Chapter 151

Wa Palace, side hall.

The rectangular side hall contained no pillars; the long main hall's two sides neatly held bronze candlesticks, each candle giving off a delicate fragrance and spitting out light that illuminated the whole hall.

Wa Mother sat on a throne at the far end of the hall, with a hint of arrogant provocation, gazing at Gongsun Xiu standing several zhang away before her.

Gongsun Xiu, the Gongsun family's Life Pond realm Elder who guards the Dao.

The so‑called Elder who guards the Dao is actually a 'bodyguard', actually a 'henchman', merely one who is especially senior in status and especially high in rank. His duty is to follow beside the Gongsun family's precious offspring when they go out, ensuring their safety.

Gongsun Xiu, born slender and handsome, bearing a touch of suave and unrestrained charm, now wore a sorry expression.

Fierce as a wolf, crafty as a weasel, his triangular eyes glowed with a dim green light as he glared viciously at Wa Mother: 'Gongsun Ying, Gongsun Xiong, my Gongsun family's heirs, died in Wa Valley… Wa clan, you owe us an explanation.'

'An explanation? What explanation? What's there to say?' Wa Mother extended her long, fair palm, carefully examining the lustrous five‑colored gleam on her nails, and asked Gongsun Xiu offhandedly.

'Wa Valley promised, guaranteeing the safety of all disciples from every family, clan, sect, and great power within its territory.' Gongsun Xiu leaned his body slightly forward, like an old vulture spreading its wings before hunting, and spoke in a gloomy tone.

Wa Mother smiled and nodded.

'That's right, Wa Valley did make that promise.'

Wa Mother said without beating around the bush: 'Yes, this is a rule passed down through generations of Wa ancestors. As long as you obey Wa Valley's rules, within its territory we guarantee the safety of these marriage‑seeking youths.'

Gongsun Xiu gave three cold laughs: 'Then, may the mistress give an explanation for the deaths of Gongsun Ying and Gongsun Xiong?'

Wa Mother rolled her phoenix eyes, tilted her head slightly, gave Gongsun Xiu a sideways glance, and coldly laughed with full arrogance and provocation: 'The explanation is that in Wa Valley, whoever dares provoke my son… well, dead is dead, what's the big deal? Besides, your Gongsun family has plenty of offspring, doesn't it?'

She clapped her hands and said lightly: 'Only two have died—what's the big deal?'

Gongsun Xiu's old face flushed red with anger; he thrust his hand forward, pointing at Wa Mother, and shouted: 'Is this your meaning, mistress, or that of the Wa clan?'

Wa Mother grinned and said softly: 'Pull your hand back; if you keep pointing, I'll chop off your hand.'

Gongsun Xiu's body stiffened; his fingers twitched involuntarily, with great difficulty and utter humiliation, his body trembling slightly as he slowly lowered his hand.

His cheeks, flushed red from anger, now turned deathly pale from extreme shame, then blood rushed up, turning Gongsun Xiu's old face purplish‑red, his breathing growing much heavier.

Wa Mother nodded satisfactorily and said calmly: 'What difference does it make? By Wa clan rules, the mistress's will is the will of the whole Wa clan. I am now the Wa clan's mistress, so my decisions are the clan's decisions…'

She narrowed her eyes at Gongsun Xiu and said lightly: 'Even if you went to ask the previous mistress, or all the Wa clan elders, they'd say the same thing.'

She gave a cold smile and sneered: 'Of course, you could also go ask Wa Yao and Wa Ya… they'd surely tell you they disagree with my opinion, but their words would be useless.'

Gongsun Xiu was so angry he panted, his eyes blazing as he stared at Wa Mother, completely at a loss for what to say.

The matter… is completely wrong.

Wa Mother's manner and conduct are completely unlike those of previous Wa clan mistresses.

Gongsun Xiu wanted to reason with her, but Wa Mother would not listen to reason… when a woman refuses to reason, especially when that woman is the current Wa Mother and they stand on Wa clan territory…

…you can't expect any reasoning to be possible.

'Then…' Gongsun Xiu opened his mouth with difficulty.

Wa Mother's attitude was awful, but Gongsun Xiu had to continue the topic. Gongsun Ying and Gongsun Xiong were also an outstanding pair of talents among the Gongsun family's younger generation, especially since they were twin brothers, making them particularly beloved by the family's elders.

