Poison of the Human Panacea
Chapter 20
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"A person? Are you referring to…"
Gui Yu"er"s expression was full of ambiguity. "It is naturally a yao ren. It is needed to be known that the most nourishing part of a yao ren"s body is not their blood, meat, or even bone. If it were a female, then it ought to be its breast milk. If it were a male, then it ought to be their sperm. Breast milk can nourish the yin while sperm is for strengthening yang. With the essence of humans, no other nourishment items could possibly be compared."
"Are you… are you for real?" Bai Tan was shocked. He subconsciously glanced at the human figure next to the bed. Wu Yanfu heard every single word. He intentionally stared back at Bai Tan and fixed his eyesight on him but saw Bai Tan quickly avoid eye contact.
"I do not dare speak nonsense. If sect leader has never raised a yao ren before, I have a plenty of them. Sect leader can select one of them as a gift. I have all of them in the cellar beneath this inn. Although…"
"Although what?" On the inside Bai Tan felt awkward, making it hard to speak.
"Sect leader please follow me to the cellar; you will know once you see it," Gui Yu-er spoke mysteriously.
Bai Tan"s heart was filled with curiosity; thus, he got dressed and followed Gui Yu-er to the cellar beneath the inn.
They walked towards the cellar by following the stairway. As soon as the hidden threshold opened, waves of chilling air were released, and a strange incense floated towards their faces. Alerted by the sudden incident, Bai Tan quickly held his breath and covered his mouth and nose with his sleeves.
He ordered Li Wuzhang to stay put at the doorway. With his back bending downwards, Bai Tan walked down the stairway.
It was so dark in the cellar that seeing one"s hand in front of them would not be possible. Tch! Gui Yu-er ignited a firelighter, and a flame with the size of a bean suddenly lit up, illuminating square inches of vision threshold. What Bai Tan saw were a row of pottery vases that were about half of the size of a human sitting against the wall. On top of these pottery vases were many bald human heads, one after another. Without blinking their eyes, these pairs of eyes looked at Bai Tan at the same time. Their eyes were flickering within the light, as if they were a sea of fireflies of a mountain graveyard.
With a sudden realisation of what they were, Bai Tan inhaled a cold breath.
Gui Yu-er tilted her eyes, her appearance was soft and charming, but at this moment she looked very ghastly. "It may look a bit scary. I find these stupid men troublesome, so I simply turned them into renzhi [1] and raised them inside the pots. They are very obedient, and they do not cause trouble. They will be buried straightaway where they were drained dry. It"s much more convenient this way."
"There"s no need." Bai Tan shook his hand. He then turned his head around and walked away.
It"s not like he hadn"t seen a renzhi before. He has seen all kinds of means to peel one"s skin and break one"s bone while he was following Wu Yanfu around. He had already become used to these kinds of things. But he always preferred cleanliness. Raising a renzhi around him and draining its s.e.m.e.n – he almost vomited just by thinking about this kind of situation.
"If sect leader dislikes raising a renzhi, I can also make a new yao ren for the sect leader." Gui Yu-er followed Bai Tan according to his pace and spoke softly, "However, I need some time to find the suitable candidate. Sect leader is the only blood-related relative that I have in the world. If sect leader does not mind, please allow me to become sect leader"s follower from now on, so that I could make it up to my sister"s regret."
Bai Tan listened to Gui Yu-er as she spoke softly and gently, like she was treating her own child. This reminded him of his mother. A slight trace of warmth arose from the bottom of his heart. Since he was shorthanded at the moment, if this femme fatale of the Loulan Kingdom actually devoted her loyalty to him, then a good deed would be made. "Although it"s a yes, but if you wish to remain by my side, you will need to prove your sincerity."
"Sect leader, how do I prove my sincerity?"
Bai Tan pondered for a moment. "Before I* depart, you need to bring me the head of the Huns who offended me today."
