Chapter 78 The Wrath of the Five Emotions
This time, Biyao appeared by a small river, with verdant mountains on both sides and a long stretch of green water in between. Amidst the murmuring of the flowing water, Biyao smelled a faint aroma, as if someone was grilling something. Following the aroma, she came to a boy of about ten years old who was grilling fish over a fire by the river. The firelight made his cheeks rosy, and his smile sparkled like stars in his eyes.
Biyao recognized the young man at a glance as Qin Wuyan. He must have grown up a lot now; his body was still thin, but his cheeks were noticeably rounder than before. He was looking at the grilled fish in his hand with great delight, a rare genuine smile on his face.
The Five Emotions Flower seemed to sense Qin Wuyan's joy, and one of its petals slowly revealed a touch of red, representing happiness. Biyao also became happy and was about to sit down beside him when two strange men suddenly appeared. One of them kicked over the fire stand, sparks flying everywhere, and the other snatched the grilled fish from Qin Wuyan's hand.
"Hey! Qin Wuyan, are you a dog? You're quite good at finding food!" A man holding a sword chuckled.
Biyao leaned closer to take a look and saw that it was the boy who had forced Qin Wuyan to eat the poisoned bun earlier, who had now grown into a young man.
She couldn't help but yell, "You're the dogs!! You came here because you smelled it!" Of course, these people couldn't hear her.
Another man sniffed the aroma of the grilled fish in his hand and said, "This fish is grilled quite well. If you ask me, Junior Brother isn't a dog, he's a cat, always hiding by this river stealing fish. Hahahaha!"
Qin Wuyan suddenly stood up, his face contorted with rage. He clenched his fists, wanting nothing more than to punch someone, but he forced a smile and said, "If Senior Brother Liu thinks this fish is alright, then I'll give it to you!"
These two men, Zhou Li and Liu Ling, were both disciples of the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect and were considered two of the Poison God's most capable lieutenants besides Bai Duzi. They were known for bullying the weaker members of the sect, and the Poison God often turned a blind eye to this behavior.
Zhou Li said, "Hey! Qin Wuyan, you gave him the fish, what about mine?" He looked into the fish basket next to Qin Wuyan, "Hey, there's still one here, hurry up, get one for Grandpa too!" After saying that, he plopped down on a spot where Qin Wuyan had piled up dry grass to grill the fish.
Qin Wuyan obediently lowered his head: "Yes, Senior Brother, please wait a moment! I'll grill it for you right away!" He quickly put the fire rack that had been kicked over back on, skewered the fish with a sharpened tree branch, and began to grill it carefully.
Soon, the fish in Qin Wuyan's hand was grilled to a crispy exterior and tender interior, its aroma filling the air. Zhou Li took it with great satisfaction, praising as he ate, "I didn't expect you to be so capable! You even managed to find fish to grill in this Serpent Valley!"
He suddenly stopped, glaring angrily: "No!! What in Snake Valley isn't poisonous? You wouldn't be trying to poison us on purpose, would you?!"
Liu Ling had already finished eating the fish. Hearing this, he panicked for a moment, but quickly laughed again: "Junior Brother Zhou, you have a terrible memory! Master gave us poison-avoidance pills, what are we afraid of poison for!"
Qin Wuyan nodded hurriedly, "Yes! Besides, I caught this fish in the river to eat myself. How could it be poisonous!"
"That's true!" Zhou Li finally felt relieved and began to eat. After finishing, he still felt unsatisfied and licked the remaining fish bones with lingering relish. In a great mood, he said to Qin Wuyan:
"Junior brother, everyone says that Master values you the most. He taught you how to refine Gu when you were only ten years old, and even sent you to this Valley of Poisonous Snakes to train with us. If you return alive, Master will probably give you the authority to take charge!"
Qin Wuyan looked terrified: "What nonsense! Master just used me as a test subject, letting me come to Snake Valley to test his new medicine!"
Liu Ling laughed and said, "That's not what I heard! If you don't believe me, ask Senior Brother Zhou. In all these years, apart from you, haven't we seen any other disciple under the age of ten who has survived for more than three years in the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect? If it weren't for Master's high regard for you and his leniency towards you, how could you have survived until now!"
