Poison of the Human Panacea
Chapter 14
Bai Tan raised his hand and threw a resounding slap on his cheek. "Impudence!"
He had always looked excessively beautiful, and it was hard to tell if he was male or female. Also, because he had practiced the Arts of Enchantment for a few years, it was difficult for him not to be linked to the terms like "demonic slave", "boy toy" in the rumors in Jiang Hu[1]. As such, he was exceptionally sensitive to others mentioning his appearance in front of him, and now the yao ren had poked his sore point – how was he supposed to not get angry?
"Master…… pardon the offence."
Seeing the yao ren lower his body into a bow, Bai Tan stretched a foot out to lift his chin and bent down to stare him in his eyes. He reached his hand down as he said fiercely, "The next time you dare to easily offend me*again, I*will castrate you-chop off this thing of yours and make a soup out of it to drink."
Wu Yanfu groaned and his abdomen tightened.
Bai Tan"s finger stiffened and his expression turned sour. He removed his hand and slapped him, twisting his head to the side. Lowering his head and about to drink a mouth of blood, his line of sight incidentally fell onto the Kong Hou and could not help feeling stunned after realizing that the broken strings were connected by strands of white hair.
He reached his hand to stroke the few strands of white strings, asking, "You…… this was fixed by you?"
Wu Yanfu sneered in his mind. It was tormented by you till it was in that state. How was your Shizun supposed to just look on? Nodding his head, "Ah Chi had nothing to do so I helped Master to fix the instrument. Ah Chi is clumsy. May Master not reject it."
"The nerves in your hands were broken and have lost its strength, but you are able to do meticulous work." The more Bai Tan looked at his att.i.tude, which was as tame as a horse, the more he found it pleasing to the eye. Bringing the Kong Hou back with him to the bed, "On the account of you making up for you mistake, the earlier matter will be forgotten." He reached his foot right up to his face as he said, "Since you are able to do some meticulous job – ma.s.sage my leg for me."
Just as the last word was said, the yao ren could be seen staring at his pair of feet that looked like they were carved from jade and was immediately unable to move his eyes away. His foot was held in his hands as though he was holding onto a delicacy and even his breath quickened as well.
Bai Tan thought that it was very weird but felt the yao ren rubbing and pressing on his acupuncture points. That was really it. So he lay down lazily and even pressed his other foot against the yao ren"s chest. It did not take long before he was in a daze from the comfort.
Wu Yanfu was nearing his limit. This little demon seemed to be sent from the G.o.ds to go against him, literally driving him towards insanity. Yet, he did not dare to overstep the boundary, afraid that Bai Tan really would castrate him in a fit of anger and could only bare the suffering that felt like torture.
"Harder… Nn… A little harder…" Yet, at this time, Bai Tan became worse and started to moan. His voice, filled with laziness, was soft and pleasurable.
Wu Yanfu could not take it any longer and flung his foot away before jumping into the bath by the side.
The water splattered onto Bai Tan, causing him to shiver and wake up sleepily, only to see Wu Yanfu cowering in the corner of the bath, doing something and was moving up and down.
"Ah Chi? What are you doing, come over and continue the ma.s.sage?"
Bai Tan moved closer curiously and Wu Yanfu could only sink to the bottom of the bath, his head bobbing up and down as he sprawled along the edge of the bath, looking exactly like a cat trying to catch fish and an unbearable itch grew from the bottom of his heart. His finger moved and a demonic vine crept up silently before wrapping itself around Bai Tan"s leg. He then turned his body around and extended his arms outwards, acting as if he was drowning.
Bai Tan saw him struggling in the middle of the bath and became slightly anxious. He reached his arm out to fish the person out, not expecting to trip on something and fall into the natural icy pool. A pair of snake like arms wrapped around him tightly, and he collided against a hard chest and was pressed against the rough stone wall of the bath. In the faint light filtering through the water, he met a pair of narrow blue eyes that were very close and subtly felt danger. In the next moment, his mouth was tightly blocked by an icy cold and soft object and sweet tasting blood spread in his mouth.
Immediately, he gave up struggling like a cat tempted by the taste of fish. He swallowed the fresh blood the other fed thirstily, completely oblivious to the fact that the other"s tongue had taken the opportunity to invade his mouth as well.