Gui Yu-er"s mind went blank for a moment. "But now the Huns have spread across the desert and there are also quite a few skillful Huns in the Wu Lin of the Western Region – especially the Azure Wolf Gang. They are not easy targets… If the people we met today were from the Azure Wolf Gang, then we are in trouble."
"So, am I* an easy target then? humph!" Bai Tan softly expressed his resentment. "We"ve already offended them anyway. If aunty fears him then it is best for you not to stay with me*, so you won"t get involved in any trouble."
Gui Yu-er got scared by Bai Tan when she heard him call her his aunty. The more she looked at him, the more she thought that Bai Tan was like a mischievous child. She vaguely saw the traces of the quirky little girl back then in him. She felt a sudden sadness within her heart and sighed, "Ah… I will go now."
"Wait." Bai Tan spoke again, "Do not forget to leave my name."
Gui Yu-er understood that Bai Tan had other intentions. Without further conversation, she departed.
Bai Tan began to feel uncomfortable as soon as he stepped inside. His brain was full of Gui Yu-er"s words. He wasn"t short of yao ren – he had one right in front of him. However…
"Master… water."
Just when he was having random thoughts and imaging things, he heard the yao ren muttering.
It was just then that Bai Tan realized that some parts of the demonic vines around the yao ren had turned into a greyish-blue colour. Evidently, it was the sign of withering.
He hurried to hold him up from the ground, placing him into the bucket of hot spring water which had already cooled down. Half of the yao ren"s body was covered in water. Surprised, the yao ren suddenly reached one of his dripping wet hand out and grasped Bai Tan"s wrist. The thin and narrow closed eyelids of the yao ren opened, revealing a pair of sparkling light blue eyes. "Master… are you going to look for another yao ren?"
The yao ren blew a moist wave of air on Bai Tan"s neck; gooseb.u.mps spread across Bai Tan"s body.
He thought, this yao ren is way too smart! What Gui Yu-er just said, not only had he heard, but he also understood it? What is going on right now? Do yao ren worry about losing their master"s attention? Isn"t this a bit like a roast chicken jumping out of a plate and begging for attention from the person who is going eat it?
Bai Tan stood up straight, but the yao ren refused to let go of his wrist, and so, he raged. He angrily shook his elbow and took a step backward. Unexpectedly, he stepped onto the hem of his oversized cape and fell backwards, dragging the yao ren out of the bucket, who then fell on him. Boom! The candle at the bedside was knocked to the ground.
The light suddenly extinguished, and the entire room fell into darkness.
Bai Tan became unable to move due to the heavy body of the man that was pressuring him at the time. He freed a hand to push the yao ren away, but the yao ren did not move even an inch. The long and elegant neck of the yao ren was right in front of his mouth. The smell of the medicine infused blood made him dizzy. His adam"s apple was throbbing up and down. Breaths blew across the bottom of his nose and the tip of his lips like an alluring, invisible snake tongue, silently seducing him. Bai Tan swallowed his saliva. Eventually, he gave in to temptation. In one bite, he latched on to the yao ren adam"s apple. His sharp canine teeth pierced through the yao ren"s skin, and he began licking and sucking the wound greedily.
But he didn"t realize that above him, hidden behind the strands of white hair, there was a pair of narrowed blue eyes. They stared at him fiercely as if they were serpents hungering for blood. He sucked in a small portion of blood and swallowed it. Just when he was feeling dizzy, he felt like something had bitten the tip of his ear.
The man"s tall and straight nose bridge rubbed against his ear lobe, a faint laugh echoed beside his ear. "Whatever master needs, just take from Ah Chi"s body. There"s no need to look for another yao ren, hm?"
"Urgh…" Bai Tan"s eyelashes trembled a few times as he slowly blinked his eyes. Gulp! He drank another portion of blood.