Zhou Li also chuckled coldly, "Indeed! Junior brother, you're really something! We've followed Master for so many years, and he hasn't taught us even a tiny bit of the skill of refining Gu and making poisons. But you're even able to help him copy the Ten Thousand Poisons Manual! When you grow up a bit more, won't you be able to control us senior brothers just like Master did!"
Qin Wuyan immediately knelt down, looking timid and frightened: "Senior brothers, how dare I! I entered the sect at the age of five and I don't even know a few characters. I copied the Ten Thousand Poisons Manual, but I still can't understand anything about it! If you don't believe me... I can give you the few pages I copied! Senior brothers must know more than I do!"
He hurriedly took out something wrapped tightly in rags from his clothes and respectfully presented it with both hands: "These are the pages I copied. Because I couldn't write many words at first, I could only copy them every day. But no matter how many I copied, I still couldn't understand them!"
Zhou Li snatched it away, opened it, and saw a thick stack of papers filled with various poison prescriptions. Liu Ling also came over, her eyes showing surprise.
"Ahem..." Zhou Li coughed lightly, quickly wrapped the cloth around his neck again, and stuffed it into his clothes. He said, "You're smart. You're right, what can a child like you understand? Leave this poison manual to us. Your senior brother will study it thoroughly and come back to teach you!"
Qin Wuyan chuckled and said gratefully, "Thank you, Senior Brother!"
Zhou Li said, "Junior brother, you've worked hard today. I feel bad for eating your fish! But..."
A strange smile suddenly appeared in his eyes. He broke off all the remaining fish bones and thorns from the branch in his hand, then grabbed Qin Wuyan's chin and stuffed the jagged bones and thorns into his mouth.
"You grilled this fish, so even if you didn't get to eat any meat, the bones are good too! Hahahaha..."
"Ugh!! Ugh!!!"
Caught off guard, Qin Wuyan struggled desperately to resist, but Liu Ling had already stepped forward to hold down his hands and feet.
The nightmare from five years ago recurred. The foreign object in his mouth made him want to gag, but he was too weak to break free from the hands of the two adult men. He could only let them forcibly cover his mouth and force him to swallow. The rough, sharp fish bone brought a stinging pain, and a bloody taste filled his throat...
"Aaaaaah!!! You beasts! You two heartless bastards! Let him go!!"
Biyao was so anxious that she shouted and yelled, but it was all in vain.
Seeing the veins bulging on Qin Wuyan's forehead and his cold sweat pouring down his face, as if he were about to suffocate, Zhou Li and Liu Ling finally released him. The two stood up and looked down at Qin Wuyan's face, which was twitching between pale and flushed, as if admiring a beautiful painting, revealing extremely happy smiles.
Zhou Li said, "That's our good junior brother! Remember, if you dare to tell Master what happened today, next time, we will definitely kill you!"
"Let's go, senior brother! Let's go back and study this poison manual to see if we can find a way to cure the Gu poison!"
The two left, and Qin Wuyan got up, knelt on the ground, pounded his waist and abdomen with one hand and pinched his throat with the other, vomiting up everything in his mouth with all his might. He even felt it wasn't enough and kept forcing himself to vomit, as if he wanted to vomit up his internal organs.
“Wu Yan…” Bi Yao’s eyes welled up with tears again. She subconsciously reached out, but her hand was empty and she couldn’t touch anything.
She really, really wanted to... hug him.
Just then, Biyao noticed that the petal of the Five Emotions Flower that had been slightly red had stopped changing color, while another petal next to it had turned dark green.
Anger... long-suppressed anger!!
However, Biyao did not see any ferocious or resentful expression on Qin Wuyan's face. His face remained calm and still. He sat quietly on the ground for a long time until dusk fell and a bright crescent moon hung on the treetops in the distance. He finally stood up, his expression still unusually calm, as if he were a completely different person from the obsequious, cowardly, and humiliated boy just now. He gently patted the dust off his body and then strode forward.
Where is he going?
Biyao was puzzled, but quickly followed in his footsteps. By this time, the woods along the shore had also been shrouded in night, pitch black. However, Qin Wuyan was extremely familiar with the area, and the darkness did not affect his pace; he walked at a leisurely pace.
