Chapter 231 Demanding Rewards
After walking through a long, enclosed corridor, the old Silver Dragon Tu Li led the three of them to a magnificent palace. The palace was grand in scale, but the plaque in the center bore three large characters written in blood: "Palace of Precious Delicacies".
At the gatehouse, there was a row of whetstones, each with a corresponding spring. When Ji Rong walked over, she saw that there were still traces of blood in one spot. She craned her neck to look into the spring and saw that the water inside still had traces of blood.
Tu Li also saw the bloodstains and roared, "Yuan Thirty-Six, come out and clean this place up! Are you tired of working so carelessly?"
Then, from a side door of the Treasure Pavilion, a Venerable Sand Lizard wielding two swords rushed out. He slung the swords over his back, stretched his neck, bowed deeply to Tu Li and his group, and shouted, "I'll go right away."
Ji Rong and the others followed Tu Li through the gate of the Zhenxiu Pavilion into the main hall. At first glance, the place seemed very fancy, like the Flower and Bird Pavilion on the Canghe River. But upon closer inspection, they realized that the place was bloody and eerie.
In the center of the hall stood a giant blood phoenix carved from coral.
The ceiling of the hall is covered with layers of brightly colored feathers of the same color, hanging upside down, which, from a distance, resemble the huge phoenix tail of a blood phoenix embedded in this pavilion.
There are four bronze pillars in the hall, with many holes on them. These holes are filled with all kinds of bones, some gold, some yellow, some black, some white, some red, and some green, arranged in layers according to color.
The walls of the hall are inlaid with scales of various tribes, laid out in the same way as above. They are made using some unknown method, each piece bright and shiny, making the entire wall appear three-dimensional, as if a giant beast had been buried in the wall.
Passing through the hall, we entered the inner room, where the walls were painted with lifelike mountains and rivers. Hanging on the walls were various animal figurines made of real animals: a monkey nestled in its mother's arms, a small dragon coiled around the beam, a fish peeking out, a fox standing on a tiger, and a bear standing in the corner...
Their bodies were in the same positions they had been in when they were alive, but their faces were all staring outwards, with sunken eyes and stiff smiles, which was quite terrifying.
At the head of the table was a long bench made of bones, upon which rested a large white fox pelt. Apart from that, there was nothing else on the bloodstone bricks in the room.
As soon as Tu Li entered, he lowered his head and bowed his back, standing to the side of the main seat like a servant.
At this moment, a sweet red wind drifted in, and Ji Rong felt something brush against her face. Then, she saw a large, blood-red bird sitting in the main seat, its cultivation level unclear. With just one glance, blood began to seep from her eyes.
With a "pop," a stream of spiritual energy, like a silk ribbon, escaped from Shan Wu's body, circled around Ji Rong's eyes, and wiped away the bloodstains.
Then, one spiritual energy chain after another emerged from Shan Wu's body.
Shan Wugong erected forty-two chains of spiritual energy, completely surrounding himself and Ji Rong.
Tu Li bowed and said, “Lady Shang, it was these two cultivators who killed Liao Gang and Leopard Five in the Jade Void Palace’s workshop.”
The woman above, floating like a red mist on the white fox fur cushion, looked at Shan Wu and Ji Rong and said, "You yellow-skinned tiger, what kind of magic do you practice to be able to block my 'Blood Sutra Curse'?"
Shan Wu was stunned for a moment, looked around, and then realized that the yellow-skinned tiger that the Blood Phoenix at the head of the table had mentioned was himself.
He then answered, following what Ji Rong had taught him before: "My 'Blood Technique' was originally taught by Liao Gang. I learned it once, and then I felt that if I copied his method exactly, I would be doomed if I ran out of blood to drink later. I shouldn't have practiced it that way, so this is how it is."
The maiden circled around Shan Wu again and again, the strong smell of blood making it hard for Shan Wu and Ji Rong to breathe. Fortunately, she only glanced at it and then floated back to the main seat. She said, "Tu Li, you should go back. As for the ape head, you should go and wait in the outer room."
Tu Li bowed his head and took his leave.
Ke Ben didn't move. He pointed at Ji Rong and said, "Shang Nu, I didn't mean to oppose you. This is my youngest martial uncle, Qing Ji Zi. I can't leave."
"If I leave and you administer the blood magic to her, my master and the palace master will beat me to death."
Upon hearing this, Shang Nu looked at Ji Rong again and sneered, "Qing Pingzi is getting more and more confused as she gets older. Taking a colorful chicken as her junior sister, if Senior Ling Xiaozi hadn't disappeared so cleanly, I really suspect she would have jumped out of her grave."
She pointed at Ke Ben and said, "Go out and stand by the door. I find you annoying."
Ke Ben stroked Ji Rong's neck with one paw and Shan Wu's nape with the other, saying, "Junior Uncle, I'm sorry." Then he quickly dragged the two of them out.
The woman giggled and said, "Alright, let that yellow tiger in. He has already mastered blood magic, so even if I directly infuse it into him, it won't work."
Ke Ben thought about it and agreed, so he kicked Shan Wu in again. Ji Rong wanted to go too, but as soon as she stretched her neck forward, Ke Ben restrained her arm and made it difficult for her to move.
The woman watched all of this unfold. She hadn't seen such genuine affection in a long time; she truly missed it.
The more she thought about it, the more her claws itched. She desperately wanted to skin the yellow tiger in front of her and see how Kiyohime would react.
Unfortunately, she couldn't peel it off. If she dared, given the temper of that old monster from Jade Void Palace, he would surely come and kill her.
Shang Nu could only think to herself, "Why isn't that old bastard Qingpingzi dead yet!"
Since she couldn't kill it, Shang Nu's interest immediately wilted. She looked as if she had aged thousands of years, and even her voice became hoarse. She took out two blood-stained jade tokens from the blood feather and said, "You two keep these safe. From now on, you must deliver the meat on time. When these jade tokens light up, you must go to the other end of the teleportation array to pick up the spirit beast for slaughter. Alright, that's all. Go now."
Although Shang Nu said that, her cloudy eyes darted back and forth between Shan Wu and Ji Rong. Shan Wu also kept staring at Shang Nu. When he saw the changes in Shang Nu's eyes, a thought suddenly flashed in his mind, and he immediately said, "Why are you telling us to leave now? You haven't given us any rewards yet."
Upon hearing this, Ke Ben, who was standing outside the door, immediately stepped over the threshold to drag Shan Wu away. However, Shan Wu stood up, flung Ke Ben away, and looked at Shang Nu, saying, "I'm your subordinate now, aren't I?"
Upon hearing this, Shang Nu nodded with pleasure and said, "That's right."
"If that's the case, then why don't you give me a reward?" Shan Wu glared at Shang Nu and said, "With your stinginess, no wonder your subordinates keep dying."
"Bang!" Shang Nu used a wing to deflect Ke Ben's claws that were reaching for Shan Wu, and said, "Continue."
Shan Wu held out his two claws to Shang Nu and said, "I'm done talking, now it's your turn to give me a reward."
"Hahaha, interesting, interesting! I don't want to skin you anymore!" the woman laughed strangely. "What do you want, you yellow-skinned tiger?"
Shan Wu said confidently, "Of course it's treasure! When we were in Canglan Mountain, if we appointed subordinates, my brothers would reward them. It's a good way to win over cultivators."
Upon hearing this, the wine-drinking woman laughed even more heartily.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
