Chapter 2
When Jiang Le opened his eyes, he was shocked to see himself chained in iron shackles and his body held onto a wooden stake. He was in a huge hall and there was a huge bonfire that was burning in the midst.
He was surprised to see the beautiful naked maiden earlier sitting on a throne but this time, she was fully clothed.
Other than her, there were also the three other maidens that he had seen earlier!
He found himself mesmerized by the seated beautiful maiden again, having recalled her naked image in his mind. But he quickly regained his composure and asked hastily, "Where am I? Why did you chain me? Let me go…"
The beautiful maiden that was seated on the throne interrupted coldly, "Not only did you trespa.s.s the sacred grounds of the Eternal Virtue Sect, you have…"
She was suddenly flushing and her voice was colder than ever, "Therefore you will be sentenced to your death and your blood feed to our heavenly relic."
She pointed to a levitating sword that was near and smiled endeavoring, "This is your honor."
Jiang Le was startled and even more astonished when he took a look at the so call heavenly relic. It was because he could not believe his own eyes and thought, "This sword just hangs in mid-air? How is it possible?"
He was enthralled by the levitating sword as he stared at it.
He muttered, "What a fine sword…"
All of a sudden one of the three maidens that were in the hall had walked quietly next to him and had slapped him hard!
Jiang Le was enraged as he raised his voice, "Who the h.e.l.l are you that give you the right to slap me?"
But his angry voice began to dissipate as he noticed that the maiden that had just slapped him was equally as stunning as the beautiful maiden that was sitting on the throne.
Up close, she was so captivating!
She smiled gently, "You deserve a slap because you are too stupid to realize the situation that you are in. You ought to be begging for mercy and pleading for your pathetic existence."
Jiang Le answered unhappily, "You have the face of an angel yet you have the heart of a demon. You"re a…"
She interrupted him with a haughty look, "Hmph, indeed I am a demoness. You may well address me as the Verdant Scarlet Fairy. Now you can report to your maker who your slayer is."
Jiang Le smiled bitterly, "And I am Jiang Le. I will haunt you if I am dead."
He turned to look at the beautiful maiden seated at the throne, "And what is your name?"
The beautiful maiden appeared to be surprised as she seemed to ponder for a while before she said coldly, "I am Zuo Yue Ling the Autumn Concubine, mistress of the Tranquil Palace. You can die now!"
Jiang Le smiled weakly. It was because he did not expect her to tell him her name so readily. He said weakly, "I have never heard of any Tranquil Palace before. Do you think this is a little too much to sentence me to my death just because I have accidentally trespa.s.s your abode? Is there no law or…"
Yue Ling smiled coldly as she interrupted him, "Here I am the law. You are a pugilist. Surely you are aware of the rules of the martial fraternity. Whatever your intent is, it does not matter at all. You are in our hands now and if you are wise and wish for a quick death, you have better shut up."
As she had said that, she had walked to the levitating sword and had flashed it in her hands!
Jiang Le turned ashen immediately and he panicky tried to use his strength to free himself from the chains but no matter how forcefully he had tried to muster his strength, he was still being held in place!
The Verdant Scarlet Fairy hummed coldly, "It is futile to struggle. Beg for your mercy."
Jiang Le broke into cold sweat as he thought, "Am I going to die in this place? These b.i.t.c.hes really mean business!"
He clenched his teeth and fists, "I am an iron blood man. I will never succ.u.mb to threats and beg them for mercy. Even if I beg them, I doubt that they will even let me live and I will be sports for them to take delight. Darn it."
Yue Ling smiled with cold malevolent as she raised the heavenly relic sword to his throat, "I won"t let you die so peacefully. Instead I will slice your flesh bit by bit, slice by slice…"
All of a sudden there was a shrieking sound from the heavenly relic sword as it vibrated nonstop!
Yue Ling was startled as she murmured, "Divine echo of the heavenly relic? How is this possible?"
The Verdant Scarlet Fairy and the two other sword maidens were equally startled as well, "This is the Divine Echo of the divine sword?"
Even Jiang Le was startled by the trembling resonating sword that was at his throat. He was muttering, "The sword has no eyes. You…you….hold it steady…."
Yue Ling looked at him with disbelief as she tried to pull the heavenly relic sword away but it seemed to have a will of its own!
She gasped, "What have you done? Release my sword now!"