As the Elder who guards the Dao, Gongsun Xiu's duty was to protect the safety of Gongsun Yuan, Gongsun Ying, and Gongsun Xiong.

Right under Gongsun Xiu's eyelids, Gongsun Ying and Gongsun Xiong were smashed to death… and they died so horribly that not even a whole corpse remained…

Gongsun Xiu looked at Wa Mother with heated eyes—'No matter what, you have to give me an explanation! How am I to face the clan when I go back? Even if you are the Wa clan's mistress, you can't be so overbearing and unreasonable, can you?'

Even if the Wa clan has always been unreasonable, Wa Mother is taking things too far, isn't she?

Gongsun Xiu gritted his teeth and finally spoke the words that had been turning in his mind for a long time: 'Wa Mother… no matter what, Wu Tie is merely a male in‑law of your Wa clan, whereas Gongsun Ying and Gongsun Xiong are the heirs of my Gongsun family.'

As soon as he finished speaking, Gongsun Xiu flew out.

From one end of the hall, Gongsun Xiu, like a leaf in a gale, whistled across the hall's length of a hundred zhang and slammed into the opposite wall. A terrifying, eerie force shook his bones to fragments, and afterward his skin was covered with a pale gray layer.

A pale gray like that of rock.

Gongsun Xiu's skin became stiff, rough, and deathly still, as if covered with a stone shell.

What terrified Gongsun Xiu even more was that his bones, his entire skeleton, shattered into fragments, actually turned into stone.

A cluster of dim light flickered at his brow; his vast soul power enveloped his body, and he horrifiedly discovered that his bones had truly become stone.

From bone to stone, Gongsun Xiu had no idea how this eerie transformation occurred.

When that irresistible terrifying force blasted him away, his bones were normal; Gongsun Xiu dares to swear on his ancestors' tablets that at that moment his whole body was completely normal.

It took only a fraction of a finger‑snap; he was hurled from one end of the hall to the other by that immense force… his bones were pulverized, and every fragment turned into stone.

Moreover, the eerie force spread from within his bones, slowly but steadily invading his marrow, nerves, blood vessels, viscera, and brain.

Wherever it passed, the body went numb… the flesh and muscle slowly turned to stone.

'You may have been mistaken about something,' Wa Mother said in a faint voice. 'In the Wa clan, the status of male in‑laws is indeed low; many Wa heiresses treat their male in‑laws extremely badly.'

'But that doesn't mean my son can be bullied and humiliated by you at will.'

Wa Mother said calmly: 'When Wu Jin came to Wa Valley, I was weak—so weak I had no strength to protect my son… so I watched helplessly as he was covered in wounds, as he struggled on the brink of death, as he…'

Wa Mother suddenly lifted her head and drew a deep breath.

After a long while, Wa Mother said faintly: 'Wu Jin is a good child, my good son, the first child of me and Wu Zhan… for his father and brother he has already given his all…'

'I believe I have not offended you; what have you done?'

'Again and again you pressured him, again and again you bullied him, again and again you drove him to the brink of death… in the end, Wa Xiu sent him to the ancestral land…'

'What you do, I will do too; why can you do it but I cannot?'

'So, only two pieces of trash died—what's that? Your Gongsun family has so many offspring, while I have only four sons.'

Wa Mother gave a cold laugh: 'What you do, I will naturally do as well. I am now the mistress of Wa Valley, so don't talk to me about rules or reason. By Wa clan tradition, what I say now is the rule, is the reason…'

'In Wa Valley, my word outweighs heaven!'

Wa Mother extended her right hand and lightly made a grasping motion.

Gongsun Xiu's body suddenly stiffened, turning completely into a stone man from skin to marrow; he was fully petrified.

With a muffled 'boom', the petrified Gongsun Xiu shattered, exploding into countless bean‑sized stone fragments that scattered across the ground.

Even Gongsun Xiu's soul was petrified along with it, then crushed, leaving not a trace of spirit to escape.

Wa Mu slowly stood up, she saw the faint five‑colored divine light on her ten fingernails, and softly laughed: 'I like this Wa Tribe tradition… being the mistress is greater than heaven; this ancestral rule, I really like it.'

The hall's great doors opened silently; over a dozen girls in heavy armor rushed in, followed closely by a group of stone dwarves who nimbly swept the stones on the floor clean.

