"I"ve understood," Nangong s.h.i.+feng carefully accepted the section of the dagger. He carefully wrapped it up and placed it in his chest. He didn"t look uncomfortable at all from coercion, but instead, full of excitement.
"Nangong s.h.i.+feng, didn"t you feel awkward?" Chu Yang asked, "You first allowed me to hit your acupoint, then served my poison. So you"re now facing the threat of death! Then, after I tempt you again, I can exploit you to run errands of me again. Don"t you feel humiliated?"
Nangong s.h.i.+feng revealed a smile on his b.l.o.o.d.y face, and said, "Not awkward! Not awkward at all."
He didn"t look to be flattering at all, and his tone was solemn and serious. He looked like he was speaking this from his heart.
"Why?" Chu Yang was interested now. He really wanted to understand the mentality of this guy he had subjugated.
This would decide what Chu Yang would plan in the future.
After all, Chu Yang really had no one to use now, so he could only capture these five people. He wouldn"t have used them if there were other people available for him.
By Chu Yang"s current view, whether to allow these five people to follow him or to give up on them had to be decided after the Medicine Banquet. But Chu Yang was inclined towards giving up on them.
"Coercion… In fact, in this Nine Heavens, when is there a day that we"re not coerced?" Nangong s.h.i.+feng smiled sadly, "Our livelihood is coerced when we"re young. There were four full years then when we haven"t had enough to eat every day! Sometimes, we only got a bun after begging for three days, and we had to share them among the five of us…"
He looked dismal, "Elder, do you think the five of us are born to look like this? Although we"re not handsome, we after all still have some human looks. Back then, we were so starved that out of desperation, to not be starved to death, we ate the Ghost Face Mushroom."
"Although the Ghost Face Mushroom is toxic, it doesn"t kill. The more one eats it, the more ghastly his face will turn… And, his hair will become spa.r.s.e, and then, completely drop off. Luckily, we only ate them for half a month before chancing upon a wild pig that had fallen from the cliff… But, in that one month, we had changed our appearance to look like neither humans nor ghosts. "
"Later, we met some chance to improve our skills, and from then on, we learned how to not let ourselves starve. But we"re forced to improve our martial capability, and we had to practice martial arts continuously; Then, we"re forced by this face… We"ve turned uglier, but we"re more concerned about this face. So we want to stand out from others and not be looked down on… But because of our ugly appearance, none of the big clans or forces wanted to accept us."
"So we became blood-payers!"
"As blood-payers, we earn purple crystals. Not only we wouldn"t be starved, but we could also use them for cultivation. But we had to hand up tasks when we hadn"t reached the Emperor level then. How could we fight over others? Where would there be simple tasks in the Blood-Payers Hall? How could we complete the tasks by our cultivations then?"
"So, when others are badly defeated and wounded as they fought with each other, we"ll take the opportunity to rush forth to gain petty advantages…"
"Over time, we survived and muddled along like this."
"Others look down on us, and we also look down on them; The big forces look down on us, but the more we look down on them!"
"While we dare not provoke others, we can afford to hide!"
"All the way that we"ve come by, we"ve been despised and fully experienced the fickleness of human nature!"
"Even my wife… Haha, actually it"s not. Last time, I saved an old businessman who was on the verge of dying, and I escorted him home out of seldom kindness. Actually, it"s not, because the old man said that if I could escort him home, he would be willing to give me his collection of purple crystals… So I escorted him home. And I took good care of him, fearing that he would die halfway. As a result, the old man felt that I was a reliable person and wanted to betroth his daughter to me."
"After we reached his home, he really did as he promised. At the last moments of his life, he invited his friends over and announced the marriage between his daughter and me.
"I"m ugly, and originally didn"t have the intention to set up a family. But I was really moved then."
Nangong s.h.i.+feng had already sunk into his memories. He smiled bitterly, saying, "Those were the happiest days of my life. At that time, I even thought that if this family didn"t cast cold shoulders on me, I"ll give up muddling in the martial society, bring my four younger brothers to settle down here, and continue the old man"s family business. And from then on, not contaminate myself with the martial society and just be an ordinary person. As long as my wife can accept me, I"ll also give her all my heart… forever."
"The old man died after he had returned to his home for half a month. I buried him under the ident.i.ty of his son-in-law."
"It was later that I knew that my fiancee already had a lover. And they had already made a solemn pledge of love… When she told me this, she said, if I was not willing to give up on her, she would give half of the family"s property to him, so that he could sustain a living by himself, and she would abide by her promise to serve me for all her life, and be a good wife and mother. If I was willing to let go of her, she was willing to give up all her family property to me, only to be together with her lover!"
Nangong s.h.i.+feng shook his head and burst into laughter, but a few teardrops were shaken down from his eyes.
"Then what did you do?" Chu Yang asked.