Jiang Le was more panicky than her for the sword was slashing to and fro his throat as he cried out with great alarm, "I did nothing! Put away your sword!…"
All of a sudden there was a flash of light as the sword cut off his chains!
Yue Ling cried out in pain as she flurried backward as the heavenly relic sword flew into Jiang Le"s hand!
Yue Ling was stunned as she looked at her burned hand, "What is going on?"
The Verdant Scarlet Fairy was by her side in the next instant as she called out, "Mistress, are you alright? What is going on?"
Jiang Le was even more startled than any others. Just a moment ago, he was at their mercies but now he had found himself freed from the chains and with a sword in his hand!
What was more, his wounds were now miraculously healed and his vigor was renewed!
Jiang Le allowed himself a smirk as he said coldly, "I won"t surrender my life so readily. You have no idea how accomplish I am as a swordsman in the martial fraternity…"
All of a sudden the Verdant Scarlet Fairy had flashed next to him and had thrown him onto the ground!
Jiang Le blinked in eyes in disbelief and in the next instant, the two other sword maidens had their swords aimed at his throat and they were giggling!
He was back to square one again!
Jiang Le stared at them in disbelief. Not only had this Verdant Scarlet Fairy knocked him back with a single move but these two other maidens had also placed their swords on his throat seemingly like phantoms. This hurt his pride and ego. All of a sudden he felt like an amateur swordsman despite the fact that he had fought at least three hundred battles with some of the top pugilists in the martial fraternity. At such he was ranked as a first tier fighter but now his self-esteem was wounded!
Yue Ling hummed coldly, "It seems that you have the celestial fate. I will give you a choice. Join the Tranquil Palace and live. Otherwise…"
Jiang Le quickly fell to his knees and said hastily, "There is no otherwise! I have always been looking for a worthy clan to prove my worth. So this is the Tranquil Palace? Who is the protégé master?"
The Verdant Scarlet Fairy smiled coldly and pointed at Yue Ling the Autumn Concubine, "She is standing in front of you. You ought to address her as your protégé mistress."
Jiang Le was startled as he stared at Yue Ling, "She is what? She is so young?…"
Yue Ling smiled coldly, "So are you regretting your choice now?"
Jiang Le hastily replied as he took a glance at the two beaming swords that were at his neck, "Erm, no. Just surprise. My respects to protégé mistress."
Yue Ling nodded gently before she said coldly, "Good! I shall see if you are worthy of deserving this heavenly relic sword first. We are a celestial clan and therefore you have to obey the strictest commandants of a celestial clan. Do you understand?"
Jiang Le was perplexed as he murmured, "Celestial clan? Do you mean like the monastery clans and orders?"
Yue Ling said slowly, "You will soon know what it is to be a celestial pract.i.tioner. However, you have to face a trial first. If you fail to pa.s.s the celestial trial then you still have to die!"
Jiang Le was ashen as he suddenly got a wobbly headache, "Is this a joke? I just acknowledge you as my protégé mistress and you still want me dead? What kind of heretic sect is this? Rather than being insulted, you have better killed me straight away then!"
The Verdant Scarlet Fairy drawn her long sword with a resonating shriek as she smiled coldly, "Since that is your wish then I shall grant you then."
Jiang Le broke into a cold sweat as he called out hastily, "No wait! Hold it! I shall take this whatever celestial trial that you have mentioned!"
Yue Ling hummed coldly, "It seems that he is a slippery fellow and one without any honor."
Jiang Le was indignant as he replied coldly, "You have never died before but I have. Therefore you did not know what it is to live. But let me warn you, don"t you test my tolerant or…"
Yue Ling interrupted coldly, "Or what?"
Jiang Le lowered his eyes and said solemnly, "I am an iron blood man. I will never neither forget a debt nor vengeance. Or else even if I were to become a ghost, I will haunt you down!"
Yue Ling smiled coldly as she lifted her long sword to point at Jiang Le"s throat, "Unfortunately, I am not afraid of any ghosts."
Jiang Le smiled coldly, "Oh really?"
Yue Ling stared coldly at him as she said, "You have better be wise and honest at the same time. Otherwise my sword will cut open your throat. I am not averting to killing in case you are wondering. Do you understand or not?"
Jiang Le lifted his eyes to look at her, "If I pa.s.s this celestial trial then you will let me go?"
Yue Ling smiled wryly all of a sudden, "Let you go? This is only the beginning!"