Chapter 24 Bilin Pond Just then, Lu Qing felt a sudden tremor between her brows…
Just then, Lu Qing felt a sharp pain between her brows, and suddenly a wisp of gray mist shot out from between her brows, heading straight for the Bilin Pond. Lu Qing didn't have time to chase after it before she heard the sound of Du Xiaoyu falling into the Bilin Pond.
"No!" Tie Zhilan screamed and rushed over without regard for anything else.
Tie Xiao did not loosen his grip on Tie Zhilan's shoulder. No matter how much Tie Zhilan struggled, he could only be like a puppet on a string, terrified, bewildered, desperate, and helpless.
Lu Qing clenched her fists tightly.
If she had the ability, she would definitely go down and throw Tie Xiao into the Bilin Pool, so that he could personally experience the "enthusiasm" of being melted by the boiling golden water! But she didn't have the ability; she couldn't beat Tie Xiao.
Lu Qing almost bit her lower lip until it bled. Should she use Wu Chen to get ahead, or wait until another day to settle scores with him? She struggled with this dilemma, and as a result, an endless desire for power arose within her.
Neither Wu Chen nor Yu Jitang spoke. They had failed to stop Du Xiaoyu earlier, and even if they intervened now, they couldn't change her fate. Wu Chen felt a pang of regret. His gaze fell on Lu Qing's face, and he reached out to stroke her lips, gesturing for her not to bite herself. Lu Qing looked at Wu Chen, receiving his silent question.
Should we take action?
Or should we do nothing?
Before Lu Qing could make a decision, she heard a sudden strange noise from below, followed by a surge of heat that burned her face.
What was happening? The three of them craned their necks to look down. They saw a strange phenomenon occur in the Azure Pool: the originally vibrant green water suddenly contracted from the edge towards the center, turning the emerald green surface blood red. Bubbling and gurgling filled the air.
The three of them had excellent eyesight and almost instantly noticed that what was emerging was not just simple bubbles, but contained foreign objects. Upon closer inspection, they couldn't help but gasp in horror; what was churning in the sea of blood were actually segments of white bone.
Tie Xiao was still holding his son down, unaware of anything amiss. He was even secretly pleased with himself, having gone to great lengths to find such a humble wife for his son, and now she was finally proving useful. Otherwise, why would he have let his son marry this beautiful but ultimately useless daughter-in-law? Wasn't it all for the sake of cultivating this pool of vibrant green liquid today?
Why is it that, using the same gold and stone, the same materials, only the Sword Forging Manor can forge weapons imbued with spirits? The real secret lies in the pool of vibrant green that was forged after the first mistress of the manor was thrown into the furnace. Perhaps it truly contains her spirit, which is why all the weapons forged there possess a spirit. This is what created the glory of the Sword Forging Manor.
But the more famous they became, the more people came seeking their swords, and the faster the gold and molten metal was consumed. They had no choice but to search for generations of furnace maidens to continue the legend of the Sword Forging Manor.
He glanced at his heartbroken son, who lay sprawled on the ground, and then simply knocked him unconscious with a single blow. Useless thing, she's just a woman; he could have as many as he wanted. If it weren't for the fact that the furnace maiden had to be willing, he wouldn't bother playing along with their act.
Tie Xiao stepped onto the stone steps and arrived at the edge of Bilin Pond. "Wh...what happened?"
He shook his head, and to his horror realized that it wasn't that he had drunk too much; the bright green liquid had indeed turned blood red. "Why is this happening?" he cried out in alarm, grabbing the tools beside him to retrieve something from the Jade Pool.
But the bones seemed to come alive, all coming together to form a bowl shape, which slowly rose from the Bilin Pond, and lying in it was Du Xiaoyu.
The crimson liquid leaked from the cracks in the white bone bowl, and in the end, only Du Xiaoyu remained inside.
The skeleton continued to change shape, eventually forming a human figure that clung tightly to Du Xiaoyu's back. Du Xiaoyu was now like the skeleton's shadow, every movement mirroring its every action.
She spoke slowly, “You heartless descendants of the Tie family, for your own selfish desires, have tricked generation after generation of innocent women into throwing themselves into the furnace. Today, let you taste this bitterness yourselves.”
Tie Xiao's drunkenness vanished completely, and he gripped the tool in his hand tightly. "Who are you? How do you know all this?"
"Du Xiaoyu" sneered, "Who am I? You should be asking who we are? You've deceived so many women, and you don't even know our names?"
Tie Xiao shouted, "What kind of demon dares to trespass into the sacred ground of my Sword Forging Manor?"
"A holy land?" Du Xiaoyu laughed mockingly. "You actually call this hell on earth a holy land? Heh, well, it is hell on earth for us, but for you, it is the birthplace of your power, vanity, money, desire, everything you crave..."
Before Du Xiaoyu could finish speaking, Tie Xiao used the tool in his hand to launch a deadly attack towards her, his intent to kill her instantly, showing no concern for Du Xiaoyu's life or death.
"Du Xiaoyu" sneered and flew into the air, retreating instead of advancing. Tie Xiao's attacks were completely ineffective. Seeing "Du Xiaoyu" getting closer and closer, Tie Xiao actually shouted and retreated.