"Whatever the master desires, Ah Chi will give it all to you." The yao ren"s long finger slid into the soft, black hair of the youngster and slowly combed downward. Bai Tan"s hair scattered across the ground, making his pure white shoulders look like jade, tempting people to land a kiss on them.
"Urgh…" The youngster smacked his mouth, which was covered in blood, and vaguely answered back.
"If the mister wants, just come and take it." As Wu Yanfu looked at the dazed youngster who appeared vulnerable, his nasty thoughts worsened. He simply grabbed Bai Tan"s thin and long hand and pulled him beneath him. He then propped his body up and began directing Bai Tan.
Back then when he made this little kid learn the arts of enchantment to seduce him, he didn"t let him go this far. But now he has fulfilled his duty as Bai Tan"s Shizun. When Wu Yanfu saw no signs of awakening on Bai Tan"s face while he had this thought in his mind, he became even more bolden. The youngster"s hand was thin and soft with some thin calluses on his palm. It was so alluring that it could erode one"s bones. It quickly awakened the oppressive, suppressed beast that was trapped within Wu Yanfu.
Shizun…shizun…shizun…
The entire abdomen of Wu Yanfu was being pulled back. Hearing his own panting, which was as deep and heavy as a storm that had waited long to burst, he fixed his sight on the pair of half-opened, upturned eyes of the youngster below him in the darkness. Just by imagining the youngster uttering out the two characters that he had long desired for while crying, his blood vessels expanded, and he found it difficult to control himself. The two characters were just a t.i.tle that he used to hear everyday back then, but now, the characters sounded like the most wonderful fantasy to him.
He arched his back and increased the speed and amount of force he was putting on to Bai Tan"s hand. When he was close to releasing his l.u.s.t, he couldn"t help but call out to Bai Tan with a husky and low tone, "Tan"er…"
This vague calling went inside Bai Tan"s ear. Bai Tan suddenly shivered hard, as if his cranium was being pierced through by icicles. He curled his body and felt his body lighten. He semi-consciously opened his eyes and found that his surroundings were still dark. With the dim moonlight he looked around. It was only then he noticed a figure was hiding in the corner of the room, trembling uncontrollably in fear.
It was none other than the yao ren who was kneeling in the corner. His hands were covering the bottom of his belly, and he looked like a woman whose virginity had been violated by Bai Tan. His head bowed to a very low angle, and his blue eyes were glancing at him through messy strands of white hair, afraid.
What… could it be that he had done something to him?
Bai Tan looked at the yao ren, and his mind went blank without a reason. A moment later, he remembered that he drank the yao ren"s blood, so he reached his hand to wipe his lips clean. But instead, his face was covered in a sticky liquid. A strong, musky smell drilled into his mouth and nose which made him cough heavily for a while. He fixed his eyes on his hands. It was then he realized his hands were covered in a sticky, white liquid, and he became stunned.
Is…is this what I think it is? Did I lay my hand on the yao ren just then???
Bai Tan left his hand hanging in mid-air. He wanted to wipe off the liquid when he suddenly recalled Gui Yu-er"s words, and he felt reluctant to wipe it off.
After struggling for a while, he finally turned his back around. Bearing the shame, he licked the liquid like a cat that ate the canary.
Stinks. It"s so stinky that it"s making people choke, but it"s also sweet. It tasted even more delicious than the blood that was infused with medicine.
After he gorged himself on the sticky white liquid, he wiped his mouth clean and pretended as if nothing happened. Facing the window, without noticing that the person behind him was staring at his back and was smiling with indescribable meaning, he began meditating.
He began regulating his breathing, directing his zhenqi to flow through the ren meridian [2]. Bai Tan felt his conditions were starting to improve, so he decided to direct his qi to loop through his meridian lines. His hands began casting seals, following the xinfa [3] recorded within the >, he started cultivating the sixth level of the Sky of Six Desires. Although there were no Concubine Ming a.s.sisting him, there was still an immediate reaction below his belly. His hands rose slowly like he was raising h.e.l.lfire. The fire of Samadhi [4] ignited around Bai Tan"s body, burning the lifelong three poisons to ashes.