Nangong s.h.i.+feng smiled hoa.r.s.ely. He seemed to be laughing and wailing at the same time, "I, Nangong s.h.i.+feng, am ugly! I admit it! Because I"m ugly, no woman is willing to take even a glimpse on me! I admit it! I am despicable and shameless and low-down for the sake of earning a livelihood! I admit it! I can kneel down and lick other people"s shoes just for the sake of my younger brother to survive! I admit it! But I haven"t reached the point of being so low-down of forcing a woman that I like to do something that she didn"t like, especially when it"s a matter of a woman"s lifelong happiness!"
"So I left, alone, from that small town. I didn"t take away anything from them. I left them everything."
"Others said that my wife had run away with some other men. I admit it!"
Nangong s.h.i.+feng smiled, saying, "How can a person like me find a wife? Isn"t that a joke?" His voice was desolate, while his smile, bleak.
Chu Yang sighed, "You just left like that?"
"Yes, just like that," Nangong s.h.i.+feng smiled, and added, "For so many years, I would make a long detour around it should I be pa.s.sing by there, even if I had to walk a thousand miles further. I didn"t go there once!"
"Why not? Why not go back and have a look? Have a look at how she"s living now?" Chu Yang said as he frowned and his eyes flashed.
"No! Why should I go back?" Nangong s.h.i.+feng shook his head and laughed, "So what if she"s not living well? Do I gloat or grab her away with me? So what if she"s living well? Won"t I be making myself feel more uncomfortable and lost?"
Nangong s.h.i.+feng tried hard to frown and pick his eyebrows to control his tears from flowing out, "I"m also a common man. Although I"m uglier than other men, I have the heart that not every other man has. I thought of going back to see whether she"s living well, see her remorse and hope that she could grab on my leg to say that she regrets, then I could violently kick her off then take my leave smartly. I also thought of myself feeling jealous and mad if I see her leading a good life, and maybe I can also kill the both of them… But I ultimately dare not to go."
Chu Yang sighed, patted on his shoulders and didn"t say anything.
At this moment, he suddenly decided to keep Nangong s.h.i.+feng.
He was a villain, a despicable villain, and one who was greedy, cowardly, fearful of the strong and only knew of bullying the weak! But Chu Yang was moved by his last words.
While he was a villain, he was very frank and truthful!
Sensing the temperature of Chu Yang"s hands, Nangong s.h.i.+feng felt the warmth and understanding encompa.s.sed in this one pat. He actually couldn"t help but start to sob.
"Just now, you asked whether being forced by you makes me feel awkward. I don"t feel that I"m being forced. Because we went through this every day… But this time around, it"s the first time that we work for a big character! And this is our best opportunity."
Nangong s.h.i.+feng raised his head and looked at Chu Yang straightly, "I know that you only want to exploit us, but we really want to complete our work successfully this time around. We"ve wandered for all our lives thus far, and really want to have a dependent. Without forces to fend for us is like a child without a mother. Life is… too bitter."
He sniffed and laughed in a self-deprecating manner, "If we can sustain a living openly, who would want to do such despicable things… If we can lead a happy and stable life, who would be willing to be a vagabond…"
Chu Yang smiled and said solemnly, "As long as you can complete this task successfully, and be loyal to me in the future, I"ll give you a bright, happy and stable life! And, I"ll remove the poison of Ghost Face Mushroom in your bodies!"
Nangong s.h.i.+feng was overjoyed!
Looking at Nangong s.h.i.+feng and his four brothers departing while thanking profusely, Chu Yang held the black jade box in his hands and felt sorrow for a long time.
Nangong s.h.i.+feng, Jinjian Organization.
Everyone deemed them to be unpardonably wicked, but… they actually had such grievances.
Although Nangong s.h.i.+feng didn"t speak anything else, Chu Yang could see that the reason behind this guy being so afraid of death was probably for the sake of his four younger brothers.
While the other four looked fiendish, one could see from a glance that they weren"t scheming people.
If not for their big brother"s care for them, perhaps they couldn"t live for long in this Nine Heavens.
Chu Yang also saw the deathlike hue in Nangong s.h.i.+feng"s eyes. A man"s face was written with humiliating words and tattooed with something that represented absolute shame. And, the most important thing of a man was cut.
He had a bad reputation, an ugly face, was enamored of someone only once, but ultimately he still fulfilled the love of others.
Life had really left nothing for him to be fond of…
If he was someone else, he probably had long lost the courage to continue to live. But Nangong s.h.i.+feng not only tried to live on, but he also fought along with his four younger brothers, but… with their conditions and similarly to what they said: How to do open and just work?
If they could lead a happy and stable life, why would they want to lead a wandering life?
Since you want to gain a new lease of life, I shall fulfill you once! Chu Yang said silently in his heart.
Chu Yang grabbed the Nine-Leaves Flower and rushed back!
When he returned to the Purple Crystals Huichun Hall, he realized that the few people from the Huang clan had all hung up heavy faces. Even Huang Xialiu, who was always offbeat, also had his brows frowned tightly.
"What happened?"
Chu Yang asked.
"The battle had started!" Huang Xialiu sighed.
"Oh? The Xiao clan and the Huang clan had started a battle?" Chu Yang was taken aback, "So fast? How many people died? Are they important figures?"
…