"Du Xiaoyu" had already flown above Tie Zhilan when the bones suddenly scattered. Du Xiaoyu lost her support and fell directly onto Tie Zhilan.
The bones then dispersed, quickly surrounding the iron flute tightly.
Tie Xiao looked around in terror, finding no way to escape. He couldn't hide his panic, "What are you doing? Haven't the men of the Tie family treated you well? Did someone force you to throw yourselves into the furnace? How can you be so ungrateful!"
Suddenly, a piece of white bone flew out, and a woman's shadow materialized before him. "Tie Xiao, if you truly loved me, I would gladly throw myself into the furnace. But you married me only to trick me into becoming a furnace maiden. After I died, you lived a life of pleasure and debauchery, taking several concubines in less than a month. The fire-tending boys all laughed at it. Every man in your Tie family is like this, generation after generation, following the same example. Today, I will make you taste the suffering I endured."
Tie Xiao had long forgotten what his wife looked like. Seeing the woman's shadow, he felt no familiarity, only terror. However, with his life in danger, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration and remembered that there should be someone among these bones who could protect him. "Mother, Mother, please save me."
A piece of white bone floated behind him. Hearing his shout, it didn't even bother to transform into human form and coldly said, "A heartless thing like you is not worthy to be my son."
Tie Xiao's wife approached him slowly with a cold smile. "Come on, you men of the Tie family never take this kind of thing to heart. You just think that jumping in will end it all. A clean break. But you don't know that we are suffering every moment in the Bilin Pool. Even as our bodies melt into the golden water, our consciousness is constantly being torn apart and refined. You, representing the men of the Tie family, will experience this endless pain for yourself..."
“Mother…” A hesitant voice rang out. It was Tie Zhilan, who had been woken up by Du Xiaoyu.
Tie Xiao's wife finally glanced at him, her expression devoid of emotion, and said indifferently, "You may be useless, but you still have some humanity. Take your wife and fly far away, never to return here. Otherwise, you can come down and join your father."
Although Tie Zhilan hadn't heard everything, based on his own experience, he could already guess eight or nine parts of the truth. He hugged Du Xiaoyu tightly, then looked at Tie Xiao with unbearable sorrow. "Father, this kind of thing is utterly immoral. We can't do it anymore. Just admit your mistake, swear an oath, seal off Bilin Pond, and never do this again. Even if we can't forge weapons with spirits, we can still make other weapons..."
"Shut up!" Tie Xiao's brow twitched. "I don't have a son like you. This Sword Forging Manor is the culmination of generations of hard work from the Tie family. How could it be destroyed in my hands?" He looked sinisterly at the skeletons. "Spirit Fruit, come out. I know these skeletons' spirits are still alive because of you. Come out now, let me see your power!"
Suddenly, a touch of green appeared in the Azure Pool, spreading into the air and forming the image of a woman. She gazed at Tie Xiao, "What do you wish to see?"
Tie Xiao was startled at first, but upon closer inspection, he saw that the woman had only materialized her upper body, while her lower body resembled a vine growing in the Bilin Pond. He burst into laughter, "So what our ancestor said was indeed true."
The woman asked calmly, "What did your ancestors say?"
Tie Xiao said, “You had feelings for your ancestors, which is why you voluntarily threw yourself into the furnace. But since it was voluntary, why make them suffer? Let it all go. They have already passed away, and your ancestors have been gone for a long time. Let this old debt be put behind you.”
The woman laughed mockingly. "I had feelings for your ancestor? Who told you that? Did your ancestor tell you, or did I?"
Tie Xiao was taken aback by the question, "Isn't that right? To this day, Qiuqiang Pavilion still enshrines your portrait."
The woman laughed loudly, "If you things were truly my flesh and blood, I would die with regrets. That woman from Qiuqiang Pavilion is the birth mother of your bloodline. It's just that because Tie Jiyuan tricked me into throwing myself into the furnace, and knew that my spirit was not extinguished, he never dared to marry her, leaving her to live her life with the stigma of a concubine. Otherwise, where do you think your Tie family's tradition of deceiving women into throwing themselves into the furnace began?"
Tie Xiao hadn't expected that he wasn't a descendant of the Spirit Fruit. This secret of the Tie family was hardly something to be proud of. Generation after generation of manor lords had rarely revealed this secret to the next generation. Therefore, the truth he knew wasn't the whole picture.
Tie Xiao frowned. "If that's the case, what do you want?"
The woman scoffed, "You should ask them that, not me."
Tie Xiao's forehead was covered in cold sweat. "Gentlemen, she is not related to me by blood, but I am related to you by blood. How can you bear to lay a hand on me?"
His mother's skeleton sneered, "Bloodline? Does your Tie family even care about such things?" Even if there were any lingering attachments or reluctance, they melted away day by day in this Azure Pool. Moreover, many of the Tie family's ancestors, unwilling to let their beloved women become furnace maidens, tricked women who were infatuated with them into becoming furnace maidens. After all, once thrown into the furnace, no one could stop them from having women on either side.
Tie Xiao was drenched in cold sweat; his clothes had been soaked and dried repeatedly in the cave. He thought to himself, "It seems there's no way things will end well today." So, he quietly turned a ring on his finger, clenched his fist tightly, and blood immediately dripped from his palm onto the ground.
A sudden change occurred inside the cave...
A note from the author:
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