The airflow around Bai Tan"s body consolidated, disguising into an invisible figure of a human, which whispered right next to Bai Tan"s ear.
"Your Shizun cannot yet break this barrier of the Formless Realm. Do you really think that you can break it with only your power? How foolish."
"The demon within your heart has yet to be terminated, and your alluring bone is about to mature. How do you dare to continue cultivating the Paranimmitvasavatti [5]?"
Bai Tan gritted his teeth and focused his mind. Sitting still, he began defending himself against the demon within his heart. How can the person whose bones he"d ground into ashes stop him?
While Bai Tan halted his breath to stay focused, and his mind was floating towards the Formless Realm, Wu Yanfu raised his eyebrow. Vaguely, he sensed that a killing intention was getting close. To prevent Bai Tan from losing control of his power while cultivating, unable to care about anything else, he bent his finger and shot out a pair of needles that pierced right into the back of Bai Tan"s hand, breaking the hand seal Bai Tan was making.
Bai Tan felt waves of pain coming from the back of his hand. Just as he woke up, he suddenly heard the sounds of commotion coming from his surroundings. The next moment, the window burst into uncollectable pieces, and a sharp ray of light went straight towards Bai Tan"s face!
Bai Tan had nowhere to hide. A figure next to him suddenly pounced towards him and covered him underneath his body, blocking the attacker"s attack with his bare body. The figure"s blood soon splashed across the room. The a.s.sa.s.sin"s movement halted for a moment, who then exclaimed, "Big brother!" and withdrew his weapon. Bai Tan"s reaction was fast; he immediately pushed the yao ren aside. With the tip of his toes touching the ground, he leaped backward and reached out both of his arms, blasting out waves of strong wind. His cape shattered into pieces like how an eagle spreading its wings. He then grabbed the hook and the axe behind him at the same time and lunged straight towards the a.s.sa.s.sin.
The movement he made were not the movements of "Di Yu Shi Jiu Bian", it was a movement he had just created based on the abilities of the enemy in front of him. The movement was powerful and unstoppable, and the a.s.sa.s.sin soon realized the situation was turning against him. He exercised qinggong in a hurry, swiftly avoiding Bai Tan"s attack.
Once Bai Tan made the decision to kill, he will not let his target off easily, and so he persistently chased after the a.s.sa.s.sin until he reached the city wall.
Li Wuzhang heard the noise and hurried out of his room. Then he saw a shadow dash into Bai Tan"s room which then captured the yao ren and flew into the sky. The shadow turned out to be a gigantic eagle. Bai Tan exclaimed as he witnessed the incident, "Wuzhang! Do not let him get kidnapped!"
Before Bai Tan could finish his sentence, dozens of people jumped on to the city wall and encircled Bai Tan. So, it was a planned attack after all.
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Translator: Sencha
Proofreader: CSChick911
QC: Xiao
Xiao"s Comments: Of course, the best medicine for Bai Tan would be a yao ren"s sperms. What are the odds? LOL…hahaha.
Translator"s Notes
[1] Renzhi (人彘) - refers to people who are being thrown into pottery vases after chopping off their tongue, arms and legs, shaving their eyebrows, hair and eyelashes and destroying their larynx.
[2] Ren meridian (任脈) - is a one of human bodies" meridian line. This meridian line consists of 24 points, which spread across human"s face, neck and chest.
[3] Xinfa (心法) - a type of scripture that one use to train their mind
[4] The fire of Samadhi (三昧真火) - a type of powerful flame that appears in Chinese cla.s.sic literature and Taoism.
[5] Paranimmitvasavatti (他化自在天) - A Buddhism term which means the heaven of devas with the power over other creations. Wikipedia contains some more information if you are interested
Chapter 21