Wu Yanfu had one hand on a protruding stone on the wall and made use of the floatation to pull Bai Tan"s body and reached over to undo his robes.
The silk robes scattered like fog in the water, partially exposing the youth"s body. His skin was fairer than snow, his body was well-proportioned like a jade statue that was skillfully carved and was also like a thousand years old fox demon who had taken human form. He really was a supernatural being in the human realm that was capable of seducing and stealing others" soul. His alluring bone had yet to mature and was already in that state, so if it were to mature, he would probably be the same as his mother and his ancestors: a calamity doomed to bring chaos to the human realm.
If he does not restrain him soon, he will cause bloodshed in Wu Lin sooner or later.
He grew increasingly irritated as he thought and his eyes incidentally fell onto the extremely faint, dented scar on the youth"s stomach that could be seen through the gap in the robe. It was not big; it was triangle in shape and looked like it was a wound inflicted by a trilobite arrowhead, but it had traces of being inflicted from the bottom up and it must have gone through his abdominal cavity.
Suddenly, a scene flashed in front of Wu Yanfu"s eyes. It was Bai Tan looking up with glazed eyes as his hands gripped the arrow, stabbing it cruelly towards his own abdomen and blood sprayed out like a fountain.
All of the sudden, his heart twisted and churned and a violent anger filled his chest. He pinched the back of Bai Tan"s neck harshly and pushed his head against the edge of the bath, lowered his head and bit on the scar that he himself left on his earlobe.
"Nn!" Bai Tan, however, turned his head and covered his ear as though he was scalded, like he hated it a lot.
It was as though a pan of ice water was poured from Wu Yanfu"s head down. Why, do you hate the mark your Shizun left?
I am determined to make you remember it better.
He turned the youth"s head around and pulled the hand away, but just as he was about to bite the soft earlobe again, he saw his eyelids trembling as he coughed up a mouthful of water and was about to wake up. So he immediately sank to the bottom of the bath again.
"Mmh……" Bai Tan woke up gradually and touched his face that was drenched in water, feeling as though he had just dreamt of a dream that left no trace with one of his earlobe still stinging. He sat up and found that he was drenched.
Had he fallen into the water earlier?
"Sect Leader, someone is requesting for an audience." At that moment, the wind chime outside was ringing from being shaken.
"Tan Gege!"
Hearing Mi Sha"s slightly anxious call from the outside, Bai Tan draped the outer robe on his shoulder and immediately opened the door. A person pounced into his arms and a head of silk-like blonde hair scattered into his embrace. "That Suo Tu is back!"
Bai Tan stood in front of him, protecting him. Looking at the group of people not too far away, without a change in expression, he walked down the steps.
Suo Tu lifted the leather robe and knelt down on a knee, not daring to let his eyes linger on Bai Tan for too long. He only took a glance at the panicky blonde beauty behind before lowering his head. "Your subordinate might have been offensive yesterday; may the Sect Leader not take it to heart. This is your subordinate"s small token of respect – may the Sect Leader accept it."
Finishing, a few subordinates behind him took a heavy wooden chest down from the carriage and opened it. Silver light shone from the inside. It was a thin robe that seemed to have been made from countless tiny scales but seemed to be softer than the softest satin. Bai Tan had seen many of the books in Cang Jing Ge before and with a look, identified it to be made from the Jiao Xiao[2] from Nanhai[3]. It is impenetrable, inflammable; An extremely precious treasure.
He gave it a glance and was unmoved. "Using it to bribe me, you are quite sincere. However, if you are thinking about using it to change a person with me, it is a waste of your effort."
Suo Tu shook his head and with a rough voice, "Your subordinate, your subordinate did not have that intention." As though he was trying his best to display his loyalty, he spoke in a rush, "Your subordinate discovered something and needs to inform the Sect Leader."
"Oh?" Suo Tu looked towards the door behind Bai Tan and pointed with his mouth. "Sect Leader needs to take care of the yao ren. Hide him properly or else it could attract trouble."
"What do you mean by that?" Bai Tan was picking up the robe when he heard that and his arm paused.
Suo Tu took a step closer, and Bai Tan looked at him warily.