The further we went, the thicker the fog became in the forest, and rustling sounds could be heard from time to time, like snakes and insects crawling.
Biyao felt this place looked very familiar. After carefully recalling what Zhou Li and Liu Ling had just said, she realized, "Isn't this Snake Valley?"
She vaguely remembered that Qin Wuyan had said that he and a group of children of similar age had been imprisoned in the Valley of Poisonous Snakes by the Poison God and fed with blood gu. In the end, only Qin Wuyan survived and the others died.
The further they went, the more eerie and sinister the woods became. In the dim moonlight, Biyao tried her best to make out what was ahead. Qin Wuyan suddenly stopped, and Biyao tripped and almost fell. She looked closely and saw that she had stepped on a human skull.
"Ah!!" Even though she knew this was just a world in Qin Wuyan's memory and wouldn't harm her, Biyao still screamed in fright because, looking around, she saw piles of white bones everywhere under her feet.
Qin Wuyan broke off a long, narrow leaf, wiped off the dust, and gently blew on it.
Biyao was surprised; he was actually playing a demon-controlling melody!
Qin Wuyan had taught her this kind of music before, but it was always only possible to play the complete tune and summon poisonous creatures using a carefully crafted demon-controlling flute. But now... he was only ten years old, and he played it using just a leaf.
Furthermore, Biyao could clearly sense that the rustling sounds in the forest were getting louder and louder, and the air was filled with a complex and nauseating smell, including the smell of rotting corpses, the strange fragrance of various poisonous plants and flowers, and even an indescribable fishy smell... All those poisonous snakes and insects had been summoned by his music!
As expected of the Poison Prince, he is indeed exceptionally talented!
As Biyao was secretly praising him, she saw Qin Wuyan move again and continue forward. Before long, Biyao followed him to a place filled with tents.
The people living here are the Wan Du Sect members who were sent by the Poison God to guard the medicinal people in the Valley.
Lights were still on in many of the tents when someone suddenly screamed, "Snakes!! So many poisonous snakes!!!"
"Weren't they supposed to be kept away by the poison-repelling powder they'd been given out here? Why are they still showing up?"
"Quickly, give me the medicine!! Oh no! My bed!!"
"Aaaaaah!! I've been bitten!! Get me some medicine!!"
...
Everywhere was filled with shouts and chaotic, panicked footsteps, turning the tranquil valley into a cacophony. While many were running around in the chaos, a young boy quietly slipped into a tent.
"Who?!" Zhou Li's voice suddenly rang out from inside the tent.
Upon seeing who it was, his eyes turned cold, and he chuckled, "Junior Brother, why aren't you sleeping? What are you doing here? Didn't you get enough fish bones during the day?"
Qin Wuyan remained silent, a cold smile playing on his lips.
Zhou Li only then heard the commotion outside and discovered that several brightly colored venomous snakes and countless dark poisonous insects and scorpions had unknowingly crawled into his tent, covering the table and bed in dense swarms... It horrified him.
He looked up abruptly: "You summoned these poisonous creatures? No!! How could that be!?"
Qin Wuyan remained silent, then picked up a leaf from his hand and blew on it.
"impossible!!"
Zhou Li said in disbelief, "You... how could you, at such a young age, possibly control a demonic melody?! Even me!!"
Before he could finish speaking, a venomous snake bit him hard on the leg, drawing blood. Sensing the scent of blood, the poisonous insects swarmed and crawled onto his body.
Zhou Li hurriedly took out all the poison-avoiding pills and swallowed them, then jumped and bounced around in place, trying to get rid of the poisonous creatures.
Qin Wuyan stopped playing and sneered, "Senior brother, I regret to inform you that you will only die faster by doing this!"
"What...what did you do?" Zhou Li's eyes widened. He finally panicked because he felt that his leg, which had been bitten by the venomous snake, was numb and gradually losing strength.
Qin Wuyan said, "Do you remember the fish you stole from me today? Actually, you guessed right, that fish really was poisonous. And this poison was exactly what Master put on me to try and counteract the effects of the poison-avoiding pills I used before."
