right away. He didn't want to experience all this pain once again.
"Oh? That's it? Where is your arrogance gone to?… Don't worry. As I told you before, I won't let you die easily." A smile on Yun Lintian's face was akin to the devil in Luo Kun's eyes.
Luo Kun was terrified to the core. He wanted to pass out several times, but Yun Lintian pressed on acupoints, preventing him from fainting.
Yun Lintian used his profound energy to heal Luo Kun and started with his fingers over again.
"Ahhh!" Luo Kun screamed miserably. All the veins on his body popped out visibly from pain as if they were about to break at any moment. His face was distorted abnormally, leaving no trace of the previous handsomeness.
Yan Qi and Little Flame looked at Yun Lintian with interest. Especially Yan Qi. One had to know he had lived for thousands of years, possessing vast experiences, but he still felt a chill running down his illusory spines when seeing Yun Lintian's method.
He glanced at Little Flame and said, "Old friend, what do you think of him?"
Little Flame turned to him and let out a low squeak in reply.
Yan Qi nodded. "You're right. He didn't seem to be a person from this world. If so, where did he come from exactly?... From the way he did to that poor boy, perhaps he is the one who understood the principle 'there is no absolute evil and absolute good' the most."
"He didn't care whether these little girls will change their views on him. He did what he needs to do. Good will be returned with more good. Evil will be paid back with a hundred thousand times more evil... He can be a saint to his friend and a vicious devil to his enemy. Everything in his mind is clear, even clearer than those old geezers from Central Continent… He is definitely not a sixteen-year-old boy as he appeared to be." Yan Qi said in a low voice that only he and Little Flame could hear. At the same time, his previous conjecture appeared in his mind once again.
"Ha! It's not fun at all, Young Master Luo. I will end this as you wanted because my hands started to sore now." Yun Lintian shook his head with disappointment, looking at Luo Kun that had nothing resembled the previously handsome Young Master Luo.
He took an ordinary kitchen knife out and whispered softly, "Don't worry. I'll return your head to your father when I go back. I wonder, what kind of rewards he will give me."
"Ugh… uh…" Luo Kun uttered a strange noise as his neck being slowly sliced by Yun Lintian bit by bit.
Because the knife wasn't sharp enough to cut human muscles, Luo Kun could not die fast enough as he wished. His eyes were dimmed without a trace of vitality. A bunch of memories since he was born, growing up as a lofty young master of the Luo clan, kept replaying on his head vividly until his last breath.
Yun Lintian stored Luo Kun's head and his belongings into his interspatial ring. Then he tossed a fireball to erase his corpse, along with the dirty blood on the ground.
"Why are you guys looking at me like that? Is there a flower on my face?" Yun Lintian turned to look at everyone with a harmless smile while touching his face innocently.
He wanted to crack a joke to ease the tense atmosphere but sadly, no one responded to him. They looked at him with a trace of fright in their eyes.