"This subordinate has seen him before during that year when I followed Shizun to Yue Yin Palace to take Pori. His name and t.i.tle – this subordinate does not know, but that pair of blue eyes this subordinate remembers clearly. He was from the "Gong Tang[4]" in Yue Yin Palace and judging from the situation back then, if he was not a Hu Fa[5], he would be a Tang Zhu[6]. Either way, his position was not low."
"Yue Yin Palace, Gong Tang?" Bai Tan was slightly shocked, thinking of the mark on his hand, he thought to himself, he did indeed use bow and was actually someone from Yue Yin Palace.
Once Suo Tu left, the teen with blonde hair pounced into his embrace.
"What is wrong?" Bai Tan touched his blonde hair.
"You look so powerful teaching that Suo Tu a lesson. I want to learn martial arts too, so that others would not dare to bully me! Tan Gege, now that you are the Sect Leader, can you let Wuzhang be my Shifu?" Mi Sha pointed at the silent Li Wuzhang by the side, "I want to be like him: capable of changing many faces and flying around in the sky!"
"Go away, I am not taking disciples; they are trouble." Li Wuzhang shooed. He took his mask off and threw it to him. "If you want to change face, go play by yourself."
Mi Sha caught it and played with it and loved it so much he would not be able to let go of it. But it was stolen by the skink "San Du" which had scrambled out from Li Wuzhang"s robe. Mi Sha shouted out loud and immediately chased after it, almost slipping in the snowy ground.
Seeing the figures of a man and a beast, Li Wuzhang laughed. "This kid looks a little like you in the past, when you just arrived, finding novelty in everything."
Bai Tan heard him speaking of the past and harrumphed unhappily. "Ever since Mi Sha arrived, he was not able to go anywhere except for the vicinity of the snake room. Of course he would be interested."
Li Wuzhang knew that he had misspoken and immediately stopped talking, but he remembered something and hesitantly took a copper letter holder from inside his robes and pa.s.sed it to the other party. "Sect Leader, your subordinate received this."
Bai Tan slit the sealed letter open and unfurled the roll of sheep skin. Upon seeing that there was not a single word, he turned to enter the room. He roasted it above the candle light and a bunch of small red words appeared.
"The Great Wu Lin a.s.sembly? Letter of challenge?" Bai Tan hmphed softly. "What is this nonsense, once the old devil died, these people cannot wait to s.n.a.t.c.h the position of the strongest in the Wu Lin of the Western Region?"
"Sect Leader killed the former overlord of the Wu Lin and became famous for it. Killing you would be equivalent to winning the "Mara", and once the seat is secured, one would be able to command groups of heroes. So it is easy to tell why they would send you a letter of challenge. It is best if the Sect Leader does not attend this year"s a.s.sembly."
A cruel look was shown on Bai Tan"s face. "Not attending? Then, would I* not become a coward? Allowing those slandering rumors to spread in Wu Lin, saying that I* am a boy toy that uses a pretty appearance to obtain others" liking and became the Sect Leader only by using my body, using the Arts of Enchantment, that thousands had rode and ten thousands had f.u.c.ked? This unpleasantness, I*cannot bear. They want to see what I* look like then I* will let them see."
Wu Yanfu heard that he really was going to attend it and was shocked.
Translator: Yeong
Proofreader: CSchick911
QC: Xiao
Xiao"s Comments: Bai Tan"s moaning, lol. Poor Wu Yanfu~
Translator"s Notes:
[1] Jiang Hu(江湖) refers to the martial arts community.
[2] Jiao Xiao(鲛绡) is a type of silk produced by the Jiao Ren(鲛人), who are a group of mythical being who lives underwater.
[3] Nanhai(南海) is the South China Sea.
[4] Gong Tang(弓堂) literally means the Archery Hall.
[5] Hu Fa(护法) is a type of bodyguard or guardian that is of a higher rank. They usually protect the pract.i.tioners during their cultivation against attackers.
[6] Tang Zhu (堂主). Much like the previously mentioned Tan Zhu, Tang Zhu can be understood as Leader of a certain Hall. *The “I” or "me" makes a reference to his position or suggests a high rank.
Chapter 15