"you!!……"
Zhou Li trembled with rage, but the poison had taken effect, leaving him completely powerless. He could only kneel on the ground, his voice softening as he pleaded, "Wu Yan! Junior Brother! My dear Junior Brother, I was wrong! I shouldn't have taken your fish. Please! I beg you, give me the antidote, please give me the antidote! I don't want to die!"
"Hahaha..." Qin Wuyan chuckled softly, then said sadly, "Senior Brother Zhou, when I knelt before you begging for mercy before, did you ever spare me even once? Not even once?"
Zhou Li trembled all over: "I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong! Wu Yan, no matter how much I bullied you before, I never intended to kill you! We've been fellow disciples for over five years. Please forgive me this time, I beg you! Please..."
Qin Wuyan laughed until tears streamed down his face: "Brothers... hahahaha... I'm afraid there are no brothers in any sect like us. Senior brother, do you think I don't know? If I spare you this time, next time... I'll be the one who dies."
Before anyone knew it, Qin Wuyan had a venomous snake in his hand, its scarlet tongue flicking out. He slowly squatted down, and just like Zhou Li had pinched his chin during the day, he pried open Zhou Li's tightly clenched lips and forced the wriggling snake into his mouth.
Zhou Li's pupils dilated suddenly, his mouth filled with a cold, bloody, indescribably terrifying sensation. The snake burrowed into his throat, and as if finding his throat too small, it bit through it from the inside and emerged again.
Biyao felt a chill run down her spine and nausea.
"Senior brother! Senior brother, do you have any more here...?" Liu Ling rushed in, and what he saw was Zhou Li's corpse lying on the ground, his body covered with poisonous snakes and insects.
And standing next to him was a ten-year-old boy.
Qin Wuyan smiled slightly: "Hello, Senior Brother Liu! You're still up so late?"
Looking at his smile, Liu Ling felt a chill run down his spine, his heart pounding with fear. Where was this the same timid, submissive junior brother who used to cower in fear and let them bully him?
He didn't dare say a word and ran away, but as soon as he ran out of the tent, his legs gave way and he fell to the ground.
Countless venomous insects and snakes crawled up his hands and feet. He was terrified and tried to shake them off, but when he turned his head, he met Qin Wuyan's chilling eyes.
"Junior brother... please spare me, please spare me!! I beg you! I'll never dare to bully you again! Please spare me..."
Qin Wuyan let out a cold laugh, like a demon crawling out of hell: "So all you know how to do is beg for mercy? Oh, I forgot, I used to do the same thing. Five years... a whole five years, Senior Brother, I always humbled myself, yielded step by step, and compromised. But later I realized that in a place like the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect, forbearance and begging for mercy will only make others bully you even more."
A leaf was held to his lips, and the ethereal, melodious sound rang out again, accompanied by a heavy, bloody stench that lingered and drifted through the night, eerie and terrifying.
"ah!--"
A piercing scream tore through the night sky, and thousands upon thousands of ferocious red ants surged out of the ground like a tidal wave, instantly covering Liu Ling's entire body and beginning to tear at him frantically. He rolled around and howled until he could no longer make a sound and lay stiffly on the ground.
The other camps were also in chaos, because they discovered that the poison-avoiding pills they had brought were ineffective against the sudden appearance of these venomous snakes and insects; no matter how much they took, it was of no use.
In an instant, some people fled in panic, some screamed for help, and some cried out in agony... In the chaos, someone broke an oil lamp, and a large tent instantly burst into flames, like a ferocious python raging wildly. All the tents were set ablaze, and everyone was fleeing in terror. An extremely foul and nauseating smell of burning gradually filled the air, and the world was ablaze with red light, making it impossible to distinguish between blood and fire.
Qin Wuyan had already escaped to the edge of the woods, coldly observing everything. The distant flames illuminated his handsome yet thin face.
He smiled, tears welling in his eyes.
At that moment, it seemed that everything that remained in life had been burned to ashes in the fire.
Biyao was filled with mixed emotions, a mixture of heartache, regret, and resentment. She couldn't help but feel a pang of self-reproach when she recalled how she used to criticize Qin Wuyan for being full of schemes, ruthless, and despicable.
No one is born liking to kill; in the end, everyone is forced to do so in order to survive!
How heartbroken he must have been when she said those things to him...
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