Those girls came before Wa Mu; a girl with a deep scar on her face shouted sternly: 'Mistress, Gongsun Yuan provoked Young Master Wu Tie; they have gone to the arena… Young Master Wu Tie voluntarily proposed to bet his life against Gongsun Yuan.'

Wa Mu stared, and suddenly substantive five‑colored divine light sprayed from her eye sockets, filling the whole hall; everyone's bodies, even the hall's thick walls, seemed to turn into five‑colored glazed glass, becoming hazy and semi‑transparent.

"Good child, good Wu Tie, are you trying to vent for your elder brother?"

"Hehe, betting lives… is that lowly wretch Gongsun Yuan worth you betting your life against him?"

"But I like the phrase 'bet one's life'… bet one's life, bet one's life… then we'll see whether Gongsun Yuan's life is good or not!"

Wa Mu chuckled and took out an ancient‑style wide bracelet, a heavy band three inches wide, inlaid with twelve sparkling five‑colored crystal stones.

She handed the bracelet to the scar‑faced girl, whispering: 'Take this to Wu Tie; let him use what's inside as a stake, and clean out the purses of those brats in Wa Valley… a bunch of flirtatious little things, always swaying before my eyes, making me weary.'

"Without money, they can at least stay quiet for a while. In Wa Valley, without money you can't move an inch."

Wa Mu pursed her lips and smiled, saying softly: 'Betting lives, betting lives… hehe, you few, follow me to the Wa Emperor Altar. I want to see, with me personally presiding, how Gongsun Yuan bets his life against my son.'

An old voice sounded softly: 'Wa Mu, the arena's rules… you're helping your son cheat, this seems…'

Wa Mu gave a light laugh: 'Grand Elder, I am now the mistress, right? It was you who jointly calculated at the ancestral grand ceremony, enabling me to lead the Wa Tribe through the future great calamity, right? I am the Wa Tribe's… not just our branch, but the savior of the entire Wa Tribe and Xi Tribe, right?'

"If so… then everything I've done is completely correct, right?"

That old voice remained silent for a long while.

Wa Mu raised her chin proudly, sneering arrogantly.

After a while, the old voice, tinged with helplessness, whispered: 'No doubt… if we're going to cheat, then strike hard… well, let Wu Tie that little brat wait a moment; we old folks will go round up more stakes.'

He sighed softly, the old voice murmuring: 'Since we've foreseen a great calamity… hoarding some good things is never wrong… this time, let's play big—put the marriage rights of a few girls on the line too; surely many old folks will be tempted.'

The old voice faded away; Wa Mu rolled her eyes, flicked her sleeve, and led several girls out quickly through the rear hall, down a sloping passage into the underground structure of Wa Palace—the true core of Wa Palace.

On the arena, Wu Tie and Gongsun Yuan, faces smeared with blood, stared at each other like two rabid beasts.

Wu Tie had already brought out all his possessions as stakes; besides the White Tiger Split, he also put the Wind and Cloud Banner and the Moon Scar on the line.

Gongsun Yuan gritted his teeth; Wu Tie wants to bet his life—will he be afraid?

He is the most outstanding descendant of the Gongsun family in the last thousand years, while Wu Tie is merely from an obscure small clan; if it weren't for his mother being Wa Mu, Wu Tie wouldn't even have the standing to face him.

Bet one's life?

Then let's bet our lives!

He ordered his retainer warriors to count Wu Tie's stakes, preparing to put up an equal amount.

This is also the rule of the Wa Tribe Arena: stakes must neither be too little nor too much, they must be kept absolutely 'fair and just'!

Wu Tie's stakes were a bit excessive, so Gongsun Yuan's retainer warriors spent a long time counting them.

But before they finished counting, a girl with a long scar on her face entered the arena and handed Wu Tie a three‑inch‑wide bracelet: 'Young Master Wu Tie, this is the property you left at your residence.'

Wu Tie glanced at the girl in surprise, fell silent for a moment, then flicked his hand and tossed the bracelet onto the pile of stakes.

Gongsun Yuan's retainer warriors picked up the bracelet and examined it; their bodies swayed, and each of their expressions became wonderfully vivid.

The wealth inside the bracelet was a thousand times the stakes Wu Tie had just produced!

It can only be more, never less—at least a thousand times those stakes Wu Tie just had!